The nostalgia of hip-hop is coming in the form of NFTs.
Blockchain platform NEAR Protocol, in collaboration with the co-founders of the Global Hip Hop Museum (UHHM) and The Source Magazine, has released a series of NFT tokens featuring rappers from the 1970s to the present.
The NFT series will include NFTs of 47 rap legends, from Eazy-E to Lil Wayne, to mark the 47th year of the hip-hop era. The auction will go live on June 19 to commemorate June Day, a federal holiday marking the end of slavery.
With the rise of NFTs in 2021, The Source magazine co-founders see the partnership with NEAR as a way to reconnect the peer-to-peer origins of rap.
The co-founder of The Source magazine said in a statement to CoinDesk: "Hip hop has evolved from the grassroots from the beginning. From hand-recorded tapes sold one after another to friends, to streetlight-powered neighborhood parties, it's a culture and economy of collective creation that has developed through the combined efforts of artists and fans. ”
The co-founders of The Source magazine found that NFTs promise to serve as a way to restore financial proxies for emerging artists, eliminating the middleman between musicians and their fans.
While the current music-themed NFT market primarily serves well-known artists with mature fans, he believes that in the long run, indie artists will be the biggest beneficiaries of this technology.
The NFTs of the "Hip-Hop Head" series will be auctioned daily on the series' website until July 24. NFTs can be purchased by credit card, which NEAR sees as a test of reaching a mainstream audience.
A NEAR spokesperson said by email: "This market highlights several of NEAR's best features: end-user accessibility, a web2-like user experience, cheap and simple NFT casting, and on-chain royalties that guarantee permanent revenue for creators." ”
These NFT portraits were created by hip-hop illustrator André LeRoy Davis, best known for His Work in The Source's "Last Word" series. The first edition of each NFT collection will be donated to the gallery at UHHM itself.