I have lived my entire life in Oregon, and have always loved music. That has made life tougher for me compared to other people that live in larger states that have more of a ‘music scene.’ There are not a ton of high profile music events in Oregon, which is not to say that we don’t have great music here, because we do, but we don’t have music events on the same level as a state like California. As an Oregonian I would travel to California from time to time for some huge music festivals, each of which had dozens of musical acts that I liked.
I was at a music festival in California in 2011 and I got a chance to meet the members of Cypress Hill. It is a moment that I often measure my life around, as in the pre-Cypress Hill meet up part of my life and the post-Cypress Hill meet up part of my life. The group was doing a meet and greet at the event, and I made sure to be one of the first ones in line. While I was waiting for my turn to meet the group, I couldn’t help but watch a guy whose sole purpose at the event seemed to be to roll blunts for the group members and entourage. This guy could roll blunts faster than anyone I had ever seen before, and they were all uniform in shape and size. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone as good at rolling blunts as he was.
I was left wondering if that was an actual job for the guy, or if he was just the best at it out of the crew so he did it out of necessity? He didn’t seem to actually be a part of the group’s crew, he seemed like an employee. I was never able to confirm it, but I do know now that there are actually quite a few blunt rollers in the music industry. So many that apparently Billboard was able to find enough of them to determine the average salary of a blunt roller while on tour. According to Billboard, it’s $500/week, and also includes free hotel and travel expenses.
As of this last Spring, a musician called Waka Flocka Flame was willing to pay up to $50,000 annually for a top notch blunt roller. That’s almost double the average salary. If you are a professional blunt roller who is employed in the music industry, I’d love to hear from you. Send me an e-mail. Although, if I were a professional blunt roller touring with a popular music group, I don’t think I’d take time out of my day to do any interviews with anyone. I’d be too busy living the dream!
