Sand Castles.

On Wednesday, September 7th 2022, I’ll be minting my song “Surfs Up” as a 1/1 music NFT, my first on Catalog. The record was produced in January, in Minneapolis, MN, recorded at Minnehaha Recording Company, and engineered by Hunter Sinclaire.

The song is about letting go of situations and people that are no longer a part of your purpose while holding on for dear life to the things that do.

When I wrote this song I was celebrating finally being over the bitterness that caused me to leave my hometown, my past relationships, and so-called failures.

These past 9 months or so that I’ve explored web3 have been special.

Some argue that the NFTs and community I’ve found are not real.

But I’m of the mind that real or not, they belong to me and I’m going to protect and preserve the creative inspiration, purpose, and community that I have found.

I don’t care if the castle is sand I’mma throw my hands and protect what’s mine.

In search of.

As an adopted child of Virginia, Norfolk to be exact, I am a huge fan of N.E.R.D - they were the first band I saw in concert on my own.

After they seamlessly weaved rap, punk, jazz, & funk together at my Freshman year homecoming concert at ODU, I dreamt of creating sound for myself that was so diverse.

I’m a tough self-critic, so I probably already reached that point but just allow me to pretend for today that “Surfs Up” is a moment in which I introduce new ingredients to the gumbo of a genre I’ve been calling future surf.

This song is the sonic love letter to the home I keep escaping from and retreating to.

🖖🏾

Art for art’s sake.

“Surfs Up” also features the homie Jamee Cornelia, they fucking slid. Being that Jamee is also a fantastic visual artist, I enlisted them to create the artwork as well. You can see the alternate designs below as well.

Reaching Back.

So, like many artists that ventured into web3, I’ve had tunnel vision up until now. There was so much possibility and information overload in this new frontier that it was very easy to let go of the arduous task of trying to cut through the noise on social media.

At this point, I’ve begun to feel like my efforts should be turned back outward from the web3 bubble and be more intentional with constructing a bridge for my past supporters to participate in the multi-dimensional world that I’m building.

Yes, the art is the utility. But also, the utility is the utility…blah blah blah. When I consider what I’m building, I am considering more and more meticulously whether something needs to be a on-chain or not. Ultimately, the fact that something is an NFT matters less to me than the ability to create an ecosystem and engaging world for a community that appreciates my art. That person might want the thing, but not care if the thing is an NFT or not.

With that said I’m experimenting with things like PayPal/Credit Card payments for NFTs and outlining multiple tiers of support for people who want to participate in the moment but that can’t always afford to do so financially.

How Can You Support This Wave.

Collect the “Surfs Up” 1/1 on Catalog; reserve price 0.4 ETH

Purchase limited edition merch; premiering 9/23 👀

Impact > Utility.

What’s the impact of supporting this work?

50% of my share of royalties will help fund community initiatives and experiences for Future Surf with the other half going towards the production and marketing expenses for my forthcoming album Surf Noir v2.