Stonez the Organic at ETH Denver · Forbidden Fruit, Culture Onchain & Creative Wellness | Philly

0:00All right, all right. Hello, everyone. Welcome to another episode of We Them Niggas. We’re here at ETH Denver, highlighting some of the black and brown people out here doing cool stuff, representing the community. Today, I’m out here with Stones. Stones is based in Philly. I connected with Stones. I guess like around this time, maybe a little bit earlier last year, through some of their open mics, some of the events they do with Forbidden Fruit, him and Ty, a super dynamic duo out here doing cool stuff. And I’m super excited to connect with you today and hear about how the conference has been, man. How’s the conference been?

0:26The conference has been great. Thank you for having me. Yeah, having a good time out here. Been here since Tuesday. I lost my voice. Yeah. But yeah, it’s been a really good time connecting and building with people. And being at the conference, are you feeling inspired? Yeah, for sure. I would definitely say seeing what everybody is up to and how we can bring all the tools together, especially like in everybody’s expertise, has definitely had me excited and having some really good constructive conversations. I would hear about that. I’m curious to hear what for you right now. I know you’re a creative, I know you’re an artist of different mediums, and I know that you’re also a community builder.

1:03I think that the thing that’s exciting me the most right now is the attention to culture. People are really paying attention to the movers and people who are contributing more than just the tech to the space. And I think that the more that we value culture, the more enticing and inclusive the space becomes. So yeah, super excited to see more DAOs pop up, more chains, more protocols, all looking to support culture and putting artists at the forefront. And did you come into this space, like into crypto, knowing culture was a big part of crypto or thinking that it would be? Well, I think that culture is a big part of everything.

1:47A lot of my background, like I actually studied culture in school and all that type of stuff. So understanding that without culture, there becomes a lack of realness, a lack of authenticity, and then there ultimately becomes no real reason to work towards a common goal besides money, right? If you have the opposite of money, culture, life, things that bring us together that doesn’t have to do anything with profit, we begin to come together and think about things that actually push the space forward and help everyone as a whole and not just one individual. So I realized coming into the Web3 space, there was a lack of diversity, a lack of differentiated opinions, and that when you have an echo chamber in that type of situation, it can only be good for so long, right, before it becomes toxic and poisonous, and then people look at it like, hey, I don’t want to touch that thing.

2:40The public perception of crypto and Web3 is trending towards that way, but I feel it’s up to us right now and those and the powers that be that are recognizing that we have to do something different to change things up and get people to be excited and want to join us in this journey. And when you first got into crypto, what was like the thing that excited you that made you want to go in like with your energy, with your attention, learn about it? It was just being able to connect with other creative individuals. I spent a lot of my time collecting art, just getting to know people before I even started

3:12putting my own out there. So just understanding like, who are the people here? What makes them tick? Why are they doing what they do? Was very intricate to my process and it excited me to figure out that there were people that were excited about technology, being creative and ultimately like liberating the world from a lot of the traumas and constructs that we just became okay with, you know, so yeah. They became naturalized. Yeah. But they might not necessarily be like serving to everybody. Very dope. Very dope. And as you kind of came into your crypto journey, were you part of any creative communities? Yeah, there were a few.

3:49I think that like everything in this space, things come and go. I was a part of Black NFT Art, Discord.art, and then I started growing my own communities as well. We’ve been doing Forbidden Fruit since 2019 and we’re able to build that community and bring it into Web3 and create a bridge for artists who are not necessarily crypto native to be introduced to the tech and find different ways to learn about what they think is important with the technology. I think that’s super dope. Like being in Philadelphia, connecting with creatives there, like what kind of advice would you give to like a Philadelphia artist who doesn’t really know much about Web3

4:28I would say do as much research as possible and take your time I feel like we are still early even though things are developing rapidly within the space but you have an opportunity to not only like change your life but change the lives of those around you so really take the information seriously and don’t afraid to act on it do you feel like you have fear of actual information initially I feel like coming into the space I was a bit apprehensive initially like I feel like I was watching lots of YouTube videos and feeling I know what I’m doing with my money. I don’t really want to invest. Even now I’m still kind of hesitant to get into trading because I feel like I can put myself in a bad spot really easily. Even though I do find the premise of the space to be really compelling.

5:09I think that in that bit of doing the research and information, you have to find out what works for you. If you’re an artist, don’t come in this space and try to become a trader. You’re not a trader. If you want to learn how to trade, take that time to discover and research and become comfortable and experiment in your capacity. But I feel like as artists, figure out how the tech works for you and then work that out before trying to extrapolate the other things within this space because there’s a lot of value to gain, but you gotta figure out what works for you first.

5:42That makes sense. And as a creative, what tools, like what platforms, what things are most exciting to you, like walking in 2024, as you said, the space moves so rapidly. And so what’s relevant, what’s practical, even like Farcaster now, that kind of changes the game on distribution for Web3 native stuff. But yeah, what is exciting to you and yeah I’m super excited about the Superchain and things becoming more interoperable Just Optimism? The Superchain is Optimism, Zora, and Base all working together So yeah, just excited about that and just like things becoming more frictionless The one thing about ETH Denver is I’m seeing a lot of the tech is like becoming more like usable on a day-to-day

6:25I don’t have to log into my MetaMask or worry about a seed phrase or yadda yadda yadda I can download an app, get some USDC and then send it to another person and gain staking yield and all that type of stuff Once the tech becomes manageable and digestible for everyone, then we’ll be in a very good place So I’m excited for that, just the technology becoming more manageable That makes sense, and as you look at it becoming more manageable Like you’re talking about this super chain like what what what for you like separates like the super chain from like last year as a creative like

7:00What is like a people who don’t really see like the difference like people aren’t like yeah. Well, the super change is it opens opportunity and As the space develops we have to realize that The things that we’re used to spending on not everybody is used to spending all gas fees A gas fee being over ten dollars that could be someone’s transportation and their their child care or Groceries or whatever have you. As we develop and build on top of these chains and using the different aspects of the technology, things become more efficient. The super chain makes things more efficient. I’m excited to see the space become, you know,

7:37like just more, I’m just, I’m losing a word right now. I keep saying manageable, that’s a poor choice of word, but yeah, I’m looking forward to just become more inclusive. And I think that as we develop and use different, like things like that, gas cities become cheaper, things become more efficient, quicker, people can understand and interact with the tech better. We’ll just be in a better spot. And right now, what is top of mind for you as a creative? What projects are holding your attention? I know you’re always busy, always doing different things. Top of mind right now? Forbidden Fruit, honestly. We’ve been doing a lot of building with Forbidden Fruit and

8:14finding different opportunities to put artists on and give them a platform. So I’m super excited about what we’ve been building and the things that we’re going to execute on this year Oh yeah, and are there any things on the horizon people should know about? Nah, nah, nah, just follow us, I can’t talk about that Okay, okay, I like that, I like that Super exciting, but yeah, just follow us, Forbidden Fruit Forbidden Fruit, okay And then my last question really is, what’s been a core memory for you on your Web3 journey as a creative, as an artist? Uh, core memory. I think my first, my first blockchain experience like IRL was in Atlanta through the Umba Dimer program. And just being able to see everybody in person. Oh no, that’s not, that wasn’t my first, that was my second. But that was the first that I was directly involved in as an artist. And it was just really dope to see like people of color come together. Super Chief has supported it at the time. And it was just really cool. Like seeing everybody from online in person for the first time.

9:11and it’s like that classic, oh, you’re not supposed to talk to strangers online and meet them in person, like, just, like, laughing at that, like, as I’m on my way to New York to go, like, meet some of my coolest art friends that I’ve ever had. Yeah. And I’m still, like, friends with them to this day. So that’s definitely a core memory. I appreciate you sharing that. Yeah, no doubt. Well, I really appreciate you coming here with me. Very, like, short notice, middle of the evening party vibes. You know, as I said, I’ve seen you in Philly, seen what you’re doing with the events for Fruit. I definitely encourage everybody to keep up with

9:41with both yourself and Ty and what you two are working on because you two I think are definitely some of the creatives who are immersed in this space and who are bringing this work to Philadelphia and I’m definitely excited to see how we can collaborate more in Philadelphia and bring this tech more into Philadelphia. I’ve been thinking about like how can we do conferences in Philadelphia, thinking about how could we partner with like Rec Philly to help bring more creatives in as well and so I’m definitely excited to be more in conversation about how I can amplify what you guys are doing. You guys are leaders

10:05in Philly, that’s how I see it and I’ve been taking cues. I appreciate it, bro. Thank you, man. Thank you. Thanks for the interview, man. I appreciate it. Yeah, do you want to shout out any social thing like that people should check out? Follow me on Twitter at AvedicStones. My Instagram is Stones The Organic, TikTok Stones The Organic, everything else. And Forbitten Fruit. You can follow me if you follow. You’ll find that if you follow me. No problem. Booyah. So, you guys got to say booyah as well. Booyah. Yeah, so thank you, everybody, for tuning in, and we’ll see you soon. Peace.