Eminem, the legendary rapper from Detroit is one of the latest celebrities to become part of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC).
On Thursday, December 30th, Eminem purchased one of the Ethereum-based Apes for 123.45ETH ($452,000). Not long after the purchase, he quickly updated his Twitter profile picture to showcase his ape – which has a striking resemblance to the man himself.
This isn’t the first NFT purchase made by Eminem. It looks like he has amassed a collection of at least 15 NFTs since he joined the OpenSea platform in December 2021 under the name of Shady Holdings.
The ape Eminem purchased was #9055, it was created by GeeGazza in collaboration with Bored Ape, and was nicknamed “EminApe” due to the similarities the ape shares with the rapper.
Eminem’s Bored Ape dons a khaki army cap which is very similar to the one Eminem wears in real life, and a gold chain necklace. GeeGazza had been hoping to make the transaction with the rapper for a while, posting on Twitter back in November 2021:
After the sale GeeGazza was quick to hit up Twitter once again, “I’m living in a simulation.”, he was clearly overjoyed with the sale and very happy that Eminem purchased his “EminApe”.
NFTs are becoming more and more popular with celebrities looking to get a piece of the action, celebrities such as The White Stripes, Snoop Dogg, Kings of Leon, and even Melania trump have their own NFT projects launched.
The Bored Ape Yacht Club collection of NFTs generated more than $1 billion in total trade volume during 2021, reaching more than 6,000 different owners. NFTs are even being sold in auction houses such as Christie’s, who have now sold a total of $150 million worth of NFTs.
Famous brands are also starting to capitalise on NFTs, with Ferrari having announced that it would soon start issuing exclusive digital collectables on the blockchain.