Malaysian rapper Namewee became a millionaire overnight after his new single named Fragile, which was released as a non-fungible token (NFT), was sold out within three hours of its launch. The song is a collaboration between Namewee, whose real name is Wee Meng Chee, and Australian singer Kimberly Chen.

According to the news report by Taiwan News, the rapper earned his newfound fortune by gaining 209 ETH (Ethereum) or an equivalent of RM4 million (approximately S$1.3 million).

However, Namewee has said that he will not be converting the virtual currencies into real money and plans to release more NFTs. The Muar native’s NFTs are available for purchase on the NFT marketplace OpenSea.

“I sold out the song in three hours and when I woke up, I was a rich man,” he wrote in a Facebook post. “Honestly speaking, I’m at a loss for words.”

Despite the new financial gains, Namewee’s new song did not last long in China as the local authorities have removed it. The Chinese government found the song to be insulting and has even banned Namewee and Chen’s Weibo accounts.

In an article published on Singapore’s news portal, Today, the song was banned as it contains lyrics that took jabs on sensitive topics such as Covid-19, censorship, cancel culture and the Uighurs. The Chinese president Xi Jinping was also mentioned through a reference to Winnie the Pooh — social media has likened the Chinese leader to the cartoon character as they look alike.

One line from the song reads, “dogs, cats, bats and civets”, which could be alluded to the pandemic while another line, “It’s illegal to breach the firewall,” could be a reference to the Great Firewall in China. As a result, the Chinese government had banned the song.

The ban, however, did not diminish the popularity of the song as it was played more than 10 million times in a week. Its views mainly came from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia.

 

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By Joseph Low