Weed Beats: Cool Music To Listen To When High

By WeedMaps' Danielle Guercio, provided exclusively to Benzinga Cannabis.

There's nothing more relaxing than listening to a little music with a nice cannabis high circulating through your system. Other times, there's nothing more exciting — which is its own activity altogether. If you're smoking weed and listening to music to relax or get hyped, you're ahead of the curve. 

Neurologist Alice Flaherty researches creativity. She told Mic.com, "No one quite understands it, but the cannabinoid receptors seem to be involved in producing a watchful, alert state." This vigilance means that some people experience a richer sensory response to auditory stimuli like music, rendering it more enjoyable for some, provided it's the right type of music. 

What constitutes the best songs to listen to when high? Just like munchies, this all comes down to personal preference. It's safe to assume that if you already love a song, experiencing it while high might kick it up a few notches, but being buzzed is also a perfect time to experiment with something new.

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Why is music so good when high? 

Sensations like taste, sight and sound, are often felt more intensely with almost any intoxicant, even coffee can alter our perception. Cannabis has had a reputation for providing this enhancement for generations — ancient civilizations used it to increase sensory experiences. 

If you're a hip-hop fan or strictly listen to opera on vinyl, you will get more bang for your buck with the addition of cannabinoids. Daniel J. Levitin, music psychologist and professor of Psychology and Behavioral Neuroscience at McGill University, wrote in his book The World in Six Songs that THC's potential to make listeners feel euphoric and disrupt short-term memory allows listens to be more in the moment and “hear music from note to note.”

That sounds a bit scary, but it just means to use care when consuming, as too much sensory enhancement is overwhelming for some people. For example, though you may want music to sound better, you don't want to smell strong odors with more intensity at the same time.

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As for what you should listen to while partaking, one thing we can suggest is to focus on pro-pot artists. Every penny that you send to a cannabis-friendly musician or performer helps them accrue money, new listeners, click power and other ways to help you evangelize cannabis, via music stars. 

Here are several musicians who are popular within the cannabis community:

• Snoop Dogg
• Dr. Dre
• Pink Floyd
• Bob Marley 
• Jimi Hendrix 
• Grateful Dead
• Method Man
• Cypress Hill 
• Tame Impala
• Kendrick Lamar
• Flaming Lips
• Wiz Khalifa
• Berner

Does that mean these musicians have the best songs to listen to high? Not necessarily, but they have managed to be important musical artists within many pro-cannabis communities and the larger weed culture. Some people enjoy listening to the same music they normally listen to while enjoying cannabis products. Some people like to listen to Afro Man's “Because I Got High.” To each their own! 

While modern popular music fully embraces the plant, artists from almost every type of music have some triangulation to cannabis at some point, so no one should feel left out — even classical music composers and conductors are fond of the leaf. 

Featured image by art_rj/Shutterstock

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