How Snoop Dogg Is The Definition Of A Blockchain Hustler

Despite us all being aware that we are still ‘early’ to the Web3 party, there are a handful of industry figures who’ve already begun laying out the blueprint for what being a Blockster entails — none more so than Hip-Hop Hall of Famer, Snoop Dogg.

Since making his first imprint onto the NFT scene back in April 2021, the West-Coast rapper has been on a relentless mission to revolutionize the way in which content is produced, consumed, and owned — all through leveraging the powers of blockchain technology.

Here we take you through his most prominent areas of Web3 exploration, wherein by the end of the article, you will have a clear idea as to what being a Blockster is really about.

Perhaps Snoops’ most extensive Web3 endeavor comes by way of his presence in The Sandbox, a decentralized gaming ecosystem where players can create, own, share, and monetize voxel assets and gaming experiences using their metaverse avatar.

The rappers’ inauguration into the ecosystem, which came in September 2021, was made through the construction of a ‘Snoopverse’ neighborhood, which included a virtual replica of his California mansion (for his metaverse avatar to inhabit).

In not hesitating to build traction (and further, a community) behind his entrance into the industry-leading platform, his arrival was met with the distribution and sale of 1000 ‘Private Party Passes,’ which gave recipients the chance to party with the pot-loving rapper for the first ever time in the digital realm.

A LAND sale for Land plots in the Snoopverse neighborhood also followed, giving crypto and rap fans alike the chance to become Snoop’s virtual neighbors. It was reported that his immediate neighbor paid around $450,000 for their exclusive plot of Land.

The evidential marketing success of Snoop’s foray into The Sandbox then led to the launch of a 10,000-asset collection of metaverse avatars called the ‘Doggies’. Each playable avatar came in one of seven digital variations of Snoop- whether that be ‘Human,’ ‘Blue,’ ‘Alien,’ ‘Zombie,’ ‘Dogg,’ ‘Robot,’ or ‘Golden’- with each sporting a unique semblance of traits that were born from the creativity of Snoop and The Sandbox’s Voxel-artists.

To reward Doggies Avatar owners for brandishing Snoop IP across the metaverse, they were then given exclusive access to a four-week competition, wherein they could win a share of $1 million worth of $SAND (the platform’s native utility token).

In explicitly merging The Sandbox with his music career for the first time, Snoop then leveraged the platform’s ground-breaking VoxEdit and Game Maker content creation tools to produce an official music video for his song, ‘House I Built’. The video is almost entirely set within The Sandbox ecosystem, with the song’s premise being centered around the rappers’ crypto triumphs, as well as his new-found life in the metaverse.

With there being many scenes involving Voxel-ized versions of Cadillacs (the car which features heavily in Snoop’s old-school music videos), as well as Snoop’s metaverse avatar taking heavy hits of a blunt, the video offers a cinematic experience that feels revolutionary but also all so familiar.

Overall, the almost-unavoidable presence of Snoop-related IP across The Sandbox has landed the rapper as one of the faces of the platform’s recently launched Season 3, where he appears alongside the likes of World of Women NFT, Care Bears, Atari, Warner Music Group, and other globally recognized brands.

What this essentially means is that through utilizing the many marketing avenues at his disposal, and through seamlessly integrating The Sandbox with his pre-existing ‘brand image’ in a reciprocal manner, Snoop has elevated his metaverse presence to a level which equals, or even surpasses, that of well-established international brands.

December 2021 saw Snoop make his most significant NFT purchase to date, as he ‘aped in’ to the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) ecosystem through the acquisition of a cigar smoking Bored Ape, as well as its corresponding Mutant Apes and Bored Ape Kennel Club NFT.

For background, the BAYC NFT project is a 10,000-asset collection of PFP cartoon apes which have been uniquely attributed different traits. Developed by blockchain technology powerhouse ‘Yuga Labs,’ the project is touted as one of the most prestigious Blue-Chip collections out there, with celebrities such as Neymar, Justin Bieber, Tom Brady, Madonna, and many more, all being known to flaunt (or perhaps flex) their Bored Ape NFTs across social media.

The collection is also linked to two off-shoot projects that are both attributed Blue-Chip status; Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) and Bored Ape Kennel Club (BAKC).

Being the Blockster that he is, Snoop took no time in taking advantage of such marketing mechanism, as in an industry first, he created a Bored Ape-inspired dessert parlor called ‘Dr. Bombay’s Sweet Exploration’- with ‘Dr. Bombay’ being the name of his Bored Ape. To do so, he teamed up with Web3 food company Food Fighters Universe, wherein holders of the project’s NFTs will receive rewards which center around the establishment.

Although Dr. Bombay’s Sweet Exploration doesn’t appear to have any fixed abode, it made its grand debut at ApeFest 2022 by serving up an array of sweet treats to NFT enthusiasts out the back of its vibrant and unmissable Dr Bombay-themed truck. In addition, and to fully embody Web3’s all-encompassing emphasis on ‘growing together,’ the parlor stood as a compliment to BAYC-themed fast-food restaurant ‘Bored & Hungry,’ which had its own mobile restaurant parked alongside it.

Staying on the topic of ApeFest 2022, the event also included a surprise performance from Snoop and Eminem, as the duo performed their new single ‘From The D 2 The LBC’. Given Snoop’s marketing nous, the decision to debut the single at the landmark Web3 event was pre-planned, as the visuals and overall branding of the song focused on each rapper’s Bored Ape NFT.

In reaching an exponentially larger audience, an official music video for the song was then released, with the production featuring an impressive story-like sequence which intertwines timeless elements of hip-hop culture with the distinct artwork and aesthetic of the BAYC brand.

The duo then continued the song’s momentum by performing it at MTV’s Video Music Awards (VMAs). Here, MTV had partnered with Yuga Labs to curate a pioneering hybrid performance which included digital elements from the ‘Otherside’ (the company’s ground-breaking metaverse project that centers around BAYC), its native ApeCoin token, and other interoperable Blue-Chip collections.

The performance was the first ever instance of MTV incorporating the metaverse into one of its live events. On a more-personal note, it also gave scope for Snoop to showcase his unparalleled commitment to BAYC IP, whilst simultaneously, his relentless relevancy in mainstream music.

Snoop’s ongoing involvement in the BAYC scene also comes by way of his Dr. Bombay merch. The ‘Snoopermarket’ online store sells an array of clothing based around his BAYC NFT, such as t-shirts, a leopard print bucket hat, and most recently, a new collection which consists of a black velour hoodie, a zip up jacket, and two beach towels (of of which being branded with the Death Row Records logo). Taking this IRL, the merch can also be picked up at Inglewood’s ‘Snoopy’s ClothING’ store.

With such endeavors under his belt, Snoop has essentially made himself the mainstream face of BAYC, which, because of the collection’s flagship status within the NFT industry (i.e., even those not involved in NFTs may be aware of ‘those monkey JPEGs’), has made him one the mainstream faces of NFTs.

Snoop is undoubtedly most famous for his impact in the music industry over the past thirty years, which is why his Blockster stature is holistically topped-off by the revolutionary moves he has made in bringing the joys of the blockchain into such a realm.

His most outlandish blockchain-come-music endeavor to date is his plan to turn his recently acquired Death Row Records – the record label behind many of his and his rap companions’ greatest albums – into an NFT label. Here, he intends to leverage the proprietorship qualities of NFTs to direct music-related ownership and revenue streams away from corporate labels, and towards artists and fans.

Although not actually released via Death Row Records, Snoop has already embarked on such a mission through the launch of ‘Death Row Sessions’ Volumes 1 & 2,’ which both dropped as audio-visual NFTs in the spring of this year.

Both projects featured contributions from Web3 artists Iman Europe, MoRuf Adewunmi, Black Dave, and Heno, who each profited from the lucrative, automatic, and transparent payment structures which were embedded into each of the smart contracts.

Overall, 100 ETH was raised across the 2000 NFTs, which in turn provided said artists with a much superior income stream in comparison to if the music was released via ‘more traditional’ methods.

Another initiative from Snoop’s partnership with Gala Music was the launch of ‘Da Da,’ a 5-track EP from ‘Alpha Doggz,’ the web3-centric music collective he established with fellow blockchain enthusiast Steve Aoki. To reward pre-existing fans of the duo, tracks from the project were airdropped to those who hold a Snoop Stashbox or A0K1VERSE Passport NFT.

Snoop has also taken his Web3 evangelism to the web2 realm, as you can listen to two volumes of his ‘Metaverse: The NFT Drop’ album on traditional streaming platforms, as well as a single which is entitled ‘BAYC’.

Despite currently weathering a crypto winter, which is something Snoop himself thinks will ‘weed out’ those who aren’t supposed to be here, there is no reason to assume that Snoop is slowing down his voyage across all corners of Web3.

For example, he is currently pioneering an innovative ‘grow and earn’ mechanism on mafia-themed metaverse project MOBLAND, which will see on-brand ‘interactive digital weed farms’ added to the platform.

The rapper has also dropped several isolated NFT collections in the past, including his inaugural ‘A Journey with the Dogg’ collection on Crypto.com (which saw a portion of its proceeds go to emerging artists within the crypto space).

He also teamed up with award winning mixed media artist Coldie to launch a 1/1 animated collage NFT entitled ‘Decentral Eyes Dogg,’ which also came with an original soundtrack. The asset debuted as part of SuperRare’s curated exhibition at Miami Art Week, before later selling for 188.8 ETH (or around $744,000) at auction.

Snoop has also added excitement to the overall NFT landscape through his (unconfirmed) claim that he is NFT Whale and Web3 Twitter influencer ‘Cozomo de’ Medici’.

The wallet of said collector includes crypto artist XCOPY’s animated piece ‘Some Asshole,’ which sold for 1,300 ETH ($4 million at the time), as well as millions of dollars worth of other Blue-Chip NFTs.

In collating all the above endeavors, it’s fair to say that Snoop Dogg has made an unrivaled impact on the Web3 scene — whether that on a personal branding level, developing hype around particular projects, or evangelizing Web3 to the masses.

In leveraging his pre-existing rap icon status, and through fully understanding the interoperable and ‘building together’ ethos of Web3, the rapper has been able to execute various marketing strategies which have ultimately expanded his own Web3 presence/brand/product line, exposed the masses to the space in a seamless manner, and perhaps most poignantly, offered more prosperous opportunities to artists and creatives who were previously subject to the constraints of Web2.

Such accomplishments are undeniably ones that are inscribed within the Blockster playbook, with the final feat being something that can only be achieved by a select few industry figures.

Through this, and through being someone who is making tangible impacts to the way in which Web3 is being shaped, experienced, and evangelized, we can conclude that Snoop is not only a true definition of a Blockster, but he’s also someone who is achieving the ‘holy grail’ of what one sets out to achieve.