Singapore rapper ShiGGa Shay NFT sells out in 4 minutes

Rapper ShiGGa Shay’s NFT collection "SPACEBARS" debut has apparently sold out within four minutes of its launch on Crypto.com. The NFT collection debuted on the crypto site on 13 April.

"SPACEBARS" features ShiGGa Shay (pictured) as an astronaut avatar in outer space. The NFT designs were based on his 365 EP cover, originally designed by urban artist EBAO, brought to life in animated 3D renders. Shay worked with American digital creative agency Wild Portals for the NFT designs. The rapper also crafted an exclusive 16-bar freestyle rap "SPACEBARS: PRELUDE", for this collection.

The collection features three different card Series. Within each series, there are three different levels of Rarity to pursue: Common, Rare and Ultra Rare. 999 cards were made available for collection – 900 Common Series, 99 Rare and 9 Ultra Rare, each type containing different utilities. Each card sold as a Mystery pack for US$40 via Crypto.com.

Each trading card unlocks four bars, of different variations, from Shay's rap for the collection. Conversely, should all three Series types be collected (regardless of Rarity), a Legendary card with the full 16-bars freestyle will become available, embedded in the card itself. 

With the cards all sold out, this makes ShiGGa Shay the first Southeast Asian music artist to sell out a NFT drop in record time. On this, he remarked, “This NFT journey has been a whole new world for me. I am really grateful for all the holders that purchased "SPACEBARS", I couldn’t believe it when we sold out in just four minutes! That was a crazy experience.”

On his experience working with the NFT space, Shay said he is fascinated by how NFTs and blockchain technology will change the music industry. Wild Portals approached Shay for the collaboration in 2021, where Shay saw the potential of how music could evolve along with blockchain technology and create endless opportunities for musicians and artists.

“This was within the spirit of the Web3 community where creatives come together to collaborate in the NFT space and create a new future. Really excited about have released this NFT in collaboration with Crypto.com - I am honoured that they are a part of this project and am super stoked to explore the next phase of my musical evolution along with them. Digital Art, Music, combined with Augmented Reality,” the rapper said.

Shay added that the NFT space is a great tool for building community engagement and reaching audiences like never before, and for opportunities it helps create for artists and musicians.

“NFTs are going to change everything about how the way the world works. I’m just excited to be exploring the possibilities of how NFTs will change the music industry," said Shay. 

Shay's success marks another instance of celebrity NFT collections achieving positive results. Earlier this year, Taiwanese singer Jay Chou and Hong Kong actor Edison Chen, rolled out their own NFT projects in the NFT marketplace, OpenSea, and topped the platform's list.

A report by South China Morning Post said that on 9 January, trading volume on OpenSea reached a record high of US$261 million. OpenSea also experienced a sustained surge in API traffic and had overloaded its systems, resulting in degraded performance and outages. This reflects the deepening boom the global NFT and crypto spaces are experiencing in the Greater China region, as celebrities join in on the rush.  

Other Hong Kong-based celebrities who have made their mark on the NFT space include actor Shawn Yue, who sold an NFT for more than HK$33 million (US$4.2 million) as part of an online auction. Yue also sold 13 other NFTs, amidst other items, to raise HK$121.6 million (US$15.5 million). Ian Chan from boyband MIRROR also launched 2,222 NFTs, the first batch of which was launched in November 2021.

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