Legendary Hip-Hop Artist Jay-Z Enters the NFT Sphere — Rapper Lauds Blockchain and Smart Contracts
Shawn Carter, professionally known as Jay-Z, one of the most influential hip-hop artists in history, has been dipping his toes into the ocean of non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles recently. The American rapper has also partnered with Sotheby’s to auction an NFT called “Heir to the Throne.” He also recently discussed with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey adding NFT capabilities to the music streaming service Tidal.
Jay-Z Becomes a Cryptopunk
Jay-Z is a well-known hip-hop artist, songwriter, record executive, businessman, and media proprietor and the mogul is now getting into non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles. Just recently, Jay-Z changed his Twitter profile picture to Cryptopunk #6095 which made people think the legendary rapper had purchased the unique Cryptopunk NFT. Market data shows the Cryptopunk #6095 was sold for 55 ether or $119K using today’s ETH exchange rates.
Jay-Z also discussed NFTs and blockchain technology with Twitter’s CEO Jack Dorsey this week. Both Dorsey and Jay-Z have a significant stake in the music streaming service called Tidal and are considering applying blockchain tech to Tidal’s services. Jay-Z talked about a painting that was sold for a few grand and then resold later for $100K. “With these blockchains and these smart contracts,” Jay-Z stressed that the original artist’s family or the artist himself could have gotten a profit from re-sales because “it’s very transparent.”
The Twitter CEO believes that the spirit of non-fungible token (NFT) collectibles is similar. “A lot of our focus going forward is to make sure that we’re just looking deeply at entirely new ways to give artists the right tools to help them and to build,” Dorsey added.
Jay-Z’s NFT exhibition premiered at Sotheby’s New York, but people can also view the artwork via the metaverse Decentraland. The hip-hop artist noted that a portion of the proceeds from the auction will go to the Shawn Carter Foundation. The Foundation is a charitable effort that helps people afford secondary schooling and gives money to low-income neighborhoods.
