Featured image courtesy of Anastassia “Saywordstaz?!” Whitty
Music and cannabis share a remarkable ability to enhance our experiences, inviting us to connect more deeply with ourselves and the world around us. Collectively, they create a space for reflection, creativity, and pleasure.
High Notes explores the intersections of music and cannabis, highlighting the records that elevate the moment.
New York-based producer and creative artist Anastassia “Saywordstaz?!” Whitty moves through hip-hop with a sense of curiosity, patience, and play. Drawing from boom bap, jazz, and the sounds of the underground, her production is built around dynamic arrangements and the kind of details that invite listeners to sit with a song and get a little lost. Mentored by Ski Beatz, she’s developed a sound of her own—one that favors atmosphere and movement over playing it safe.
Whether she’s crafting a beat, digging through sounds, or setting the mood with a cup of spearmint tea in the early morning, Saywordstaz?! approaches music as an experience.
In this edition of High Notes, Saywordstaz?! shares the albums that transport her to “Cloud 9,” the production choices that keep her locked in, and how community, cannabis, and curiosity shape the way she creates.
The Emerald Magazine: What album would you choose as the perfect soundtrack for a smoke session. What makes it special to you?
Staz: I’d probably have to go with either Fly Anakin and Pink Siifu’s FlySiifu’s or Mac Miller’s Faces. I really can’t choose between the two. They’re both some of my favorite projects on this planet. They put me in this nostalgic trance where I can just zone out and get lost in the music. It’s really the feeling they give me and how the production goes into these projects that makes them perfect for a good smoke sesh.
Emerald: When did you first discover this album, and how did it shape the way you experience music?
Staz: I discovered FlySiifu’s in 2024 after one of my friends in music put me on. I know I really love a song or album when I start stimming over it, and that definitely happened with this one. Not long after, I started going to their shows and really diving into their music.
Faces is different because I’d already been listening to Mac Miller for a long time. When he first dropped it as a mixtape around 2014, I fell in love with the whole project. After his passing, it became even more special to me, so I really hold that one close to my heart.
Both of these projects take me somewhere that almost feels like Cloud 9. That feeling has shaped how I create my own music too. When I hear those crazy progressions and unexpected sounds, that’s the same kind of experience I want to give people with my music. Something they can get completely lost in.
Emerald: Are there any specific songs, production choices, samples, or moments on this record that you find yourself returning to?
Mind Right—FlySiifu’s. Jay Versace produced this one and absolutely killed it.
Therapy—Mac Miller. When I found out that Syd sang on the chorus, it made me love it more.
Emerald: As a producer, what makes a beat or album feel immersive to you? What elements make you want to sit with a project and really listen?
For me it is the right choice in progression. If it takes me to another level it’s solid. I need dynamics. I don’t do surface level sounds. I want arrangement , movement, unexpected change ups. Lyrics play a role after that. The flow and swing is so important. Both have to balance each other out and that’s what I hear in these projects.
Emerald: How do you find inspiration in your own creative work? Are there any rituals, routines, or environments that help you get into that mindset?
Staz: I find it in different ways, in the community I’m in, the homies, YouTube beat sets or the tutorials Dibiase puts out. I also find it in the music I play in my crib. When I really want to create, though, I like to set the vibe early in the morning before there are any distractions. Make my spearmint tea real quick and I jump right into it.
Emerald: Does cannabis intersect with your relationship to music? If so, how?
Staz: I’d say it does. It helps me relax and enjoy every sound. I be chilling. When I go to beat sets in Brooklyn that’s the perfect place for it too because all the homies are on the same page. It’s what helps connect me to their music too.
Emerald: What artists or albums have had the biggest influence on your approach to production?
Staz: Boom Bap is such a dope genre I can’t seem to get out of, I love it too much. If I had to pick artists I’d say Mos Def, Digable Planets, Mac Miller, Mndsgn and Fly Anakin just to name a few. My mentor Ski Beatz had some production work that was the biggest influence on my approach when I started out a few years back. His sound is what I feel helped me find my own sound.
Emerald: There’s a sense of patience and intentionality in your work. How does that “slow burn” approach show up in your creative process?
Staz: I think the slow burn shows up in how I let the music build instead of trying to force everything at once. I like to arrange my music almost like I’m telling a story. I’m always thinking about where it’s going next, when something should switch up, or where a rapper might come in and take it somewhere completely different. It all just depends.
Emerald: If you were curating the soundtrack for a smoke session using three songs from your own catalog, what would you choose?
Staz: I got so many but if I had to choose some it would be:
Outer?!—Honey on Mars album
Run with me?! —Swim 2 album
HighProvolone (infused)—Muenster Cheese album
Emerald: What are you currently working on, and what should listeners keep an eye out for?
Staz: Right now I just released my project Honey on Mars. It’s super out there. The whole idea is to take you on a journey to Mars, so I played around with a lot of weird sounds that somehow just work together and fit that world.
Before that, I dropped a tape called Muenster Cheese, and the name pretty much tells you what you’re getting. The whole project is about cheese, and every song and title connects back to the meaning or idea behind a different type of cheese. I like building little worlds around my projects and letting the music tell the story. Both are up on my Bandcamp, so definitely check those out.
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