Get to know your Strain: OG Kush

Table of contents:

I. OGs, myths and their possible history

III. The importance of rap in American cannabis culture

Figure out what OG really means. Is it from the Hip-Hop culture or the most famous strain in the world?

“A motherfucker from the West Coast
L.A. South Central fool
Where the Crips and the Bloods play
When I wrote about parties
It didn’t fit
Six in the Mornin’
That was the real shit
O.G.
Original Gangster”

— Ice T, O.G

Although many people link the OG that is linked to Ice-T because of these lyrics, we are here to tell you that it is not the original in the use of that slang. OG is a term that means Original Gangster, but also to classify strains, OG is one of the United States originals. These names are still used today, but, like any myth, there are debates about their real origin. There are people who are sure that it was used for the first time in Florida, others believe that it came from California.

What we are sure of is that OGs are some of the most popular strains in the world. Do you want to know a little more about the history, genetics and effects of this very known strain? We will tell you here, in this post.

OGs, myths and their possible history

According to Leafly, OG Kush was first cultivated in Florida in the early 1990s, when a northern California strain was crossed with an Amsterdam Hindu Kush plant. The result was a hybrid with a unique profile of terpenes, which has a complex aroma with citrus and spice notes, such as pepper.

OG Kush arrived in Los Angeles in 1996, when Matt “Bubba” Berger brought him (along with “The Bubba”, which was later used to create the famous Bubba Kush) from Florida to legendary grower Josh D. He helped popularize it, perfecting the growing conditions and introducing the variety to the Los Angeles market. Since then, OG Kush has become a global staple product, used to create several famous varieties, such as GSC and Headband. There are many different phenotypes of OG Kush, including Tahoe OG, SFV OG and Ghost OG.

Matt Berger said he obtained the original strain, one of the 90s favorites from Snoop Dogg and B-Real from Cypress Hill, Florida, where it was shared exclusively among local producers under the name Kryptonite, or Krippy, to designate their alleged origins in Seattle. It was shipped from Seattle to Florida in dense bricks, and was also known as Supernaut and Kush.

Berger, who was the first to grow Kush seeds in Florida from a random bag of flowers, later shared the strain with Del Rosso in Los Angeles. Berger was also the first to coin the name Kush after a friend called the specially icy colas of the “Kushberries” line, without intentional reference to the Hindu Kush mountains, where other “Kush” lines originate.

On the effects of OG

JoshD Farms reports that OG Kush users can expect lasting euphoria, as well as citrus flavor and aroma. The company, even today, focuses exclusively on the development of strains and products derived from OG Kush.
JoshD Farms reports an average THC content of 20% of OG Kush, with some in-house testing reaching 26%.
Mircene, limonene and karyophylene are the dominant strain terpenes.
According to JoshD Farms, phenotypes and descendants that honor the signature effect and flavor profile of OG Kush include Kosher Kush, Triangle Kush, Skywalker OG and Loompa’s Headband.
According to the users themselves, some of the main symptoms that it can help relieve are stress, anxiety, chronic pain, depression and insomnia.
Main effects: happy, euphoric, relaxed, uplifted, hungry e DRY MOUTH!

The importance of rap in American cannabis culture

It is important to note, in this context, how rappers helped to bring cannabis culture back into action, and to give a boom in the consumption and popularization of the herb. In the 1980s, using cannabis was practically something “vintage”, as it was still very much connected to the hippie movement, baby boomers and bands like the Grateful Dead. Things have changed precisely because of the appropriation and integration of the ganja with songs and albums that defined rap and hip-hop in the country.

This brings us to 1991, the year that a West Coast rap group adorned their debut LP with a skull and a leaf of marijuana and changed hip-hop. The Cypress Hill self-titled album may not have sold as many copies as Dr. Dre’s The Chronic, which followed more than a year later, but its references to cannabis have revolutionized culture – or, as many say, the counterculture. Wearing t-shirts and apparels with the herb leaf became practically punk.

All of this was what paved the way for other rappers, like Snoop Dogg and so many others who are still part of our playlists today. In a survey of 30 years of genre music, Genius says that in the mid-1990s, the percentage of rap songs with references to cannabis increased from just four tracks in the early 1980s to 45% of all hip-hop tracks.

This subject is, of course, something very curious, and shows the development of this cannabis culture that we consume and love until today. It’s amazing to know how everything in this story is connected to things we knew before we even tried ganja.

Did you like this information? To dive further into this universe of OGs and Original Gangsters, we made a playlist in partnership with 300 Noise friends!