Wellness for rappers: Why we started Vellum Wellness

During my time interviewing artists and rappers as part of The Screen Girls, I witnessed firsthand just how busy their lives are, especially when they’re on tour. Between meet and greets, performing in new cities every night and living out of a suitcase, rappers are in need of some mindful rest.

The year was 2016

The Smoker’s Club was kicking off their sixth annual tour, headlined by rap icon and one of our favourite interviewee’s, Cam’ron. The first show was in our hometown, Vancouver, BC, so we created custom Vellum Wellness boxes for each artist to take along on tour. Each Vellum box was designed to help them to create a routine and to combat nerves, jet lag, insomnia, and the bout of sickness that inevitably hits while travelling for long stretches. We gifted the first prototypes of our wellness boxes to Cam’ron, as well as tour mates Smoke DZA, and AK the Savior and Issa Gold of The Underachievers.  

The first Vellum prototypes

     

It’s hard to maintain a strong self-care routine when you’re out of your environment and in a different city each night. With that in mind we created essential products to accompany each rapper on tour – five products that uniquely addressed the mental stressors that occur when touring for months on end. For a personal touch, we customized each product with the artist’s lyrics and a nod to joyful objects in their lives.

When creating a box for Cam’ron, we had so much history to reference as he’s been enjoying success in the music business since the ‘90s; from his time as a solo artist to performing with Harlem rap crew, the Diplomats. His eccentricity is matched in both his laidback rapping style on tracks and his fashion choices. He rocked a baby pink fur coat before it was cool, and reshaped the idea of masculinity in rap culture; for that he remains a rap legend.  

We knew Cam’ron would be getting plenty of groupie love while on The Smoker’s Club tour, so we thought we’d make his experience with the ladies more enjoyable with a soothing massage oil called RELEASE, to melt away tension with each stroke. We named Cam’ron’s Wit A Porno Flick, from his hit song “What Means the World to You” – a good track to set the mood.  This massage oil is packed full of relaxing essential oils like lavender, sandalwood and mandarin blended into silky jojoba oil. RELEASE is an excellent all-over body moisturizer and a gentle skin softener when added to a bath. 

After stepping off stage, there’s a surge of emotions coursing through an artist after performing for thousands of excited fans – that energy combined with jet lag makes it difficult to drift off to sleep. A nightly tour routine is not complete without a pillow mist to create a sense of familiarity wherever you may lay your head. We packed our DREAM mist with a tranquil mix of sleep-inducing oils like lavender, ylang ylang and mandarin, for Cam’ron to spray above his pillows for a refreshing night’s sleep.

Cam always looks his best, but we wanted him to feel his best on The Smoker’s Club tour, so we formulated ELEVATE, a hemp cream high in fatty acids to lather over his hands while mid-flight or after his many daily blunt smoking sessions with his tour mates. Hemp is one of the most exciting oils on the market, with many healing properties to keep the skin healthy and nourished.

Energy can get low when you’re out of your comfort zone, and buses, planes and hotel rooms become the new normal; so we created ENERGIZE a powerful pre-show roll-on, packed with peppermint to revitalize the mind and patchouli to help ground any last-minute nerves. 

One of the top complaints we’ve heard from touring artists, is how hard it is to stay healthy when performing, hosting after-parties that are followed by morning flights. To keep immune systems strong, we created a post-show roll-on called PROTECT. We named Cam’ron’s roll on Diplomat Defense, referencing the super group he created with Jim Jones and Juelz Santana. 

We knew we were on to something

  Cam'ron was very excited to have his own wellness routine

Our products were a hit with Cam'ron and we knew it was time to bring our ideas to the world. These tour-inspired products gave us the encouragement to start our brand and to bring a sense of wellness to everyone – even if we haven’t recorded a hit single or have shower curtains with our faces emblazoned on them.

We worked hard to create a personal care line that both men and women would love and soft launched Vellum in 2018, and officially launched January, 2019. It's been five wonderful years of building our Vellum community and we can't thank you enough for being part of our wellness journey.