Review: Nipsey Hussle’s estate opens The Marathon Cultivation dispensary

We talked to Hussle’s big brother Blacc Sam and sampled products from the grand opening of this highly-respected legacy operation.

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The Marathon Cultivation’s new brick and mortar location has been in the making since 2010. Beloved rapper and entrepreneur Nipsey Hussle birthed the brand while pushing his Marathon mixtape over a decade ago. Now, his big brother Blacc Sam is seeing the vision to fruition three years after Hussle’s life was tragically taken.

TMC’s dispensary offers both recreational and medical products from West Coast heavy hitters like Cannabiotix, Backpack Boys, Alien Labs, Connected Cannabis, Stiiizy, and Rove, as well as their own Marathon cultivation strains. Leafly stopped by the grand opening on June 18 to sample the vibes and talk to Blacc Sam about the long journey to this new high point.

“This is the first marijuana licensed store under The Marathon brand. we got about 20 strains under The Marathon Cultivation brand… Hopefully we’ll get on to store number two strategically located within the city.”

Blacc Sam to Leafly at The Marathon Cultivation grand opening

Keep reading for our First Toke review of The Marathon Cultivation dispensary including exclusive quotes, visuals, and products from the big Day 1 debut.

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Immaculate vibes and customer service

The Marathon team has always been ahead of the curve with their branding techniques. Using QR codes to unite their music and merch is just one of many brilliant marketing moves that helped take Sam and Nip from selling illegally in their Crenshaw neighborhood to opening this massive TMC shop in Canoga Park.

The Canoga Park location feels like a new peak for TMC’s movement. The top flight security intake is some of the best you will see at any dispensary. But once you’re inside, the family atmosphere takes over.

The wood-finished decor and marble counters are inviting, and the velvet ropes and ordering tablets keep traffic moving while staying easy on the eyes. My favorite touch was the artwork displaying Nipsey’s chains on a scale that weighs out to 28.342 grams, an even ounce.

Even with an opening day madhouse, the staff was calm and courteous. We saw some walk customers through the wide menu while they gave other shoppers space to browse. Rap star Casey Veggies stopped by to support, one of many customers and influencers in the building. The positivity that Hussle and Blacc Sam have spread via The Marathon over the years was on full display. But did the products live up to the high bar they’ve set over the years?

Must-grab products from The Marathon Cultivation dispensary

“Nip always (was) a connoisseur of marijuana, wanting the best of the best,” Blacc Sam said. TMC’s products live up to that legacy with elite products for every type of smoker. Here are the items you have to ask for if you make it to the TMC store in Canoga Park.

Marathon OG by The Marathon Cultivation

Marathon OG continues to be one of the best OG Kush offerings on the market. Snoop, Wiz, B-Real all stamped it back when Nip first launched the strain. And it still hits like a heavyweight champ. Whether you want to get A buds or smalls, it’s the first thing you should ask for when you visit.

The Marathon Cultivation strains

If OG Kush isn’t your speed, try TMC’s new Crenshaw strain, or some fruitier options like Marathon’s Kiwi Strawberry Gelato, which Blacc Sam verified as “the best you’ll find.”

Sam’s confidence in The Marathon strains comes in part because he is willing to pay the high price tag because, “whether it’s profitable or not,” they just want to provide the gas. They have over 20 flavors available now, including Sharkbite, Vanilla French Toast, and Blue Pomegranate Gelato.

“All of em fire, but you gotta get that Gusherz, you gotta get that Biscotti, that Blue Pomegranate, and Shark Bite.”

Blacc Sam

$99 half onions (ounces)

The hundred-dollar onions caught my frugal eye. The bud still smokes better than most, and I can use the savings on a few top shelf strains and products, you dig?

Blu Money Exotics

Hoggy was a longtime collaborator with Nipsey Hussle, and he was even there when Nip came up with the idea for the Marathon OG strain. Now Hoggy is pushing his own Blu Money Exotics brand, which has strains like Blu Magic Tsunami and Jupiter available exclusively at TMC for about $70 per 3.5 grams.

Xeno by Alien Labs

The baller in me had to splurge on Alien Labs’ super hitter Xeno, which goes for $50 a gram. This strain was a hit at the Emerald Cup Harvest Ball in December and has continued to ring bells through 2022.

Biscotti and Gelato 41 pre-rolls by Connected Cannabis

Connected’s pre-rolls are highly-recommended for heavy tokers who are on the go. They will cost, but they’re clutch when you’re moving around and don’t have time or space to roll accordingly. Most companies throw their B-team buds into pre-rolls, but these Connected pre-rolls were as fresh and potent as their famously dank packs of flower.

Kiva 100mg edibles

These bad boys are another must-grab for under $25, with flavors and effects that include Wild Cherry Excite, Watermelon Lemonade Bliss, and Sour Orchard Peach Balance. Everybody loves Kiva, and with reason. TMC has the goods and at a great price. So cop up!

Nipsey’s legendary hustle lives on

Smokers Club founder Jonny Shipes helped break Nipsey as a national artist in the late 2000s. Shipes remembers the LA rapper “coming to New York City always wanting the best of the best weed, even back then when designer weed wasn’t a thing. Nipsey used to stay with the top-top-top flight (weed), that’s what we used to call it.”

Blacc Sam remembers Nip and his crew “used to hustle as much as they needed to hustle, just to get right, then come to the studio and spend as much time in the studio as possible.” But he didn’t just see weed as a side hustle to help launch his music career. Nipsey was planting the seeds that have now grown into The Marathon Cultivation.

According to Blacc Sam, Nip’s love affair with Kush started when a local supplier took a liking to him, and gave him the exclusive plug to his high grade Kush. “Since that time, Nip didn’t want nothing unless it was high echelon weed,” said Sam. “That Rolls Royce weed, as Hussle would call it. The best of the best.”

Long before TMC was licensed, Nip and Sam sold $5 sacks and hosted wake and bakes out of The Marathon Clothing shop, serving locals as well as Nip’s famous friends from across the country. The clothing store went from an abandoned parking lot to the heart of bustling shopping center, which Hussle and his estate would go on to own and rent to other local businesses.

“Police used to pull up because we had lines 50-60 people early in the morning,” Sam said in the riveting documentary about the making of TMC’s cultivation venture. “Police pull up like wtf is going on? We’re scared that the police are gonna raid it. (But) the customers wouldn’t even leave. (They) would be like fuck the police… We ain’t getting out of line.”

The brothers would go on to cultivate and brand the Marathon OG strain, since OG Kush was Nip’s favorite weed to smoke. They elevated their game by partnering with The Cure Company and building relationships with the Cali’s best growers.

“We asked him to promote having people come to our store (and) within three days he had a line down the block,” remembers Cure Company CEO Patrick Stad, who says Hussle was an early adaptor to licensing in cannabis. “Once I realized how much effect he had in the local market, I was really interested in doing business with him,” Stad said.

The Marathon continues

The TMC documentary shows the behind the scenes of how this dispensary came to fruition. In it, Blacc Sam insists that everyone take a look back at how much work Nip put into his vision before he passed. Sam also emphasized that cannabis played a big part in helping his brother bring his dreams to reality.

After many failed negotiations, the TMC team bought their California retailer license from an operator in Conoga Park that was known as Caña Farms. Next came a year-and-a-half hunt for handpicked genetics, which is why every time you stop by the TMC store or roll up some Marathon OG, you can feel the dedication to the craft in the air. “It’s got Bro’s DNA on it, Marathon DNA” Sam said in the TMC doc.

From creating his own strain in the streets and branding it as Marathon OG, to trailblazing licensing deals years ahead of the game, Nipsey’s rich legacy as a cannabis advocate and influencer lives on through The Marathon Cultivation dispensary. Stopping by should be on the bucket list of every weed lover, music fan, and entrepreneur who continues to be inspired by the great life and work of Ermias Asghedom, aka Nipsey Hussle.

My final score for the TMC dispensary experience and products? Perfect ten.

Visit The Marathon Cultivation dispensary in Canoga Park

Pull up in person at 257011 Canoga Ave, Canoga Park, CA.

Call ahead at (818) 591-5899.

Open from 6am-10pm every day