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Snoop Dogg has never made his love for cannabis a secret. The hip-hop superstar is known for staying high all the time, and has songs and movies to prove it!
During a 2019 interview with Howard Stern, Snoop opened up about the full-time, salaried blunt and joint roller he hired to fulfill his desire for a consistent supply of pre-rolled blunts and joints daily. He even adjusted the salary to meet the growing inflation.
Last year, Ranagade PerRana came forward and revealed herself as Snoop’s professional joint rolling technician. Earning over $50,000 while working for Uncle Snoop at the time, Rana now estimates she’s rolled nearly half a million joints thus far for various A-list clients like Rihanna, Kid Cudi, J.R. Smith, Elon Musk, and countless others.
Rana secured her previous gig with Snoop in a “roll-off” between her, a Venezuelan cigar roller, and Snoop Dogg’s sound engineer and has been able to build a successful and lucrative business and brand for herself. Aside from her full-time gig rolling blunts for Hollywood’s elite, Rana launched a “Blunt Bar” business that supplies high-end events with carefully-crafted smokables, Leafly reports.
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Speaking with BLACK ENTERPRISE while celebrating 4/20 at Jimmy John’s in Long Beach, CA, by teaching enthusiasts how to roll with limited-edition JJ’s rolling papers, Rana dished on the three crucial skill sets needed to become a professional joint roller.
“First of all, you would have to understand the art of smoking,” Rana told BLACK ENTERPRISE.
“I would say that’s first and foremost because you would have to understand what your client requires of you. In the same way, if you were to be a chef and dealt with someone that had, God, forbid, like Celiac disease, you would need to understand everywhere gluten is. I think you have to know the fine art of smoking first of all.”
“I would say the other skill you have to have would be to work hard. And that is truly a skill,” she continued.
“The skill to show up and show out and not take shortcuts, that’s a real fu*king skill to have. So I have that skill. I go hard. Sleep is not something I need. Rest is for the dead. Lazy is the cousin of death. Stupid is his brother. And lying is how he ends up out of here. So, for me, I show up, I show out.”
The last skill you need, according to Rana, who describes herself as a “premier blunt roller of the planet,” stems from your upbringing and the support system you keep. The Iranian-born rolling technician believes keeping good people around could be vital in crafting pristine joints.
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“I would say the third skill is you would have to be player like Ranagade ParRana,” she boasted. “You’d have to have the parents I have maybe (a nod to her father Hamid and mom Fatima.).”
“You’d have to have the same journey I had,” she added. “I don’t know. But I would say hard work and fu*king determination is what got me here for sure.”
Rolling joints full-time could sound like a dream job to some. Salaries for the gig might not pay as high as Snoop Dogg once paid Rana. But according to ZipRecruiter, starting salaries could range from $13 to $37 an hour and, of course, depends on whether or not you reside in a state where it’s legal.
For those interested in becoming professional rolling technicians, Rana encourages you to test, explore, and do your homework.
“I would say do your research and then just try to get in where you fit in in life,” she said.
“I think life is about finding a place for yourself, finding a home, finding a path. So, if you want to get involved in certain businesses, you got to do your due diligence.”
“I think you have to figure out how the whole game works, how the setup is, who does what, what the laws are, where you live, where you’re from,” she continued. “All those things matter because you don’t want to play yourself.”
Snoop Dogg has never made his love for cannabis a secret. The hip-hop superstar is known for staying high all the time, and has songs and movies to prove it!
During a 2019 interview with Howard Stern, Snoop opened up about the full-time, salaried blunt and joint roller he hired to fulfill his desire for a consistent supply of pre-rolled blunts and joints daily. He even adjusted the salary to meet the growing inflation.
Last year, Ranagade PerRana came forward and revealed herself as Snoop’s professional joint rolling technician. Earning over $50,000 while working for Uncle Snoop at the time, Rana now estimates she’s rolled nearly half a million joints thus far for various A-list clients like Rihanna, Kid Cudi, J.R. Smith, Elon Musk, and countless others.
Rana secured her previous gig with Snoop in a “roll-off” between her, a Venezuelan cigar roller, and Snoop Dogg’s sound engineer and has been able to build a successful and lucrative business and brand for herself. Aside from her full-time gig rolling blunts for Hollywood’s elite, Rana launched a “Blunt Bar” business that supplies high-end events with carefully-crafted smokables, Leafly reports.
View this post on Instagram
Speaking with BLACK ENTERPRISE while celebrating 4/20 at Jimmy John’s in Long Beach, CA, by teaching enthusiasts how to roll with limited-edition JJ’s rolling papers, Rana dished on the three crucial skill sets needed to become a professional joint roller.
“First of all, you would have to understand the art of smoking,” Rana told BLACK ENTERPRISE.
“I would say that’s first and foremost because you would have to understand what your client requires of you. In the same way, if you were to be a chef and dealt with someone that had, God, forbid, like Celiac disease, you would need to understand everywhere gluten is. I think you have to know the fine art of smoking first of all.”
“I would say the other skill you have to have would be to work hard. And that is truly a skill,” she continued.
“The skill to show up and show out and not take shortcuts, that’s a real fu*king skill to have. So I have that skill. I go hard. Sleep is not something I need. Rest is for the dead. Lazy is the cousin of death. Stupid is his brother. And lying is how he ends up out of here. So, for me, I show up, I show out.”
The last skill you need, according to Rana, who describes herself as a “premier blunt roller of the planet,” stems from your upbringing and the support system you keep. The Iranian-born rolling technician believes keeping good people around could be vital in crafting pristine joints.
View this post on Instagram
“I would say the third skill is you would have to be player like Ranagade ParRana,” she boasted. “You’d have to have the parents I have maybe (a nod to her father Hamid and mom Fatima.).”
“You’d have to have the same journey I had,” she added. “I don’t know. But I would say hard work and fu*king determination is what got me here for sure.”
Rolling joints full-time could sound like a dream job to some. Salaries for the gig might not pay as high as Snoop Dogg once paid Rana. But according to ZipRecruiter, starting salaries could range from $13 to $37 an hour and, of course, depends on whether or not you reside in a state where it’s legal.
For those interested in becoming professional rolling technicians, Rana encourages you to test, explore, and do your homework.
“I would say do your research and then just try to get in where you fit in in life,” she said.
“I think life is about finding a place for yourself, finding a home, finding a path. So, if you want to get involved in certain businesses, you got to do your due diligence.”
“I think you have to figure out how the whole game works, how the setup is, who does what, what the laws are, where you live, where you’re from,” she continued. “All those things matter because you don’t want to play yourself.”
“Education is the key to unlocking the world, a passport to freedom.” — Oprah Winfrey
This is how it should be. However, for Black women who are incarcerated, opportunities to engage in educational pursuits are severely limited. Incarceration separates individuals from their families and everyday life. Education programs provided to incarcerated individuals can vary across age and gender. For Black women, there are huge hurdles, just like out in the real world.
Historically, women have comprised a small percentage of the total incarcerated population, which means prison programming investments tend to focus on men. One thing is clear — Black women continue to experience disparities in educational equity. With the United States seeing a dramatic rise in the number of women sent to prison, the disparities in access to equitable education lag behind.
Many women struggle to turn their lives around while behind bars and can find hope in furthering their education. However, in many states, these courses are offered sporadically and unpredictably.
In 2018, according to the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, women could pursue an associate degree and certifications in office administration or hospitality/culinary arts. For men, there were associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees, and certifications in 21 occupations, including high-demand fields like welding, computer technology, and truck driving. When prison-reform legislation was passed in 2019, lawmakers expanded the choices for women but they still fall extremely short of those offered to men.
In Mississippi, the five vocational programs offered to women, which include cosmetology and upholstery, play into gender stereotypes. The 13 options provided to men include welding, plumbing, industrial electricity, and diesel mechanics. Women are still more likely to be restricted to classes on parenting, cooking, or cosmetology.
At the end of 2020, Congress finally restored access to Pell Grants for incarcerated students. That new provision will go into effect by July 2023. Some states are also taking steps to support access to college in prison.
We can’t overstate the benefits of postsecondary education to incarcerated Black women. Supporting better education is crucial to bridging opportunity gaps and helping Black women live productively.
In 2013, Netflix gave us the prison series we didn’t know we needed in Orange Is the New Black. We were entertained by this diverse showing of women as their stories were told in a way we had never seen before. Many argued that it really mirrored prison life yet, that didn’t stop us from being completely invested in these women’s lives.
I recall one of the constant pain points is that the prison did not offer an adequate GED program. The situation was even worse because inmates who lacked a high-school education were not eligible for wage increases unless they completed the GED program for prisoners. Without a high-school education, most women couldn’t secure legal and gainful employment once they left. This, of course, led them right back to a life of crime — which, in turn, landed them right back in prison. Although fictional, the show didn’t miss how this vicious cycle plays out.
There is a logical argument for prison education: it is cost-effective and leads to long-term benefits. Black women returning home from prison with college credentials can play an important role in encouraging family members and friends to pursue additional education. Prisons with college programs have less violence among incarcerated individuals, which creates a safer environment for incarcerated individuals and prison staff. The significant personal benefits of prison education include increased personal income, lower unemployment, greater political engagement and volunteerism, and improved health outcomes.
As a woman, I can’t imagine attempting to survive prison’s everyday humiliations. The vulnerabilities that we experience as Black women can mount high. The truth is that education can make the difference in the ability to sustain their existence and break fthe cycle of incarceration for generations to come. As a society, we know that without skills to succeed, rejection from employers or even housing can make anyone slide into an emotionally bad place. Education has the power to build self-confidence to be competitive.
As an educator, I know that education is not just about giving someone academics they can use when they are out in the world. It’s about developing a different mindset about how they view themselves and interact in the world. Studies have shown that those who participate in higher-education programs in prison are significantly less likely to re-offend. So, this issue extends beyond prison. If you have Black women engaged in a pursuit of an education, it is self-affirming. There is no limit to what they can do.
The more opportunities provided to Black women while they’re serving their sentence, the more it gives them something to believe in. If we truly believe in making change, if we want to invest in human lives and strengthen communities and families, then we want to invest in education for Black women in prison. Women can never be free in a country that is not free. This country can take a full investment in incarcerated Black women to liberate instead of control them.