The Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) is one of the most heavily “celebrity-endorsed” NFT projects currently available on the market. And they truly scored a home run on Sunday, with Eminem and Snoop Dogg performing their latest song literally as their Bored Ape avatar.
Reminiscing Mark Zuckerberg’s announcement of the metaverse, where he specifically mentioned how we could interact with the avatars of your favorite artists, and in just ten months, we see a first glimpse of the future.
So when Eminem and Snoop Dogg performed on MTV VMAs as their avatar, it was a reconfirmation of the exciting new world that awaits us. They also became the first major music artists to harness their Bored Apes and perform using them. Given the insane craze it generated among fans, it will not be surprising if other artists follow in the same footsteps.
The pair’s performance at Sunday’s MTV VMAs is available on youtube; the duo are seen getting super high on Snoop Dogg’s secondhand weed smoke and imagined turning into their respective Bored Apes characters.
Sunday’s performance also doubled as a subtle advertisement for a new play-to-earn game, Otherside, released by Yuga Labs. The tokenomics of the game is yet to be determined, but Otherside will feature goblin-like creatures called Kodas, which can be seen in the background on Sunday’s performance.
The last few months haven’t been the best of times for crypto and NFT enthusiasts, with prices of all popular coins at an all-time low. However, with such performances from influential rappers like Eminem and Snoop Dogg, the #web3 community is up and running as NFTs on Television is something unheard of in the community.
Since its release, “From the D to the LBC” has been a major success for both artists. It has taken the internet by storm, and currently, this post has aggregated over 46 million views and a VMA nomination for the “Best Hip-Hop” song. It is also featured as trending on Spotify.
It is also obvious from the collab that both Eminem and Snoop Dogg are getting good with their NFT game. Eminem allegedly spent over $109,203 for this BAYC token, with Snoop taking it a step further, with his piece costing over $125,808.50 dollars.
Even though the BAYC has a lot of haters, the amount of celebrity exposure is growing. Additionally, it seems to have a major impact on token prices; for example, the price of Yuga Labs’ Apecoin (APE) token increased by 22% following the release of the music video for “From the D to the LBC.” It can be expected that this strong celebrity endorsement sends a strong message to investors, thus helping the tokens to retain value over a long time.
However, despite the massive hype created by the performance, “Otherside” the new play-to-earn page has failed to replicate the success of its predecessors and still hovers around $5.27, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Sunday’s performance has truly been special to both those who love rap and web3 enthusiasts. Although many don’t realize the implication, but Eminem and Snoop Dogg’s performance will greatly benefit the NFT world, giving investors a sense of trust and solidifying their trust in the market.
