The Sandbox and The Marathon announce partnership to cement Nipsey Hussle’s legacy in the metaverse
HONG KONG – 13 April 2023 – The Sandbox, a leading decentralized gaming virtual world and a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, today announced The Marathon City, a project in partnership with The Marathon to extend Nipsey Hussle’s universe to The Sandbox metaverse. Nipsey Hussle was a Grammy-winning West Coast rapper who founded The Marathon brand in 2009.
Today, Nipsey Hussle's family continues to foster his love of community by creating the Neighborhood Nip Foundation, an initiative that seeks to provide opportunities for young creatives within music.
In The Marathon City, fans and newcomers alike will discover the landmarks throughout Los Angeles critical to the Nipsey Hussle story, remade and reimagined for The Sandbox. They will have a chance to interact, compete in challenges, and visit key landmarks that forged Nipsey’s legacy. This Web3 experience creates a very special neighborhood that evokes the key locations of Marathon City and traces the arc of Nipsey’s rise to success. Nipsey was known for being early on new technology, and The Marathon team is honored to be able to give his brand and story a space in the playground of the future.
Known to the world as Nipsey Hussle, Ermias Joseph Asghedom was born on August 15, 1985. He was a Grammy Award winning American rapper who emerged from the West Coast hip-hop scene in the mid-2000s. In 2010, Hussle's epochal debut of his “THE MARATHON MIXTAPE” marked his fifth official mixtape and follow-up to his introductory "BULLETS AIN'T GOT NO NAME" trilogy. Named among XXL's "100 Best Mixtapes of 2010," the collection was quickly followed by 2011's "THE MARATHON CONTINUES" and then 2013's "CRENSHAW," the latter proving a media sensation that resulted in the sold out for over one thousand first-edition cassettes in less than 24 hours. After the 2014 "Crenshaw Tour," Hussle unleashed his mixtape "MAILBOX MONEY" in a 100-copy limited edition priced at $1,000. At the end of 2017, Hussle announced that his independent label All Money In LLC entered a strategic deal with Atlantic Records.
Along with his work as a lead artist, Hussle collaborated with veritable contemporary hip-hop artists, including Kendrick Lamar, Drake, Rick Ross, YG, Ty Dolla Sign, Meek Mill, DJ Mustard, Young Thug, and many more. As if his musical career and role as label boss weren't enough, Hussle was also a successful entrepreneur. His first Marathon Clothing Smart Store, a brick-and-mortar retail establishment that allows customers to use innovative technology to make purchases and preview exclusive content, drew wide-ranging media and business coverage.
“We’re excited to bring Nipsey Hussle’s vision and The Marathon brand to our global community and expand the original concept into a virtual neighborhood “California Dreamin” that blends pop culture, music, lifestyle and sports in The Sandbox,” said Sebastien Borget, COO and Co-Founder of The Sandbox.
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About The Marathon Brand
The Marathon brand is a company that serves as an umbrella to multiple different lines of business. Composed of a unique set of verticals, it taps into industries such as music, TV/film, fashion, cannabis, and beyond. The brand as a whole prides itself on bringing quality & innovation to the abovementioned markets, and always puts authenticity at the forefront of all its endeavors.
The Marathon brand’s past collaborations include Atlantic Records, Fear of God, Puma, Young & Reckless, SpringHill and more. They are responsible for ground-breaking business models such as Proud2Pay, which first debuted in 2013 with Nipsey’s $100 “Crenshaw Mixtape.” The Marathon Clothing founded by Nipsey Hussle in 2009 opened its first flagship store in 2017 on Crenshaw & Slauson in Los Angeles, California. The store has since been recognized as the world’s first smart store, among its many other accomplishments.
For more information, please visit www.themarathonclothing.com (http://www.themarathonclothing.com) and follow the regular updates on @themarathonclothing on Instagram.
About The Sandbox
The Sandbox, a subsidiary of Animoca Brands, is one of the decentralized virtual worlds that has been fueling the recent growth of virtual real estate demand, having partnered with major brands including Warner Music Group, Ubisoft, The Rabbids, Gucci Vault, The Walking Dead, Snoop Dogg, Adidas, Deadmau5, Steve Aoki, Richie Hawtin, The Smurfs, Care Bears, Atari, ZEPETO, CryptoKitties, and more. Building on existing The Sandbox IP that has more than 40 million global installs on mobile, The Sandbox metaverse offers players and creators a decentralized and intuitive platform to create immersive 3D worlds and game experiences and to safely store, trade, and monetize their creations. For more information, please visit www.sandbox.game and follow the regular updates on Twitter, Medium, and Discord.
About Animoca Brands
Animoca Brands, a Deloitte Tech Fast winner, a Fortune Crypto 40 company, and one of the Financial Times’ High Growth Companies Asia-Pacific 2023, is a leader in digital entertainment, blockchain, and gamification that is working to advance digital property rights and contribute to the establishment of the open metaverse. The company develops and publishes a broad portfolio of products including the REVV token and SAND token; original games including The Sandbox, Crazy Kings, and Crazy Defense Heroes; and products utilizing popular intellectual properties including Disney, WWE, Snoop Dogg, The Walking Dead, Power Rangers, MotoGP™, and Formula E. It has multiple subsidiaries, including The Sandbox, Blowfish Studios, Quidd, GAMEE, nWay, Pixowl, Forj, Lympo, Animoca Brands Japan, Grease Monkey Games, Eden Games, Life Beyond Studios, Notre Game, TinyTap, Be Media, PIXELYNX, and WePlay Media. Animoca Brands has a growing portfolio of more than 380 Web3 investments, including Colossal, Axie Infinity, OpenSea, Dapper Labs (NBA Top Shot), Yield Guild Games, Harmony, Alien Worlds, Star Atlas, and others. For more information visit www.animocabrands.com or follow on Twitter or Facebook.