It’s Budding Season and East Coast’s Leading Cannabis Company, GUMBO Brands Is Bringing The Smoke – Smoke GUMBO, Don’t Be A Dumbo!
GUMBO Brands continues to keep the series of sizzling announcements surfacing! Recently, the booming black-owned bud brand packed out their 4/20 GUMBO PopUp Live Concert event held in Elizabeth,NJ. Continuing the Cannabis celebration, the event led into the flavorful launch of GUMBO Flavored Rap Snacks. As a result of the launch, GUMBO Brands became the first non-rap artist to obtain a chip collaboration! With it’s flavorful flavors that tingle your tastebuds, the newest flavor was a huge hit with consumers, and it flew off the shelves.
GUMBO Brands Unveils Rap Snacks Collaboration
In fact, GUMBO Brands also staged a sold-out, star-studded 4/20 Gumbo Pop-up and Live Concert. In doing so, the brand left its mark as the first-ever 420 market and concert in conjunction to the premiere of their latest snack. The enthralling event brought out the best from the Tri-State area, with a line that went and wrapped around the block until it was time to go!
Inside, vendors showcased a wide range of cannabis-infused items and strains. As well as much-needed food vendors for the event for when the cannabis-crowd caught the munchies. All of the vendors showed up and showed out with their best products and food! Keeping the vibes vibrant, throughout the night, local up-and-coming artists shared the stage with big names like Chinese Kitty, Lola Brooke, YTB Fatt, and Tripstart from Moneybagg Yo’s label BreadGang. Additionally, New York’s finest Fat Joe, Remy Ma, Jadakiss, and even Moneybagg Yo himself made cameos at the event and touched the stage.
The Star Studded Stage Turnt Up The Crowd All Night Long!
GUMBOMoneyBaggYo Photos by @_digitalszn 
Photos by Daniel Cole @_digitalszn
Overall, this 4/20 PopUp Live Concert and Event was one for the books! The venue was packed wall to wall with the finest weed whirling in the wind. Remaining a force to be reckoned with, the catapulting Cannabis brand is expanding their network. GUMBO Brands presented a lucky audience member with the respected and unique GUMBO chain. In doing so, they added an honorary family member to their ever-expanding family. the Cannabis collective also announced a new relationship with boxing champion Gervontae Davis ahead of his greatest fight yet! Davis, a three-time world champion in two weight classes, faced off against Ryan Garcia in Las Vegas, NV on April 22, 2023. With that being said, GUMBO Brands is delighted to have worked with Davis prior to his victory. Nonetheless, they look forward to supporting him in his future endeavors.
Don’t believe me? Take a look at our informative yet intriguing interview with Alexis Major and Luca brazi of GUMBO Brands as we get into all things GUMBO and Cannabis! Lastly, let us know your thoughts here at KAZI Magazine! Stay tapped in here for more updates regarding the GUMBO Brands!
The Gatekeepers Behind The Monumental GUMBO Brand
- Hey! Thank you so much for chopping it up with me today on behalf of KAZI Magazine! Really enjoyed the 4•20 GUMBO POP-UP event, it was a great experience! Let’s jump right into that and all things GUMBO! For fans tuning in, who is the brand GUMBO and where did it all begin for you guys?
“The gumbo brand consists of Alexis Major and Luca Brazi, aka Karim Butler. That’s it. A bunch of different things…. you know, Lucas, love for the cannabis plant and his background in it, you know, being a legacy market person for many, many years. And for me, it was my love for sports and helping people in the sports community cope with pain, but also, just my love of the plant and wanting to get people off of prescription drugs”.
- Can you tell our readers the different benefits because you know, it’s a controversial topic. We need to push the narrative that is a very beneficial comparison to all these other drugs and all these other ways they’re trying to fix and heal us.
“Well, you know, I think people think that cannabis is a thing to just make you high. That’s totally wrong. Number one, number two. People think that gumbo brands just sign people based on their popularity. Our relationship with Gervontae Davis is one that is very imperative and very important. Either he’s in pain or he’s hurting people, right? Because it’s a contact sport. Most of the sports that are, you know, heavily praised and heavily available to our community are ones of gladiator responsibilities. Therefore, I feel it’s my responsibility to give a way to cope with the pain or diminish the pain through the plant instead of people becoming opiate addicted and then becoming heroin addicts. We’re seeing everyday that heroin and opiates are plaguing our communities.
The opiate community doesn’t have a face to it. It’s not white. It’s not black. It’s not Spanish. They try to make it a Puerto Rican situation, saying that it’s a part of the Puerto Rican culture. I think it’s a part of a culture of any one that’s plagued by opiates. that Big Pharma has been able to manipulate. And I’m here to make sure that my community just says no, like the Reagan era, right? Even though they were pumping drugs in our communities. I just think it’s important to change the narrative and also get our children back from being plagued upon within this opiate crisis. Which only there’s only a few families that are benefiting from that. And that’s also a problem”.
- Additionally, the sold out show was also a celebration of your latest launch of your GUMBO Flavored RAP snacks! Could you tell us a little bit about that collaboration and how it came about?
“So basically, with Rap Snacks, you know, we’re friends with the owner James through a mutual friend, and we just became very close and fast friends. One thing about rap snacks, they understand the community, but they also understand the positiveness of the plant and they wanted to get very involved. Doing a GUMBO Rap Snacks only made sense to introduce GUMBO into eating gumbo. The gumbo chip doesn’t have cannabis in it. It’s just to introduce the relationship. However, we do have cannabis-based CBD products coming to market with the collaboration of Rap Snacks, they are going to taste amazing because Rap Snacks is very well known for the tastebud enjoyment.
So the edibles and candies that are going to come out of this collaboration are going to be like none other. They’re going to be KoolAid meets gummies meets the best thing brought to the market, Gumbo brands. It’s a collaboration that needed to happen. It’s the two biggest entities within our community. And we need to show these business structures and show brown people working together for the common good of our people, and to show people that we can execute together and we can build together and we can keep our dollar within our community”.
GUMBO Gifts Audience Member An Honorary Pendant
- Also, at the end of the night, you guys gifted a lucky audience member an exclusive Gumbo chain. Adding an honorary family member to your ever-expanding family. For those tuning in and wanting to know, how does one become an honorary member or the family or a bud brand ambassador?
“Yes, yes we did! Well, you know, we’re open to employing everyone and anyone that we can, that’s here and has experienced the cannabis culture that experienced you know what GUMBO brings to the table, you know, the quality control of our particular strain. And is just willing to be knowledgeable about the plant, but also to push it to the next level. So we’re always open to new ventures and always interested in bringing new people into our fold and into our family. Because GUMBO can’t grow without the growth of people that are within our community, within our family, and within people that we hire every day. You know, we want GUMBO to be in the history books of legacy. We want to be like the next Nike. When you talk to people that work for Nike, they always brag on what Nike has done for their family, what Nike means to them, or what trips they took for Nike what building you know, activities they’ve done with Nike the things that they’ve learned, and we you know, have been blessed to Meet some of those people. Right on speaking to some of the employees, we were like, yo we want that for GUMBO. We want people to feel warm and cushy and like, you can’t even shut them up about being a part of, you know, our family, our business and our products”.
- Now let’s jump into the business. What interested you in building a booming bud business?
“Me personally, I’m a smoker that smokes only when I have nothing to do. I’m a sativa person because I am a person that feels like I need to get so much done. And unlike Luca, Luca can chain smoke and he can work every minute of the day. He enjoys indicas. Me personally, my brain doesn’t work like that. So I’m a low dose person. I do edibles. I’m coming out with an edible line for women called Queen Sheeba. I am a person that my brain goes 150 miles an hour and I have trouble sleeping.
So I’m coming out with sleep tinctures and edibles for women and men to that, you know really can’t turn it off at night. So I have sleep products coming out. I have tinctures coming out for menstrual. I have things coming from menopause, I have so many different women products coming out and things that will deal with pain you know we’re here to really help people with things that they need help with. Right you know, to cure problems not just to get people so to speak high or whatever the saying is on the plant and that’s that’s not really our motivation”.
GUMBO Is For All
- What was the first weed you smoked? And are you guys sativa, hybrid, or indica lovers?
“Here’s what I think and what I’ve seen in the studies that I’ve read and the things that I’ve learned hands on. Indica is very important for sleep and for relaxation. I also feel like it’s very important for PTSD and for people that come from very irritable environments, Luca, you know, GUMBO is a hybrid. Luca can’t function without GUMBO, we’ve been to many different countries traveling and things if he can’t get his GUMBO, it is still a very aggravating mood for him, you know, so that plant is very good for that. And I think that’s a big part of our success. We help people that really need it. As far as a sativa with Queen Sheeba, I’m launching not only the indica for sleep with Queen Sheeba, but sativa for women, because I find that a lot of the women that I come in contact with and very powerful women, business minded women, we need a little bit more of a kick. The addiction to caffeine is crazy. And I feel like I could, you know, give that same feeling with a nice sativa that you can low dose and keep control of.
Because I don’t know about you, but when I drink coffee, it’s like an oxymoron, right? Because I drink coffee and I get all jittery, but I’m up and I can manage, right. And when I have to go to sleep, I can’t sleep. Right? So it’s like uppers and downers, right. So I think that inedible for that makes way more sense. Because if you have to be totally alert, you can take a low dose and you know, do that if you have to be on point and you have a big event, then you can take more, you know what I mean? But you should be able to manage that. I feel like the coffee market is hard with that”.
- Loving how you guys marketed and named the strains based off of Gumbo like “Jimbalaya”, “Flawless”, “New Jack” and more! What inspired the flavorful brand name and what other catchy cannabis names can we expect?
“So the important thing to know about Gumbo is that, those names are actually people that bought into GUMBO brands. Those are our franchisees. And it’s very important for us to big them up. And even though they are not celebrities, right? Like some brands cater to celebrities, and they only come out with different strains and stuff for a celebrity brand. It’s very important for us to empower our own people. And I find that people empower other people, but then they want to keep them beneath them. It was very important for us at GUMBO to make sure that the people that came under us, we can help catapult them to above us. We are of a certain age, we are not going to be a marketing powerhouse and outside, for much longer.
So we want to make sure that our partners are guys that have trusted their family and their financial, you know situation to us. We want to catapult them into a full successful situation. So the fact that you didn’t might not even have seen just GUMBO by itself on that projector but you’ve seen all our counterparts. That’s what GUMBO is. GUMBO is different from what we came up in. When I was coming up, I worked at Def Jam. And I remember, you know, making my way and people saying you need to earn your keep, you’re not there yet you need to put in more work and you know, all this projection of keeping me down so that you felt comfortable being who you are or not wanting me to catapult to success because at some point, I might pass you. That’s not GUMBO! GUMBO is celebrating people for their success. The people that stayed true to us, the people that stayed loyal to us, we really, really would love for them to be more profitable than us. When they reach their peak. What God has for people has nothing to do with what God has for us. And it doesn’t take away from what we’re doing”.
The Connection Between Celebrities and Cannabis
- The connection between celebrities and their fans has been forever changed by social media. How would you say that changed the game for you with the new partnership with BreadGang and more?
“I feel like the relationship with BreadGang was at a perfect time because our relationship is not just with MoneyBagg Yo, our relationship is with his whole conglomerate that he’s building. One of the reasons why we went with MoneyBagg Yo. A lot of people frowned upon it because he had done deals with other brands before us. However, he was at a point in his life that he wanted to uplift his community. So he invested in people from where he’s from. And that for us was very impressive because He’s young. He’s a young guy, he’s in his 20s. And that was another thing. How do you have a guy in his 20s be so successful and still look back and lend a hand to people from his community opening up restaurants, signing artists? This kid is amazing. He really is amazing. And we are very horizontal in the thought power of who MoneyBagg is and who GUMBO is. BreadGang is GUMBO, and GUMBO is BreadGang. When we saw MoneyBagg, painted gumbo in his home.
Those types of relationships you can’t buy. So when we watch other companies purchase, you know, endorsements from people. That’s cool. And we love that for them. The way that we create partnerships and it’s so organic and a lot of people reach out to us we don’t really reach out to celebrities, they reach out to us. And you know, when we have a connection with anybody, we like to cultivate that connection. And Moneybagg Yo is family I would like to say he’s like a son, you know, but he’s so grown. And so like ahead of his time. He’s a brother, you know, he’s my little bro and we just appreciate we’d never asked MoneyBagg or did any paperwork where it’s oh, you have to do a song you have to, you know, bring us a part of everything you do. That’s so far from, you know what we’ve done with MoneyBagg. And he he does it anyway because it’s really a part of his life. Also, he’s a positive enforcement on our life. And I feel like we’re a positive in his life as well. I agree, you know, it’s very lonely at the top of, of any business, but he knows, he can lean on us and we can lean on him. And that’s all we can ask for as people in this universe, you know, love is something that we all need. But we all get stung by it at some point. So when you’re at the top, it’s hard to like, get those secure relationships and who to trust and we trust MoneyBagg”.
- With that being said, would you say these strains can help you with creativity, anxiety and more as artists?
“Yes. The cannabinoids within the plant can treat so many natural causes outside of just the “high” feeling. It doesn’t only assist artists but athletes as well along with everyday consumers and those with ailments that want to get off prescribed drugs from doctors”.
What’s Next for GUMBO Brands?
- Also, are there any new markets you’ll be launching the brand in this year that you can hint to for the KAZI readers?
“We’re definitely leaning towards doing a lot of rubs for pain. As we get deeper and deeper into athleticism, and the athlete market with Gervontae Davis. Also looking to sign any other athlete that reaches out to us, that tells us their ailments that we feel like we can align with them. You’re going to see more products brought into the fold. Because our real goal is to be on shelves in CVS, Duane Reade, Whole Foods and more as an alternative medicine that can help you so that you don’t have to poison your body”.
- What strain are you smoking now from the Gumbo Brands lineup, and do you have a favorite at the moment?
“Lucas’ favorite strands are number one, Poison Ivy. Number two Jambalaya and number three, King Minute Gumbo. For me, edibles. I’m going Queen Sheeba all the way. Because they’re products that are made for women. You’re going to see them at a store near you!”
- Furthermore, where do you see the cannabis industry in 5 years from now? National, international?
“Taking over. I see it being brought to light in a beneficial way”.
- Lastly, what advice do you have for a budding weed entrepreneur who may look up to your brand and your company?
“Never stop. Always brand yourself, always stand on integrity, and always have respect for the plant. Because without the plant or nothing”.
