long-time friend and business partner Then rule Herb Rice co-founded an NFT platform called Black is Beautiful. The platform’s mission, according to its official website, is to display “brilliant depictions of the raw emotions of black Americans navigating both the joys and struggles of everyday American life.”
The pair launched the first NFT collection to benefit historically black collegesRice told Billboard, It was warm and sociable, but without people of color. We wanted to bring more people of color into the field. That’s why we created an investment group called Brotherhood Dow for people who want to start buying and selling NFTs. This group is in a comfortable environment where family and friends are investing and learning about his Web3 and cryptocurrency…we will continue to do that by bringing more black creatives into his Web3 space. I wanted to match ”
The Black is Beautiful collection includes 1,000 unique NFTs that combine faith, style, resilience, and pop culture. The “Living It Up” rapper claims that “80 percent of his collection” has already been sold, and his 10 percent of the proceeds will go to: HBCUs: Jackson State University, Morgan State University, Hampton College, Spelman College, Morehouse College.
Speaking to the outlet about his new business venture, Ja Rule said: Educate people of color about NFTs, cryptocurrencies, blockchains, and the space at large. The Painted House is like our baby, a way to introduce a color artist into his NFT realm. Creating generative art like NFTs is not easy. Because having certain properties, such as lasers, unique to NFTs should explain why one is more rare than the other. [traditional] Art is often an emotion or passion you have. ”
