Jay-Z joins new California cannabis company as chief visionary officer

Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter is no stranger to the burgeoning cannabis industry. He recently launched his own cannabis brand called Monogram. Prior to opening his cannabis make, the billionaire rapper had served as Chief Brand Strategist for Caliva since July of 2019.

According to Bloomberg, Jay-Z has been appointed as the chief visionary officer of Subversive Capital Acquisition Corp, a special-purpose company that is acquiring cannabis firms in California.

Subversive Capital Acquisition Corp is buying Caliva, the largest vertically-integrated cannabis company in California and Left Coast Ventures Inc., a producer of cannabis and hemp products.

According to Bloomberg, the deals will create a new holding company, TPCO Holding Corp, and include $36.5 million of equity commitments from new and existing shareholders. Caliva and Left Coast Ventures expect combined revenues of $185m in 2020 and $334m in 2021.

The aim of these deals is to “both consolidate the California cannabis market and create an impactful global company” and assisting people jailed over cannabis-related offenses with training and job placements.

The History rapper and entrepreneur will guide TPCO’s brand strategy and enlist other “leading artists and entertainers” to promote the business. He’ll leverage artists from his record label Roc Nation to help build and promote the newly-formed cannabis company.

Jay-Z will also lead TPCO’s investments in black and minority-owned cannabis firms and its initiatives to ‘rectify the wrongs’ done when the drug was illegal.

It will seek to establish $10 million in funding and dedicate 2% of its annual net income to invest in cannabis businesses owned by Black people and other minorities and initiatives to promote justice reforms

“Although we know we can’t fully redeem the injustices created by the ‘war on drugs’, we can help shape a brighter and inclusive future,” said Jay-Z in a statement. “The brands we build will pave a new path forward for a legacy rooted in equity, access, and justice. We’re creating something people can trust and we’re investing in our future, our people, and our communities.”

The cannabis industry in the U.S is estimated to pump up to $130 billion on an annual basis into the U.S. economy by 2024, according to Marijuana Business Factbook.

Marijuana Business Factbook further estimates legal cannabis sales increased from $38 billion-$46 billion in 2019 to $106 billion-$130 billion by 2024 – a 181% increase. And according to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, the $130 billion figure is similar to the 2019 gross domestic product of Nebraska’s $129 billion.