Opinion: Snoop Dogg Will Inspire Artists to Enter the Metaverse

Within the area of some months, Snoop Dogg has turn out to be a Metaverse mainstay. We clarify what it might imply for different artists.

How Snoop Dogg Embraced the Metaverse

Snoop Dogg has been inflicting fairly a stir throughout the music business over the previous few weeks, and never just for his Tremendous Bowl Halftime efficiency alongside Dr. Dre and a bunch of different GOATs. 

The larger information that seemingly has music moguls around the globe scratching their heads on the minute is Snoop’s B.O.D.R. (Again On Loss of life Row) launch. On Feb. 11, he dropped his new LP through Gala Video games, providing 25,000 NFT “stash bins” that allowed followers to personal one of many document’s 17 tracks. They have been priced at $5,000; he’s already revamped $50 million and can rake in one other $75 million if it sells out. 

Tied in with the album launch, Snoop additionally purchased Loss of life Row, the legendary hip-hop label that kickstarted his profession within the early 90s, after which introduced that he desires to show it into the primary main NFT label. “Similar to after we broke the business after we have been the primary unbiased to be main, I need to be the primary main within the Metaverse,” he stated in a Clubhouse name. 

In fact, whereas these are fairly main developments, it’s not as if any of this entire Web3 factor is new to tha Doggfather. He’s dropped a bunch of NFTs over the past yr, maybe most notably this collab with Coldie that bought for $750,000 across the Ethereum prime in November 2021. Simply this week, he dropped a set of Snoop-style “Doggie” avatars in The Sandbox, a preferred Metaverse world that’s turn out to be the gold mine of digital actual property in latest months (Snoop and others personal Sandbox plots; somebody spent $450,000 on a neighboring one). After constructing a fame for his stash of blue chip NFTs, he additionally claimed to be the pseudonymous digital artwork collector Cozomo de’ Medici, although the rumor was rapidly debunked. 

Whereas Snoop is now indisputably a Metaverse mainstay, it’s necessary to notice that he didn’t begin off this fashion. At first, he dipped his toes in by dropping just a few NFTs. Then he noticed the ability of the know-how, began accumulating his personal, and now seems to be all in. This type of journey is fairly typical for most individuals in crypto, so I’m sure we’ll see extra Snoop Doggs from the music and leisure world double down on the Metaverse over the subsequent few years—particularly as soon as they hear concerning the success of his newest album drop. Solely this week we noticed Warner Music tie up with Splinterlands, and Common Music lately launched a Bored Ape supergroup. Count on rather more of the identical in 2022 and past. 

In 2021, we noticed numerous artists experiment with minting their very own collections on Ethereum. Sure, a few of them have been simple money grabs, however just a few will catch the bug and stick round. Actually, solely a few weeks in the past we noticed Justin Bieber pumping his Bored Ape and Inbetweeners NFT luggage to his 220 million Instagram followers. Paris Hilton has additionally turn out to be one of many area’s advocates after turning into more and more concerned in NFTs over the past yr; final month, she and Jimmy Fallon shilled their Bored Apes on The Tonight Present (and possibly contributed to the ground worth surge that adopted). 

The takeaway right here is to strap in, as a result of even when Ethereum experiences a downtrend, mainstream Metaverse adoption isn’t slowing down. Whereas loads of celebrity-endorsed NFTs have bombed, individuals like Snoop Dogg are bringing extra eyes to the area, and that’s positively a great factor.

Disclosure: On the time of writing, the writer of this function owned ETH and several other different cryptocurrencies.