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It’s one of those happy moments for the photographer Mark “The Cobrasnake” Hunter. His new book, “The Cobrasnake: Y2Ks Archive,” features a kaleidoscopic selection of photos that helped define the party scenes of Los Angeles and New York at the beginning of the 21st century. As if that wasn’t enough, he’s also earning kudos (and photo assignments) as a visionary of what fashion magazines are calling “a mid-aughts Indie Sleaze” revival. His relentless pursuit of the next party and the next photo brought him to the edgier fringes of the fashion, music, and art worlds, where he documented LA’s burgeoning underground nightlife scene that attracted up-and-coming stars like Kanye, Katy Perry, Jeremy Scott, Beth Ditto, Steve Aoki, Smanatha Ronson, Virgil Abloh and his personal muse Cory Kennedy. Before there was Instagram, there was The Cobrasnake snapping away and capturing the last generation of partiers to predate social media. We talk about his hope for the Indie Sleaze revival; growing up in LA; American Apparel; the return of Interpol, Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs and The Strokes; Paper and Nylon magazines. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Saul Williams is a legend who refuses to rest on his laurels. A pioneer of the Hip hop meets spoken word movement of the 90s, he created a lane that drove poetry from the musty halls of academe into the modern era. As a recording artist, he has worked with Rick Rubin, Trent Reznor, Nas, The Fugees, Erykah Badu, KRS-One, Zack De La Rocha, De La Soul, as well as poets Allen Ginsberg and Sonia Sanchez. Perhaps his most ambitious project to date is Neptune Frost, a sci-fi Afro-Futurist musical movie written, composed and co-directed by Williams. We talk about his love of Broadway, the writing of a modern musical, African e-waste camps where our tech goes to die, hip hop’s continued relevance as mixed media, making connections between the ancient and the future and much more. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Travis Mills and Nick Gross are Girlfriends. No, not like that. Like the pop punk band Girlfriends that’s dropping new singles as we speak with a full-length album out this summer. Once known by the stage name T.Mills, Travis rose to fame as a rapper collaborating with the likes of T.I., Dom Kennedy, and Ty Dolla $ign. He is also an actor and the host of the “Travis Mills Show” on Apple 1 Radio. Nick has produced songs for Ariana Grande and Wiz Khalifa while also playing drums for the band Goldfinger. He’s a serial entrepreneur and CEO of Big Noise Music Group. We talk about the resurgence of pop-punk, outlaw culture, the punk-hip hop connection, genre-free music, mental health and giving back. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Valentina Ferrer is half of a power couple with the father of her child, the Reggaeton super star J. Balvin. The Miss Universe contestant and entrepreneur grew up in modest circumstances on a mountaintop in Argentina in a large “hippie” family. Her lifestyle today as a supermodel and co-founder of Kapowder, a “superfood for superhumans,” is very different. We talk about being a businesswoman, raising a son in the age of social media, growing up a tomboy, her baby daddy J. Balvin and her love for Ed Sheeran, Beyonce and New York. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Daily Paper is an unlikely name for a fashion brand founded as a blog by three childhood friends from Ghana, Morocco and Somalia who met while living in Amsterdam. But there you have it. My guest today is Jefferson Osei, who along with his childhood friends Abderrahmane Trabsini and Hussein Suleiman, first started a blog – hence the name Daily Paper – that focused on their shared love for music, art, fashion, and culture. All that changed when they released a small collection of t-shirts that went viral. Today Daily Paper is a growing luxury fashion brand Inspired by African heritage –as well music, art, fashion and culture – translated toward a more western narrative. With retail stores in Amsterdam, New York and London – and fans like F1 driver Lewis Hamilton –  it’s full steam ahead for this forward thinking brand. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

As a teenager, Sevana was in a girl group competing on Jamaica’s version of American Idol. She came in third, positioned to take her career to the next level. But that wasn't the path taken by my guest Sevana, at least not at first. For Sevana, the journey from reluctant pop star to a recording artist fully embracing her black female identity is a story of professional and personal maturity. With the result that we are gifted by the presence of an artist who has found her voice. And with breakout hits like “Mango” and “If You Only Knew,” she is ready, willing and able to share it with her growing global fan base. We talk about the changing face of reggae, “Euphoria” Jamaican-style, her love of Marvin Gaye, Gunna and dance hall, starting her own label and raising positive vibrations with her music. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Ted Lidie is the man behind the premier west coast cannabis brand Alien Labs. A Cannabis Culture OG, he was born into a family business of growers in Northern California and learned the ropes working his way up from local dealer to dispensary door man to dispensary manager to his exalted position today as an industry elder who was able make the business legitimate in the 21st century. We talk about his preference for black market weed, the end of cannabis culture, the definition of “good weed,” and why New York City is primed to be the biggest cannabis market. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Whitney Beatty wasn’t particularly interested in the cannabis plant until a personal, transformative experience turned her around. For Whitney, it was a doctor’s suggestion that got her to pivot from entertainment industry executive to founder of Josephine and Billie’s – as in Baker and Holiday – the nation’s first black women-owned cannabis speakeasy. We talk about her transition from being a Detroit kid who said No to Drugs to an LA “Tea Pad” power player with backing from Jay-Z’s social equity fund. It wasn’t easy and she’s still putting in long hours, a rare black woman executive with a mission to help women connect with cannabis, whether by massage, talks, edibles or a good old fashioned smoke down. Her story is unique but universal, someone to watch as the cannabis world continues to unfold and expand. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

One fateful day Kyle Nelson rolled up to a Sweet 16 party wearing a Versace suit that prompted a friend to call him KSace. It stuck and he’s been building his name one improbable success story after another. You might say he’s been lucky. At the right place at the right time, naturally swag, fluidly moving from skate punk to Teen Vogue model to TV to rapping to becoming the face of YouTube music to his position with the fashion label When Smoke Clears. Yeah, he’s been lucky. But there’s more to it than pure luck. People say that when luck strikes you've got to be ready to seize the moment. You might say Kyle Nelson aka KSace was born ready. We talk about his love of fashion, the hard work behind “being lucky” and why 50 Cents is his favorite rapper of all time. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

When bling meets hip hop meets cannabis the business synergy can be explosive. At least that’s what Alex Todd of Saucy Farms and Extracts is counting on. Better known as a “celebrity jeweler” to clients like Jay-Z, Rihanna and Kevin Hart,  he’s feeling his way into a business which is very much of a moving target as rules and regs wind their way from local to state to national approval. We talk about his pivot to cannabis and its future in New York; east coast v. west; being an indie; and why it’s so hard to make money in this rapidly growing industry. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Once upon a time the British synth-pop group Tears for Fears sold over 30 million records with anthems like “Everybody Wants to Rule the World” and “Shout,” peaking in the late 80s before the duo of Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal decided it was time to break up the band. Reuniting in 2000, they’re back with a new album that’s energizing their passionate fan base as well as those who discovered them through samples and covers by The Weeknd, Kanye, Lorde and Nas. We talk with Curt Smith about New York back in the day, on not being a fashionable band, writing from the heart, the cult TV Show “Psych,” staying true to your roots, cannabis and California, getting sampled and dealing with Kanye. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

If you have a picture in mind of what a typical stoner looks like, Brett Heyman is here to prove you wrong. Married with children, she is the founder of the irreverent handbag company, Edie Parker, and its cannabis and smoking accessories brand Flower by Edie Parker. A red carpet regular who has her home featured in Architectural Digest, she's a veteran of the fashion world who has worked for Gucci and Dolce and Gabbana. While the rest of the fashion world sits on the sidelines of cannabis, Brett has made it her crusade, from both a personal as well as a social advocacy point of view. Dubbed the Coco Chanel of luxury cannabis by Forbes, she continues to literally make a statement by incorporating words like “Weed” and “Dope” into the design of her irreverent bags worn by the likes of Kacey Musgraves and other cannabis lovers attracted to her brand ethos: “For a good time, call Edie Parker.” We talk about New York as the epicenter of cannabis culture, the likes of Gucci and Chanel getting on the cannabis bandwagon, children and weed, and lighting up at the CFDA Awards. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.