that's why I got into art I saw people
that looked like me you know like
Basquiat becoming like rock stars and I
wanted to be a rock star myself so I
wanted to do that with my artwork and
here we are
picture The Brownstone on East 126th
Street in Harlem has a storied history
in the art World in 1958 57 Jazz
legendary musicians posed for arcane's
photo known as the Great Dane Harlem
then in 1998
177 hip-hop artists posed on the same
stoop for the acclaimed photographer
Gordon Parks in a picture called a great
day in hip-hop and now in the summer of
2022 the group of black web 3 creatives
working in the nft space are meeting on
the same stoop to claim their own place
in the history of the art world
[Music]
I've been doing art for a long time but
photography they're like reinvigorated
by like what I thought could be done
like artistically in the way that I
thought about art in a way and as far as
nfts I had always been in the tech I was
a little bit of an early adopter into
crypto I guess and I love the idea of
like decentralization and what that
could do what that could mean uh for for
the people and how that could change the
way in which the distribution of power
and the distribution of influence and
the distribution of knowledge uh could
be done more efficiently more fairly
with more Equity the 2022 event was the
brainchild of manushka Gary a chef and
organizer often the only black woman at
nft events Gary set up an open call for
black nft artists to come to Harlem in
the nft space
we're standing on the shoulders of
giants there's a lot of artists that
died penniless that were never
acknowledged or validated or given their
flowers or anything and they were the
really great artists who for jazz sat on
the stoop and for hip-hop sat on the
streets
man
you don't realize man
Equity is so important say it again
because I work in the music space myself
so when you're getting into licensing
and points on an album and you realize a
lot of your favorite black artists don't
even own their masters that's ridiculous
why does Michael why did Michael Jackson
have to buy his master's bag why did
Jay-Z have to buy his mask Brianna why
didn't why did Beyonce there's there's a
lack of ownership but with what I'm
learning with the nft space that's from
day one so
in what I'm building and you're along
for the ride so ownership Equity so for
black people like this is our first time
that we can achieve something that has
eluded us for so long which is
generational wealth and the fact that we
can do that
by creating art our art the way we
express ourselves the way we talk The
Way We Walk has
inspired so many people but we haven't
really been financially rewarded you
know you know it doesn't matter what
your religion is what your race is if
you want to learn about the business and
you do this [ __ ] right you're gonna make
some money
for someone like myself I was one of the
you know early you know I think I was if
not I think it was the second person on
super rare that was black and actually
like selling artwork and [ __ ] so after
me became like there was like a wave of
artists they got to see somebody that
looked like them that was selling
artwork you know my goal my vision my
dream is to
have Nick be a household name why why
can't Nick Davis be the next Boston or
the next Rembrandt Castle
thanks why not see we so trained
programmed to to you know believe that
who's artists only the art that is
that has been done many many years ago
as the art that's valued the most but
there's such great art is being done
today so to be able to come back and do
this here and some people who were here
here 40 years ago and 24 years ago and
the neighborhood is just like embracing
us and having us and showing that yeah a
recent bear Market may have burst a
bubble of the cryptocurrency markets
this summer but the creators here say
they are optimistic about the future of
nfts
as this bear Market changed how do you
think about the space at all you guys
here to stay in the long run
you know no one wants to hear but bear
markets are healthy for the market like
that's they can't go up if it doesn't go
down and
you know understanding the utility of
this technology that we have in front of
us is important you know especially as
an artist it can never matter you know
you have to stick to wanting to create
things and communicate
um you know through ART everybody wants
their bags to grow but
that's at the end of the day that's not
the point you know we're not taking none
of that with us you know there's some
people who are just about out the money
and about you know just that kind of
like I don't know Cloud all this other
stuff but for a lot of us in the space
it is about Community it is about art it
is about you know truth and beauty and
love finally prevailing so yeah it sucks
that we're in the bear Market but we're
in this together we're the ones who
choose to come in day in and day out and
support this space and support artists
today's been a dream come true I've
dreamed of just coming here taking a
picture of wow and it just reminds me
that anything is possible