I felt it was fitting to write this memo to the hip Hop community this weekend on the 44th anniversary of the date DJ Kool Herc threw a back to school party @ 1520 Sedgwick Ave. Using two turntables he introduced the “BREAK” to Hip Hop which inspired DJ’s, B-boys, & MC’s and also gave rise to a genre of music and a culture that has continued to change the very world we live in due to its influences on politics, art, music, dance, fashion & business to name a few.
Back in 2008 a fictitious character by the name of Satoshi Nakamoto published a paper describing a new digital currency. The true identity of Mr. Nakamoto has never been proven but the ideas presented in that document spurred a thought process that solved the double spending problem preventing the creation of a digital currency which has been termed Bitcoin. The importance of this document and the ideas presented is turning the tech industry upside down much like the party thrown by DJ Kool Herc put the music industry on notice for a new sound. Bitcoin and the technology surrounding it is poised to have a lasting impact and be a disruptor of industries. Welcome the beginning of Web 3.0.
There is a distant beat reverberating around the corner similar to the bass pumping from your trunk as you blasted your favorite hip hop artist on the streets of whatever neighborhood you represent. With every passing day that beat gets stronger.
The culture growing around Bitcoin/cryptocurrency/blockchain technology/Alt Coins is centered not just around the value of the coins but the framework of a decentralized internet. What matters to the hip hop community is not necessarily the details of this technological shift, but the immediate adoption of the tools, the currency, and the ideology.
Hip Hop made many contributors in the early stages very wealthy, and provided a means for improving lives. Bitcoin is already doing that and more and it is still early in the movement. We as a community must begin to participate not just in the usage of the technology but in the creation of the tools that will inherently be important for mass adoption of this technology.
The Hip Hop culture has the power to move this technology to the mainstream much like Run DMC made Adidas a household name. But before we put our collective efforts in making others wealthy, first you must grab a piece of the pie which unlike the early years of hip hop we can all partake in the monetary rewards that are coming rather than just be the ones getting drunk and high while partying and the concert promoters, industry executives, lawyers and agents walk away with the windfall profits.
Mass adoption is coming, the web 3.0 will be here, but you can either play on the new versions of Facebook, Snapchat & Twitter, or you can be an owner of the platforms that will be the home of these new innovations. Hip Hop in its early stages was about love peace and having fun, the crypto movement is about benefitting every human on the planet by providing a technology that is easy for all to use.
The culture vultures are coming so before they do...! put yourself in a position to partake, it is an opportunity for all in the Hip Hop community to prosper and grow and change the course of our community in the next 44 years.
