Snoop Dogg and Web3 are becoming a familiar combo, akin to coffee and donuts.
The iconic West Coast rapper dropped a music video on Saturday for “Crip Ya Enthusiasm,” featuring a digital performance captured by Web3 startup Astro Project. The company is also behind the digital environment in which the video takes place.
The music video was animated in Unreal Engine and includes numerous references to the show “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” building on the TV show’s theme song that was remixed for the song. Snoop Dogg’s avatar looks like comedian Larry David, from the way he’s dressed to his style of glasses and his unmistakable hairline.
David is no stranger to Web3 either. He made an appearance in an FTX commercial that was broadcast to millions of households during the Super Bowl earlier this year. Additionally, the theme song for his TV show was immortalized as a 1-of-1 NFT.
The release of the music video coincided with 11,111 digital donuts put up for grabs by Astro Project, which serve as digital keys that can be used to access assets from the video, like 3D models and character animations.
The company has also released tutorials and guides that teach donut owners how to create their own scenes and animations in Unreal Engine. According to the company, it chose to make the access key an image of a donut because it’s usually one of the first things a 3D artist learns to make.
The music video incorporated motion capture from Snoop Dogg, recorded at Astro Project’s “Portal” studio in Santa Monica, California.
Since the donuts started trading on OpenSea on October 13th, the project has seen a total trading volume of 0.227 Ethereum or just under $300, as of this writing. The donuts can be minted on Astro Project’s website for .06 Ethereum, or around $80, and just over 250 had been minted as of Sunday afternoon.
Crip Ya Enthusiasm debuted in February on Snoop Dogg’s album “Bacc On Death Row,” the first record he released after purchasing the rights to Death Row Records, the label that helped him launch his career.
For its release, Snoop Dogg and Gala Music offered a separate line of NFTs, where users can purchase items such as individual songs as digital collectables. An NFT for the song Crip Ya Enthusiasm currently has a price of 0.8 Ethereum or just over $1,000 and the project has seen 944 Ethereum or $1.2 million worth of trading volume on OpenSea.
The collaboration represents a continuation of the rapper’s work with various Web3 projects. Earlier this year, Snoop Dogg and Eminem performed at the MTV Video Music Awards as NFTs from the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection.
This past summer, he announced plans to open a real-world BAYC-themed dessert shop in Los Angeles.
Snoop Dogg also owns virtual land in The Sandbox, a metaverse project where one individual paid the equivalent of $450,000 to be his neighbor. A long-time NFT collector, he remains bullish despite the market downturn, saying the bear market “weeded out” unworthy people and projects.
The celebrity has grown into such a familiar voice in the Web3 space that actor Anthony Hopkins once asked him which NFT he should first buy, and a consumer group singled him out for his outsize influence on the market.