The Music NFT Blueprints: Dyl and Crypto Rich

Moving forward in the series, I’m happy to have spent some time with the Crypto Rap pioneer Dylan Rhodes, known as “Dyl.” Based in Philadelphia, “Famous Dyl” is no newcomer to the rap game—the catalogue of work he has released over the last seven years is an impressive output demonstrating his ability to put the pedal to the metal with his music.

Dyl’s breakout moment happened in early 2014, when he dropped the banger “Jordan Belfort” with collaborator Wes Walker. Titled after the wall street hustler played by Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese’s 2013 blockbuster film The Wolf of Wall Street, the track was released on SoundCloud, later catching traction in the college scene. The hype was real as the song became the top college song on the Billboard charts in 2016.  Unfortunately, Dyl found himself signed to an extremely predatory record deal that almost took the wind out of his music career completely. 

No stranger to the hustle, Dyl went fully independent and began making his own music: recording, mixing, and mastering at his home studio. During the Jordan Belfort Tour, Dyl was also a full time college student studying Finance & Management at Tulane University in New Orleans. In 2016, after over a year of touring, Dyl made the decision to finish his college degree. Dyl was always an entrepreneur; his crypto roots began when he was in high school. He learned about Bitcoin by ordering through the underground market that was once Silk Road.

Years later, in 2016, Dyl was looking for his next move, and he decided to revisit the crypto space. The young rapper became interested in Ethereum, and used what money he had to make an excellent investment. Dyl purchased a large allotment of ETH and BTC in 2016. Following this path, Dyl soon started his own company, Advantage Blockchain. After his success in the crypto space, Dyl wanted to help others use blockchain technology to their benefit. Dyl established his business as one of the first Philadelphia based consultants in the blockchain space. Advantage Blockchain has worked with numerous individuals, businesses, and even publicly traded companies. 

Constantly grinding, his education within finance, blockchain, and real estate melded together to form a partnership with Vertalo, a Texas based digital asset company. Since 2019, Dyl and his team have worked with Vertalo to onboard hundreds of millions of dollars of real estate assets to the blockchain. Furthermore, Advantage Blockchain has become a successful hedge fund and is currently advising clients on their investments within the crypto space. Advantage Blockchain continues to educate and consult businesses on the benefits of blockchain technology, strategic management of investment portfolios, and digitizing real estate investments via blockchain.

With an indomitable and tireless work ethic, Dyl also continued his musical career simultaneously, and became a Platinum recording artist during this time. In 2019 Dyl released “Crypto Rich,” a first-of-its-kind album focused on his journey through the cryptocurrency space, revealing his secrets to financial success through the music.

Crypto Rich was the first crypto rap album ever released; it is the original album that tells a story about crypto through music. Gaining much notoriety in the space, he continued to innovate and rap about his life and experiences with blockchain technology. In 2020, Dyl released a Deluxe edition of Crypto Rich, adding 10 new songs to make 19 total tracks. By early 2021, Dyl had finalized his NFT plans and released the “Crypto Rich Deluxe” version of the album as an NFT on Rarible & OpenSea.  By utilizing the one time gas fee on OpenSea, Dyl was able to create an ongoing collection of his music as NFTs.

Heightening this success, Dyl and Wes found themselves sitting face to face with Jordan Belfort on his podcast Negotiate Like a Boss, discussing the music business, how they should have negotiated their previous record deal, and what they have learned from success. At this point in the game, Dyl’s NFT drop has been one of the most successful music NFT albums, garnering over $120,000 in sales in 2021. Dyl adds amazing features for his NFT collectors, such as offering an event where he opened for Wu-Tang Clan and Waka Flocka in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Dyl’s NFTs are an all-in-one VIP pass and lifetime show ticket. He includes tons of utility that connects his collectors to real world experiences, merchandise shipments, NFT airdrops, physical collectibles, and more related to his music career. To top it off, Jordan Belfort earned a Multi-Platinum certification and Dyl became a two-time Platinum recording artist in December of 2021. Crypto Rich is currently one of the top crypto music titles in the world, with over 2,000,000 total Spotify streams.

Undoubtedly, there are multiple blueprints to success in the music NFT space, but the hard work, grit, and determination of Dyl is an awe-inspiring story. I’m a huge fan of Dylan’s desire to help others rise.  He isn’t out here flexing the fruits of his labor—instead he is doing his best to educate as many as he can with the priceless knowledge he has gathered over his decade in the music industry and crypto world. You can read his pinned twitter thread on music NFTs, where he tells his story and explains how other artists can create their own music NFTs.

I have sat many times with him on Twitter as he hosts educational spaces, answering questions and helping other artists brainstorm future projects. I have also sat in on a few spaces that he has co-hosted with industry leading publicist Corey Herscu.  If you’re a musical artist and are wanting to enter the NFT space, I highly suggest following both of these names. They are dedicated to helping others pave the way forward through education and inspiration, so be brave and reach out to them with any and all questions that you have.  

We are still so early to this new world, and Dyl is one of the pioneers that has courageously charted his own path. With multiple NFTs available to mint on OpenSea right now, Dyl has an awesome community of supporters and entrepreneurs that are becoming financially free from the knowledge he drops. Get to know Famous Dyl—you won’t regret it.