Aapewoods is a street brand based in the heart of DTLA that has been blowing up in the past few years, known especially for their top-shelf, best-of-the-best weed. It’s the work of a young woman raised in DTLA who goes by Aape. Only in her mid-twenties, she’s already put in years on the trap scene, putting on major weed events, and eventually consulting and building brands.
She started Aapewoods in 2019 when she decided she had enough knowledge, taste, and connections to do her own thing. She launched specializing in expertly rolled blunts, but soon dropped flower as well. She’s now known for both flower and hand rolled j’s.
The name Aape came to her when she was thinking about branding her own work. “Ape is like a saying. You go ape, you go crazy. We really focus and work hard for what we want,” Aape says.
In between starting her own brand at 19, she managed to get her nursing degree with a minor in accounting and worked in an emergency room for a year before going fully independent with her business. She got the nursing degree to make her mom happy, although she says, “my mom raised me in business.”
“I’ve always known I wanted to work for myself. I want to have my own brand,” Aape said.
In business, she knows how the game works even at this young age. She’s seen a lot of street brands go rec and get their shit stolen out from under them, burning their brand out and disappearing from the scene.
The licensed route is not her immediate plan. “I don’t know if I really mind or care if I have something in a dispensary.”
She would prefer direct to consumer.
“If I put way too much out there, it’s gonna get burned out like a lot of other brands have done.”
She is known for quality and “It’s not just about my brand, it’s my name.”
Incorporating her classic car passion into her weed, she dropped a pre roll line around the classic cars she collects and restores. “Everything around weed and cars, that’s my thing.”
She’s also about giving back and supporting the community. Many people have worked with her over the years and her reputation in the streets is 100. She helps people get their brands popping off. She delivers free joints to the homeless downtown. And she uses her classic cars to raise awareness for things like cancer.
She’s one of a very few women on the scene, let alone being gay.
Other people in the business need to “see beyond me being a woman,” Aape says.
In general, the scene has not always been woman friendly or gay friendly. “But now I feel like, little by little, we’re kind of breaking that,” Aape says.
When taken seriously by her fellow male businesspeople she says “I could really teach how to manage their own brand, make it pop a little more. I love helping people out,” Aape says.
Follow and support on Instagram at Aapewoods and @ogbabyaape.
