Berner Bio/Berner Career
Early life
The San Francisco native/Entrepreneur Gilbert Milam Jr. (better known by his rap moniker Berne) grew up in San Francisco and lived there for awhile before moving out to Arizona when he was 16 to live with his father. Berner’s dad was planning on starting a restaurant a Mexican Restaurant in Arizona but things didn’t work out and Gilbert eventually ended going back to San Fran. He never graduated high school or attending college. He started running a Cannibis and bartending at a night club when he was 18.
Music Career
He actually learned how to rap while living in Arizona. A classmate named Wicked Wizard was trying to sell him a worn karaoke machine. He bought the karaoke equipment and used it to making mixtapes of himself rapping over different beats. Over the years he honed his craft and released several street albums that began to generate some buzz in the local underground scene.
In 2007, Berner released his debut album, Dirty Sneakers... Plenty Ways To Get It (with Equipto). He soon followed up the well-received strret album with Track Money And Pack Money. In 2008, he released the first installment of his Drought Season with Bay Area legend The Jacka.
In 2009, he released five studio albums on his own indie imprint Bern One Entertainment: Drought Season 2 (with The Jacka), Duffle Bag Money (with Equipto), Blow (with Messy Marv), Traffic (with Ampichino), and the compilation-esque album Weekend At Bernie's with production by Cozmo, Gennesse, Stinj-E and features by Bun B, BG, Slim Thug, B-Legit, San Quinn, Dru Down, Kazkyzah, Noble (Outlawz), Jacka, Sean Paul (Young Bloodz), Lee Majors, Matt Blaque, Keak Da Sneak and many more. In 2010, Berner released the second installment of the highly sucessful Blow series, Blow: Blocks And Boat Docks (with Messy Marv). In 2010, He recorded his long-awaited second solo album The White Album and it was released in 2011. In 2012, Berner joined the Taylor Gang family and signed to Wiz Khalifa’s Taylor Gang Records. Urban Farmer, Berner’s Taylor Gang debut was released on October 2, 2012 and was an instant hit. In 2014, he released his first collaboration album with Cypress Hill’s frontman B-Real entitled Prohibition. In 2015, he released his third solo album 20 Lights, his second collaboration album with B-Real, Prohibition Part 2, and Drought Season 3 with The Jacka on his Bern One Entertainment label.
Berner also operates the Freshko clothing company with Wiz Khalifa and Al Freshko and cultivated his own Girl Scouts Cookies strainand. He also has his own line of hemp water aptly titled HEMP2o (hemp seed oil vitamin water).
