RareVandal — The Reveal
When work for this project began at the end of 2020 I honestly didn’t think it would take over 7 months for me to see it through, with community building for DAOrecords and other various Web3 initiatives consuming most of my time I had greatly overestimated my ability to juggle and maintain a work/life balance. But here we are, well into July 2021 and a few weeks since the 4th RareBeat found its way into the world and I have been blown away by the support and positive reaction to #RareVandal.
Lead Up To The Reveal
As I prepare everything for the reveal (aka the drop) of my 1/1 Rare Vandal Audio NFT I’d like to talk a bit more about the unreleased track that is the soundtrack.
Broke In Jakarta
In 2008 I found myself down and out, together with M1stah we had begun to form a group but still hadn’t been able to cook up the recipe we’d been working on. So, we would head to DJ Nasa’s place in Fatmawati by minibus and crash there for days on end getting blazed and making music. Mostly we would freestyle of his beats, not knowing what time of day it was in the darkness of his room, It was definitely a weird time, but also the most productive I’ve been musically in my life.
Out of necessity, we came up with a DIY mixtape called “Just Duit”, with duit meaning “money” in Indonesian, our goal was to use these handcrafted CDs to make ends meet. Not only did it work, a group formed and an album was created leading to paid shows and more. This was the birth of Diplomats International and our first and only album DiploDangerous and if you listen to it, you’ll noticed it is presented in a Mixtape format, assembled by the Malaysian legend Dj Nesh (RIP).
Here’s a cut from the album that represents the fusion of Indonesian Joget music and Hip Hop, you’ll probably hear some Reggae vibes in there as well…
Late Night Stories
On my last night in Jakarta we celebrated the only way we knew how, with raps, beer, blaze and the crew. This is where I came up with the Freestyle track that represents the audio portion of this NFT, and why the title of the track is “Late Night Stories”. The music for the song was produced by Scum City’s finest DJ Nasa, who produced a number of tracks on DiploDangerous and the mixtape Just Duit.
The Artwork
I teamed up with Malaysian Graffiti artist and designer Chamology to create the the artwork for the entire Rare Vandal project, with the Rare Beat visuals coming after this final piece. The animated version of the artwork will be the one featured on the 1/1 Audio NFT.
You can find what’s left of the minted pieces on my Mintbase Store and visit Hunting Gallery in Cryptovoxels for the visual experience.
When & Where
Join me for the official reveal!
July 16th 2021
10AM PDT
Location — Rare Vandal HQ
