He turned a cannabis conviction into a legal dispensary. Now he serves tourists on their way to the Empire State Building. Here’s how.
In his Grammy-winning “99 Problems” music video, JAY-Z showcases Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, the neighborhood that raised him. If you look closely, you might catch a glimpse of Vaughn Jefferson (better known as Buddha Chief) throwing punches in the music video’s basketball scene.
Like JAY-Z, Jefferson is a Bed-Stuy native bridging music and business to new heights. Jefferson is the equity partner in Housing Works’ new NoMad dispensary location, opened in the last weeks of 2024. Cannabis had always been a part of Jefferson’s life, but it was only until recently that the opportunity to bridge legacy to legal materialized.
Jefferson grew up, in his words, at the height of the crack epidemic. Bed-Stuy was a vibrant community full of creative people (Big Daddy Kane grew up on his block), but it was mired in the War on Drugs. He was raised by his mother and grandmother (the original Buddha Chief). He started smoking himself in fifth grade (“too young,” he says), but he quickly realized its potential for musical inspiration and monetary gain rather than a personal pastime.
“Why am I doing this when I could just sell it to them? I have family, I have friends, I had classmates that all smoke. So my mindset was like, ‘this is what I’m going to do.’ And I took it to the moon from there.”
Buddha Chief
He got serious about selling weed upon graduating from high school, and quickly gained a reputation for his supply of Chocolate Thai, which was all the rage in Flatbush in the 90s. He was nimble and practical, but NYPD still managed to arrest him a couple times.
Jefferson’s mom, a corrections officer, gave him an ultimatum, and he agreed to go to community college—but it was more of a business opportunity than educational pursuit. Or maybe it was both. Jefferson went to Morrisville College upstate, where he found healthy demand for his product amongst students. It’s also where he found the connection to leverage his other lifelong passion, music.
Around the same time that he discovered cannabis as a child, Jefferson began frequenting a music studio on his block, one that recorded the likes of Mary J Blige, Biggie, and Method Man. It was life-changing.
“I actually froze, and I said, ‘this is never going to happen to me again.’ And I started to take (music) serious as an art form.”
Buddha Chief
He had a friend that made beats, and another that painted murals for the team of Lyricist Lounge, a pillar of New York City hip hop in the ‘90s. Then he got spots in music videos while still recording. At Morrisville, in the early 2000s, he met the multi-talented International P, who ran a recording studio when they got back to NYC. This turned into a recording home for Jefferson, and when the idea fomented for Fight Klub, a rap battle show that would air on MTV2, International P asked Jefferson to lead the show’s A&R.
Music has been one of many outlets for Jefferson’s mission of Bed-Stuy championing. Through Fight Klub, he learned video production, and parlayed it into his own documentary series about mental health, self-care, and the journey to, like his namesake, inner healing and peace.
“I see that a lot of people in my community and my culture have been dealing with trauma that stem from the crack epidemic. This docuseries (The Cure Rater) is meant to make us aware, but make it educational and entertaining. I utilize myself as an example of what it looks like to heal. I still go through my own personal growth.”
Buddha Chief
When whispers of legalization began around New York City, Jefferson took action. He started networking with other legacy players, like Happy Munkey, and attending industry events like On the Revel fairs. The process was rough, but the decision to partner with Housing Works was easy; their values on community support were fully aligned. “The work that they have already done in the nonprofit sector with the thrift shops and the fight for AIDS and homelessness—it just reminded me of what I’m trying to do in my community and with my own nonprofit.”
The NoMad location serves a new community (just blocks from the Empire State Building!) with the same care that the original Housing Works spearheaded back in 2022; great products, informed service, and a commitment to bettering cannabis’ legacy. Shop some of the state’s bestsellers like Rove, DANK. By Definition, Edie Parker, and Ayrloom, plus Housing Works merch.
Things often look cyclical in Jefferson’s life. His one-time gig in JAY-Z’s music video would years later become a job with the Shawn Carter Foundation. Many years after selling weed at Morrisville, it was the site of the announcement for his CAURD license. His childhood home is now his headquarters for non-dispensary endeavors. All the threads he’d woven in the legacy space, between cannabis, music, people, and community, have braided together.
“The irony of that is crazy, of full circle. I just feel it’s a spiritual, divine connection, as far as going from legacy to legal,” he says. But in a way it makes sense. All roads lead to Rome after all, or at least, to NoMad.
“None of them exist separately, right? They kind of all inform and blend into each other. A merging of many lanes and worlds that I come from and just bringing it to a head, because I am who I am.”
Buddha Chief
