Chicago "Bin Laden" Weed

This thread is to see if there is/was a strain referred to in Chicago as "Bin Laden" or "Bin Laden weed" during the early 2000s. I'm not sure if it's a ficticious strain from the song of the same name, by Three 6 Mafia from their 2003 album Da Unbreakables, or if it indeed was a real strain (be it a well known strain that was simply marketed as such for shock value, and perhaps to stand out from simply calling it "Afghan Kush" or whatever it really was, but for those of you unfamiliar with the song, it starts out with the following intro from Juicy J. I will however be censoring the N word. :

"Man.... Hey *****, check this shit out: We was up in Chicago, right? With my ***** Big Hemp, y'knowwhatI'msayin? Man, the ***** pass me a blunt, man, like "Smoke this shit, *****! This some of that Bin Laden Weed! Y'all don't know nothing bout this shit down south!" I was all like: "What? What the fuck is Bin Laden Weed?" The man said: "The shit's like three different kinds of weed, man, grown all together." He said that shit some straight killer. Them Chicago ******, man, they named that shit "Bin Laden Weed," man, some straight fire!"

Based on the intro alone, if there is any factual information, it would lead me to believe it's a hybrid of 3 different strains, presumably indica plants from the middle east, based on the title of the song, and Bin Laden being from the middle east, and even though he was Saudi Arabian but later ended up in Afghanistan and Pakistan, so this would further lead me to believe it's some sort of hybrid consisting of plants from this area. Many possible strains come to mind, such as Afghan Kush, Hindu Kush, or any other indica dominant well known strain that is known to have afghan in it.

Throughout the song, each rapper stresses the potency of this "Bin Laden Weed".

In the first verse, DJ Paul raps about how his vision gets blurry, he feels as if he's about to fall asleep, and even questions if he's going to OD because of it's potency.

In the second verse, Juicy J explains that he's smoking "Bin Laden" as a means of relieving his stress caused from falling outs he's had with other rappers that he considers inferior. He also claims that all of his friends in the "hood" have Bin Laden, and that just one puff will make you an "addict".

In verse 3, Lord Infamous says "It's glowing like it's indigo, I smell it through the bag, I'm floatin' like a magic carpet straight from Baghdad". I am unsure what to make of "It's glowing like it's indigo", and I'm not sure if he confused the word indica with indigo, and he passed away so it's not as if I can ask him, but if one were to take it literally, the "glowing" I would presume refers to the ammount of trichomes, and if he truly meant to say indigo, indigo is a rich dark purplish blue, which would lead me to believe that this "strain" was a purple strain. He even goes on to make the bold and potentially controversial statement "This ain't Indonesia, Colombian or Cali man
It's a bio-weapon, straight from the Taliban". That further leads me to believe it's an indica from the middle east, since that is where that horrible group of people are from.

In verse 4, Crunchy Black raps about how he needs his weed and smokes his weed, and also questions if people remember him for introducing them to "Bin Laden Weed". He makes the statement "Get your funds together" leading one to believe that this was sold at a higher price than other strains available at the time in Chicago. His verse is the last verse, and he ends it with the statement "This one blunt action you'll have to smoke and see. Have you choking, falling out with your family" leading one to believe that after just one blunt, you are properly medicated, that the smoke expands in the lungs and makes you caugh, and perhaps could cause family issues. The only "family issue" I could see, in terms of responsibility would perhaps being too stoned to do anything, and cancel your plans, or forget about the things you were supposed to do. This also leads me to believe it's an indica.

The only reason I believe there may be some credibility to this being an actual name going around for a strain that was a 3 way cross of 3 indicas, is that prior to this song, (Three 6 Mafia goes back to 95) they would always refer to the strains they were smoking, even naming Cambodian Red in an early song. Additionally, since then, Juicy J who has gone on to have great success with his solo career is also known for specifically naming strains that he enjoys and smokes in his songs. While they do have songs where they use generic terms such as "bud" "hydro" "loud" "gas" and even just "weed", they have always been known to mention a strain by name if they are rapping about it.

I am not from Chicago which is why I am posting this for information. I could also see it simply being a well known indica that was named "Bin Laden" as I mentioned earlier, for shock value, or for marketing purposes. When the song was released in 2003, 9/11 was still fresh in everyones mind, and drug dealers have been known to sometimes mark their product or name their product after a very controversial figure. For example, sometimes baggies are stamped with pictures of political figures, or people perceived as monsters such as Bin Laden to either A. Marketing or B. Also marketing, but usually as a sign that it's of very higher quality. This can be seen in the black market with all sorts of substances.

I am seeking this information from people who may personally know members of Three 6 Mafia, but more likely, and more importantly, people who lived in Chicago post 9/11 2001 - 2003 and knew what strains and bud was going around, especially in "the hood". Unfortunately in the song, it's not specified what side of Chicago this was popular in.

DISCLAIMER: I kindly ask any possible trolls or haters to refrain from posting anything that is not relevant to my question. For example, if you have a personal dislike for hip hop, or are racist or classist, this thread is not for you. If you have had the luxury of never having to buy herb from the black market in "the hood" of American cities, and/or look down upon the black market in general, this thread is not for you. If you think that I am glorifying or romanticizing arguably one of the most controversial and hated human beings in modern times, this thread is not for you, as I don't do politics, and I hate war, and do not belong to, nor support any extremist group that commit acts of terror.

My personal thoughts? It very well could be any well known indica hybrid that was simply marketed with the name in Chicago, or it indeed was bred by a low key breeder and named Bin Laden. Perhaps it was a clone passed, or seeds passed down of a cross labeled "afghan x (hindu x pakistan) and the person who grew it simply named it Bin Laden.

P.S. While are are welcome to contribute, my goal of this thread is for someone from Chicago in the know to come forward and clear things up, so people from Chicago, Illinois and surrounding areas would have more knowledge about this than say someone from another country, or from states not considered the midwest.

Thank you in advance,
Tetra

its a phrase about making life choices that you soon forget or regret to remember. i dont like it either placing blame on a fine herbal substance instead of the person as individual. Feeling sad or hopeless to remember. i assure you it is not a strain yet; feeling good and not wanting to remember and make life's choice. Going back on a tu rn.

Well being from not to far from Chicago I can attest there was weed being called Bin-Laden. But this was all after that single cane out.
So most likely it was just a name to try and jack up prices. Seen everything from “hydro” (lime green super sticky buds) to steamed brick labeled as Bin Laden. Basically any dealer that had 2 different types of weed would automatically name the better looking one Bin Laden and try charging up to double.

Also I think you are WAY over analyzing the song looking for strain info. Rappers are essentially story tellers and have the creative freedom of artists. They can say anything they want as long as it rhymes and it could be completely meaningless in reality.

So with that being said is that we all know who Bin Laden was and was about. With the time frame being what it was, I believe calling a bag Bin Laden was just another, more urban way, of calling it “killer weed”. So instead of the dealer or smoker saying “hey this stuff I got is some killer bud” they would say “yo this some of that bin laden weed”. This is just my opinion with my experience being a Great Lakes area smoker during that time frame.

Thank you J-Icky for your input, that makes a lot of sense and is what I had always assumed to be the case, but wasn't sure if there was an actual strain called Bin Laden, pre the Three 6 Mafia song.

Your statement about rappers being story tellers and have creative freedom is true (at least real rappers, not ones who depend on ghost writers), and it's fact that many rappers have, and continue to say things that are completely meaningless and make no sense, but rhyme. (Especially in today's rap). I don't disagree with any of that.

The only reason I have to believe that indeed there was a strain, or as you pointed out, just killer herb, called Bin Laden, pre Three 6 Mafia, is for the fact that it's not uncommon for them to name actual strains. Them, being from Memphis, Tennessee, and being introduced to "Bin Laden" weed by a friend in Chicago seems very plausible, and seems to have left an impression on them to make a song about it.

I'm sure that AFTER the song many people started calling weed "Bin Laden" weed due to the songs popularity, and as the reasons you listed. In fact I'm sure that's why it was named that way to begin with, but as you've stated, you've seen everything from good bud to brick bud being called Bin Laden and are near the area, so you would know best.

With this information, this leads me to conclude that Three 6 Mafia were simply in Chicago, and smoked a really potent strain that they were told was called "Bin Laden". I believe that they believe whatever strain they were presented with was actually called Bin Laden, and perhaps (with their fame, and money) there really was a 3 way hybrid containing afghan or pakistan that was sold or presented to them as Bin Laden, and them being from down south, took the person's word for it.

Once again, thank you J-Icky.

Anyone else from the Chicago area with experience with "Bin Laden" weed now that it has been established that it really was a term dealers would label their bud regardless of strain?

Does anyone have experience with high grade flower post 9/11 - pre 2003 being sold and being consistant in taste, looks, smell, and high named Bin Laden?

Sincerely,
Tetra

To be honest, I'm surprised no seed company has tried capitalizing off of this, as Serious Seeds did with their strain "Chronic".

EDIT: I can imagine Arjan and if Franco was alive (RIP), Franco, making a video showcasing their "Bin Laden" plants and seeds. I can envision Arjan's voice saying "Here it is people. Straight from Chicago we have sourced Bin Laden. Look how thick these buds are, they are so dense and sticky, it's properly named, this is one of our heaviest hitters, available now, and for sure will be a cup winner. Just look at these buds!" lmao.

Always thought it just meant some strong ass weed because in the south back then it was mostly Mexican brick weed. And their connects in Chicago had the dank afghani hybrids that probably came from cali or grown locally and they probably just called it Bin Laden. Never really thought too much about it otherwise though. Glowing like its indigo could indicate purple colored buds.

Unfortunately I can't spread any more rep today, but I agree with you watts regarding the line leading one to believe it being a frosty purple bud. And you're right. I'm from Indiana, about 4 hours from Chicago, been to Chicago plenty of times, bought weed from people standing outside gas stations, and never was sold "Bin Laden" weed, hence why I made this thread. I'd normally get really good bud grown in Bloomington, Indiana. Most of the good bud in Indianapolis was from Cali, not Chicago at least in my experience and was always named. I had plenty of mexican bud connections as well, ironically not from Mexicans, but from the Aryan Brotherhood. (No, I'm not AB, but was friends with the children of a member who ran things from behind bars as far as the Mexican weed coming into Lafayette from Texas but that stopped once they discovered his operation and his cell phone. Everything ranging from cheap fully seeded bud great for making oil, and great for experiencing unique terp profiles, to bud that you would think I was lying if I said it was mexican.) BTW, I found it pretty bizarre as I always had assumed the AB were all white supremecists, etc... but I'm latino, and they did plenty of business with the Mexicans, and had no problem treating me with the upmost respect. Heroin could have played a big part on everyone getting along back then as well, because at the time Indiana was hit HARD with heroin and I am not ashamed to admit that I was an opiate addict and regular IV heroin user but that's in the past. I have been 100% clean of all opiates since January 2011.

People in Indiana would generally call good bud "dank", "dro", "murda" "killer" if they didn't know the actual strain name. Apart from the song, I never encountered anyone selling or referring to bud, even a heavy indica as Bin Laden weed but I agree that initially it perhaps could have been a real strain, but after the song, it just became a Chicago term. No one from Chicago raps about it though, especially now, when everyone now just refers to good weed as "loud" or "gas".

I do know that amongst my group of cannabis enthusiast friends, we always just assumed Bin Laden weed simply was an indica hybrid that was re-named Bin Laden for shock value, or an actual ellusive strain. None of us could ever find anyone selling it, or claiming to have experience with it.

Indiana was hell on earth for me and my friends many of whom are no longer alive or are in jail or prison, or will forever be meth or opiate addicts which was a big factor in me saying fuck it, and moving to my homeland and getting away from nothing but cornfields, toxic people, and hard drugs. I beat my opiate addiction and fulfilled my dream of getting out of that horrible place, something that can be verified in my posts from around 2010, and 2011.

Lived in Chicago for 43 Years


Never heard of it

I'm going to come up with my own hybrid and name it the Quran. Because when you burn it, you get stoned.

Back then the Mexican gangs had all the brick imports on the street. That was the bobby brown. Seeded mexican brick.
If you went out west or south you could find "dro" and "light green" here you could find sinsi buds of higher quality, most grown locally by the vice lords and bd's.
The bin laden weed was not a specific strain. That was cali imports. Usually og. That's why it cost more.
The price wouldnt change per bag they just got smaller. 20 bucks for a .5 or .7 for "bin laden"
20 bucks for a solid g of "dro" or "light green".
Bobby brown was 10 bucks a g or Nickel bags for .5

That's how I remember it anyhow.

Tonygreen said:

Back then the Mexican gangs had all the brick imports on the street. That was the bobby brown. Seeded mexican brick.
If you went out west or south you could find "dro" and "light green" here you could find sinsi buds of higher quality, most grown locally by the vice lords and bd's.
The bin laden weed was not a specific strain. That was cali imports. Usually og. That's why it cost more.
The price wouldnt change per bag they just got smaller. 20 bucks for a .5 or .7 for "bin laden"
20 bucks for a solid g of "dro" or "light green".
Bobby brown was 10 bucks a g or Nickel bags for .5

That's how I remember it anyhow.

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Damn! Thank you for the extremely valuable information I was seeking. CASE CLOSED as far as I'm concerned, but those prices!

I remember in 2008, 4/20 actually, I was attending a The Mars Volta concert at the Aragon Ballroom, and prior to the show we ended up getting lost, as there are so many damn streets named "washington" that we ended up at some gas station looking for directions. Immediately I was approached by someone asking if I needed anything. I didn't want to risk getting ripped off, because these people were dressed in heavily worn and dirty clothes. (The guy who approached me had a friend who tried to sell me crack, and was persistant. I eventually had to give him 5 dollars just so he'd go away and leave me alone).

Anyway, as I said I didn't want to risk getting ripped off, so I decided I'd just buy a G, once he informed me it was 10 a g. Way cheaper than Indy prices for a G, so I was down. I didn't mind losing 10 dollars at the time. I had no idea what to expect in terms of quality, and assumed the guy had it on him, but he quickly ran off.

I assumed my fear was true, and that he ran off with my money, but his crackhead friend who was still trying to sell me crack, and even tried to get me to smoke a roach of a blunt with crack in it, in an attempt to "introduce" me to it, but stimulants are not my thing, and I wasn't stupid, assured me that the guy who ran off would be back. I was skeptical.

Sure enough, just as fast as he ran off, he ran back and gave me a full G in a purplish pink translucent small baggie. It reminded me of the way they sell g's in NJ and NYC.

I have no idea what strain it was, he didn't even refer to it by any generic term. When he approached me asking if I needed anything, I said something along the lines of "some good bud would be nice" and then inquired for the price per gram. It was one of the most sweet smelling, frosty buds I had encountered in my life, and super cheap. It would have gone for at least 20 in naptown. I was pleasantly surprised. It had a very sweet and fruity taste. It didn't kick my ass, but it was no mids or shwag by any means. I recall being pleasantly medicated but it was more of a relaxing mental and body high, very very nice, but not very potent.

After realizing how open the market was in Chicago, dkmonk (RIP) and I would occasionally (like once every other month) make trips to Chicago and go to "dangerous parts" and buy G's from various people for variety and just adventure. We met a lot of BDs and GDs and got introduced to the term "on foenem (sp?)" when they would assure us it was good.

Never was told any strain name, and when asked the dealers never knew, and from our brief time period of going on our adventures the dealers at gas stations or on the corners usually never had it on them, they'd have to go and get it, and come back. Only a few occasions did a very friendly GD who was really into Avenged Sevenfold and kept talking to us about them, as if we were fans (we weren't) would have it in his pockets.

We would go to the "dangerous parts" intentionally and never had any issues with being robbed, shot at, or stabbed, etc.. We came to the conclusion that they would have no reason to harm their customers as it would be counterproductive, as well as hypothesized that they simply sensed we were no threat, and we treated them with respect so they treated us with respect back in return. I'm sure if we were assholes to them, or gave off a bad vibe, our experience would have been different.

But never once did any of the dealers have any knowledge of the strain, and never once was it remarkable, but it was always really good. Sinsemilla, a step above mids, always a nice taste and scent, but never anything hard hitting. This was before the term "loud" and/or "gas" was popular, but I do recall some just saying "it's kush", but never specified what type of "kush", and it was nothing like OG Kush, Hindu Kush, Master Kush, Afghan Kush, etc... it was what I presume is the "dro" you are referring to on "foenem" lol.

TBH, I found the "dangerous" parts of Chicago to be more friendly and "safer" than the "dangerous" parts of Indy. Never any issue with the law in Chicago either, it seemed they turned a blind eye to the open market.

I'm a 30 minute drive from Chicago or 20 minutes using the south shore which I like to do. Bin Laden weed was a thing for a while and basically was any fire weed one had. Just like calling it dank, dro, killer, it was to reference good weed. Chicago weed was always more expensive than in my home town but I would go there when it was dry here.

tetragrammaton said:

We would go to the "dangerous parts" intentionally and never had any issues with being robbed, shot at, or stabbed, etc.. We came to the conclusion that they would have no reason to harm their customers as it would be counterproductive, as well as hypothesized that they simply sensed we were no threat, and we treated them with respect so they treated us with respect back in return. I'm sure if we were assholes to them, or gave off a bad vibe, our experience would have been different.

TBH, I found the "dangerous" parts of Chicago to be more friendly and "safer" than the "dangerous" parts of Indy. Never any issue with the law in Chicago either, it seemed they turned a blind eye to the open market.

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Take a drive through the west side long enough people will throw you drugs with a phone number attached to the bag. People will try to flag you down at every stop. If somebody was to try and harm you the local gang running the area would probably shoot them as they want your business and many of them really do make you feel comfortable in the area. They don't treat their customers like shit either they have respect for their customers especially repeat customers. Shit can still happen though, rival gangs will shoot customers out of spite it just doesn't happen often enough to worry about and you have to be in a worst case scenario type of situation.

Dude. lol.

What a flashback. Had to throw on some Vivaldi to get that damn chorus out of my head.

Born and raised, though. Never seent it.

Maybe a bit later you started to see kush or diesel pop up. Nothing on the street was named except fat man on the 800 block of Lawndale used to have blueberry dro ha.

Open air drug market is right lol. If you were savvy enough to ask for the whole jab you could get 12 bags for 100 lol

If you wanted named shit mid 2000 you had to know a grower. Northwestern and Loyola were always a place you could find a college kid growing if you poked your head around enough.

Prop 215 slowly changed the weed game but chicago has always been far behind the canna culture compared to cali, in general population terms. Every year in 2000s more and more imports came in. Once enough exposure to high quality flower happened the cartels got smart and sold more cocaine and heroin and the mexican brick dissapeared with cheap cali outdoor of much higher quality taking over the general market.

The Jews in Skokie were growing too. Hard to get in with them but that was another source of better weed early 2000. That wasnt on the street though lol.

Whats after this hyped made up mythical strain Robert James O'Neill the strain that killed "Bin Laden" come on.

Aw, I was hoping this was gonna lead to a landrace up in the mountains of Tora Bora that bin laden's bunch were growing and trading with the pakistanis for whatever. Heavy hitting afghani. Oh well. Storm Shadow seems to be doing ok with seeds from that region.

This is stoned humor around my parts BTW, in case anyone is wondering. Except for Mr. Storm Shadow's stuff, that is the real deal looks wise. He ought to call it soleimani.

Back to the chicago thread. Here are the lyrics to that catchy tune:

https://www.metrolyrics.com/bin-laden-lyrics-three-6-mafia.html

Who got that crippy weed ...

Well you clearly didn't read my disclaimer on the OP @hempy because you are bringing nothing useful into this thread, and if you read the thread, you would realize that indeed in the early 2000's they were selling "Bin Laden" weed in Chicago, verified by 'Boogieman`, Tonygreen, and J-Icky which was simply an umbrella term for quality Cali imports, or indeed there could have been an actual strain named Bin Laden, and then it was just copied and everyone called their good weed Bin Laden to sell it for a higher price.

Here is the song. I hope you enjoy it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y50eNpEqbTg

I don't think Bin Laden smoked weed.