Legendary rapper Eminem spent nearly $462,000 to buy a non-fungible token (NFT) ape from the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) on December 23. Eminem bought the NFT on the marketplace platform OpenSea for 123.45 Ethers.

After purchasing the NFT, Eminem changed his Twitter profile picture to that of the dazed-looking ape, wearing a brown military-style hat and hip-hop clothing.

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Eminem, whose real name is Marshall Bruce Mathers III, was named one of the 100 greatest artistes of all time by Rolling Stones magazine. The Detroit native has sold over 220 million records across the globe. In a career spanning over three decades, Eminem has won 15 Grammy music awards and the 2002 Oscar for best original song, Lose Yourself, in the movie 8 Mile.

As per details on the OpenSea platform, the owner of the BAYC #9055 ape is called ‘Shady_Holdings.’ According to CoinDesk, Eminem has acquired about 20 NFTs on OpenSea using the name Shady_Holdings, including Lil Baby Doodles X NFTs, Ditaggdogg#1 featuring a stencil image of the rapper, and Superlative Apes #3880.

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Details of the purchase were revealed when BAYC member GeeGazza, who sold the ape, thanked Eminem on Twitter. “But to sell the ape that gets @Eminem into the @BoredApeYC, the ape that he is using to millions of followers on his socials. Man. Crazy. Been manifesting it for months. It’s surreal,” GeeGazza tweeted on New Year’s.

According to Georgio Constantinou, artist manager of Web 3 digital agency Six, the company helped the rapper buy ‘the EminApe.’ According to Decrypto, the agency has collaborated with musicians, such as electronic artists Tycho and Galantis and rap group Wu-Tang Clan on other projects.

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Apart from Eminem, other celebrities like NBA star Stephen Curry and talk show host Jimmy Fallon have also bought ape NFTs so far, Decypto said.

This is not Eminem’s first brush with crypto, reported CoinDesk. The rapper had in 2018 mentioned the Bitcoin in one of his tracks Not Alike from the Kamikaze album.

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(Edited by : Shoma Bhattacharjee)