{"id":20194,"date":"2023-07-23T20:05:36","date_gmt":"2023-07-23T20:05:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nftandcrypto-news.com\/music\/ed-balloons-mission-to-bring-black-hair-culture-to-the-blockchain\/"},"modified":"2023-07-23T20:05:40","modified_gmt":"2023-07-23T20:05:40","slug":"ed-balloons-mission-to-bring-black-hair-culture-to-the-blockchain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nftandcrypto-news.com\/music\/ed-balloons-mission-to-bring-black-hair-culture-to-the-blockchain\/","title":{"rendered":"Ed Balloon’s Mission to Bring Black Hair Culture to the Blockchain"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Don\u2019t put Ed Balloon in a box. <\/p>\n

The multidisciplinary artist has never lent himself well to labels, exploring his quirky creative vision through the lenses of music, film, and stop-motion animation with projects like Run Ed. Now it\u2019s time to add generative art to the list.<\/p>\n

His new project, Beauty Supply Is Out of Du-Rags, released this week on the newly-launched Prohibition platform, explores the complex cultural legacy of Black hairstyles through algorithmic code. Billed as \u201cthe first on-chain generative art project featuring braids and locs,\u201d the collection represents a deeply personal and cathartic moment of expression based on Balloon\u2019s own experiences. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe du-rag is a way of hiding, but you don\u2019t have it, so you have to let the world see and accept you for who you are,\u201d he explains. \u201cThat is the statement that I\u2019m making.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a conversational nft now podcast interview, Ed Balloon dives into his vision for the project, the state of music NFTs, and the importance of uplifting artists of color.<\/p>\n

\n

Matt Medved: You\u2019re a multidisciplinary creator who thinks in terms of moving images, art, and music. How did NFTs change the creative canvas for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ed Balloon:<\/strong> It gave me so much more flexibility. I think outside of Web3 as artists you\u2019re like: okay, do a video, do a song, then cover art\u2014 it\u2019s very linear. When I came into Web3, it was like, no. It allowed me to see it as a place where I can create, be honest, and disrupt. I never really looked at making stuff like that when it came to music until I came to this space. Having conversations and just seeing other people create helped me visually to see \u201cmaybe I would wanna tap into that.\u201d<\/p>\n

I always wanted to make sure that in the Web3 space, people knew that I was a musician and performer. People didn\u2019t really know. They knew about the puppet, and they knew about the visual stop motion thing, but they didn\u2019t know that I also was a musician, even though I would say, \u201cHey, I\u2019m a musician, but I also do this, right?\u201d So I felt like I had to do something.<\/p>\n

\n

To end \u201cFuck Around And Find Out\u201d day \u2026 I decided to drop my genesis on superare. it is a music nft that pays homage to black hair. This piece also was inspired by the legend @yatreda<\/a> who was one of the first artist in the space who beautifully brought light to African hair con pic.twitter.com\/4llag7Xp0X<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Ed Balloon.eth (@Ed_Balloon) January 3, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

As a musician yourself, what\u2019s your take on the state of Web3 music? What do you think it\u2019ll take to bring this ecosystem to the next level?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s weird because I feel like it\u2019s right there and it\u2019s always dismissed. IRL concerts, ticketing \u2014 easy. But there is this thing about making sure that folks understand what\u2019s happening in the culture. For me, I came into music with the idea of a bunch of us disrupting what we knew, what we saw, what we thought we knew, the patterns, and stuff like that. <\/p>\n

Coming into Web3, I\u2019m seeing the difficulties of just people not really understanding music as an entity and having to teach that. It is something where I\u2019m like, \u201cHow do I find ways to have conversations and just be like you like music? Dope. You like visual art? Cool. Maybe we need to blend it too sometimes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Maybe that\u2019s a way to have those who are here understand getting a collectible, but also see it as something like fine art as well. Music hasn\u2019t even been looked at, to me, to my knowledge, as something that\u2019s fine art. So I feel like even being in Web3 allows us the flexibility to be able to not only be this one thing.<\/p>\n

\n

Gm if you haven\u2019t minted yet \u2013 pieces are still available <\/p>\n

Here https:\/\/t.co\/0szK6BGHF5<\/p>\n

Getting a piece in the collection will also give you an opportunity to claim a vinyl for FREE <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s Get It \ud83d\udd25 <\/p>\n

115- one of my favorite outputs thus far pic.twitter.com\/16KZPbdCWm<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Ed Balloon.eth (@Ed_Balloon) July 21, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tell us the vision behind your newest project on Prohibition<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s going to be one of the first projects that is actually going to display box braids and locs on the chain. <\/p>\n

I had done a drop on SuperRare called, Trap Balls on a Loc Tree. It was a music piece and I was using my locs, and I manipulated it in a way where it was like a tree branch and I had these balls on it, and it was really cool. I loved it. I had a few people asking me questions regarding that. It was in a way where there was a disconnect there. That kind of triggered me. But I didn\u2019t really want to talk about it. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m afraid to talk about it because I\u2019m not sure how it\u2019s gonna be looked at. As a Black artist, it\u2019s always a very difficult fine line between what you can talk about and what you can\u2019t. I was afraid, and I wasn\u2019t too sure why. But I did know from these conversations, I found myself kind of triggered. <\/p>\n

\n
\n

\u201cAs a Black artist, it\u2019s always a very difficult fine line between what you can talk about and what you can\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ed balloon<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

It brings me back to a lot of times growing up people said \u201cHey, you need to shave your hair, or you can\u2019t have your locs, or you\u2019re not going to get that job, or you\u2019re not going to be able to do this, you\u2019re not going to be able to do that.\u201d What I found so odd was that hearing these things brought me back to that place from these conversations in this ecosystem. We have PFPs of animals wearing durags and I\u2019m like, \u201cOh did we not know that durags are actually here for hair protection?\u201d There\u2019s a disconnect there.<\/p>\n

So this project, I was like, \u201cHow do I talk about this now?\u2019 I said, \u201cWe\u2019re going to code box braids and locs and we\u2019re gonna put these bad boys on the blockchain.\u201d My goal is to make sure that we\u2019re showcasing the beauty when it comes to our hair, the art that goes through it, the process, and the time. Sometimes when we get our hair done, it hurts. People don\u2019t understand that. I wanna showcase the colors, but also how you feel dope and fresh when it\u2019s done. It\u2019s these beautiful things that I was trying to bring to life through this project. This is art to us as well. We love the designs that we make with them. We love how they sway in the wind. This is us and accept us for us.<\/p>\n

\n

Oh my goodness!! the ED RUN COLLECTION IS TAKING OFF!! Oh my gosh ! Welcome new members to the fam!!! FYI \u2013 50 percent of secondary sales go to buying art form underrepresented artists in the space !<\/p>\n

\u2014 Ed Balloon.eth (@Ed_Balloon) July 29, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

What is the mission of The Ed Balloon Generational Wealth Fund?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I really want to be able to be in a position where I can buy art from artists of color, specifically Black artists in this space, because unfortunately, it\u2019s still very difficult for artists of color to sell their art. So I [decided] I need to find a way where I can have this fund that goes to support that. <\/p>\n

I felt like this was a way also to be an example for other projects that want to incorporate this because I wasn\u2019t seeing that. It\u2019s something that I still champion and try to do as much as I can with it. I also still try to give visibility to the artists that we do collect as much as I can with my platform.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

\u201cA lot of platforms don\u2019t know how to move in this space currently.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ed Balloon<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n

What\u2019s your spicy take<\/strong> on the NFT space?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Maybe it\u2019s not that spicy, but I still think a lot of platforms don\u2019t know how to move in this space currently. They\u2019re doing things that have already been done, assuming that it\u2019s going to help them. But, that only traps them, because the space is always changing. If you\u2019re not able to have your own vision, then you\u2019re not gonna be able to move with this space. My goal is to help but I feel like a lot of times they\u2019re not trying to go to artists, which is weird because we are the voices of reasoning and we have a lot of the vision.<\/p>\n

This interview transcript has been edited for concision and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n

For the full and uncut interview, listen to our\u00a0podcast episode\u00a0with Ed Balloon.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n