It's becoming a pattern where Lil Uzi Vert does something absolutely outlandish in order to build further mystique surrounding his brand. Look no further than the recent instance in which he was said to have embedded a twenty-four million dollar diamond into his forehead, sparking a plethora of amusing Thanos-centric memes at his expense.
Now, it's being said that the Eternal Atake rapper has set his sights on the galaxy at large. Grimes, accomplished musician and girlfriend of Elon Musk, recently declared that Lil Uzi Vert had purchased a planet, specifically WASP-127b, a gas-giant roughly four times the size of Jupiter.
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Though many fans were content to simply roll with it, chalking it up to another one of Uzi's signature antics, HipHopDX reported on a few notable skeptics -- namely professors and experts on the field of space law -- who dropped some reality checks on Uzi's alleged acquisition with Business Insider. Citing the words of Frans Von der Dunk, a professor of Space Law at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, the purchase was deemed "bogus": "If someone sold him a planet or he thinks he owns this planet in the normal sense of the word, it’s simply not true. It’s fraud.”
The report also notes that Ram Jakhu, the director of McGill’s Institute of Air and Space Law, pointed to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty; simply put, the treaty prevents countries and citizens from buying up space properties willy-nilly. "You can give them your money, but it doesn't mean anything," Jakhu explains. "There will always be companies trying to sell you things. If they can make money off you, why wouldn't they? But, that doesn't mean it's legally recognized."
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Of course, the reality is that Lil Uzi Vert's "purchase" of WASP-127b was a successful attention grabber, an on-brand maneuver for one of hip-hop's most unconventional young stars. Though it might not be legally recognized, the number of fans confidently declaring that "Lil Uzi Vert bought a planet" will go a long way in steering the narrative. Still, it's important to note that experts in the field are experts for a reason, and if two Space Law professors say it ain't so, then it stands to reason that they're correct.
What do you make of Lil Uzi Vert's interplanetary ambitions?