Lil’ Kim Announces Cannabis Brand ‘Aphrodisiac’ With Superbad Inc.

Lil’ Kim Announces Cannabis Brand ‘Aphrodisiac’ With Superbad Inc.

Lil’ Kim Announces Cannabis Brand ‘Aphrodisiac’ With Superbad Inc.

Grammy award-winning rap artist, actress, and fashion Icon Lil Kim is launching her own cannabis brand.

The new weed line will be called Aphrodisiac and it’s being produced in partnership with Superbad Inc. Lil’ Kim’s aphrodisiac will be available in California beginning in 2022. Plan to see it on shelves for purchase within the first quarter of next year, with a launch date to-be-announced soon.

Kimberly Denise Jones, who goes by her stage name Lil’ Kim, partnered with California-based Superbad Inc. to bring her cannabis brand to life. Founded in 2020, superbad inc. claims the coveted market space of a top shelf, modern, innovative cultivator and brand. The Lil’ Kim partnership also includes CanmpNova, a vertically-integrated marketing and distribution tech platform based in Northern California.

Lil’ Kim says she has been working on the brand for two and a half years. The rapper wants her cannabis flower line to reflect her personal style. It will be fashion-forward, dancing at the brand intersection of collectible, lifestyle, and cannabis. She says it’s only a matter of time before Lil’ Kim’s aphrodisiac cannabis will be available in her home state of New York as well as Michigan and New Jersey. New York is currently figuring out its licensing and regulations for adult-use cannabis, while New Jersey is Inching closer to opening shop.

Lil’ Kim made the announcement on October 22, 2021, on the heels of MJBIZCON which took place in Las Vegas, Nevada. I sat down with Lil’ Kim and Superbad inc. founder Carlos Dew to find out their research and development process for the new line of cannabis products, what it means to see cannabis legalized in Kim’s home state of New York, and why the cannabis and music industries are made for hustlers.

Have you wanted a cannabis brand, how long have you been working on aphrodisiac?

Lil’ Kim: Yes, I’ve actually been working on this for about two and a half to three years. This is something that didn’t just come overnight. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. It’s the way of the world.

Absolutely, legal cannabis is a part of the future.

Lil’ Kim: Yes. And I’m a part of it.

How did your partnership with Superbad Inc., come together?

Carlos Dew: We’ve been talking for the last two and a half years, about when would be the best time to launch. We went back and forth a couple of times on how we were going to do it and what would be the best time. We decided the time is now.

Lil’ Kim: Carlos is the expert. They are, in my opinion, the best. I’ve come across a few companies, and I thought, ‘wow, this is really a match made in heaven.’ I mean look at the name, Superbad Inc., that’s me all day. I’m the First Lady Bad Girl.

Carlos Dew: Superbad means that moment when you see someone walking down the street and think, ‘Dang, she’s BAD.’ That’s Kim, a superBADDIE.

How will the branding look, will it be like your style, sparkly, blinged out?

Lil’ Kim: I can tell you this much. Whoever’s a Lil’ Kim fan, they’re going to be extremely happy. Extremely happy.

Carlos: I am confident knowing that, we at Vertical Companies are one of the largest licensed indoor grows in California, we have 1,800 grow lights and 7 acres of indoor grow. Our state-of-the-art facility is able to precisely control key aspects of the growing and cultivation  process: wind simulation, temperature control, humidity control, and specialized grow lighting.

There aren’t a lot of women or women of color who are founders in the cannabis space. What does that mean for you?

Lil’ Kim: I’m honored that Carlos is letting me in right now, you know what I’m saying? Seriously. It’s easy to get your own strain with someone, whatever, but I feel like this is such a perfect partnership, such a perfect situation. 

Your home state of New York legalized. Down the road, do you want to bring Lil’ Kim’s cannabis brand to New York?

Lil’ Kim: Absolutely. I’m from New York, born and raised in Brooklyn. I live in New Jersey, where weed is already legal. It works for me. It really works.

Carlos Dew: The goal is to have Kim’s aphrodisiac cannabis brand in multiple states. Kim is an icon, and internationally known. It’s global with Kim.

Lil’ Kim: It’s a blessing. I just came off the plane from Detroit, straight here. I attended the fashion show for botega. How perfectly do fashion and cannabis go together? We’re gonna have some fashion pieces, too, as a part of the superbad inc., aphrodisiac cannabis line.

So it’s going to be a collectable package/piece?

Lil’ Kim: Yes.

Carlos: We want to roll it out in phases. It’s going to be available in 2022.

Have you gotten to test out a lot of strains and try flavors during R&D of the “Aphrodisiac'' cannabis line?

Lil’ Kim: I’m a hustler by nature, right? I’m from Brooklyn, so we hustle. I equate the game all the time to how I came up in the streets. It’s different, but it’s not, it’s the same. I’ve always been the type of person who will try it out. I test my product. I tested this and I was like ‘Oh yeah, this is that gas.’

I knew it also because I am surrounded by seasoned cannabis smokers. They told me, ‘Kim, you onto something,’ and I was really excited about it. Plus, I do like smoking different strains. I like sativa, I like indica, and hybrid.  I also, like that real California OG, it will never go out of style.

Are the Lil’ Kim brand strains based on any popular genetics, or are they unique genetic?

Carlos: Everything will be custom to Kim’s preferences on genetics, and strains.

Lil’ Kim: Yes. We’re going to do everything.

Where is your favorite place to smoke in New York?

Lil’ Kim: My favorite place to smoke in New York would be my cousin's house in Brooklyn. Because they know how to light it up, we get lit. My favorite place to smoke really is out here, on the West Coast. It has the best cannabis in the world. I am looking forward to my fans taking this journey with me.