XXXTentacion’s Estate to Unveil NFTs With Rare Tracks Next Week
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XXXTentacion’s estate will release a series of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) containing five tracks that have never been commercially released, as well as previously uncirculated video footage from his only tour in 2017, according to a report in Rolling Stone.
The late rapper’s former manager Solomon “Sounds” Sobande — who announced a new job as an A&R senior VP at Capitol Records earlier this week — and estate, run by his mother Cleopatra Bernard, have joined forced with with the company YellowHeart, which also handled the Kings of Leon NFTs earlier this year. Stephen Bliss, the artist behind XXXTentacion’s favorite game, “Grand Theft Auto,” will create unique art for the tokens.
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The five songs are not necessarily rare, Sobande told Rolling Stone. “Although they were all big on SoundCloud, we never had the opportunity to monetize them or bring them off platform,” he says, adding that he polled “a bunch” of fans to decide on the final tracks. “Some of these songs aren’t even on his SoundCloud page anymore. There are just the remnants of them being reposted. These were the songs that built his career and led up to the explosion he had.”
Few other details are available, except for the fact that the sale will launch on Monday at noon ET and end on May 15th at noon. “We want this to be a surprise,” YellowHeart founder and CEO Josh Katz told Rolling Stone. “There should be a reveal when it opens, as to what exactly it is.”
XXX died on June 18, 2018 at the age of 20 after he was wounded in a South Florida shooting. According to police, two armed suspects pursued XXX as he was leaving RIVA Motorsports in Deerfield Beach, Fla. At least one of the two suspects shot at XXX, fatally wounding him before fleeing the scene in an SUV. Four men were arrested in connection with the murder.
At the time of his death, the rapper was awaiting trial for a 2016 domestic abuse case, for allegedly choking his pregnant fiancée, Geneva Ayala. Katz says he discussed the issue with XXXTentacion’s team, who said are now “super close” with Ayala.
As part of the drop, YellowHeart is donating its cut of the proceeds to the XXXFoundation, a nonprofit Sobande and Bernard started after the rapper’s, and to unspecified organizations that help women dealing with domestic abuse. “This guy was super giving,” Katz says. “He’d give people massive tips at restaurants. He’d give people all of his cash. He was building a school in Jamaica.”
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