The 'Empire State of Mind' hitmaker reportedly commissions Brooklyn-based multi-disciplinary artist Derrick Adams to create the non-fungible token of his album.
- Jun 26, 2021
AceShowbiz - Jay-Z knew how to take a dig at Dame Dash. Days after he sued his ex-business partner for allegedly trying to sell his "Reasonable Doubt" as a non-fungible token, the "Can I Live" rapper is auctioning off the album's NFT to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
The 51-year-old has teamed up with Brooklyn-based multi-disciplinary artist Derrick Adams to create an animated digital artwork that recontextualizes the album's cover. The piece, which is called "Heir to the Throne", has been put on auction at Sotheby's.
The bidding for "Reasonable Doubt" NFT starts at $1,000 and the auction will close on Friday, July 2. A portion of the proceeds from the auction reportedly will benefit Jay-Z's The Shawn Carter Foundation and support its mission to end socio-economic hardships for people nationwide.
Speaking about the NFT, Derrick told Sotheby's, "Over the years, JAY-Z has collected and supported my work, and so this collaboration is particularly fulfilling." Derrick added, "With this NFT project, we jointly embrace the opportunity to further the conversation about how artists of different mediums contribute to a more inclusive society."
"JAY-Z's album 'Reasonable Doubt' changed the game 25 years ago, and continues to influence so many of us. It tells the story of someone from Brooklyn occupying the urban space - a place that is as central to my own work as it is to his," the artist continued. "My portraits aim to capture the sensibility, optimism and beauty of urban life, and in JAY-Z's work I've found tremendous kinship."
The news came just days after Jay-Z filed a lawsuit against Dame on behalf of Roc-A-Fella for trying to do the same. The 50-year-old record executive, however, has shut down the allegations, insisting that he was just trying to sell his shares at the record label.
Dame himself has offered his clarification. "They just said that I tried to sell an NFT of 'Reasonable Doubt' and... it's not true. I'm not running around to different places trying to auction off 'Reasonable Doubt'. I've been working with one platform and that's SuperFarm," he told Page Six. "And the thing is I own a third of Roc-A-Fella Records and I can sell my third if I feel like it."
