HEMP MagazineRapper Rick Ross is about to drop a line of hemp-related products, including hemp cigarettes, HipHop DX reports.
The Wing Stop franchiser just announced he was partnering with Hempacco to launch a brand called “Hemp Hop Smokables. The product is hemp cigarettes, rolling papers, and alternatives to obacco.
“I truly believe in the health benefits of hemp-derived products,” Ross said in a press release statement. “Having had my own health scares, and through my healing process, I decided I would develop a line of smokables to help others with the benefits of hemp cannabinoids.”
Ross also shared a promotional video for he new launch on his Instagram on September 22. Rap Snacks did as well. “This Hemp Hop right here,” Ross says in the clip. “This the combination of the game right here. Something some of the finest, healthiest rollups. It’s about doing something that last forever, cause we gon’ live forever. It’s history.”
Jorge Olson, a co-founder and chief marketing officer for Hempacco, proudly announced the collaboration at the Boss Up Conference, an event hosted by Ross which took place September 17-19.
“We’re ready to start offering Hemp Hop Hemp Cigarettes to wholesale distributors,” Olson said. “With Rick Ross and James Lindsay spearheading the sales, distribution, and marketing, it will be a wonderful consumer experience for consumers.
James Lindsay, who is a wholesale distribution veteran, says he is “ready to present the products to his Rap Snacks network of distributors all over the country.”
Ross, who is a Miami mogul, continues to expand his portfolio. Not only is he launching this new hemp line, but he also just helped Wingstop kick off its new line of chicken sandwiches. The sandwich differs from competitors, such as Popeyes and Chick-Fil-A, because people can order it in 12 different flavors.
It hasn’t been all sunshine and rainbows for Ross. This past August, he was fined $100,000 for labor violations at five Wingstop restaurants in Mississippi.
Mississippi Today reports that Ross and his family forced their employees to pay for uniforms (which is illegal), safety training, background checks, and cash register shortages. The labor department also discovered the Ross family had been illegally deducting money from employees’ wages, leaving some with a take-home pay under $7.25 an hour. That is the absolute minimum (and unlivable!) wage in Mississippi.
Ross owned up to this atrocious business practice by essentially touting that he’s great, which isn’t exactly an apology. But rappers be rappers, I guess. “Taking accountability is big when you the biggest, and remember this, most successful people don’t take stumbling as a setback but actually a stepping stone to greater things, you heard me? Let’s be great.”
Okay, Rick. Treat your employees better! Hopefully, his future employees for Hemp Hop get paid fairly and treated well. Otherwise, it defeats the purpose of working with the cannabis plant.