50 Cent is reportedly accepting bitcoin, a type of digital currency, for his Animal Ambition project, which was released yesterday (June 3).
The New York emcee’s Shopify store accepts bitcoin payments for the album and BitPay processes the payments, according to CoinDesk.
BitPay’s executive chairman Tony Gallippi celebrated this announcement with the following statement:
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“We are excited to see high profile independent artists use bitcoin and 50 Cent’s trail as an innovator is outstanding,” Gallippi said.
Coindesk speculates that this could mean more for Curtis Jackson.
“Given Jackson’s noted activism as an investor, it’s possible that the move signifies the rap star’s larger interest in digital currencies,” the site says. “For example, by accepting bitcoin as payment for copies of ‘Animal Ambition’, the venture provides Jackson with an interesting way of accruing BTC. BitPay’s relationship with Shopify allows merchants to receive dollars, bitcoins or a combination of the two. It isn’t clear which direction Jackson plans on taking the store in this regard.”
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Animal Ambition was released yesterday (June 3). The album earned a 2 out of 5 rating in its HipHopDX review. “This release was essentially pitched as a concept album on how wealth alters perception and inspires envy, and though it’s possible to follow this loose narrative, the execution of this idea is thoroughly botched,” the review says. “In truth, this wouldn’t be so difficult to stomach if he wasn’t still rapping (both lyrically and contextually) like it’s 2004. Animal Ambition is a drastically underperformed gut punch marred by its own limitations and its obsessive portrayal of self-worth amid a recitation of Get Rich or Die Tryin’ buzzwords.”
