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Podcast Transcript

The Intersection of Social Justice and Web3 with Heno.


Background

Mint Season 6 episode 24 welcomes Heno. the web3-native music artist who joined Mint to share the latest on his upcoming EP “In The Meantime” which acts as a vehicle to his next album, “I’m Tired Of Being Hypersurveilled”. Throughout the hour we breakdown his intentions behind the project and the overarching restorative justice initiative.

I hope you guys enjoy our conversation.

Time Stamps

  • 01:33 – Intro
  • 07:06 – Navigating Through Web3
  • 14:03 – Where Music NFTs Meet Social Impact Initiatives
  • 26:45 – Why Web3 Is the Perfect Platform to Target Social Justice
  • 34:12 – What Kind of Help is Heno. Looking For?
  • 38:43 – Outro



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Heno welcome to the podcast. Thank you for being on. How are you doing?

Heno: I’m doing great man. Just glad to be here. Watching the podcast and aware of what you’ve been doing in this space. So glad we can come together for a very important conversation, you know.

Intro

Likewise, I’m feeling good. I’m a collector of yours. You’ve been on my radar for a minute now. I feel like I’ve collected two of your things at this point. And then we also met, like the crypto events. Yeah. So longtime come in, well overdue, but we’re here now. I think a good place to start Heno is, who are you? What does the world need to know about you and how did you get your start into crypto?

Heno: All right. Okay, for those who don’t know me, my name is Heno. I’m a first-generation Ethiopian Asian artist, producer, overall creative. And I’m from Takoma Park, Maryland. I got into web three about a year and a half ago, I would say like last April. And it was, shout out to Tara moves, the visual artists that I really worked with a lot. And she was very adamant about me getting into web three and utilizing NFTs and stuff because of my intentionality and my storytelling, which I come from traditional music to, done a lot of like touring shows, performances or like, collaborations, just stuff like that. And yes, so she was just like, you know, it kind of opened me into like, understanding, I guess what I’ve noticed in traditional music, which was like conversations are more around like marketing and like what’s the single more than like stories, so when I started to join Twitter spaces and clubhouse and just got a hearing the conversations around music, people really did care about like intentionality and storytelling in a way that I aligned with and kind of saw space for me to tell my truths and really connect off of that. And from there, kind of just spending the first six months just learning. I didn’t want to rush through the process of that, because I think that it honestly does you good to take your time in web three to like understand things. 

So, I was just showing up, showing up in Twitter spaces, showing up here in conversations. And people would say things like smart contract, or, you know, just and I would watch videos. So, I would just take my time watching a few videos a day for like six months and eventually felt comfortable enough to you know, I was reaching out to people I would like listen to drop, people’s drop parties and hear their stories and then just, you know, reach out and say, hey, like, what you’re doing is great, keep it up. Like I don’t need anything for you. I’m not shilling my project, I just wanted to, like organically just reach out and show love. And over months of doing that I kind of started to build that community with people I kept seeing, because you see the same people over and over at certain points the more, you’re really in it and I went to my first IRL experience in in Atlanta, shout out to Black NFT art and Gomba Dima, they really, they had brought me on to minting my Genesis NFT which was like an animation by Don J. And they paired me with for a record I put out. And yeah, from there, I kind of just met a lot of people in the space that I had been seeing. But more importantly, I was at an IRL experience that I saw a lot of people who looked like me and I didn’t realize how important that was to like really connect with people in the space, that shared similar perspectives and stories. 

And that was very powerful for me and shout out to NFT now because they were really like adamant seeing me perform and just showing my work and speaking about it. They had invited me to NFT NYC and we’re just like you need to come check this out like and I did and from there I kind of just started going to all the events, you know that got you know the art basil the south by south west, all the NFT LA’s, it’s just even helping organize and be a part of NFT Oakland. And that was crazy, just kind of learning what we’ve learned and being able to bring web three and empower artists, communities that are close ties to and it just was like a whirlwind of stuff and being able to just sell out on all of the NFTs I’ve been dropping on like Zora or, you know, collaborations with Mick Jenkins, or like Toro, or being a part of the Snoop Dogg drop at sound, doing stuff on catalog. 

You’ve been everywhere.

Heno: It’s kind of crazy. So fast forward a year and a half later, you know I’ve always been community oriented to, even outside of web three. Before web three, I’ve done a lot of volunteering with different organizations, whether that’s for the LAUSD, helping with public schools, whether that’s people’s program in Oakland, Little Sisters of the Poor in Washington, DC. And even at foundations in Ethiopia, helping build and fundraise for knowledge centers. Paying it forward is always like been a thing for me. So being in web three, and being able to use storytelling and use this intentionality and use these tools to then uplift and help other communities that I have, like ties to has been like, now what I feel not only is like, a great opportunity to do but also feel like it’s a responsibility to do because I’ve learned so much here and it’s like, okay, well, we can actually apply and use these tools in a way we couldn’t in traditional music. So that’s kind of just where what leads us here today. And kind of just what fueled some of this social impact stuff I’m on in web three. And yeah, that’s a very long-winded intro.

Navigating Through Web3

That’s a perfect Intro because it really highlights, it highlights sort of like your overall journey being in so many different pockets, in so many different communities. And there’s a reason why you’ve had the success that you’ve had. Well, and your story is very unique. Your background is very unique. And you’ve been able to navigate like the social capital element of finding your community, in a world that’s new, that’s fresh, that’s confusing to many. And one thing that I tried to highlight on the podcast is, I want to like pick your brain on some tips, because there’s a lot of artists that are trying to navigate the space and you seem to have figured it out for the most part. How do you sort of go by navigating an environment that you’re unfamiliar with, right, such as web three?

Heno: Yeah, I compare it to like, everything is a learning process, right? Everything that you initially try is going to make you uncomfortable, like when you rode your bike for the first time, you were a little scared, but once you got it, you got it. And I think that having that kind of mindset when approaching something like this, because I self admittedly say that web three is intimidating, and it’s a lot of things to do. It’s a lot of, it’s an ever-changing area. So, like every day are new tools. And you know, so it’s like, I think just one being kind to yourself in the process of like, navigating, because I think that some people would just see, especially during bull markets, just see big sales, and it’s just like, oh, I gotta just people think it’s like a gold mine rush. And it’s like, you got to really take your time, the same way you build a house, you got to really build your foundation and take time building that before you build the next level, you can’t have the sight of the whole house and you got to take your time just or else the house could fall. So, like and I think people can really tell with people who are being authentic and being genuine versus like people just in it trying to view it as a cash grab. So, I would just say one thing is, definitely just take your time learning because in the long run, you do yourself more good rather than just kind of rushing in and being reckless is Dming a lot of people and just spamming like that’s too much. I think also like, taking time to like, look and find communities that you personally align with.

For me, I took time to just kind of navigate this space. And obviously I’m making music NFTs so I was looking at music, and people making music, also found a lot of like, you know, artists that have a similar perspective as me, so I started to connect with artists that would talk about the things that I like, or just even find visual art or just things that I just personally liked. Because, you know, you can just show some love and not need to like ask for anything or and one thing I will say is also, as a new person when you go into Twitter’s spaces, if someone’s having a drop party, you know, everything is about time in place, you know, so I think that I’ve seen people who misstep when they joined Twitter spaces, and then they try to show their project when it’s somebody else’s dropped party like, just, you know, you can show up and support somebody without needing something from them. And then people will then eventually ask what you do just because you’re showing up. And the last thing I’ll say is just show up I think, there isn’t any like way to go about it, you know, like, you are kind of just hit the ground running when you’re in it. And like, it clicks for some more than others but once you kind of find your like communities or find things that interest you, just explore that. And I think that, like I said, like, the more time you take, really trying to identify and know yourself to know what you need, and what you like, and what you’re trying to get into, then the easier it is for people to kind of formulate around that.

I also just have had like, the benefit of, you know, people saw that I was trying in the space, and then people who saw that were like down to help. Because I think when you ask for advice, you get help and when you ask for help, you get advice. So as somebody that didn’t ask for help, I just kind of said, hey, because I’m doing the work. I’m doing the work of learning; I’m doing the work of showing up. And if I have a simple question that doesn’t take long for you to kind of you know, I had people like Andre O’Shea or shout out to like Black Dave, shout out to stones the organic, shout out to Latasha, these were people that like that early on, saw what I was doing, and, you know, they were down to, like, help me because I was helping myself and I was I was genuine about it. So, it’s all about showing that and I think people who want to see you do, are going to be those people to help also support you. But it takes that intention, it takes that time, it takes that showing up, so people know that you’re serious. And I think those are things that I would start with people like, you know, like start there. And I think from there, you kind of find your way in it organically.

Yeah, makes sense. Makes sense. I think at some point you’re gonna have to write out a playbook to because how many NFTs have you sold today, music NFTs?

Heno: At least like 150 or 160 at this point.

What was your first one?

Heno: My first one, shout out to Don J, we did a on foundation, it was a 15 or 32nd animation that he did of portals timed to a song, I sink to a song I did, called Parallel timelines. Oh, wow. I’m just realizing, this is mad unrelated, but like the remix of that song featuring Mickey Jenkins dropped a year ago, yesterday or today, I think crazy like the day we’re recording this. Yeah, that’s because, that also was, that was because he also like we also connected and then, you know, we ended up dropping the remix and then we did NFTs with that remix as well. So, like that was on Zora, I think and then I think we did like 200 or something like that.

Where Music NFTs Meet Social Impact Initiatives

And I know like your background, how you grew up was very unique. And I think you’ve sort of paid that forward, in terms of people understanding what you’re about, the music that you create, the image that you’ve sort of like put upon yourself when you’re communicating the things that you care about. And one of the biggest things and it’s sort of like why I wanted to do this conversation is sort of like, where do music NFTs meet social impact initiatives? Right. And it’s super important. I know and it’s a very sensitive topic to you as well, which I actually want to understand better because I’m not you. I didn’t grow up in a way that you grew up in. And I’m trying to understand, like, why you feel so aligned, number one, with this initiative, right, that you’re pushing towards and sort of like the context behind that?

Heno: Yeah, yeah, man. I’m from Takoma Park, Maryland. So, it’s an environment, at the time I was growing up, because you know, gentrification is a thing. That a lot of people that were there like, you know, aren’t anymore. But growing up, it was a very active environment, that’s on the borderline of DC and Maryland. So, I was I had to unfortunately grow up very fast I feel. So I normalized a lot of what I was seeing, whether that was heavy police interventions, whether it was like just street shit. This is a lot of like, it was very fast paced. So, I had a weird duality growing up where I’m from the projects, I was in park Reggie in on Maple Avenue. And two add to buildings, next door was the elementary school I went to, where I was a straight A student. So going from the projects, like our being in the projects, but then like, being one of the only black people, if not the only, like in a academic space, was just this weird duality like people would. So, it was very hard to kind of like, I was overexposed to just kind of seeing both sides of the like, this world as a young kid. And I think that, also just having to be a responsible person at a young age, just because I was just picked up on how things were moving and what I was seeing, and whether that’s experienced is like being assumed a drug dealer at six years old, and being handcuffed in first, in elementary school to a table, whether that’s having police break into my house multiple times, one of which I’ve had guns pointed as a child, whether that’s seeing my brothers or seeing my family be harassed by law enforcement, like it’s something like the, it’s crazy is that I said, like the build my elementary school was two buildings to the right, the police station was right next to the elementary school, this is all in the same street. So it was just like a lot of it was just very, like it was a very, like, active, you know, so kind of having to be smart about how you move and things was just something again, as a kid I’ve been accustomed to, and unfortunately, you see, you know, a lot of people like go down the roads of like, you know, being arrested, going to jail, getting killed, overdosing, like, just all of that was going on around me growing up, and I had to add a navigate a lot of that. 

And music was that thing for me that like as a first generation, you know, American, my parents saw music as a hobby, not as like something to ever do, because they wanted me to be a doctor. That was like the roadmap for me. So I was, you know, doing pre-med at Howard University, I was working at a hospital as a CNA and retirement homes, working with multiple patients a day and meanwhile doing music, and they were seeing that music was a thing, but like, it was the thing that kept me safe, it would be like go to, either get in this car and ride with the older homies or stay home and make beats. And like it would be every time I picked music, I’d find myself in a situation, where oh, man, you avoided getting pulled over and like all this shit happened, or you avoided like fights going on or you invited like, oh, someone died or like, you know, like, it just it was things like that happening. So almost like, and you kind of get numb to it after a while because of how normal it was. So, like it was traveling and music was the thing that allowed me to travel, that having conversations with people and getting into different spaces and realizing wow, like a lot of this shit that I’ve seen is not normal in other places. 

So, and now, you know, as an older person reflecting and kind of looking back, I saw that Maryland was, at the time of my growing up one of the highest and one of the highest incarceration rates for young black men from like 18 to 25. And that kind of just validated a lot of what I was going through even to this day, I go home and I still get harassed by law enforcement because I look a certain way. And you know, that it really made things difficult growing up, let alone when we moved to a new neighborhood, thinking that things will get better, it wasn’t it was just as bad. So, it was kind of just like, if I don’t do something about this, like, or at least change up how I’m moving around it all. Like it’s not going to be good for just me. So, I made a conscious decision to kind of just pivot from a lot of things because I think that, you know, I recognized early that like, you can’t make everybody happy and sometimes like there was a cultural like, you know, misunderstanding, like my parents didn’t realize how real it was getting around like our neighborhood, like didn’t realize that around like, stick up kids like robbing houses or like I was around a lot of shit like that. Like they just didn’t understand and I kind of just was like, I gotta do me. I’ve been like kind of on my own and like at least mine as an independent as I was like 17, 18 and I didn’t want to be a burden to my family. So, I kind of took it upon myself to always be smart about how I move and again, like, I see, like, you hear the saying be the change you want to see, right. 

And, again, a lot of these experiences are just so normal to me that like, it was when I eventually moved to California, I realized it was even, you know, the grass ain’t greener sometimes, like so like just a lot of the hardships of being an independent artist on your own, like I was homeless out here. I was like, sleeping at parks sometimes, or just like, fucking like couch surfing trying to figure it out. But music was this thing that always just kept me safe and kept me in a place where I can heal from like a lot of what I’ve been dealt with and what I’ve seen and what I’ve witnessed and yeah, basically, that’s part of like, I guess some of the inspiration behind why I want to pay for it. I have a lot of friends right now we’re incarcerated; I got homies who are dead off of this shit. Like, I got people who, who are in situations where, even when you come back home from jail, you go back to jail, because you don’t have opportunities, because you’re a felon or because you have limited resources just coming out. 

And like, I think that in California, for instance, there are laws that prevent discrimination if you have a felony, or if you have a misdemeanor, but in other places, especially in Maryland, they don’t give a damn about that. It’s just like, nope, did you think you could get a job, you know, so it just kind of like leads to people getting back into what they initially did, they get them in jail, and then they go back, and then it’s for a lengthier sentence, because it’s a violation of sorts, and then they have to pay more money for a lawyer to then try to fight that. But then usually they don’t even have the money to do that. So, then they’re like, trying to then do what they did, that got him in trouble to pay for a lawyer, to get them out of the thing that they’re initially in trouble with. And it’s a cycle that is been, something I’ve seen so, so, so much. And it’s something that like, if we don’t do anything about like recidivism, and we don’t treat certain cases, like they are like, not all criminal charges, like some of these are like petty misdemeanors or like having possession of like weed or something or having like, there’s little things that like, aren’t like nonviolent, like, people who can’t afford even bail, to come home, from like, these things end up sitting, waiting for their child for like a year, I have homies who have been sitting in jail for like a year waiting just to get a trial. So, then it’s like that, that eventually gets, you know, taken off of your ultimately lengthier sentence. 

But ultimately, it’s just like, if someone doesn’t have a couple $1,000 to come home, they’re stuck. And some people are like, you know, you’re Sol, and it’s like, we’re continuously, even in 2022 still seeing these like, really outdated structures of like how we’re treating and how we’re looking at nonviolent crimes sometimes, sometimes people just need therapy, sometimes people just need like real resources to like do better and come back home and be productive members of society. But if we don’t even give them a chance, or like, it’s a fucked-up game, it really is. And, like, as someone that also puts money on books of people who are incarcerated right now, I can tell you, it’s not cheap, to be in jail. So, it’s like, so like, I say that to say this, this hits home in a way that like, I’m speaking for a lot of people who are literally like who can’t speak like this, like there are people who are like, during COVID You know, how crazy jail was for people who are during COVID. Like if you had COVID, you are putting isolation in Maryland, they put you in ISO like that’s where people who get in trouble. Like, you’re being scolded, because you caught something that you couldn’t control. Like, it blows my mind, like even the ability to like, just to try to see somebody, it takes certain facilities, it’s such a hassle. It’s such a, it just pains me because again, I know a lot of people who right now, like I have homies who are doing 15 years off of the decision they made in 15 seconds, when you make decisions off of your emotions, and some of that isn’t like rooted in, something that’s rooted in trauma, something that’s rooted in like, the way someone’s grown up, like doesn’t make them a terrible person. It just means like, it’s unfortunate and like, there are ways to help treat nonviolent crimes for like help and like make people like, I don’t know, productive members of society. 

That’s just generally like, what inspired me to like, do this type of work well before web three, and like telling these stories is because I feel like a responsibility at this point, to speak on my truths and the things I’ve been accustomed to, like I just dropped a record Jansport freestyle, where I’m talking about the police running into my house on Black Friday a few years ago, and they didn’t even have a warrant. They didn’t have anything, they just ran in my house while I was half drunk and half asleep, and my mom is banging on my door, panicking that they’ve swept my first floor, I had to wake up the next morning and just see wreckage, had to see like my couches turned and see like, papers and just clap, it was just a mess. And then just for them to say we had the wrong house, oh, like, sorry, filed a complaint if you feel away and that’s it. That’s all that happens. And it’s just like, you know, you don’t want to file a report, because they’ll come look at your house, they’ll be like, they’re the guys that reported us. Like, it was very, very uncomfortable growing up and living in Maryland, because it was a lot of this like, sometimes by affiliation and just because I look a certain way, it prevented me from even doing little things like shopping at certain places, or I’m driving and I get pulled over because I drive a Lexus and I guess I don’t look like a Lexus. And I get asked if I have dead bodies in my car, I get asked if I have, like you wouldn’t believe the questions I get like, even as my most recent trip back home, like a month ago, I still get pulled over and like all these things. And you know, I say that to say like, this is a very real thing for me where it comes from. So, being that change that I want to see, it stems from being in web three, seeing all this abundance and seeing all these ways that we have these tools that empower us as creatives, yes. But we also have an ability to, again, like make revenue off of our music in a way that we haven’t introduced in our music. But then also we can use that to help things that we, part of my friends gives a fuck about and I give a buck about this. 

So, let’s talk about that for a second. Because I want to understand, like, why is web three

Heno: I said a lot of shit right now. 

Why Web3 Is the Perfect Platform to Target Social Justice

No, no, everything you said is all really relevant. Because these issues are very near and dear to you, right? You obviously feel a certain alignment with it, because you’ve experienced it yourself through family, friends, etc. I’m trying to understand why is web three, the perfect platform to target social justice from your perspective?

Heno: I think that like traditional music doesn’t care about this stuff in a certain way, they care about it if it’s commercially successful, but in terms of telling these stories and trying to drive conversation, that’s not something that’s more or less, like, it’s cool to do. But it’s not something that I think carries the same weight that web three does, where people do care about this intentionality, do care about people putting in work and do care about ultimately community. And I think that if I’m building a community of people that I want to, that align with things that I align with, then I want I want that to reflect and be something that again, is bigger than myself, I think all this shit is, I have no ego in this shit because I come from, like not having much at all, I come from very humble beginnings. So, like, being in a space where there’s, again, so much of all of this ease and all this stuff going on. It’s like I don’t need all of this, you know, like, it’s like, what can we do to really drive something more impactful than ourselves? And that was a question I had to ask myself. And it was an intention that I kind of wanted to bring into web three. But it takes a lot of time again to like really build towards something like this. So just being a good student in this game, soaking up what I’ve learned and wanting to now pivot in a more like, I guess, in more of this way, where I’m like, cool, like, let’s start to really push this social impact stuff, I think my entire career to this point, if listen to anything I’ve put out, ties all this in. 

So, like this is very authentic and very in line with everything that I’ve done in my life to this point. So, it just made sense to kind of like and I think that again, people like yourself, people who hear this and hear like, what I’m speaking on that resonate, or just even just see that I’m very serious about it and want to get behind what I’m doing. Like, it’s not like I’m trying to be a role model or like anything, It’s not like a so holier than thou. It’s like not like, I’m in the trenches trying to do this work, because I want to see more of it. And if I can’t complain and say, we need to, we need more social impact in web three, if I’m not doing like, I can’t, you know what I mean? It’s like, I can’t say like, I need to see more of this. And then it’s like, if I’m not doing it, then I just kind of want to lead by that example. Like if I’m talking then I need to do it. And that’s, I’ve been doing it but now it’s like here’s a new way to do it. And like here’s a new way to do it in a way that that feels good. It feels good to like, you know, wake up and think how I can like try to help people beyond myself because it’s not about me, this like all these calls, all these things I’m trying to do is bigger than myself. So, I think that’s why I think it works in web three because It’s easier for people to come into this with no ego and just hear stories and hear conversation and like, it’s like cool, like, what do we do with these conversations? Like, let’s have some action behind these conversations and we just now have tools to do this stuff.

NFTs are the perfect tool for storytelling. Yeah, I think Heno, you really nailed, like you really nailed the head, like NFTs are a tool. It’s how you use them to sort of build community build purpose, and bring people together. And you talked about sort of like organizing projects, and you have a huge project coming up, right? With it with a music release schedule, featuring five songs, three parts short film.

Heno: Four.

Four part short.

Heno: No, no, four songs, three-part short films.

Okay, four songs. Alright, I see one that’s also in the meantime EP, that’s going to be released on DSPs, right? So maybe that’s just a DSP only hit. So, four songs, that you’re going to be releasing through a web three format. And then you have a three-part short film, donating 50% of all the revenue that’s generated through Eth, to some organizations that you align with, that I’d love to hear your perspective. And I see the bill project, I see the Maryland Alliance for Justice Reform. I see Baltimore action legal team to sort of help with like the back end of stuff, right? And I guess the whole entire thing is sort of like I’m tired of being hyper surveilled, right?

Heno: Yeah. That’s what we’re building towards. 

Did I nail that? 

Heno: Yeah, I would say so. It’s, yeah, four records, there’s an EP that I’m putting out called, in the meantime, it’ll be put out on DSPs in January. And that’s a nine-side project. Four of those songs are going to be minted in this upcoming collection, with Andre O’Shea doing 3d animations that are paired with the four songs. And then we will also be doing a three part short film coinciding the musical experience, where the rare objects which are the 3d animations that are being made, will actually be in the short film, like we will have objects that people are collect as part of this collection, that then they get to see in real in a film and something that I think is cool to kind of, you know, be a cool use case, on the creative side of just, I have a thing, an NFT that I can see in application, another type of idea. And I just thought that that was really cool to incorporate in the story and add themes to things that people will see later. But the ultimate roadmap is all this is going towards my forthcoming album called I’m tired of being hyper surveilled, it’s going to come out late 2023. And yeah, like I said, like, given like what we’ve been speaking on, it’s just, it’s all tied to kind of just surveillance, how its real implications on marginalized communities. As well as just what it comes with any innovation attack has pros and cons. So, it’s more just a statement project, just saying like, it’s not a solution to it, it’s just speaking my reality of that and giving perspective as to why I feel this way. And there will also be some very cool stuff that we do on the social impact side with that album, as well as just some cool like VR stuff, I can’t get into all the way but it’s gonna be a really cool experience. So that’s the roadmap between now and I guess next year, I decided to just. I think surveillance is just a very heavy topic. So instead of just kind of leading with that album, I this EP, this short film, this collection, all these things, I just want to kind of be the thing that I’m speaking of like spoon feeding you, like this bigger idea, that then when we get to the album, you’ll be like, you’re really kind of, I want there to be like a vehicle like of sorts, that people can kind of be along this journey, be in the car while we drive and get to that point. So this is just the early part of the of the roadmap.

There’s a lot come in, that’s a lot, it’s big project. It’s a big project.

Heno: I can’t say who’s on it. 

What Kind of Help is Heno. Looking For?

A three-part film, like, what have you seen that be sort of curated, your ability to sort of like mix different means and mediums of communication, and art is sort of like the most fascinating thing to me, because it’s not just music, it’s also film, right? It’s like there’s an audio-visual element to it right and like, you sort of showed me stuff on behind the scenes and I was just like, wow, this is legit, like this is really exciting. And I’ll be collecting this, like you have my support. I love betting on the jockey. So, I’ve been betting on you for a minute now, across your other stuff. And I’m excited to see this vision of yours and this purpose of yours come to life. And I commend you for using your platform, of all things you could be preaching, of all things you could be doing, you’re deciding to focus on this, right. And I think that says a lot about you. I’m curious, for others that want to get involved, because I’m sure after hearing this episode, or I hope, I’m not sure, I hope other people may feel aligned the same way you feel aligned, with his vision, how could somebody else join the fight? How can somebody else be a part of what you’re doing? What kind of help Are you looking for?

Heno: Man, I think I’m the type of person, asking for help is always like, a lot for me to do.

What feedback or advice can we get? 

Heno: I think it’s one of those things of like, that’s a funny point, I see the callback, just from a standpoint of like, if people feel aligned with this, I would hope that people would, maybe check out the tele site that we built out, where like, we have all the information of like, just our intentions, what the goals are, the organizations we want to support. Luckily, the bill project does take Eth, they take Cryptos. So, like just those, the ability to just do that all on chain is great. And the other two organizations that you said, the Baltimore action legal team and the Maryland Alliance for Justice Reform, don’t at the moment take crypto, but we would help them either make wallets, that’s the goal, or, you know, just for future things that they should be doing, or just give them USD from, you know, just converting and that I think supporting this collection would be really great, because like I said, 50% of, not only the primaries 50% of the entire collection, I made a wallet specifically with this initiative in mind, that all the splits will go to this. And, you know, everything will be on record of like, where funds are going with full transparency. And, again, this is a cause and this is something that personally aligns to me, in a way that this isn’t the only type of thing that I’m going to be doing. And, you know, I plan on also just for the coming 2023 year, I plan on donating about 5% of my, all of my web three primary revenue, to the same initiative, just wanting to again, be somebody that like, is not only talking to talk, but is very much in the trenches doing the work. 

And I think that like, that comes from just again, personal alignment, but also a feeling that I need to take, be more responsible with what I’m doing in this space. And not to say I haven’t been but it’s like, you know, I want to step into this a bit more. And I want to be like, I guess, I don’t think I’m pioneering in any way, I think there are people that might be doing this type of stuff, too. But I do feel like at least in the purposes that I’m doing it in with recidivism and bail assistance, like those things, I feel like I’m pioneering and I want to continue to just push for it. And I’d hope that anyone that feels that way, can just reach out to me, because I’m super down for conversations, that are around paying it forward. And being another good use case of like how we can take this technology, take the creations and the art that we love to make, and just have some good element to it, beyond ourselves. So yeah, all the music will be on sound XYZ too. And, yeah, we’ve built out a tele page, so shout out to both of them and shout out to you, Levy for like just being like such a solid person to bounce ideas off of and even just with bello and using the analytics to help, you know, kind of figure out how we want to maneuver with this collection has been pretty helpful and say, you know, same with plug, anyone that you know, I got to tap in with this man, he’s really on.

Outro

I appreciate you, bro, I appreciate you. So, I want to sort of sum this up, because on November 1, you have your upcoming audio-visual collection in collaboration with Andre Oshea, right? Oshea, excuse me. And that’s sort of like for the forthcoming EP titled, in the meantime, yes, this small, this part this EP, in the meantime is part of the larger album called, I’m tired of being hyper surveilled. And then 50% of the sales generated from in the meantime will be placed in a wallet, dedicated to supporting these organizations, combating a lot of these issues that we talked about throughout the last few minutes. And then yeah, I guess I want to sort of like wrap this up, because I’m also citing your mirror article that you published, which if you haven’t read it yet, I’ll link it in the episode show notes. But I want to sort of read this last part in the closing remarks because it’s really gave me the chills, right? You’re like closing remarks in full transparency. I never really saw myself living this long. Stepping into web three and finding my way in music has presented me with an opportunity to do something meaningful and beyond myself or any ego. Paying it forward is a big part of everything that I do and to be in the space amongst all this new. You found abundance, I see a responsibility to be, or to also be a good steward and with set abundance, I’m not perfect, nor do I aspire to be a role model or person that acts holier than thou, I’m a real ass person that sees real issues in my community, and wants to be a part of some real change. And I think if there’s this element of wanting to be a part of change, there’s no better platform than web three, this whole energy of wanting to do something innovative, of doing something bigger than ourselves, of being part of this aligned purpose of decentralization, right, and building audiences that we own, being creators that that we own the data, we’re the platforms, we have the control, we have the power, it’s very much works in tandem, with everything that a lot of us already stand for and there’s similarities and themes within it all. So, I’m super excited, Heno, I’m really excited that you chose mint to also share the story. And I guess before we wrap up, any last words, anything to say?

Heno: Man, you really just hit the nail on the head with that you know, just bringing up the closing remarks. And, you know, I’ve spoken to that in this interview for sure. But closing remarks are just, I think I just want people to realize that like, when it comes to this space, I think, I don’t, I see this as an opportunity, like I said, to just do something bigger than myself. And I think that, man, I have a lot of things that could be like closing remarks, but like you just ended up perfectly with just like, I’m a real ass person that’s trying to make some real change that I’ve just personally I’ve aligned too. But I had hoped that like anyone that feels that way about anything that they want to speak on, might be inspired to do the same, you know, there are many, you know, issues like I’ve seen Daos that are doing like climate control stuff. I’ve seen, you know, like there, it’s like, our climate change, I’m sorry. And like, they’re just different causes that people want to get behind and support. And that doesn’t have to be everybody. It’s just something that I personally have aligned to and I don’t force it on anybody either. As long as it’s authentic to you, and you feel like you want to do something and step up, kind of be the change you want to see, I didn’t see enough of what I’m doing, so I wanted to do it. And you know, I think that’s what web three kind of allows us to do, is like we want we have opportunities that do things, it could be for a different cause, it could be for whatever, but just also experiment, like I just love experimenting in this bear market. I think that like this bear market has really allowed us to see who’s really about this web three shit and like, not just here for the bull market. 

So, like being in the trenches, doing no work as we’ve been, with Eth this low, it’s like, you can tell that these causes and these things that people are building are real. And I want people to know that about me, like I’m here for the long haul. And I’m really like investing in like this roadmap that we’re building. So just appreciate everybody for you know, any support that they feel obligated or not obligated, feel obliged or feel like compelled to want to do and my DMs are open. So, feel free to tap in, if you feel aligned in any way. And yeah, just thanks, you know, my last thing is, thank you, Adam Levy, like you are just like a very, very, you’re just as nice as you are in person, as you are on Zoom calls, as you are on calls and just all the things and I appreciate you just seeing what I’m trying to do. And I feel seen and just being able to share my story. So, I think that I’ll leave it at that.

I appreciate you, bro, energy reciprocated as energy sort of like received, right? And you’ve gifted me with joy and sort of using my platform to give you a platform and I’m excited for what you’re doing. And we’ll have to do this again soon. 

Heno: Oh, absolutely. 

So, guys, go check him out on Twitter, go check out the product or the project, excuse me, I’ll include some links and till next time.

Heno: Stay blessed. Stay hydrated and watch out for bears.

Yes, stay hydrated. Watch out for bears. I love that.