Malaysian artist Namewee (黃明志) appears to have found a new way to beat the system. His latest venture is, as he says, “to make a stand against the world“. This time, he’s interested in dabbling in bitcoin and NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens).
According to the artist, NFTs are a way of cutting out the middle man and securing ownership of things, including art. On 7th November, he released an exclusive song “Go NFT” and 20 photos as NFTs on the site. Needless to say, the overwhelming response encouraged him to sell “Fragile (玻璃心)” as well, which raked in tons of virtual currency.
Namewee has clearly thought the entire venture through. The artist recently posted a video on YouTube explaining his sudden interest in NFTs. “Using NFTs to Fight the World (用NFT對抗世界!)” explains more about NFTs and how they protect people’s ownership of digital objects. The concept caught Namewee’s attention as not only does it cut out the middleman, NFTs and virtual currencies ensure the content is safe from censorship. In other words, no authority has any right to the content, unless they personally own it.
“(NFTs are) just a method designed by an unknown person to make a stand against the banks (of the) world,” the artist explained. “It’s just something sensational. It’s something used to make a stand against the government and benefit the society.” The artist believes very strongly in the concept. As such, he took 20 photos of himself making a rude gesture at banks and large companies and put them up for sale on the NFT platform. Additionally, he created a special song “Go NFT” which he also uploaded to the platform. Namewee informed viewers that it would not be uploaded anywhere else. So, if you buy it, it’s yours forever… until you sell it again that is.
In roughly three hours, everything had been sold. Inspired by his success, Namewee uploaded 99 versions of “Fragile” on the platform. In less than a day, China Press reported his earnings at 209 ETH (Ethereum) which is worth RM4 million at the current time of writing. “As soon as I woke up, I became a big, rich man,” Namewee wrote on his Facebook. “I’m honestly a little overwhelmed.” However, the artist was quick to reassure fans that he will never convert the virtual money to cold hard cash. “No matter how much I make, it will always circulate in the virtual world,” he said. “(Fight) the World Bank!”
That isn’t the end of his venture. Namewee added that he will be releasing more exclusive NFTs next Sunday at noon. “It’s not easy to do art,” he admitted. “Thank you all for supporting the creators of art with (your) actions, and (I) wish all friends in the (virtual currency venture) a fortune.”
Namewee’s latest attempt to beat the system comes after his “Fragile” controversy with Kimberley Chen. The local artist also retaliated against some allegations netizens made regarding his song.
Check out his video here:
Sources: YouTube, China Press, Facebook
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