Jay Z partners with Caliva
Cannabis company Caliva and Hip Hop icon Shawn “Jay- Z” Carter have entered into a partnership. Caliva and Jay- Z announce on July 9 that the hip hop mogul would come on as the Chief Brand Strategist. Caliva posted a statement on their website that Jay Z “will play a crucial role driving creative direction, outreach efforts and strategy for the brand”.
Here is the official statement from Jay-Z “Anything I do, I want to do correctly and at the highest level. With all the potential in the cannabis industry, Caliva’s expertise and ethos makes them the best partner for this endeavor. We want to create something amazing, have fun in the process, do good and bring people along the way.”
However, Jay- Z will be doing more than just using his celebrity status to drive sales. HOVA will use his influence from a social justice standpoint as well. Jay Z “will focus on and work to increase the economic participation of citizens returning from incarceration- many of who are not seeing the monetary benefits of legalization – through advocacy, training, and overall employee and workforce development.”
The goal is that this will help create more opportunity in the cannabis industry for all the people who were affected negatively but the “War on Drugs”. This is huge considering how much of the minority community is currently shut out of the cannabis industry. According to MJ business daily in 2017, 81% of cannabis owners are white. That is trending across the country. Social justice and cannabis will be an issue to keep an eye on at the industry grows.
Caliva made headlines late last year when they secured $75 million dollars in funding from an investment group that included NFL Legend Joe Montana and former yahoo CEO Carol Bartz. Caliva also partnered with Ben & Jerry’s on 420 to support Code of America and Clear My record, organizations that are dedicated to getting non-violent marijuana convictions expunged from their record.
In an interview on "Squawk Alley" Caliva CEO Dennis O’Malley had this to say about the partnership ““We obviously have aspirations to go beyond California into other states over the next couple of years, and we really believe that Mr. Carter’s creative genius and his ability to really have the pulse of what a cultural movement is will be able to help Caliva do that.” Keep an eye on Caliva, they are poised to make some huge moves in the coming months. According to Forbes the Northern California cannabis company grew 350% in revenue last year in spite of the strict regulations.