The legend of Gary Payton has seemingly grown to new highs, since his 2007 departure from the Association. Nicknamed The Glove, for the way he stuck to any and everyone he was defensively assigned to, GP was named to a record nine NBA all-defensive first teams. Even though during an interview from, THE LAST DANCE, where MJ is quoted to have said he had no problem against the ’96 Seattle SuperSonics and even laughed off The Glove in a scene eerily reminiscent to OJ in court, Gary Payton still managed to get a ring with Miami in 2006.
It isn’t often that you see an athlete with such credentials as the ones that Gary Payton amassed during his playing days, retire, and go to pot, or so to speak. In a truly unprecedented maneuver (Chris Webber also just released a strain with Cookies’ collaborators FIORE), which organically aligned The Glove with Berner, the CEO and creator of Cookies. Gary Payton became the first to license his name and likeness to Cookies, during a meeting between GP and Berner in Oakland. This meeting was sparked by mutual friends of the two, tagging GP in the #20 hybrid strain. Cookies, in collaboration with Powerzzz Genetics, had been experimenting with different Feno types. The number twenty, which happened to be the number GP donned during his daze with Seattle, was the 20th strain in the works, which was a cross between the popular strains Snowman and Y and the Cookies x Powerzzz collab dropped in 2019. As DZA put it, “We Cross the genetics; give em A.I. moves.”
Fast forward to July 4th, 2021, 4:20am. Arlington’s finest, AYYEE LUV dropped the single GARY PAYTON, featuring SMOKE DZA. The Ty Rellington produced cut is the perfect DMV summer anthem for smokers. The relaxed cadences over the smooth jazz horns put you at ease while both LUV and DZA talk that fly shit and if you listen closely, you just might catch on to some game as they hand off a slight blueprint on how to push them zzzaaa packs, in and out of a city near you.
AYYEE LUV is no stranger to the DMV music scene. His father is a legendary DJ, known for ushering the historic sound of DC GOGO, into the VA clubs, as the B2B CONNECTION. The Brother 2 Brother Connection, which also includes AYYEE LUV’s uncle, has been a prominent part of the DMV, due to the motorcycle club they created, which caters to the neighborhood kids and the community day celebration that’s been running strong for over 25 years. All of this plays heavily into the type of person AYYEE LUV has become, down to the moniker, GOGO; Go Out and Get Ours, instilled in him by his father.
Cool Clientele is the name AYYEE LUV gave to his creative outlet. This encompasses the work of not only his music, but the various vlogs, art collabs, and clothing lines represented through him and his homies. You can catch his man and closest collaborator, VIVID DOPE, one of the DMV’s most important photographers, on some of the freestyles AYYEE LUV has on his site, along with various photoshoots and merch drops, that the two both rep.
Ty Rellington, also a DMV native, has contributed to a number of projects with the Cool Clientele conglomerate. When you catch these cats out around the way, you will almost always see the eat. logo. The brand is owned and operated by Malik Jarrett, a close college friend of VIVID’s (shout out Bowie State). eat. has been able to collab with the likes of New Balance, producing multiple 990’s, including the kicks Jack Harlow said were his favorite shoes of the year, and is quickly becoming the most recognizable DC line, outside of Solbiato. I’m still hoping we will get a video at the DC Warf, for BOATLOADS, by SMOKE DZA and JACK HARLOW. Jack better be rocking them eat. kicks.
Anyway, the GARY PAYTON collab came about when the Cool Clientele ran into DZA at Walemania, 2019 in NY. The track really came to fruition when they again, crossed paths with DZA while out in Colorado for a RDGLDGRN show. It really was a blessing to be able to get the SMOKER’S CLUB rapper to do a verse, as he was dealing with the passing of his father. He told LUV that staying in the studio helped immensely to deal with the pain. Kind of crazy how it all worked out.
After finding out GARY PAYTON was dropping, I knew I had to get up with LUV to see what it was all about. He told me to come to the release party at Cloak and Dagger and we got to chop it up with a Napalm grenade of the GARY PAYTON strain. This was a collab between Cookies and Xzibit’s Napalm cannabis company. What better way to celebrate GARY PAYTON than, with a seven gram grenade of… GARY PAYTON?!?!
@ayyeeluv
@smokedza
@tyrellington
@vividdope
@eatthebrand
@allhomage
@berner415
@gary.payton.20
@cnrondo
by CN Rondo
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