Nas Offers Bitcoin to the Winner of His Rap Test Game

Screen Shot 2014-12-24 at 12.22.41 PMNas is offering the currency of the future, Bitcoin, to the winner of his new Nas Rap Test game.

In a Facebook post earlier this week, the announcement read, “Are you a true NAS fan? Take the Nas Raptest. The Top 100 on the leaderboard after the first week will receive bitcoin, courtesy of Coinbase. Bitcoin is a digital currency and global payment network that allows you to send money anywhere in the world instantly and for free.”

The “Nas Rap Test” quizzes players on Nas songs by making them identify the track based on just a few chords. Players must try to select the correct song from a list before time runs out. As the user gets further in the game, the allotted time gets shorter and the songs become more obscure. In addition, Rap Test offers nine quizzes, each featuring a different rapper like 2Pac, Drake, Kanye West, Kendrick Lamar, Eminem, and J. Cole.

But what exactly is a Bitcoin?

“Bitcoin is a consensus network that enables a new payment system and completely digital money,” the Bitcoin website reads. “It is the first decentralized peer-to-peer payment network that is powered by its users with no central authority or middlemen. From a user perspective, Bitcoin is pretty much like cash for the Internet. Bitcoin can also be seen as the most prominent triple entry bookkeeping system in existence.”

Nas spoke with Coindesk in August about his approval of the currency phenomenon and said that though he he has been collecting the currency, he has yet to make a purchase with it.

“[Bitcoin] will evolve into an industry as big, if not bigger, than the Internet,” Nas said. “My man Ben Horowitz really opened my eyes to that point. This isn’t of the Internet age, bitcoin is its own age.”

One Bitcoin currently is equivalent to $329.89

The Bitcoin, provided by Coinbase, will be divided among the top 100 scores in the music quiz at the end of the week.

Bitcoin has been making its way into the hop hop industry for some time now, as 50 Cent reportedly accepted Bitcoin payment for his Animal Ambition album, which released in June of this year.

Experts have projected that the global currency will only grow from this point on.

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top