When the record labels didn't sign Jay, he launched Roc-A-Fella. When Cristal seemingly brushed off their Black consumers, Jay launched Ace Of Spades. And now, with the legalization of cannabis following the War On Drugs that disproportionately affects Black and Brown Americans, Jay launched Monogram as one of the few Black entrepreneurs in the cannabis industry. Today, Monogram announced a nationwide campaign that they're launching to highlight the remnant effects of the War On Drugs and the lack of progress that's actually been made.
The new campaign includes murals, billboards, mobile ads and wild-postings across cities like Washington, D.C., Miami, NYC, L.A., and San Francisco displaying fact-based headlines over images of eight individuals who've been charged for cannabis-related offenses.
"Cannabis laws are out of date and disproportionately cruel and punishing when compared to the rest of the legal code. We still don’t have proper regulation for texting and driving in Missouri, but staying home and smoking weed will get you locked up,” Jay said in a statement.
“I created this campaign to amplify the voices of those who have been penalized for the very same thing that venture capitalists are now prospering from with the emerging legal cannabis market," he continued. "Far too often we forget that these are real people whose everyday lives and futures have been affected by this outdated legislature - people like Bryan Rone, who can no longer pursue a career in sales because of a cannabis-related conviction in 2003.”
Check out a few of the ads below.
For more on hip-hop's connection to the cannabis industry, read, All The Smoke: Hip Hop's Capital In The Multibilion Dollar Cannabis Industry.
Via Monogram
