Acquaintance, Hedz, Urbit ID and more
Traversing the world of non-fungible substances is a daunting task. With so many new NFT projects, artists, and major collections popping up weekly, it’s become nearly impossible to keep up with each successive development.
In the past, a simple review of OpenSea was enough to find the latest NFT craze. But things have changed drastically since the NFT boom of 2021. Now, NFT enthusiasts have to be very careful about what and where they collect.
To help uncover awe-inspiring NFT work both new and old, nft now presents Undervalued: a weekly column highlighting innovative projects, collections and artists pushing the NFT space forward.
Acquaintance, launched on 22 September 2022, is a small NFT music collection from royalty-backed NFT platform anotherblock. The collection consists of 400 NFTs, each of which gives its collectors partial ownership of the streaming royalties of TheWeeknd’s song “Acquainted.”
Although the compilation is centered around a hit track by TheWeeknd, Acquainted, the NFT compilation, was led by Grammy-winning producer DannyBoyStyles, who produced “Acquainted.” Similar services like Royal.io have been pioneering royalty-backed NFTs for some time, but this latest compilation from anotherblock is one of the first times we’ve seen an artist bring an established hit song from the legacy music industry into Web3.
Hedz, launched on 16 September 2022is a large-scale PFP collection from Matt Fury – the creator of the iconic Pepe the Frog character. The collection consists of 1,000 handcrafted 1/1 NFTs released over three separate drops.
Over the years, Matt Furie’s prestige in the crypto and NFT space has grown as his many projects and memes have spread far and wide through the Web3. With Hedz, Furie presents an accessible way for collectors to acquire a piece of art in his unique style, drawing on the collective humor of the NFT community.
Urbit ID: Planet, originally launched in February 2019, is a large-scale collection of access-enabled NFTs that coincide with Urbit’s clean-slate OS and network ecosystem. Each NFT in the collection acts as a unique identifier that allows its owners to interface with Urbit OS.
As part of the continuously evolving Urbit platform, Planets is the largest collection of ID NFTs, with Urbit Stars and Urbit Galaxies in second and third place. Planet NFTs are said to be for people, stars are for businesses, and galaxies are for governance.
Each Urbit ID NFT coincides with a short four-syllable name. This name, along with an eight-syllable master key, has given ID holders access to Urbit OS for years, making it a unique and historic Web3 project that even predates NFTs first reaching mainstream notoriety. Learn more about planets at official Ubrit website here.
Life In Japan Editions, launched on 8 May 2022, is a small collection of editions created by influential crypto artist Grant Yun. Originally released via Nifty Gateway as one half of his two-part debut on the platform, Life In Japan is a perfect example of Yun’s unique Neo-Precisionism style.
Life In Japan Editions have an open edition, an edition of 25, and two editions of 10, and consist of a total of 374 NFTs. Since Yun had quickly gained notoriety in the NFT space through many high-profile sales prior to this Nifty Gateway drop, Life In Japan Editions provided a way for enthusiasts to collect one of his works without having to pay exorbitant prices.
Non-Fungible Fungi Genesis, launched on 5 October 2021is a collection of 10,100 3D animated NFTs made from interdisciplinary artist Elzie. The Genesis collection has various unique properties among three species of fungi, and serves to affect all mushrooms that come from the project, including the collection of 10,000 supplies of Non-Fungible Fungi Generative released shortly after Genesis.
While the non-fungible mushroom ecosystem has continued to grow—now encompassing coinpasses, airdrops, the $SPORES token, and more—Fungi Genesis NFTs have remained the most coveted part of the entire project. As the NFT market has grown and changed significantly since the release of Fungi Genesis, the collection serves as a unique historical testament to the power of small-lot collections to influence an entire niche NFT ecosystem.
