Berner (rapper) explained

Birth Name:Gilbert Anthony Milam Jr.
Birth Date:27 October 1983[1] [2]
Birth Place:San Francisco, California, U.S.[3]
Years Active:2007–present
Genre:Hip hop
Label:GT Digital EMPIRE
Website:cookies.co
cookiessf.com

Gilbert Anthony Milam Jr. (born October 27, 1983), better known by his stage name Berner, is an American rapper and entrepreneur signed to Wiz Khalifa's Taylor Gang Entertainment. He has released over 50 albums, several of which have charted on Billboards "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums" chart.[4] As an entrepreneur, he created the Cookies brand of cannabis products and clothing wear that formed out of San Francisco in the early 2010s.[5] The company has grown to include dozens of dispensaries across the United States and abroad, along with multiple clothing stores.[6]

Early life

A Sunset District native, Berner attended Galileo Academy of Science and Technology before dropping out. His mother was an office worker and his father was a chef at a Mexican restaurant on Fillmore Street.[7] When Berner was 13, the family moved to Arizona, where his father planned to open a restaurant. During high school, Berner began battle rapping and in 2006 he released his first mixtape, Dirty Sneakers...Plenty Ways to Get It.

Musical career

After forming his own label, Bern One Entertainment in 2007, Berner released his debut album, Track Money & Pack Money, with Equipto. His first solo album, Weekend at Bernie's arrived in 2009, along with four other albums.

In March 2012, Berner signed to Wiz Khalifa's Taylor Gang Records. Urban Farmer, Berner's first collection to be released on Taylor Gang Records, was released on October 2, 2012. In 2013, Berner performed on the "Under the Influence of Music Tour" alongside Khalifa, A$AP Rocky, Trinidad Jame$ and Joey Bada$$. In 2015, Berner released Contraband, a collaborative album with Cam'ron, as well as Drought Season 3 with deceased rapper The Jacka. In 2016, Berner released the solo album Hempire, also producing a 4/20 show at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium with a lineup that included Cypress Hill, Juicy J, Dizzy Wright, J Boog, Kool John, and Berner.[8]

Urban Farmer, another of Berner's albums, features Iamsu! from The HBK Gang on two tracks; and the Jacka, Rydah J. Klyde and San Quinn on 21 Gunz.[9]

Berner's single, 20 Lights reached number 95 on the Billboard 200 chart. It was released on January 6, 2015. "Best Thang Smokin" is the lead single in Berner's album Hempire, released April 1, 2016.[10]

On May 4, 2019, he released the album El Chivo.

Cookies cannabis brand

Berner began working in the cannabis industry at age 18 at a San Francisco dispensary named The Hemp Center.[11] In the early 2000s he befriended a cultivator named Jai Chang (a.k.a. "Jigga"), who developed a strain of cannabis that he named "Girl Scout Cookies".[12] Berner and Chang began selling various strains that Chang developed to dispensaries, including Girl Scout Cookies. After the Girl Scouts of the USA sent a cease and desist letter, they named their brand simply "Cookies". Berner was also selling the strains to friends, including rapper Wiz Khalifa whom he met in 2010. Khalifa soon began mentioning Cookies in his rap songs, while Berner wore clothing bearing a Cookies logo in music videos that he appeared in. Berner went on to develop a line of Cookies clothing wear and opened the first Cookies clothing store in San Francisco in 2015.[13] He also began opening Cookies dispensaries, with the first appearing in Los Angeles in 2018, followed by the first on the East Coast opening in 2021.[14] Using a business model similar to franchising, Cookies expanded to a total of 49 dispensaries by June 2022 to go along with "Cookies SF" clothing stores in San Francisco and Los Angeles.[15] A third clothing store also serving as a "Cookies University" was opened in Manhattan in October 2022, but was later repurposed into a dispensary.[16] [17]

In August 2022, Berner was the first cannabis executive to be featured on the cover of Forbes magazine since it launched in 1917.[18] Forbes conservatively estimated the Cookies brand to be worth $150 million.

By January 2024, Cookies had expanded to 70 dispensaries across the U.S., Canada, Israel, and Thailand, according to a profile of Berner in The New York Times Magazine.[19]

Personal life

Berner was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer in 2021, but it went into remission after chemotherapy.[20]

He has a daughter and a newborn son.

Discography

Solo albums

Collaboration albums

Compilations

Singles

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: About Us . 2022-07-13 . cookies.co.
  2. Web site: 2022-02-01 . Berner the Business, Man . Bowers . Tom . 2022-07-13 . Leaf Nation . en-US.
  3. Web site: The Birth Of Gilbert Milam . californiabirthindex.org . March 19, 2023.
  4. Web site: Chapman . Wilson . Rapper Berner Joins Cast of Indie Thriller ‘The Low End Theory,’ Will Compose Soundtrack . . July 1, 2022 . en . June 29, 2022.
  5. News: Hasse . Javier . Rapper Berner Talks Cannabis Business Ventures, Shares Advice For Entrepreneurs . March 16, 2023 . Yahoo Finance . October 16, 2018.
  6. News: Wong . Claudine . Berner, Cookies founder, makes it big as Latino cannabis trailblazer . March 16, 2023 . KTVU . September 14, 2022.
  7. Web site: Harmon. Steve. How Do You Spell Hip Hop Entrepreneur? Berner. Huffington Post. June 17, 2016. August 12, 2016.
  8. Web site: Quitzon. Kimberly. Recap: Berner Presents Hippie Hill 2016. LA Music Blog. LA Music Blog. August 12, 2016.
  9. Web site: Meline. Gabe. Berner, the Rapper King of Girl Scout Cookies, Plays Tonight. SFWeekly. SFWeekly. March 22, 2016.
  10. Web site: Mench. Chris. Berner, Snoop Dogg, and Wiz Khalifa Burn One in Their Video for "Best Thang Smokin". Complex. Complex. March 22, 2016.
  11. News: Roberts . Chris . Million Dollar Cookie: How Berner Built a Business Empire on Marijuana . March 16, 2023 . SF Weekly . February 2, 2016.
  12. News: Yakowicz . Will . Weed vs. Greed: How America Botched Legalizing Pot . March 16, 2023 . Forbes . August 2, 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20221013001735/https://www.forbes.com/sites/willyakowicz/2022/08/02/how-america-botched-legalizing-cannabis-berner-cookies-kim-rivers-trulieve-steve-deangelo/ . October 13, 2022.
  13. News: Palmer . Tamara . Bay Area Rapper and Weed Entrepreneur Berner Opens Haight Street Clothing Store . March 16, 2023 . KNTV . May 18, 2015.
  14. News: Hanson . Melissa . Massachusetts becoming home to first Cookies cannabis dispensary on East Coast at site of Worcester’s New Dia retail store . March 16, 2023 . MassLive . August 26, 2021.
  15. News: Gilbert . Ben . The story of Cookies: How a former Wendy's employee turned a popular weed strain with a controversial name into a $1 billion empire . March 16, 2023 . Business Insider . June 8, 2022.
  16. News: Wolfer . Macey . Snapshots from historic Cookies SF opening in New York’s Herald Square . March 16, 2023 . MJBI . November 2, 2022.
  17. News: Roberts . Chris . New York lawsuit claims Cookies broke exclusive marijuana licensing deal . February 20, 2024 . MJBizDaily . February 2, 2024.
  18. News: Eustice . Kyle . Berner Makes History As First Cannabis CEO To Cover 'Forbes': 'The Definition Of Life Goal Shit!' . March 12, 2023 . HipHopDX . August 3, 2022.
  19. News: Marcus . Ezra . How Do You Make a Weed Empire? Sell It Like Streetwear. . February 20, 2024 . The New York Times Magazine . January 30, 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240206055215/https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/30/magazine/cookies-weed-berner.html . February 6, 2024.
  20. News: Kudialis . Chris . Berner on Fire: Cookies & Dough . March 16, 2023 . Cannabis Now . December 24, 2022.
  21. Berner 20 Lights (EP) Chart History . Billboard . May 3, 2019.
  22. Web site: Berner - From Seed To Sale . . October 28, 2022.
  23. billboardcharts. 1589807865111678976. Debuts on this week's #Billboard200 (1/3).... November 7, 2022. November 8, 2022.
  24. Web site: Berner & Cozmo – Respect the Connect . December 16, 2020 . Itunes.apple.com. . December 18, 2020.
  25. Web site: Berner & Tunde – They Land Better In Manchester – EP . Itunes.apple.com. . March 18, 2021.

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