Sizwe Sibiya
Kanye West, ever the provocateur, has managed to wow the entertainment industry yet again.
In March, Gucci announced its first ever pair of exclusively virtual sneakers, named Virtual 25, which cost only R260, but they can only be “worn” in the virtual world.
Like Gucci, West has now decided to enter the world of NFTs (“non-fungible tokens”), a unique form of currency which represents the ownership of real-world or virtual items.
West and artist Jason Peterson are selling a mural of the legendary rapper as an NFT.
Unlike bitcoin, each NFT is unique and cannot be replaced with anything.
The downside of this mural is that whoever buys it will never get to see it on their wall. They can just look at it on their phones along with their pair of Gucci sneakers.
The artwork, which was painted by Peterson in the West Loop of Chicago, will exist in the form of a QR code, which will be painted onto a public wall, so that people who visit the city will scan and be able to “see the owner”.
West is not the first hip hop artist to sell an NFT. Jay Z has reportedly sold the cover of his album Reasonable Doubt as NFT, while Eminem has reportedly invested in this new market as well.
Image source: Jason Peterson
