New York, NY (Top40 Charts) The YellowHeart, the NFT marketplace for music and ticketing, which accepts both crypto and credit card payments, is debuting its marketplace with an exclusive NFT collection from XXXTentacion. The history-making collection features tracks that have never been commercially released and never-before-seen content from XXXTentacion's REVENGE tour, which was the award-winning rapper's first and last time performing live before he was fatally shot in 2018. The open edition NFT drop will kick off on Monday, May 10, and wrap on Saturday, May 15.
XXXTentacion's NFT collection was curated by YellowHeart, which worked closely with the rapper's estate and manager, Solomon Sounds, to pay homage to his life and legacy as an artist within the larger hip-hop movement. The never-before-seen content within the collection features exclusive footage from XXXTentacion's REVENGE tour in 2017, which otherwise wouldn't have reached his fans since there were not any professional photographers or photos released from shows. The cover artwork for tracks released within the collection are designed by Stephen Bliss, the iconic artist and illustrator behind Grand Theft Auto artwork, which was XXXTentacion's favorite video game.
YellowHeart will donate the proceeds from the collection to the XXXFoundation, a nonprofit the rapper's manager, Solomon, and mother,
Cleopatra Bernard, started after he passed. While
XXXTentacion was alive, he started the "Helping Hand Challenge," an initiative aimed to support children in foster care and people in group homes by providing them with clean clothes, food, laptops, and other means they were deprived. Following the rapper's passing, Solomon and Bernard expanded the nonprofit to honor his passion for charity work.
"When it comes to NFTs, there has been a massive gold rush over the past several months, with new companies in the space launching almost daily. In contrast, NFTs are far from new to YellowHeart. In fact, our engineers have been working tirelessly on launching our NFT marketplace for over three years," said Josh Katz, Founder and CEO of YellowHeart. "As a company driven by fans and artists, our mission is to partner with musicians to create meaningful and impactful collections through a sustainable NFT minting system that is better for the environment. This is why partnering with XXXTentacion's team for this drop to pay homage to his footprint on the history of hip-hop, as well as continue his work giving back through the XXXFoundation, was a no brainer."
"The most important thing for me since X has passed is growing and protecting his legacy. With NFTs becoming such an important tool for artists, it's great to have the opportunity to expand X's legacy into the digital space where it can be shared and treasured by his current and future fans," said Solomon Sounds, XXXTentacion's Estate Manager.
About YellowHeart
Founded in 2017 by Josh Katz, Founder and CEO, YellowHeart is the first socially responsible live event ticketing and music NFT platform. YellowHeart is an autonomous, fully decentralized platform that runs on a public Blockchain - which enables artists and teams to identify, market and sell directly to their fans.