Continued greetings from NYC! Today is my last day in the Big Apple — NFT NYC (as well as catching up with friends and family) was a blast.
I’m glad I spent time last week writing Precaps because there are so many thoughts I have to share about my experiences and conversations over the last week.
Before diving in, here are last week’s Precaps:
So onto one larger theme I haven’t covered yet:
Entertainment
I touched upon it in Precap #2, but the density of talent that descended upon NFT NYC was probably enough to create a decent music festival lineup.
Adam Bomb Squad: Pusha T
Doodles: Chainsmokers and a pre-recorded Pharrell cameo
Azuki: Zhu and Lupe Fiasco
Bored Ape Yacht Club: The Roots, Questlove, LCD Soundsystem, HAIM, Lil Baby, Future, Timbaland (probably missing a few)
Other sightings/performances: Sia (otherwise known as Bianca Medici for her NFT activities), Miguel, Diplo, Chromeo, Jauz, and manyyyyy more that I’m missing.
For those that are wondering what the hell Ape Fest is, this recap video from night 3 (I was there!) provides a decent idea:
Bored Ape Yacht Club @BoredApeYC
However, the cherry on top for NFT NYC’s star-studded week was Apefest’s 4th and final day:
charlesc.eth 🍌⛩🧬 @charlesc_eth
Lil Wayne, Em, Snoop Who doing it bigger than #BAYC #ApeFest2022 🫳 🎤
Woah, 3 legends of hip hop in one night for Bored Ape holders?! Not gonna lie, as grateful as I was to attend Night 3, I am jealous of those that attended the final night.
This is pretty cool, but what really stood out about Em and Snoop’s collaborative performance:
They released their new song, “From the D 2 The LBC” as a world premiere at Ape Fest
In addition to the song, they released the music video for the song at the same time
The music video and album art features their Bored Apes. Yup, they both have Bored Apes.
Here’s the music video:
I think what’s notable about the whole Em and Snoop premiere is not only the above points, but rather the inception (in a good way for NFTs!) that is happening between pop culture and NFTs.
As of this writing, the music video has 9.3 million views. Looking at the top comments and after watching the music video, a few observations.
People legitimately like the song
The incorporation of the Bored Ape personas is quite evident. This isn’t a Bored Ape cameo, there was a lot of artistic interpretation and introduction of BAYC into the music video.
There is no mention of NFTs or Bored Apes in the comments. This is a great thing.
Now…why is that last point a great thing? When you ask the average person about NFTs, opinions are pretty polarized. And if they’re negative opinions, they largely stem around scams and that it’s all about money.
However, there’s no mention about that. This is about good music and fans of these two artists enjoying it, which is a great sight to see. And they both happen to be Bored Ape holders, and are making it a part of their digital identity.
That’s. A. Big. Deal.
When we think about the 3C framework, the entertainment angle of NFTs and what it provides really hits on the ‘Culture’ pillar. The purveyors of culture, music in this case, continues to legitimize and cement NFTs as a real thing.
Took too long to reconnect with @SnoopDogg- you know we had to make a movie! Eminem.lnk.to/FromTheD2TheLBC #FromTheDToTheLBC #curtaincall2 @BoredApeYC
There will be more and more instances of NFTs ‘incepting’ broader society and culture on a global scale, and I’m looking forward to seeing how they manifest.
Alright, gotta catch my flight back to the West Coast, excited to be back to a regular schedule soon :) See ya tomorrow with more thoughts and anecdotes on NFT NYC!
