Building NFTs as an Independent Rapper.
I’m H. Master Ice. I’m old fashioned maybe. I’d record my early rhymes on a cassette, then convert them to CDs (Shout-out to my buddy Jeremy for your help on that). After CDs were burned, I’d hit the streets shouting down people until I went home with money and no inventory. Fast-forward to the digital age (Myspace), then there were millions of rappers. It didn’t help me. It helped many, but not me. I’d say because (probably like every other rapper) I thought I was technically skilled at the art and the digital space gave platform to many rappers that weren’t. Seemingly, it affected the perception of my visibility as an artist, yet it didn’t stop me from doing things I could to advance myself in the tangible world.
Rapping, for me, began when I’d outburst in class in second grade (my life at that age was probably harder than my peers; I was generally eel-like by my peers), and my teacher would tell me:
Don’t outburst in class. Instead, write down how you feel. You can read them aloud in class, or throw it away after you write it.
With that green-light, I would recite prose and rhymes in second grade. In spite of not writing much after leaving her class, I wrote poetry (raps) again when I was 16. I’ve been doing that ever since.
Me & Hip-Hop & RAP (Rhythm And Poetry)
I’ve felt funny about the word, “Hip-Hop". Honestly, I don’t know how to hip-hop (it sounds like a football move) or what it is. Ive collected that it’s said to be emblematic of a culture that reflects a typical poor person’s struggle. Right? Like Hip-Hoppers and their oversized clothes because poor people wear hand-me-downs. Or drug dealing because maybe it’s in the environment. Or run-ins with law enforcement because of historical or necessary assumptive bias. Let’s go ahead and add in some ill-addressed emotions [expressed through music] because the actual people from whom this Hip-Hop genre derives, might understandably be a little struck from living in an adversarial circumstance.
But that doesn’t seem to be what Hip-Hop’s about. It seems to me that it’s cool somehow to act like life is tough. To act like poverty is present, when it isn’t. I didn’t confide in the solemnity of Hip-Hop’s virtue. Instead, it became insulting watching kids from the suburbs act as if they were somehow the epitome of “Hip-Hop". I guess they are, as Hip-Hop and it’s definition elude me. I know that I rap.
As a kid, if I heard rap, it was definitely rappers describing their lifestyle, it’s factors, and how they want to get out of it. Not a bunch of people like, “Hey, that’s cool. I want to be a rapper.”.
I wouldnt expect people to understand that it’s offensive to me (as a rapper) when rappers call their written rhymes freestyles, when they wrote them. It’s because if I say my rap is a freestyle, that means it’s off the top of my mind and is the raw demonstration of skill that is freestyling. Its not really a good comparison of ability if one rap has been written and ones off the top of the head, while both somehow being labeled a freestyle.
I hadn’t kept up with the Joneses. Yet, have known that the Wonderful Marketing Machine that is the internet, can be used for good, and leave quality or talent where it’s at. For now, I’m formerly registering music I’ve made over the last 15 years. It’s a legitimate undertaking that will be assisted under the guidance of my own business. I formalized the business after getting my MBA, last year. I have chance to give H. Master Ice his own time, since he’s (me) done the work for so long.
The NFT Space
There’s certainly a lot of opportunity in this market, with implementation of Blockchain expanding. People are filling the Blockchain with random NFT’s. I see me having a place on the Blockchain. The youthful part of my interest in a rap career were explored and I learned a ton; (certainly could’ve done things better) but now, as I’m formalizing my original song catalogues, I’ll deploy selections of my music as Non-Fungible Tokens.
H. Master Ice NFTs include:
- Original H. Master Ice audio files
- Original H. Master Ice Special Concept Videos
- Original Live Performance Footage of H. Master Ice
- And More.
For me, music lasts an eternity. Certainly the stuff that sells, sells for a reason. But my music.. I used to think was timeless. Yes. Timeless because when writing, I get to …. I mostly wrote because my life had challenges. Those challenges are stories I do not like to tell, only edify their overcoming, in music. As a writer (while not H. Master Ice), I’ve observed my life experiences filling the spaces between lines I write, and I can stand to improve on that as a writer.
Why Buy an H. Master Ice NFT?
Ofcourse I’ve been told I was good at rapping. One of those things that happen to be a random discovery of oneself, and one that I’d have trouble validating as relevant since I’m from a small town in Kentucky. It was very shameful to express oneself that way. Even a city event coordinator told me that my genre would never be entertained in that city. Hence, I threw a cultural diversity show at the mall.
H. Master Ice is if nothing else, true to himself. Each of H. Master Ice’s NFTs are licensed and were written and recorded by himself. I didn’t find digital success with my music, during it’s “hay-day", but I never lost hope that there would be a place for my music. That place is on the Blockchain, so it can forever live.
We know that technologies are emerging to offer us ways to interact with the Blockchain more seemlessly. As with emerging technologies, there will be many that seek to exploit, while some have genuine motive to unite their creations with the Blockchain.
Owning an H. Master Ice, Non-fungible token (NFT), represents that YOU know quality artistry. Not because H. Master Ice songs have thousands of streams (which they probably don’t), but because either you will identify something special in H. Master Ice’s approach to song development or you’re confident in the enduring strengths of of his virtues conveyed.
Participate in H. Master Ice upcoming NFTs, and hold onto or sell them, as the prices are very low today.
H. Master Ice
