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0:21What’s up everybody, I’m Maceo. Welcome to another episode of We Them Niggas and this past summer I traveled to Africa for the first time, specifically to Lagos and Abuja, Nigeria. This journey is all about connecting with the incredible members of our We Them Media community and deepening our partnership with Creative Alchemy, a community deeply aligned with our mission to bring artists, Nigerian communities and African communities broadly on chain. What’s up everybody, and welcome to another episode of We Them Niggas. Today we’re here in Abuja, gorempa? Life camp. Life camp, okay. Life camp, Abuja, and I’m here with Ánesi, one of the co-founders, a founder of Creative Alchemy, a performing artist, a former football player, former dancer, a person of many lives.
1:10I’m excited to have you with me on the podcast and to be here with you and I boo-jack getting to meet you and your community members and seeing what you’re all about and in person and kind of getting to feel your vibe and how we can collaborate in the long term and I’m super blessed to have you on my podcast. I feel super blessed just to be able to be here with this podcast. Yeah, how are you feeling today? Pretty great, you know, just came back from my dance rehearsals, so I’m trying to like have my video shoots for Trapiano, so I’m pretty happy because I’m like okay finally done with this and I’m super super excited for the events that we’re trying to do yeah with the partnership with We The Medias and Creative Alchemy on the creative meetup and podcast session right and yeah I’m super pumped about it and yeah that’s how that’s how I’m feeling yeah I’m also very excited for the for the event on Friday I feel like I haven’t done any events in the past I feel like I’ve tried to do events
2:07And then like I was supposed to do an event last July and my grandma passed away like early in like August and my grandma passed away in July and I just like didn’t do anything like so I feel like I’m super excited to see this is a template for myself to take back home and think about how can I create events and programming that help creatives like in my local environment whether that’s at home in Philadelphia or in Nashville like understand how they can use these tools and start to see more immediate ways besides like this podcast this platform that I can add value to the creatives in my network I feel like I started my podcast within
2:37There’s an interest in helping artists understand how to use NFTs and I feel like at some point I saw that there’s not a lot of people that are really keen on supporting artists. I feel like it’s challenging in the bear market, but I also feel like it’s still important to be thinking about, you know, how do we use these tools even if there’s not people to give us money right now because it’s technology that’s still evolving, the space is still evolving and people that believe in it, you know, are still showing up all the time. and I think you’re a testament to that, you community, you’re a testament to that because
3:01I feel like I didn’t expect to find a community of black creatives in the you know in the web3 space that I didn’t know of like like eight months ago that I’ve been doing an event with you know like when I came here to see to see Daniel and to see Ebeneezer as well and Joshua so I feel super blessed to be able to co-create this and to learn from you all in community I’m like I’m so excited me too me too I’m super excited and yo this is the beginning to greatness and it’s so beautiful to see what we’re about to create, right? And this has always been my dream. This has always been a personal
3:33movement for me because these were the things that I lacked way back when I was trying to venture myself out there into the whole ecosystem and industry. And I feel like having experienced Web3, there’s this joy that comes to me when a lot of creatives out there understand understand these information and have resources to utilize with their creativity and yeah. And so when did you realize that was a passion for you, like a movement that you wanted to be involved in? Okay, so basically, yeah, like I said, I had a lot of experiences in the industry. I was on a journey trying to figure this out. You know, I started doing music professionally,
4:16went to a music school for like two years, three years. I was like, okay, nah, I don’t want to be here. I left and I had a band, an acapella band, you know, just doing a whole lot of stuff and it got to a point I was like, oh, I think I need to know about the business. I was like, I got a game manager. Okay, you know, all of those things, right? And it got to a point where I just realized that, yo, it’s a whole different thing from what I was seeing it to be like, right? And I was having these opportunities to actually, you know, so-called, you know, on this platform, giving me a platform to express, right?
4:50I was always being on this platform by these companies that would say, oh yeah, I’m trying to give you a platform, you know, and it got to a point where I felt music was disrespected, right? I went for a performance, it was very, you know, big festival that was happening in ABJ and I went for the performance and after the performance, I just came back, I was like, I felt music was disrespected, or creativity was disrespected and I told myself that that was going to be the last the last time I was going to go for any events like that. I told myself that all the complaints
5:26that I’ve been facing, all the complaints that I’ve been having about all of these things, it is time we start creating the experiences. It is time we start making the change and difference by ourselves. And, you know, that was just the move. I was like, you know what, let’s just get the speed done. However way it’s going to happen, we don’t know, but we’re going to get it done. And that was it. And since then, it’s been a beautiful place. It’s been a beautiful journey and it’s been home It’s been a home for me. It’s been the home that I’ve always wanted, that I always wish I had and it’s been a home for others and that’s the most important thing. I feel like if creatives have community where creative in general, anybody that can solve a problem is a creative, a developer, a graphic designer, a shoemaker, a fashion designer, a poet, a joker, you’re creative, right?
6:16So at the end of the day we all take from the same pool of creativity so we should have a language that we can understand as ourselves as creatives and have a community we can always just not feel alone while going through this whole journey because you know the journey can be very crazy and tough so if you have a community where oh you feel like yo I’m not I’m not the only weird person you know like you know I’m not crazy when I’m trying to chase my dreams right and it feels like yo why are you doing music go get a good job you know and like all
6:46You’re not going to feel like, oh yeah, I’m alone going through this phase, you know, and that’s going to make a whole lot of difference. Indie artists, creatives, you know, the basic resources that we always try to stumble on. One of the things that I knew was a problem for me was having like equipments like that I could just keep working and stuff. And that was the same. And after having going through that, that was the same intentions of trying to create resources, right? that would be available for creatives, right? Resources like a creative hub, a studio, a fully functioned studio, a visual studio, a VR studio, you know, and like a whole lot of stuff and like
7:26where you can just come be yourself, you know, and just come feel at home, right? Resources is going to be available for creatives all around the world just to remind them of who they are and also And also letting them know that, yo, you gotta just accept, you know, like embrace yourself, embrace your vulnerability and that, that is power. So like, those are like, you know, it’s like more of like a creative, I don’t know. Yeah, I just kind of feel like we need to have like a language that we connect with. And with that, we’re going to be unstoppable. Yeah, that was the whole drive, right? And I needed that space for myself. It was so crazy because it got to a point where in the web tool world, the one that really, really just got to me, get to me is when, oh, yo, we’re trying to get this P done, right? And we’ll be fighting each other. Why are we fighting ourselves? Like, we’re being used, we’re being paid penny and we’re still fighting ourselves. This reality has been created intentionally and why you just, I mean, you shouldn’t be fighting.
8:27in Me, like we should both together figure this out, right? And that is why it is very important for community building. And yeah, and also when I got introduced to the Web3 and like, you know, stayed for a while, I started noticing, oh, the whole importance and like, you know, more importance placed on the developers and some other set of people in the Web3 aside creatives, right? So that is also a thing. If you look at it, people, a lot of people saying NFT is a dead, NFT is a dead. Do we have an actual NFT community that has, from all the NFT artists that we’ve had in the Web3 space, do we have like a musical community that all the people who that has parted out and you know the people that are doing pretty great job like do we have such? We don’t really have such and that’s that’s basically it for real though and that’s been the drive that’s really really been the passion and we believe that we can all just get it done together.
9:25at the end of the day. Yeah, I think a lot of what you said resonates with me. You have a powerful team, powerful community. I think, you know, a lot of what you were saying I was thinking was resonating with me. You know, I got into the crypto space because my roommate told me to buy an ENS domain. I got like an airdrop and I was like, I’m gonna start my podcast. But I didn’t see any black people really like doing crypto journalism at all. It’s all like people trying to talk about like finance and banking. And I don’t know about finance and banking. So like, this isn’t how I can learn
9:53about crypto, but I think the everyday person can learn about it through culture, like just through culture, you know, like where can crypto enhance our experiences of culture in meaningful ways? And I feel like you look at the creative industries, even just in the U.S., you see the writer’s strike, you see musicians complaining about the deals they end up in, you see visual artists talking about how challenging it is to find like people that actually support them. I feel like people feel like it’s challenging to initiate being a creative. And I feel like, as you were saying in the Web3 space, I think there’s a lot of opportunism,
10:25especially for creatives. I feel like anyone’s like, oh, how can I make more money in crypto? It’s like, I can be a creative now. That’s what it’s giving at least sometimes. And I think like, I’m not here to call people out, I don’t even have people in mind, but I feel like it’s taken me time. I didn’t even look at NFTs for a long time because I feel like when I first started looking at them, they seemed like there were a lot of meme-me NFTs, like people trying to get people to laugh and get people to feel like I know what’s going on. I’m a part of the crypto club.
10:48And I feel like people shouldn’t be chasing bags in crypto as a creative I feel like it’s so much more important to be showing people where you want to take your vision and your project so that like people can feel like like you’re on a journey and like they’re supporting you on that journey and I feel like a lot of creatives don’t really commit to the journey in crypto they’re like oh there’s no money like I should go and it’s like but what are you here for you know who are people what are people supporting in the first place like sure it’s a cool like picture or song but like why should we buy your song you know like just so you can live off of us every month when we buy your song like I think that’s not sustainable
11:17And some people at the peak of music NFTs are just dropping, music NFT every month And it’s like, that’s cool, but for how long is that realistic going to pay your bills and support you And not necessarily taking time to build out that community and those resources like you’re talking about So I think, for me, this space has definitely taught me the value of community building And that’s what brought me here to Nigeria, is seeing Dan, my most active community member who’s been contributing And then alongside him, Julian, who’s at home with me But coming, getting to connect with him, getting to connect with Ebenezer, with Joshua
11:47people that I’ve been talking to, but not really had time to fully understand what their perspective is on this technology and how it can make a difference in the world. I think it’s been really powerful to see what community looks like and when you’re actually in person with community. I think it makes a big difference. And I think it’s awesome that you have a community of creatives here in Abuja and across Nigeria, really across the world, but especially here at home with you that you can be building with. Like just to have that time to be productive and Dan wants us to start doing office hours so that we can all just be in conversation together, but we’re not together.
12:16and so like that time makes a difference but I think it’s beautiful that you have that time and then you’re able to ideate and build and even like you know like I said I’ve never done a podcast with with this much professional setting like I’m just like set up my camera sit down and talk and like your team is like is the angle correct is the lighting correct is the lighting appropriate I’m like I’m like as long as the story is told I feel like I’m content but I think it’s a completely different thing when you have people that are supporting you and actually attending to those details and I think that you guys do it with like with such
12:43It’s such a high level, you know, of thoughtfulness. That’s what I would say. And I think that that really contributes to the overall product. I’m so excited to, you know, see how this turns out. But I know this is like a function entirely of like the team that you have, the community that you have and that you’ve been building. So I think, and I think that doesn’t really exist right now, especially in the music NFT space, the music crypto space. I feel like most of the music NFT space is people trying to sell music NFTs like, like I said, they pay bills, but then you have people making like startups and platforms.
13:12But those startups and platforms aren’t really focused on actually serving artists in the long term They’re just there to help artists sell NFTs But we shouldn’t be just selling NFTs in the first place, you know I feel like we have the opportunity to build brands, to build, like, to build, tell stories And to find people who want to help us do those things You know, just like, give us money Like crypto, you can just give anybody money anywhere in the world Like, you don’t need a platform I feel like if people want to build a platform, they can build a platform So I think it’s cool that you’re trying to build a community, you know
13:36Community-run, community-centered platform Because I feel like most of these platforms are just, like, white people who’ve got money to build a platform and they just make money by getting artists to come and try and chase money. But I feel like it’s cool that you’re here and that’s not really what your vision is. Your vision is to support creators and coming together and finding community. And I think it’s not just here in your local community in Africa where I think artists don’t feel like they have that support. I feel like that’s artists all over the world. It’s like, where can I go and get paid? Not where can I go and be in community because community isn’t
14:04realistic. I feel like the ecosystem is centered entirely around profit and who can pay you and and support your bills and give you a deal that’s extractive, but at least you’re making money. I feel like it’s exciting for artists to start to have more leverage in the media industries. And I think you said that very well. I’m really curious to hear, when did you decide that you wanted to get into Web3? Okay. So, well, I actually really decided I wanted to get into Web3, Web3 Foundry. Because I was on a journey of venturing into the AI and I was amazed. For like a year, I was, I was, like, you knew me way back, you knew me like a year ago, like, I literally
14:43would talk about the AI everywhere, like, yo, I just did this with AI, okay, yo, this, this, that, and I saw like a year, a few months, I was like, okay, now what? So I was like, I kind of just felt like, okay, there’s something, there’s something bigger, like, it’s not just about AI, right? Like, I felt like, I got so, I got so used to it that I became an AI prompt Engineering. I started understanding the dynamics and all of that. I was like, okay, there’s something more that I’m not really, really getting. The skill that I then attained, then I think that propelled
15:18the victory we had on the hackathon that was held on the near blockchain. I and my team, we created a Telegram bot that integrates BOS profiles on the near blockchain. We came out second and that was a beautiful experience and that was the introduction to what web3 was because i’m hearing web3 web3 i was curious about i’ve always been curious about nfc’s actually right i’ve always been curious about nfc’s metaverse al vr in fact like that was my motive i wanted to know i wanted to you know do all those things right so but i didn’t know that there was web3 right i had all of these things all packed together you know beautifully made and like that was what drew me i
16:02I was like damn and you know the most beautiful part of it was you know because you know there’s you know this thing where you where you go for a lot of competitions and stuff and you’re like and most especially if you’re having such competitions web to basically like there’s always a centralized pattern of giving winners and all of those and like so if you get to a point okay yeah you won you like oh it’s like kind of 50 50 because you know anybody can just rig the whole thing and you don’t have anything you can’t do nothing about it right so after that it was the process the actual
16:31The actual decentralized process on how we actually verified and got our funds was what marveled me. I was like, okay, so what is all this? I want to know. Like, I was so curious. And at that time where I was learning about what the Web3 was and all, I think some things happened that I needed to head back to ABJ after I left the place. It just kind of, I don’t know, it just, I don’t know. I was just like, okay, now where do I go from now? Okay, how do I even get this information? because I just knew about Nier. I had no idea about what Ethereum, the whole Ethereum blockchain
17:07was all about and like Stax, Polygon and the rest, right? Hive, Hive. So before I knew about all of that, it was just Nier. So I was like, okay, so what now? And boom, I went on, I got into Shify, caught nine and you know, I was, I was, I was getting there, you know, it was beautiful because I started having things clearly and like from the experiences The classes on how my routine changed when I started attending my Shify classes, I started automatically recognizing the opportunities and the terminologies in the Web3 space because it’s always been in my phases, but I couldn’t just recognize it. So the Shify classes, you
17:49know, that kept a routine of a subconscious always trying to learn. And, you know, I was watching YouTube videos and a lot of things. So I was also checking out, oh, if I see some opportunities. I’ll be like, oh, cool. Let me check it out. You know, I was, you know, joining spaces, trying to, okay, you know, just, and, and of course there were taxes that were also making you, you know, like stay engaged on chain and like, you know, get a wallet, meet an NFT after class and, you know, all of those things. So I was getting very, it was, it was beautiful. I got my first NFT, you know, it’s like right there on my wallet looking pink. You know, it felt beautiful. What was your first NFT? My first NFT?
18:27What was it? Yeah, it was actually a song, Trapiano Oh, okay But it was on Nier Blockchain Oh, interesting Yeah You said you got connected, you found like Nier Blockchain through a hackathon, is that what you said? No, I found Nier Blockchain through a friend of mine Yeah, so he’s been in the Nier ecosystem for like a very while and he has like a collective And yeah, he’s a Web3 enthusiast and like he’s done a lot of programs And so I just happened to be there at that moment, but actually where I, what I actually came there for, I literally came there for a, like a creative boot camp, was it like a
19:05boot camp? It was like a creative one year program that I went there for. And the program started, I, I started feeling very reluctant about continuing the, the program and while I was in those thoughts, I was having offers to participate in technical writing and a lot of other stuff in the Web3 space, I was like, okay, I’m an A-Prompto engineer. I’ve done it for like a year, six months, so I’m very confident about how to utilize that to solve problems. I was like, yeah, cool. I don’t know how I could help, but when we start building, I don’t know how to help, I know. And it got to the point where I needed to decide of either going
19:41to the hackathon or quitting school or quitting the hackathon, then just continue going for the one year of school that I applied for and the hackathon was like four days, it was a four day hackathon and you got me school like on that whole stretch like so and I already been it was just a lot so I was like okay you know what I just have to go for this if I don’t go for this I don’t know what else so it was a chance for me to just explore that aspect of me and it was beautiful and we made it out so I was like okay cool I
20:14I really, really want to know how I can contribute to an ecosystem like this, you know, because talking about on-chain decentralization, I was like, Oh, I love the sound of that. And after I, after I went for the, the whole hackathon and everything and we won and you know, the way we just, you said you made a POS? POS? No, no, no, no, no, not really. I didn’t actually made it. What was the thing that you said you made in the hackathon? Oh yeah. Oh, we made a bot, a telegram bot that integrates BOS profiles. BOS. What is that? That’s what I didn’t know. Yeah.
20:43What it actually generally means, I think it integrates your wallet, your near wallet, you could connect your active near wallet or create a new wallet and like just make transactions from the other like sites that you’re connected with. So that’s what it does on Telegram. Oh, I see. So it allows your Telegram wallet to connect with different websites, you’re saying? Yeah, on the blockchain ecosystem. Thank you for explaining that. I didn’t know what that was at all. Well, I think that’s dope. You know, I’ve heard of, like, my friend, Web3Plugs, he goes by, he’s pretty involved in the grants ecosystem on the near blockchain and been trying to build a whole ecosystem around that and trying to think about how it can be more interoperable and stuff like that.
21:29But I haven’t met a lot of people who have had a lot of exposure to the near blockchain and so it’s been cool this year to see as I’ve traveled, especially this month, you know, how near is more relevant in places. I feel like Ethereum is so prominent in the U.S. I feel like everybody’s trying to build an Ethereum virtual machine. It’s like, even like you were saying, I feel like there’s not enough devs, but at the same time, there’s too many devs. I feel like it doesn’t even, and people are at least the only people that matter. But it’s like, I feel like innovation to some extent has stagnated because it’s like, at what level are we actually using any of these things right now? I feel like people are like, well, everyday people aren’t going to use it. We have to build for the industry. Okay, well, then who’s the industry? I’m like, who are the people who are going to pay for it? And how are they going to integrate it?
22:06And I think a lot of that stuff has still yet to really happen and so it’s like I think it’s important to be thinking about the everyday person and how that that comes to be exposed to them and so I’m curious how do you feel like creative alchemy can play a role in helping more people understand Web3? Yeah I think the most important way they can play a role is when they even understand what Web3 is all about. That’s the reason why we’re on the goal of educating one billion creative about the information they need to know about anyway around the Web3 and how they can navigate themselves.
22:35So if the creatives can have a better understanding of what Web3 is all about, they are going to spread the better understanding of Web3 in a more creative way because creativity is a universal language. It’s just like how you can connect through art, you can connect through music, you can connect through dance, you can connect through painting, photography, right? It’s like these are means of communication. So, and you know, creativity has no, there’s no limits to contain what it can do. Right. So imagine that means of communication being expressed in diverse ways. Yeah. I mean, I think it’s, it’s a whole paradigm shift away from, you know, just us always kind of leaning towards what’s the proper way to communicate.
23:18I feel like it’s important for people to feel like they can be flexible. Like they can be weird. Like they can’t think about new ways to do things, like ways to feel authentic. Yeah, I think that’s awesome. I think I’m excited to see how I can contribute and bring creative alchemy to Philadelphia. I think, you know, it’s about supporting people and figuring out, you know, where there’s momentum to help people really have the experience of learning and community. I feel like it’s awesome that you’re able to go through SheFi and have that space to learn. Like, I’ve heard so many good things about Maggie Love and about what she’s doing. And I’ve had the pleasure to meet her once. I didn’t get to go to the SheFi Summit in Belgium. I didn’t plan my trip while I arrived afterwards. But I was super upset I didn’t get to go because I think it’s super important.
23:54I think it’s important to see the people who are setting precedence right now, especially when it comes to education. You know, I feel like there’s such limited infrastructure when it comes to just like who can just come and learn how they can transition into this space professionally, like from whatever your background is. It’s like those opportunities are so limited. So many, so few schools have like classes about that. And so it’s beautiful that she’s creating that space and making sure that there’s a consistent avenue for women to show up in this space, non-binary people to show up in this space and find community. And I think like I’m thinking a lot about how can I support black people in finding community and learning as well in this space.
24:24and that’s the main reason that I’ve been trying to document black people in this space and kind of shifted my focus from just creatives to like overall what are black people doing and how can like I amplify them so they can find, you know, more audience, more people who want to learn and actually, you know, find resources as well because I think it’s hard to establish yourself when you’re not a software developer as someone that’s adding guys to the space and I think it shouldn’t be such, you know, but I talked to Stones The Organic in Denver earlier this year at ETH Denver and he was saying he’s excited to start seeing that culture is being funded more on chain and I think, you know, even like the optimism, we love the arts, we love the
24:54Creatives and Creators whatever. I think We Love Art is what it was. It’s like a perfect example of that. I know some people made a lot of money from that. You know, I didn’t make a lot of money. I didn’t even, I didn’t even, it’s okay. I didn’t, I didn’t submit. I did everything on there, I think, except like submit for We Love the Art. And if I’d done that, I would have got like a multiplier. I was super salty. But that’s what I get for like, I don’t know, not, not being organized, not being on top of stuff. But I think that’s also why the community side of things is so important. Yeah, very important. Because you can distribute work, you can, and people can be motivated together to work on things. Yeah.
25:23I’m really curious to hear, like, as you’re excited to record your video on Sunday for Trapiano, what do you feel like the future of music looks like for you, like, as a more of an individual creative? I feel like the future of music is diversity. What about the future of your music? Diversity, actually. Because I think that’s the only way that has helped me go as far as I can think on creating, because I feel like creating music to me is like birthing babies, right? it’s like you creating a version of yourself into an identity and we are humans with expressions we carry a lot of personalities or we express those personalities and and I feel like that
26:06is what music is to like in that diaphragm that I you know picture whenever I want to create and that has really helped me just you know break boundaries and like try out new things and yeah just express and appreciate that expression and I think that’s that’s really that’s really what the future of music is to me for real and I’m super excited actually because I feel like when Trapiano was created it was created two years ago and two years a few months and I lost my producer that produced it so it was a it was a journey I got Trapiano when I was trying I told you like I was I was
26:50I was having, I was trying to sign a deal with the level, so I was like in the grooming process and that was when I recorded Trapiano and I also came to, you know, found about the pitfalls and the constraints in the contract and all of that and that was when I was also utilizing the AI. So I was like, yo, I found this, I could utilize this too and finally figure it out, right? Or I could just, you know, but when I got the contract and I was saying $25 per month for five, 5 years. Like, in fact, the guy was literally letting me know that, oh, yo, for you, you’re
27:27special, so we’re going to be having a lifetime. I’m like, what? I’m like, this is crazy. Sounds like a trap. Crazy trap. I was like, you see? And that was crazy. I was like, yo, and that was like my fourth record level dude that I was going to decline because I literally Declined all of it so like it was getting to that point where oh yeah man I just had to get that off and Trappiano came up and I you know didn’t we didn’t work you know we we still we didn’t like accept that it do and you know we just went part ways and you know I just was pushing P and for like a year oh I was like a few months yeah I lost my dad the next year that was that was 23 yeah and that was like around last year yeah that was around
28:16January so that it was like a very fresh year already and that kind of news and also it kind of just broke me down and I’m so much of this workaholic that even in times like that I told myself that okay you know what because I already had my plans set just for songs me so drop the single trap piano and pump the EP before my birthday like you know I was already and boom that just happened so I had to pause everything I was like okay cool after like a form after like four or five I’m going to hop back and like four or five months and I’m still struggling it was so crazy I just told myself you know what let’s not stress it let me just and like I sold my phone because I wanted to stay off the internet I was emotionally not ready for anything like it was so crazy and that was when I started utilizing the AI and so yeah a lot of things happened and when I started not getting momentum of okay cool I think let me just it’s time to stand up for myself and just you know keep drowning
29:16Boom, I lost my producer So it took me like another, I almost didn’t release Trapiano last year I had to tell myself like, yo, if I don’t do this, I don’t know who’s going to do it, you know And that was it And so the video of Trapiano is like a combination of all those experiences And, you know, just a, yeah, I feel like I need to do that And when I’m going to be done with that, it’s going to be a very big wait That is going to be off my shoulders for real And I feel like, yeah, I can’t even waste So we’re back in, I was just kind of asking you
29:52how the grief that you’ve been experiencing over the last two years is informing where you’re at as a musician and the kind of music that you’re looking to make as you talk about diversity and your future and what’s there for you I feel like people are, like you said, forming identities they are telling their stories and things like that I’m curious how you see that informing where you want to go So how did your producer, for example, influence the music that you’re making and the music that you see yourself making most immediately, moving forward, or your father, either one? Yeah, that’s the reason why it is very important to me.
30:24I’m on a journey of actually the art of art, right? You know, it is very important to me. It is success to me, right? And I feel like there’s a lot of other versions of myself that I can express through. and that’s the reason why the most important thing to me is just expression and I protect that like a treasury right and automatically and that that has really really just it’s done a lot of things on the way I create and everything and also I’ve also been thinking of you know involving on like a lot of practices and like learning an instrument I’m currently on the
31:03journey of learning production, I got my equipment and, oh, I actually made my first song, I’m going to play for you a little bit, actually, actually, okay, my first recorded song actually, but I don’t know how to mix and master yet though, but I want to get to that phase yet where I can play with sounds, you know, like, and it’s just, I don’t know, it’s beautiful It’s beautiful to me and that is what success is to me really actually so I’m not even trying to rush because I’m doing this for the rest of my life so I’m stuck with you so it’s like I have a lot of patience and that’s just how it’s been and I just realized that yo you got to push this P yourself you got to do it yourself you got to stand out and stand for yourself you got to be very intentional about your goals and if you fall if you break down you can’t stay broken
32:01you have to get up and keep moving. Because the world wouldn’t wait for you, right? The world evolves and you have to move with it. And that is what life is. The moment you stop moving, that is dead. So, and that’s literally just the things that has really just been guiding me and yeah. I love that. And I guess, like, I do hear what you’re saying, like, that guiding you and the direction you’re trying to take things in. And I’m excited to see, I’m excited to hear your song. But I’m also excited to see what the next 365 looks like for you. I think that the things that you all do, like the thoughtfulness that you have, even just in doing this, you know, you ensure that you stand that with the work that you’re doing. I feel like there’s not a lot of people putting a lot of work and thought into what they’re doing right now in the Web3 music space. And just like the media space at Web3 overall, I feel like there’s very few people, to be honest, in the space in general. And so that’s more so what I mean. And I’m curious, like, what are your thoughts? Like, how does, like, you being Nigerian fit into, like, inform, like,
33:00How does Nigerian culture inform the kind of music that you make and like your vision and your role in media and things like that? Okay, are you talking about the Nigerian music culture? I mean like living in Nigeria Like what the experience has been as a creative? Like how does like the politics of Nigeria like and the culture around that and the musical culture like all of it overall Like do you feel like how does that affect like the way that you approach making music and like your role in your journey? Well, I think the way it actually affects my, you know, the way I approach music in general
33:35Do you feel like you’ve been able to separate yourself from, like, that world, like, as a creator? I actually did a long time ago, not gonna lie, but I found a way to reconnect, but this time around, it’s to the people and the passion behind it So, I don’t know, I kind of just feel like, I appreciate Afrobeats, yeah, but Like I said, I was on a journey of finding music, right And right now, in the musical industry in Nigeria, I don’t even know what’s going on A lot of people, I don’t know, I appreciate art and I respect everybody’s expression But, I don’t know, like I told you, it got to a point where I felt music was disrespected
34:15I’m not trying to say they’re less or something, but I’m just trying to say that expression Information matters, right? And the thing that really pisses me off is the fact that, oh, if you don’t make Afro beats, you’re not like, you can’t sell. A lot of people will tell you that you can’t sell if you don’t make Afro beats. And that constrained mindset is what I don’t let my mind get entangled with, right? That’s the reason why I told you like the future of my music creation or being creative in general is diversity Because that is what has always prevailed and that is what creativity is all about
34:52So why do I want to just create music because I feel like a particular market space would appreciate just a particular set of music And for a while I actually did those but I started realizing that I was having creative block because I was just creating and creating and creating but it was just I don’t know like there was this creative block that I started having that I had to take a pause on you know and I you know got to realize and all that so but yeah that’s basically it but that’s the reason why expression is most important to me and I I cherish that right and guard it so yeah and that’s the that’s how I see the music industry in the future to be diversity and expression I agree with that I think I enjoy music I think it’s a window into a lot of different people’s lives
35:39I feel like into a lot of different cultures, a lot of different worlds, a lot of different worlds of politics. Like I feel like even just traveling this year and really this month, like seeing different countries and thinking about the politics of different countries, it’s crazy to see what different people are thinking about. Like, until I got here, I really didn’t know about like the Nsars protests that were happening and the role of crypto and that stuff, but also just like how outspoken people have been here about what changes needed and necessary and how challenging it’s been to actually make that happen. And I feel like I’m excited to continue to learn, you know, what the role of leading media can be and like supporting movements like that, you know, around the world is like an activist media group.
36:13And, you know, I think it’s a I think music as a platform has always, you know, connected people. So I’m excited to see how Creative Alchemy evolves and how your role in the global entertainment industry continues to evolve. I see you in this and this Creative Alchemy community definitely all being very global. And I’m very excited to see this paradigm shift, you know, from how can we create business models around music and the arts to how can we build community and find mutual aid and support around arts and creativity so that self-expression can happen at a real level and not like a commodified and commercial level. Because I feel like that’s not how we’re going to push the world in new directions. I feel like that’s how we’re just going to continue to chase money. We don’t need to chase money. I feel like chasing money hasn’t gotten us anywhere that’s really left people feeling nourished and fulfilled. I feel like people get to retire, you know, like where’d my life go?
36:58And I feel like that’s not that’s not what I want people to be expecting, you know, it’s not all my grandkids to expect So I’m excited about what you’re doing and I really appreciate you being on my podcast and you collaborating with my community and letting me document what you all are doing this week I’m like, I’m so impressed with everything that I’ve seen and like so so excited to to eat the food and And to meet the community and to interview like more of your peers and your community members. I’m like, I’m so thrilled Yeah, me too. Me too. Always a pleasure. And I loved every bit. Like I said, I’m super pumped
37:27on what we’re about to create. This is the beginning of greatness. And let’s just, let’s just go. Yeah, I’m excited for my audience to be the platform and document that you all are doing. I think you all are incredible. Incredible. Thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Do you have any final words you want to give to my audience? To the creatives out there, to the youth? Okay, to the you out there, keep building in public, and man, don’t feel like you’re the only weirder, bro, because we are weirders together, and it’s okay, you know, just accept yourself, accept who you are, and don’t give up, yeah, that’s pretty much it.
38:11Don’t give up, keep building in public, I love that. That’s it. Booyah.
