Despite the money spreading trend in hip-hop and rappers’ lavish lifestyles that are displayed via social media, hip-hop isn’t necessarily the big business it appears to be with touring off the table in a global pandemic. Due to COVID-19 touring restrictions, rappers have been left to make up the difference in the income they lost during the pandemic. With some rappers turning to OnlyFans as a means of secondary income, others are relying on NFTs to balance out the holes in their checkbooks.

An NFT is a non-fungible token that is one-of-a-kind and is being used as a digital collectible. Digital currency like Bitcoin or Litecoin is fungible, so if it’s traded for another, the end result is exactly the same thing. Not with NFTs though; once traded, an NFT is unique to its buyer.

According to Billboard, NFTs are a digital collectible that serve as its own proof of authenticity. This pretty much means whatever you are looking to sell can be authenticated into a collectible item and purchased through a blockchain. For instance, a New York City man’s fart was purchased for $85. In the hip-hop space, rhymers are a bit more practical with their exploration into NFTs.

In early March, Soulja Boy posed a question to his followers on Twitter, inquiring how to sell his tweets. The same day, the pioneering rapper used Valuables by Cent, a platform to mint tweets and make them one-of-a-kind NFTs.

Some rappers have used NFTs to sell tangible fan memorabilia like the late MF DOOM‘s augmented reality mask or Azealia Banks‘ recently announced audio sex tape with her fiancé, which was sold on an NFT digital marketplace.

Looking into the NFT marketplace and what the digital platforms have to offer, here’s what some of your favorite rappers have sold—or are selling—using NFTs. Check out Rappers and NFTs – How Hip-Hop Is Cashing in on Non-Fungible Tokens.

  • Soulja Boy

    Soulja Boy looked to his Twitter following for help earlier this month on March 7 when he asked, “How do I sell my tweets.” The rapper apparently sold that exact tweet on the digital marketing place Valuables by Cent for 0.07475 Ethereum or $1,288.00. He then sold four additional tweets for $796.71, earning $2,084.71 in three hours by auctioning off his social media thoughts.

  • Azealia Banks

    Azealia Banks is taking advantage of the NFT wave as well. On March 9, the New York City-bred rapper revealed that her 24-minute audio sex tape with her fiancé and conceptual artist Ryder Ripps sold on NFT marketplace Foundation for 10 Ethereum by a user named Rulton Fyder. Ten Ethereum is just about $17,000.

  • Quavo, Lil Baby, 2 Chainz and Jack Harlow

    Quavo, Lil Baby, 2 Chainz and Jack Harlow teamed up with Bleacher Report to release an NFT collection on the digital online marketplace OpenSea during this year’s NBA All Star Weekend, where they were seen competing in a basketball competition. According to Rolling Stone, the collection features “four custom-designed basketballs that mix music, culture and sport with innovation.” The rappers received their own individual silver-edition NFT, of which 150 were minted and they sold for .4 Ethereum—about $715. The rhymers also received gold NFTs that they were able to present as “10 of 10” and put them up for auction. When Bleacher Report’s gold auction came to an end, the tokens sold for more than $591,000 with 2 Chainz’s No. 1 of 10 selling at the highest for 38 Ethereum or $68,030.

  • Lil Pump

    Lil Pump has partnered with NFT platform, Sweet, to release three unique collectibles, including digital jewelry: Esskeetit Card, the Lil Pump Artist Card V1 and the Esskeetit Diamond VVS. According to Bitcoin’s official website, the announcement of Pump’s NFT collectibles contains a three-piece collection, which features a 500-piece giveaway, a collectible card with a limited 2,000 piece inventory and the aforementioned Esskeetit Diamond VVS. Apparently, there are five diamond VVS NFTs altogether, which can be purchased using Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Bitcoin cash (BCH) or a credit card. The items are also available on a first-come, first-serve basis.

  • Iann Dior

    Multiplatinum-selling artist Iann Dior appears on Linkin Park cofounder Mike Shinoda’s recent single “Happy Endings,” which also features Upsahl. Ten copies of a 75-second clip of the song, released in February, and its accompanying abstract artwork, done by contemporary artist Cain Caser and Shinoda himself, is up for sale on the online marketplace, Zora. According to Rolling Stone, the first of the 10 copies sold for five WETH—wrapped Ether, which sells on the Ethereum network. Five WETH equals about $8,000. The No. 10 of the ten copies sold for four WETH, or around $6,600, according to Input magazine.

  • MF DOOM

    According to NME, in honor of the late MF DOOM, the elusive rapper’s widow, Jasmine Dumile, record label Rhymesayers Entertainment and digital marketplace Illust Space have joined forces to auction off numerous augmented reality signed masks to be purchased using NFT. There are seven masks in total and they’re expected to sell between $15,000 and $75,000. The current starting price for one of the masks is 200 ETH, which is about $338,000. It’s also worth noting that 10 percent of the proceeds go to DOOM’s estate in the form of royalties to help fund future projects.

  • Post Malone

    According to Coin Desk, Post Malone and his manager Dre London have joined forces with digital marketplace Fyooz to give fans the chance to play against Post in his Celebrity World Pong League. In order to participate, users must have FYZNFT tokens, which will reportedly be airdropped to users on Fyooz.

  • Ja Rule

    Ja Rule‘s Fyre Festival was pretty chaotic and received quite a bit of criticism in 2017 for cutting corners and costs. According to Newsweek, the Queens, N.Y. rapper has since hopped on the NFT train to sell a 2017 painting of the Fyre Festival logo done byTripp Derrick Barnes on the platform Flipkick.

  • Saigon

    Brooklyn rapper Saigon is jumping on the NFT wave, too. On March 18, he revealed he used NFT to sell his son’s artwork. “I just NFT some of my son’s artwork…. Kids a living legend already,” he tweeted.

    A day prior, he shared his thoughts on NFTs with his Instagram community, posting a photo message encouraging parents to teach their children about NFTs, cryptocurrency, stocks and trading. “Lord Willing…… Try your best to make sure your children will have the tools they need moving into this crazy future….. #FactsOfLife… and oh yeah.. Click Link In Bio My 9 year old daughter told me she was sick and tired of Tik Tok today… Music to my ears,” he posted as the caption of the IG photo.

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