We Them Media logo We Them Media Community-made Back the work →

A DJ on Channel 5, street work and the loop.

Answers What made you smile today? and If you could ask the whole world one question, what would it be? · see how other cities answered →

Seven minutes with a Denver DJ, taped at his setup at a First Friday, and for most of it the questions run both ways.

It opens on a sound he had just used. “I only use it at the end of every set”, he says, and then explains the mechanics of it: “When you go all the way up the feedback goes over 100 and it’ll just keep looping for however long you want it to.” Asked whether that goes into a wedding set, he laughs it off. He works the weddings; the spiral is for other nights.

Then he turns interviewer. He hears the man with the mic is out doing man on the street work and asks whether he knows Andrew Callaghan, who, it turns out, is in town that week. “he’s my favorite”, he says. He came for the entertainment, “I started watching him when he was doing the street content”, when it was “just pure entertainment at that point”, and stayed for the turn: “when he actually took, you know, his following and did something like productive for the world with it”. So he started paying, five dollars a month, “Started paying him five bucks a month for the Patreon”. His favourite piece is the border episode, where the reporter “snuck into Mexico and then he tried to sneak back into America” and ended up arrested, and what that proved is short: “he’s really out here”. His summary of the job is a working man’s: “that’s what it takes, you know, feet on the ground”.

He will not make the show, because “I have to DJ a wedding tomorrow”, which is the moment he works out why Callaghan is in Denver at all.

The middle of the tape is the DJ interviewing We Them Media. The weekly bounty gets explained, “definitely inspired by Channel 5”, with “we’ve been putting up like $100 a week” and entries so far from India, Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda. He wants the mechanics: how the winner gets picked, how the street content connects to the money. The answers are honest about being unfinished, “kind of vibing and trying to figure out what fair looks like”, and the crypto backstory that follows is a college one, a roommate, airdrops, and “I never had $8,000 before”.

Then the questions come back around. This week’s is what made you smile, and his answer needs no thinking about: dogs, because “pretty much every time I see a dog I smile”. His own question for the world is four words, “What are we doing, man”, and then he gives his name. Kevin. AKA Carbon.

What is in it

Jump straight to a moment.

Transcript

Auto-generated by YouTube, names corrected. Where YouTube masked a word it shows as [bleeped]; that is YouTube's, not ours. Published in full so it can be read, searched and quoted. Search every transcript →

0:38That’s the spiral. Is that what the spiral I I only use it at the end of every set. Nice. When you go all the way up the feedback goes over 100 and it’ll just keep looping for however long you want it to. Yo, really? It just keeps going?

0:51when you go like back to 75 or lower it’ll like Do you do it at weddings? Uh no, only No, just only when it’s like an interesting Okay, I’m only going to do it once. I’m going to turn these off. Yeah, yeah. Yes, sir. Yeah, I’ve been doing content on my YouTube for a couple years, but

1:20Cool. mostly like podcast content before in tech space and doing like some arts related stuff, too, but not so much. And now I’m trying to get out and do like more man on the street kind of journalism ask people questions. Do you know uh Andrew Callaghan? Yeah, for sure. He’s here tomorrow. He’s here today right now. No way. That’s what’s up. That’s Yeah, he is. I’m trying to go see him tomorrow.

1:39Yeah, where’s he going to be at? What’s he doing around here? Like the Emporium Stadium or something [bleeped] like that. I don’t know what it’s called. Yeah, he’s he’s my favorite. I mean, he’s kind of out of that space now, but he started kind of you know, street content and all that sort of stuff. Yeah, he’s not doing street stuff now. He’s doing but he’s he’s doing more way more I’ve been paying to his uh subscribe to his Patreon for like 8 now, dude. I [bleeped] [bleeped] you. You got the mic? Uh, oh yeah, for sure. Excellent. You can clip it right on your shirt.

2:03That’ll make it easy. Boom. But uh, but that’s love. I think that’s sick. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think, you know, I I made a lot of money in in crypto as a like a content creator from NFTs. And you know, like Patreon makes the difference.

2:17lost a bunch of money on NFTs, so you owe me money. No, it wasn’t your money I got. It was like one guy essentially subscribed to my Patreon. Like a art collector, so shoutout to him. But um, but yeah, okay. And so, what do you like about Andrew Callaghan? What had you subscribe to him? Um, honestly, I I mean, I started watching him when he was doing the street content. So, it was just pure entertainment at that point.

2:40Mhm. Um, but then when he actually took, you know, his following and did something like productive for the world with it, I was like, hell yeah, I’m going to support this guy. Started paying him five bucks a month for the Patreon, and yeah. Oh yeah, you think you go see him live tomorrow now that you know he’s here? I uh, I have to DJ a wedding tomorrow. I uh, now that you say that, now I remember that’s why he’s in town. Um, I was I was planning on going to that, but then I had I had work, so. I Yeah, I forgot that’s what he was

3:10he’s doing the tour. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he’s I understand what you’re saying now. Yeah, I thought he was just in town by chance. I was like, wait, what? I thought you meant for the wedding. I said, what?

3:17No, no, no, no, no. I’m working a wedding, otherwise I would go. and I said, he’s here for the wedding? Yeah, yeah, no, no, no, no, no.

3:24I said, you know something that I don’t know, but I’m even way more confused now with what I’m going to. Okay, do you have a favorite a favorite piece of content that he’s worked on? Um, man, it the first one that came to mind, I’m just going to go with, and it was the border crossing one where he tried to he he snuck into Mexico and then he tried to sneak back into America. Mhm. Uh, and he got arrested, and it was just like a pretty crazy thing like as um, somebody who’s going to watched him and followed him for so long to like, you know, literally see him end up in

3:55jail and be like, “Holy [bleeped] like he’s really out here, you know?” Yeah. I got that. And it it shows his skin in the game, huh? Yeah, for sure. Yeah. I mean, that’s that’s what it takes, you know, feet on the ground, for sure. Yeah, it is the truth. And so, I’ve been doing essentially an effort to get people out around the world doing like video journalism kind of in that format. Uh, definitely inspired by Channel 5.

4:17Uh-huh. And we’ve been putting up like $100 a week as like a bounty essentially. And we did you say? Yeah, exactly. So, this guy has a platform called Pixel Didn’t Happen. And we do like crypto bounties. You get like 100 bucks on a layer two. Um, if uh, if we pick your entry as our favorite. We’ve had people in India, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda submit so far in the last like 4 weeks. Cool. And uh, each week we pick a different question.

4:39okay. So, what are you picking for the winner, say it? It’s our our favorite video. It’s very subjective. cool. Nice. Now, that’s cool. It’s just like, are we being somewhat fair? Yeah. And uh, do we like this video? Yeah or no? And why or why not, you Nice. Um, we’re kind of figuring out as we go. So, kind of vibing and trying to figure out what fair looks like.

4:54And then how does the street content link to that? So, people’s people have to mint essentially like an NFT, um, which is like free. It’s like maybe a cent, something like that. Um, and then we can pick which one we’re going to distribute the money to essentially.

5:08Okay, got you. So, you’re doing some crypto stuff. I did. Yeah, yeah, yeah, it’s definitely crypto stuff. Definitely crypto stuff. That’s my background. Yeah. Um, and

5:15So, did you make money just getting in on crypto early and now you’re just later in the game or Mhm. How did you get to where you are in the crypto game? Um, I had a podcast I was doing like I was I got into crypto in like late 2020 one. Mhm. And I was a senior in college. And my roommate just kind of helped me make money off airdrops. Made like maybe like 8K my senior year. And I was like, “Oh, that’s pretty cool.” I never had $8,000 before.

5:43Nice. And so, like I was kind of I was kind of I was studying philosophy and psych in school and I don’t know what I was going to do besides apply to grad school anyway.

5:53And that didn’t sound cool. That’s what’s up. So, I just kind of started looking for jobs in crypto and started doing content. Hold on. I’m going to give you one more question and then I’m going to wrap start wrapping up this the the

6:04Yeah, yeah, yeah, do your thing. Okay, so Unless you’re good now or yeah, I don’t know. So, my weekly question this week is what’s the most important Last week it was I was a little bit high. Last week it was You’re not high. What’s the most important issue in the world? This week it’s what’s something that made you smile this week? What’s something that made me smile this week? Yeah. I mean, my instant thought goes right to animals, just like dogs. Like pretty much every time I see a dog I smile. It’s like almost every time. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And if you could ask people around the world one question,

6:34what would you ask them? Um What are we doing, man? That’s real. Peace. And what’s your name? Kevin. Kevin. AKA Carbon. AKA Carbon. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

More from Colorado DJ and music scene.

The whole project →