The late American Rapper Takeoff from the famous trio, Migos, dropped an NFT collection called Apes in Space last year. Personally designed characters and lore, this project holds a much deeper meaning to fans after his death.
Inspired by the Bored Ape Yacht Club, Takeoff wanted to build his own brand that represents his legacy as an artist in pop culture. In fact, he was a member of the BAYC community, making him one of the few celebrities who have adopted NFTs.
Apes in Space is an innovative project that centers around Apes and Space, the two most popular trends in Hip Hop. The holders would have a chance to enter the first Hip-Hop festival in the Metaverse on The Sandbox. Here’s all you need to know about this project:
What is Apes in Space NFT?
Rapper Takeoff has always been a big fan of NFTs. In the past two years, we have seen a massive trend in the Hip Hop community of buying non-fungible tokens, unique collectibles that give buyers ownership over them.
Apes in Space is a collection of 9,999 NFTs featuring Ape PFP avatars minted on the Ethereum blockchain with a futuristic unique combination of traits, making each collectible different from the others.
So far, the collection has generated 1,839 ETH, which is around $2.8M in total trading volume on OpenSea.
The project was launched via a sudden announcement made by Takeoff on his Twitter just a week before the drop. The rapper was seen wearing Apes in Space’s official merch as a hint.
The mint price for each Ape was 0.03 ETH. The pre-sale was held on December 5, 2021, for 2,000 reserved spots via Whitelist at a discount; each member could buy one Ape in Space. The public sale opened on December 6 for the remaining NFTs on the website.
The traits range from Eyes, Helmet, Skin, Outfit, Weapons, and Birthdate, and those with the rarest of these characteristics rank higher because of their rarity level.
The collection isn’t just going to the metaverse but it would also take the highest ranking holder to travel the space in real-life along with Takeoff, a dream come true for any fan.
The story
Unlike many celebrity-based PFP projects, Takeoff’s NFT collection had lore that made this project long-term. Set in 2203, apes have consciousness as they are trained by the world armies to defend themselves from other countries due to the conflict of oil reserves.
Apes can think but their consciousness is only limited to war. The mission of these apes is to steal the last of the oil from the Earth to fuel their spaceship and escape into orbit. It’s an interesting take that gives all space lovers a dive into futuristic concepts.
Takeoff’s interest in space-themed projects is highlighted through the storyline and his dream of going to see the orbit physically.
Utility
This NFT collection has a lot of utility if you buy it:
- Part of Migos’ Takeoff Web3 Discord community
- Trade, buy, and sell NFTs on the secondary market
- The reputation of the rapper will highly likely increase its demand in the market
- Experience the Hip Hop Festival in the Metaverse with Takeoff as the main guest
- Lucky holders get ownership of part of LAND in the Sandbox
- Can stake NFTs in exchange for $TKOFF tokens of the project
What is a $TKOFF token?
$TKOFF is the native token for Apes in Space that is highly likely to become an integral part of the project’s ecosystem in the near future. The NFT holders can stake their NFTs in exchange for these tokens that provide a lot of utilities that haven’t been launched yet but will involve the token holders.
The hip-hop Metaverse in Sandbox
Takeoff has also integrated his project into the metaverse in partnership with The Sandbox. When 2,000 NFTs from the Apes in Space collection were sold out, the team bought LAND in the Sandbox to hold a grand Hip Hop Festival.
The Lucky NFT holders received ownership for 69% of 1 full square LAND while the remaining 31% was distributed to the rest of the community members. In other words, an Ape owner would also be gifted a piece of LAND.
The ultimate goal of this project is to have an IP brand in the metaverse, and for that Apes in Space also shared they would be introducing avatars and assets that players can buy using SAND tokens on Sandbox and have full ownership over them.
Future of Apes in Space
According to the roadmap posted on the official website, the metaverse, avatars, and assets would be launched. The holders would also receive VIP tickets to see Takeoff’s concerts IRL. However, since the rapper passed away a few days ago, this collection is to remain a long legacy of Takeoff’s dream and goals in the Web3 space.
When the news of his death came out, the floor prices of the Apes in Space collection rose as many of his fans bought the collectibles to keep as a memory in the blockchain forever.
The future of this project seems vague, whether it will take a turn toward a new direction or not, no announcements have been made by the team.
