We already knew 50 Cent as a rapper, actor, producer, and investor, but he just might be able to add Bitcoin millionaire to his resumé.
Fiddy, aka Curtis Jackson, allowed fans to purchase his 2014 album, Animal Ambition, using the blockchain-based cryptocurrency. Citing sources with knowledge of the situation, TMZ reports he earned around 700 Bitcoin on that record.
At Bitcoin’s 2014 value, that means he pocketed a respectable $500,000. Cut to January 2018, and that figure has ballooned to $9.4 million.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BeTjTI2l-LO/?hl=en&taken-by=50cent
Taking to Instagram to comment on the apparent rediscovery, 50 Cent wrote “Not Bad for a kid from South Side, I’m so proud of me. LOL.”
He followed that up with another comment: “I’m a keep it real I forgot I did that shit. Lol.”
In 2014, Bitcoin-centric news outlet Coindesk reported his Shopify store would partner with BitPay to facilitate the sales.
Speaking to Coindesk at the time, BitPay’s CEO Tony Gallippi said “we are excited to see high profile independent artists use bitcoin and 50 Cent’s trail as an innovator is outstanding.”
It’s not yet known if 50 Cent cashed out earlier, or if he is sitting on an enviable pile of ones and zeroes.
That same Coundesk article notes several other huge artists were toying with the idea of using Bitcoin payments around the same time. In 2013, Snoop Dogg put out this prescient message:
My next record available in bitcoin n delivered in a drone.
— Snoop Dogg (@SnoopDogg) December 2, 2013
It’s unclear if his 2015 record, Bush, was available for purchase with Bitcoin – or if the bloke ever delivered any by drone.
Similarly, Childish Gambino contemplated taking Bitcoin payments. Speaking to TIME in 2013, Donald Glover said “I know a lot of people are skeptical, but I feel like if everything’s going to live online, why not bitcoins?
“Being backed by gold seems very old and nostalgic to me. Being backed to a bitcoin, which takes time to actually make and there’s this equation that has to be done, that feels realer to me and makes more sense.”
Mel B, of all pop stars, was also at one time linked to the cryptocurrency. In a 2013 statement announcing her partnership with Bitcoin firm Cloudhashing, Mel B said fans could go ahead and buy her track For Once In My Life with BTC.
“Bitcoin unites my fans around the world using one currency,” she said. “They can just pay using bitcoins!”
Again, it’s unclear if those artists absolutely levelled up their bank accounts and subsequently forgot about their digital fortunes. Regardless, we absolutely want to believe Scary Spice is now a massive player in the crypto scene.
