Transcribed with Whisper from the original audio, so nothing is masked. Names corrected. Published in full, as spoken, so it can be read, searched and quoted. Search every transcript →
0:00I can’t. No introduction, nothing. Okay, this is not a main video, this is like a test run.
0:08Okay, introduce yourself. Okay, good day everyone. Welcome to another episode of We Them Media Podcast. Is it We Them Media or We Them Niggas? We Them Niggas Podcast. Okay, okay. Go ahead and try again. It feels weird. It feels weird to me say. Okay guys, welcome to another episode of We Them Niggas Podcast and I’m here with the founder of We Them Media, We Them Niggas. That feels weird too. I want to say, We Them Niggas podcast and We Them Media DAOs, huh? You should say, We Them Niggas, a podcast, and We Them Media. You don’t have to say DAO. I want to be the first DAO people know as a DAO without people saying it’s a DAO.
0:46In your mind, that sounds right, right? But it doesn’t. It’s not right. DAOs, do you let people know that something is a DAO? People know Google Chrome is the internet browser, but it’s not Google Chrome, internet browser. But do you think we have that? I’m not sure Yeah, we gotta dream big Okay, makes sense We the media first, DAO’s second Okay, welcome guys My name is Danny and I’m here I’m gonna start with introduction
1:20What’s that?
1:25Only 1.3k subscribers Only 100k views It’ll be okay By the time they come for us, we’ll be too big
1:36Go ahead
1:40Oh, but okay, you’re right, we should get credit, shout out to Proud by Zana, Zana Beats, for this fire instrumental, now what’s up? Okay, what’s up guys, this is, welcome to another episode of We Them Media, We Them Niggas, but, now I’m not messing it up So go ahead, what’s your name and welcome? What’s my name, welcome Say what’s up everybody, I’m Daniel, you know, welcome, welcome to what, and who are you here with? okay guys welcome to all right i’ll do it nice right i’m messing with you okay okay hello guys welcome my name is danny and i’m here today with the founder of we them media we them media and we them niggas podcast and his name is mr myself welcome it’s good to have you again thank you mr daniel thank you it’s good to be here i’m i am maceo i’m the founder of We Them Media the kundra drip media company i’m working on building in the web 3 space over the last three years
2:41A lot with your help, so big shout out to you, I’m excited to be here with you over the next month or so And to see what we can co-create and bring to the world We Them Niggas is my podcast, where I’ve been interviewing people across the African diaspora And Web3 building, creators, experimenting on-chain I’m really thinking about what it’s like for me to bring my interests and my questions, you know, to life Okay, thanks for that amazing introduction So let’s get to meet you, who is Maceo behind the scene? Who are you? Who am I? Yeah, what is your personality type is? What are other things we don’t know about you already?
3:11Who am I? I’m a rapper. I’d say first and foremost, I started my podcast. I wanted to, you know, break into the music industry and kind of bring value. And that kind of transformed into me seeing Web3 and seeing the same kind of opportunity to bring value first. And really bring someone who was, I guess, be someone who was bringing more awareness to the black community, African community at large in the US. And it’s really just transitioned to being and become more than that. I’ve seen myself evolve as a community builder, a founder, sure. But I’d say I’m always a community builder, first and foremost. Like I wouldn’t say I’m the best founder.
3:39I wouldn’t say I’m the best rapper, I wouldn’t say I’m the best podcaster even But I’d say I’m really community minded all the time And I’d say that’s my guiding light As I try and figure out how do I bring this project to life Is how do I do it in a way that makes sure I’m doing everybody Who I feel is a part of this journey with me How do I do them justice? And so who I am behind the scenes is somebody just thinking about How do I do this right for the people I say I’m doing it with and for Okay, okay, how has that journey been as a community leader?
4:02How has it been for you? I mean, I think it’s been incredible, right? I think with funding from CY, my patron I’ve been able to travel to more than 12 different blockchain conferences, events around the globe, eight different countries now, from Asia to Africa, around the US, and just really getting to see both the Western Web3 world, the Asian Web3 world, and then now getting to be here in Africa, getting to meet builders in Ethiopia last month, and now being here in Nigeria with you all again, and hoping to make a trip to meet more of the Nigerian builders out here while we’re here, while I’m here, right?
4:31So I’d say the journey’s been incredible, I think, just trying to understand how do I make sure that what I’m building is creating value for the people who are aligned with me who are trying to build platforms that actually serve their communities and not just you know extract value from them. I think that’s supposed to be the paradigm switch so for me I think it’s going great and just getting to meet people and learn and better understand what my values should be and what the values aligned people look like for me I think it’s been the journey. And people like you who have been a consistent guiding light and a consistent accountability partner are people who have made it possible. So shout out to you, shout out to CUL, shout out to everybody who’s been showing up and giving a fuck.
5:03Okay, you mentioned We Them Media as your brainchild. Can you tell us what’s We Them Media and what are the goals you intend to achieve? We Them Media? We Them Media is a cooperatively run media company. That’s kind of what I’d say. I’d say We Them Niggas is my podcast that I started in. I was like, okay, you know, if I can actually get this podcast to come out consistently, then ideally, I’d actually be able to ship more content than just my podcast. You know, ideally we’d have a approach to marketing that would help us ship additional content in the future Ideally, we’d also have, you know, a team that can help us edit content in a rapid manner
5:36And so I’d say We Them Media is ideally just like the next evolution of We Them Niggas We Them Niggas is me documenting us I think We Them Media is us bringing us to market in a meaningful way I think it’s also a way for, I think, creatives like myself to better understand how we can be of service To our communities, to the diaspora with our skills and our energy in a way that bridges the gap between us and the future. I think We Them Media, for me, our goal is to both redefine the future of the creator economy using decentralized technologies and also to make sure that African products, African
6:08builders are getting to market irrespective of what chain they’re building on. Okay. I feel like that makes sense. But how did your journey evolve from being a podcaster and a rapper to now trying to build a media company and then a DAO? Well, I’d say, you know, when I first saw DAOs, I was excited. I was in a fraternity at that point and just seeing the potential to be building new kinds of organizational structures that even had treasuries that could capture value, create value. I think the idea of being in DAO for me is about being able to build a scalable community driven organization that still maintains democratic governance and ideally can outlast me.
6:45I think the goal is to build an international organization that can outlast me. Okay, I think that makes sense So what contents do you hope to create or what type of content have you been creating before now and what contents do you intend to create as you take this journey across Africa? So I started out interviewing some of my college friends, kind of just trying to push myself to be a host thinking about discourse broadly, you know, subjects that maybe we wouldn’t talk about all the time My podcast being called We Them Niggas, obviously talking about race, about, you know, how we relate to race
7:14as people from different backgrounds, not as black people It’s actually been controversial that my first episode isn’t with a black person We talk about race, given that it’s We Them Niggas But, you know, for me it’s just about how do we start to talk about difference in a meaningful way Unpack difference, unpack what it means to erase and to recognize difference And to make sure that we’re on the right side of that practice all the time And I’d really say since then, evolving into the music space I wanted to be a music rapper, or a music journalist, rather I’ve interviewed creatives, both on and off the Web3 space
7:42You know, artists in New York, artists in Pennsylvania California are just in California, and it’s been dope. Even out in Manchester, I interviewed LCD Alchemist last year, coming here to meet Creative Alchemy, but also looking at who are the African builders, thinking about who are people across the diaspora, whether they’re VC, lawyers, founders, software developers, really just trying to better understand what it means to be building in this space, and from what perspectives we can be creating value, and what kind of business opportunities even exist. I feel like for most people, they don’t see Web3 as a startup ecosystem, but I think it is one of the most exciting startup ecosystems
8:13systems on the planet right now. Okay. Okay. So how is your content being produced, mastered and distributed? How’s that journey been? How’s the process been? So that journey has been treacherous. I mean, to be honest, like people see us as a fake media company because we don’t put out videos very often. Yeah. And I respect that take, you know, because I don’t edit videos. And I edited my first few podcasts. My mom said, you should get someone to edit these. And I won’t make her sound bad. But, you know, the point is, I edited them. And then she told me I should get someone to edit them. And I think it was a thorn in my side forever. So I’ve just been looking for people that really care about it.
8:43And I’d say the magic that came out of being here last year in July was that Superbio, shout out to him, he is super excited about helping us with post-production and really bringing this stuff to life, and so he, Zed, Quadrafa have really been holding it down in terms of post-production on that interview series, and I’m excited to continue to work with them to ship content, but really most excited just to showcase what it looks like for us to actually have a media team, who’s excited about We Them Media, who’s excited about the community, and excited about showcasing who we are, not just them as skilled, skilled editors and skilled content creators.
9:13But us, you know, as really pioneers in this space, as creatives wondering what our role can be on chain And so I’d say it’s been incredible to work with them Being in Ethiopia last month, I connected with Yofi He’s excited to help us with post-production out there in Ethiopia Aziz, Fedesio, they’re both in Kenya, Nairobi, and excited to help with post-production as well And so it’s just been beautiful to find people who see the vision on the media side of things And who actually have the skills to help us bring it to life And the excitement about it to actually help us do it with their hard work
9:41So, you know, I’m excited to, you know, also be alongside them, heads down, putting work in And I think over the next few months, people will see how much content we’ve documented How much our team has evolved, and how our vision has evolved as well Okay, you already mentioned people who are supporting you But if people would like to support you, who would like to maybe join the DAO or join the media company Why do you think they should trust you? Why should they jump on this moving train? Why should they support you as you go through this journey? Yeah, I mean, I think that the biggest thing is that I’m community-minded
10:10You know, I’m wondering how what I’m building can serve you. I think that you are, in my mind, the end customer. You know, how can everyone that I’m looking to partner with in the long term be creating value for you is my question. I want We Them Media to feel like a place that, you know, you can safely go and be part of the new internet. And whether that’s access to banking products, whether that’s access to tools to monetize as a creator, whether that’s access to just friends online, you know, I know so many people struggle with loneliness, and we’re just here trying to make sure that we have people to learn and grow with all the time.
10:38And I’m excited to be creating that space I think this new internet can be an intimidating journey to do on your own And we’re just trying to make sure nobody has to do it that way Okay, speaking of people who are joining and supporting you I know you’ve mentioned a little bit about them But I think in private conversations you’ve mentioned some other people Would you like to send shoutouts to them? People who have been supporting your journey And community partners that we’ve had in the past Like you want to send shoutouts to them now? Yeah, I mean, huge shoutout Of course, like I mentioned earlier, to see why
11:05Huge shoutout to Creative Alchemy for really being like, really the core community of my community, you know, I’m really here thinking a lot about how can We Them Media be an organization that serves creative, like creative communities and partners like Creative Alchemy, because I want people to be invested in the work that we create in the output, and I want them to feel like they can get paid to contribute to making it meaningful. And so I’m excited to be in this experiment with them. Huge shout out to 40 Acres DAO, the black community in the US thinking about the future of Web3. Huge shout out to Friends with Benefits for getting me this camera, for getting me this tripod. Huge shout out to CY,
11:37for all the additional stuff, you know, that’s come with being part of this journey, all the insight, you know, I think shout out to people who gave us money last year, Donna and company Asia, you know, when we did the actual creative hangout last year, it’s just been an incredible journey. And so many people have helped us get where we are. And I’m just excited to be doing it with company and people like yourself who have been showing up inside the community thinking about what the future of it can look like. So thank you again as well. And I’m just super prompt to be, you know, I feel like in this in this next phase of thinking how do we do it together and no longer
12:07being Maceo, the guy who does 25% of it by himself. Oh, that makes sense. Thank you guys for listening. Make sure to look out for more of our videos. In the meantime, like, subscribe and follow us on X, Instagram. And that’s basically it. Thank you. Yeah, thank you.
12:25You like that? Mm, I think it was good.
