NFT features artwork by Robbie Shilstone and debuts an original song

SuperRare, the pioneering marketplace for curated NFT artwork, is pleased to announce the first-ever NFT artwork by three-time Academy Award nominated composer, producer, artist, and activist J. Ralph, Wu-Tang Clan Legend Method Man and artist Robbie Shilstone. The NFT artwork “Twenty Five Years Later…” features an original song, “93 Bells,” by J. Ralph and Method Man along with original animated artwork by Shilstone.

The one-of-a-kind artwork commemorates the two iconic musicians’ chance meeting 25 years earlier in the hallway of Def Jam Recordings, when Method Man started rapping over J. Ralph’s beats, blasting from his boombox. It would be decades before the two artists reconnected and finished the song when J. Ralph was scoring the Emmy-nominated documentary Wu-Tang Clan: Of Mics & Men. “Twenty Five Years Later…” drops exclusively on SuperRare on December 21st.

“Finally seeing this journey complete with Method Man’s lyrics and vocals is a life-affirming moment for me as an artist,” says J. Ralph. “Being able to share this experience as one-of-a-kind NFT enables someone else to be part of this awe-inspiring, once-in-a-lifetime journey. That’s how I felt all those years ago — and just how I feel today — collaborating with Shilstone and Method Man on this piece.”

“I’m thrilled to be collaborating with Method Man, J. Ralph, and SuperRare on this piece,” adds Shilstone. “Music has always influenced my work, so it has been an honor to work on such an incredible song. I think the NFT space provides an unprecedented opportunity for artists to take ownership of their work. I can’t think of a better project to throw my hat in the ring with and look forward to sharing more work in the future.”

Fusing both fine art and street art, conjuring the sleek abstraction of Kandinsky and Calder and kinetic energy of graffiti and Gershwin, this NFT brings the canvas to life with narrative based, cinematic visuals and original music. “Twenty Five Years Later…” will be the opening salvo of a J. Ralph-created NFT series, titled Faster Than Fire, of works he was able to save before the devastating Woolsey wildfire destroyed all his possessions, archives, studio and home in Malibu, California. It is being released in connection with Harrington Street Collective, whose previous collaborations include the launch of Jerry Garcia’s NFT, “The Gift.”

This year, Shilstone has worked with Disney on a project featuring music from The Roots and is currently wrapping up a project with MoMA for their new exhibit featuring Sophie Taeuber-Arp, a pillar of the early modernist movement.