Music impresario Mathew Knowles is taking on a new venture.
Knowles, who has managed Destiny’s Child, is working with Bangi Inc., which “buys and leases real estate for weed farms and dispensaries.”
Knowles told the New York Post’s Page Six that although he does use the drug for “medicinal reasons,” Bangi doesn’t actually handle marijuana and only leases land to the growers.
“I’m a marketing guy. I like to think outside of the box. I like to be at the beginning of a trend and not at the end of it. We are buying land. … We’ll lease it back to the growers, the dispensaries, the extraction companies,” he explained:
News of Knowles’ new role comes soon after it was revealed that his son-in-law Jay-Z joined cannabis company Caliva as the chief brand strategist, but Knowles had no idea.
“I found out the way you found out. I thought, ‘How ironic.’ I called my people, [and was like,] ‘Damn, I wish mine would have come out first!’ The same week is cool. Neither one of us knew what the other was doing,” he said. When asked if the pair will work together, Mathew said: “It’s way too early to have that conversation.”
Speaking after his new role was announced, Jay-Z said in a statement: “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 make them the best partner for this endeavor.”
Dennis O’Malley, chief executive officer of Caliva, also revealed that social justice will be a key part of Jay-Z’s role.
“We think this is a sea change in terms of visibility to the industry. We take this partnership with a lot of responsibility, a lot of humility, a lot of accountability moving forward,” he said.
The company added in a statement: “In this position, Mr. Carter 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, job training and overall employee and workforce development.”
