Azuki Founder In Hot Water

The Drop Partnership: Kooks By Terry Urban

May 11, 2022

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What's Dropping ⚡️

  • We (The Drop) officially partnered with world-renowned LA-based artist Terry Urban for his up-and-coming NFT project "Kooks". Definitely worth the follow on Twitter and join their discord. (more on the announcement below).

  • Mclaren Automotive is releasing its Genesis collection of 2,012 Mclaren  P1™ & P1™ GTR NFTs today. These models are known as the world's first hybrid supercar, and the number of pieces in the collection is a call back to the date the model debuted at the Paris Motor Show.

  • Co:Create is a new protocol that provides the tools to help projects create their own tokens. This initiative was inspired by the launch of $APE coin. Follow them up here.

  • Joey Franco is a new artist on the NFT scene and has just gone live with his interesting key collection. Each piece is a throwback reference to classic movies and pop culture.

  • Magic City Apes are a group of BAYC holders that live in the Miami area. They have teamed up with home team the Marlins to install NFTs displays around LoanDepot park, showcasing their Bored Apes.

  • Cartographer and transit enthusiast Andrew Lynch has spent years documenting the MBTA. He has turned one of his animated subway maps into an NFT recently. Have a look.

The Drop x Kooks By Terry Urban 🏄‍♂️

Written by The Drop Founder Gannon Breslin

One of my favorite IRL artists is Terry Urban. I have been following Terry's work for years and quite frankly have been in awe of his incredible use of space, colors, and vision in his work. Terry's unique canvases have sold for tens of thousands and are collected by various celebrities and athletes around the world. His prints sell out in minutes because he has one of the most dedicated followings in the LA art scene (I was lucky enough to get his most recent drop). Terry and his team started an NFT project called "Kooks" that is centered around his own art, skating, surfing, and good vibes. 🚨 It is definitely worth the follow on Twitter, joining the discord, and checking out the website ✌️.

Make sure to check out the project roadmap because this project has big plans.

Why Did We Partner With Kooks?

As we all know (and as you will read later in this email) the NFT space deserves better. It deserves authenticity, creators with the right intentions, and a desire to get back to its roots - the art. Constantly we preach on our Twitter the importance of doxxed founders and the intentions of the team behind projects. Terry has been creating art in many various forms for decades. For instance, for many years before diving back into painting Terry traveled the world as a DJ as a means of self-expression. Fast forward to now, Terry has an entire composition of art and has proven time and time again that he is a true artist and someone who will be a lifelong creative. The Drop values true artists and true creatives who are on a mission to translate their work into the digital world. We couldn't be happier to form this partnership with Terry, his team, and the Kooks project.

As you will see above, Terry gives a 100% to his art and we couldn't be more excited to see where the Kooks project will go. 

Disclaimer: This is not a recommendation to buy, sell, or trade a Kooks by Terry Urban NFT. This is not financial advice, please do your own due diligence. The Drop owns a % stake in the Kooks NFT project but was not outright paid for this post.

 Azuki Founder - From Bad To Worse

The founder of Azuki yesterday revealed an earnest and honest open letter to the NFT community - a story about perseverance, setbacks, revision, and success. In it, he outlines the lessons that he learned from developing three different NFT projects, the phunks, the tendies and the zunks. *record scratch*What on one hand reads as his personal journey of resilience reads also to the entire community as him admitting responsibility for abusing the trust, time, and capital of the NFT community on three different accounts. 

During a Twitter space with Andrew Wang on Tuesday @zagabond had a difficult time acknowledging the harm he inflicted on the three prior communities that he abandoned. Shockingly not even a single apology was given. Naturally, after the space concluded traders began scrambling for an explanation and the project went into a frenzy of trading. Yesterday was the highest trading volume for the Azuki project ever with 16,907 ETH traded. Azukis’s floor, having already depreciated since the start of this most recent bear market, tumbled from around 20 ETH to now 9 ETH. Or in other words, Azuki’s value halved as consumer confidence and trust in the project halved (or more). NFT Twitter has produced a strong consensus that Zagabond’s treatment of his three previous projects is morally reprehensible. Apologists are essentially defending his right to learn through trial or they are applauding his method of testing different theses through different projects as a genius. Some are also digging up dirt from prior bad behavior like pretending to be a female for phunks, deleting socials of another project when the slow rug took effect, and more. None of this is black and white and the story will reveal more complexities in the near future, but nothing excuses learning or advancing at the expense of other people’s livelihoods.  

If you want to listen to the entire space with Andrew Wang and the Azuki founder:https://twitter.com/i/spaces/1MnxnkZDgeLKO?s=20

Something that has makes us ponder: Why release a write-up about abandoning three projects during an obvious bear market? Quite possibly the worst time to release such a development. Feels like there was some external pressure to...

Meme Drop 💧

With all this drama the memes are flowing this week 

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Disclaimer: The Drop DOES NOT provide financial advice. All content is for informational purposes only. The Drop is not a registered investment, legal, or tax advisor or a broker/dealer. Trading any crypto-related asset is extremely risky and could result in significant capital losses. 

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