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So you are selling jpegs?

It would be reductionist to say a painter is just selling acrylic. Similarly our project is  more than simple jpegs. We do sell art, complete and multi-layered pieces of art trying to be unique and pure.

Ok so what is a piece of art then?

A piece of art is a creation that has a meaning. It is an element with a strong aura. Something that no one asked for and yet yields the power to change minds, open new spaces and introduce new eras. A piece of art is complete when its aesthetic is contemporary and clear, stripped of falsehoods. It’s disruptive force is linked to the history of art that precedes. Its the vehicle of a strong philosophy. Consider it an echo to a time that can cross the ages, a poetic media that contains an important truth. It’s a long and deep reflection and therefore something difficult to approach. For this reason we are going to develop it step by step.

So why choose the NFT format?

NFTs are a very new tool. They open many possibilities that were previously inconceivable and inexecutable, especially regarding generative art.

NFTs are inherently digital and already belong to an existing market. Their introduction therefore changed both the timing and structure of art circulation and even the art market itself. Put simply, NFTs opened the door to many new artists and collectors through an innovative ecosystem. Let’s say you are an artist in a small city in Kenya. You can’t easily access a collector in, say, Singapore, sell him your art, knowing that in the very same day he sold this piece again to an American and that your value as an artist has changed as a consequence. What’s more anyone can track and recognize your value and it is immutable. That’s a truth that will carry in to the future.

This is a fundamental change because the contemporary art market is polarized to the extent that it is limited to elites in the greatest megalopolises of the world. In other words, if you are not white, rich and from NY, Paris or London, you will find it almost impossible to change the art world. Contemporary art is powered by speculation which grows semi-organically through private openings and select events. These are reserved to a few people deemed important enough. NFTs are changing all that. We are changing it. And all of a sudden, a new inclusive art economy opens.

A word on the historical significance:

As the speculative market  is controlled by elites they have the power to choose the art they consider valuable. It is a power we should not underestimate. They can skip or highlight what they consider worth being part of art history and global culture. It effectively means they can choose what is going to be recorded as important to our collective history and civilization. Most popular recent movements have been ignored by institutions even if they were the most impactful in reality. They were of no interest to this particular elite. But the reality of art is different than its market. Have you ever seen or owned a real Picasso? We haven’t either. Have you ever seen a graffiti? Us too! But is there any graffiti in institutional museums? After fifty years of global existence, still not. Let’s change it together.

TLDR: NFTs are the heart attack that the art market needed, we can use them to bring the democratization of cultural importance.

How does your project fit into this NFT revolution?

Even by just existing we have seen that NFTs are changing art in general. Now we are going to go specific and explain where our project fits in to this narrative.

Lets go back to when cinema was created. It was difficult to understand movies represented a new important media that melted stories, images and sounds all together. It was too new for the public and it took time before it becomes a matured and accepted form of art. Our project is born at this moment in NFTs.

It is incumbent on projects like ours to be open-minded and fully embrace the possibilities. This new art format includes a new economic system and a new philosophy built into its very essence. It‘s a Mona Lisa within a ticket to a game and a key to a secret society, an financial asset, a powerful media and a new message all in one. It shakes every definition and is a powerful asset to those who understand it because it transforms the role of the artist, the paintbrush and the one of the collector. This is the heart of our project. Those three entities are now melted into the same mold and interact together in full interdependency without outsiders or middlemen taking commissions in between. NFTs don’t need museums, galleries or any establishment to survive and neither do we.

As a genesis holder you are part of a select group of collectors. In this group or crew you are also the artist and take actions IRL to amplify our collective power and reach. You and many others do it creatively to raise the value of your assets or just to support the values of your own movement. Satisfaction come from:

1) As an artist you mature from first experiment to major actor.

2) As a collector you possess a valuable piece of art that you control until you want to sell it.

3) As a member of the crew you possess a key to access our chambers and influence future decisions until you decide to sell that key.

This is why you say you are an NFT-powered Street Crew on your socials?

Yes. It is our very specific system.

In the evolution of contemporary art, the last major movements were Graffiti and Street Art. They were a huge inspiration to us. Both have something smart and underrated and share a common philosophy as one beautiful weapon: The power of the organically expanding group. However they also have a crucial weakness: the inexistence of a sustainable and independent economy. In our project we will use NFTs to complete these ecosystems of viral art by providing a significant and direct reward to their actors.

When we talk about Street Art today, we choose one specificity of Street Art. Street Art, at its origin was not necessarily murals with portraits or colorful frescos. Street Art was the repetition of a symbol that was not graffiti letters and belonged to an artist or a political message. The tools of Street Art were historically collage, stencils or illegal brush painting.  We, in our project, will mix it with a little known form of art: Street Marketing. The traditional form of Street Marketing used the same tools as Street Art or Graffiti but with the final aim of selling a product. It was used for blockparties, mixtapes, even to promote urban clothing and many other products of a subculture.

So graffiti became the medium for identities to circulate, street art for art with a message to circulate and street marketing for underground products to circulate. The Cool Kidz goes back to the roots of those three Arts of the Streets to create “Smart Graffitis” resulting in an NFT-powered Street Crew. Our new form of art involves “branding” NFTs giving rise to a “product” that is itself a form of subcultural art but crucially rewards its holder with financially and politically. When the creative Guerilla marketing energy on one side meets a “product” that is art itself, it creates the synergy of a self-sufficient community where the consumer is actually branding his/her own art, collecting it, adding value and can choose to be part of the brand’s future actions and at any time sell or trade his stake. I know. Its blowing the brain kind of concept but some people were looking for a long term sense to NFTs and others were looking for a possible future to Street-based arts. Here it is. We give it to you. 

Street Art is a decentralized matrix of art consideration. Just like NFTs. For the long term view, our principal aim is not to exploit the fame of others in order to sell simple picture NFTs but to empower the holder of the NFT to be itself the artist. We prefer to seed an idea and allow the community to grow an ever evolving, organic, independent and fabulous form of art with a simple but sophisticated three time plan for our artist-collectors:

1. NFT world starts it.
2. Graffiti tools amplify it.
3. Art collectors establish it.

It fits our philosophy. It fits web3 philosophy.

This plan can only be possible within a group of anonymous actors. We think that the effort of the group makes the ego vanish for a better common experience and greater success.

Because of the very purpose of NFTs it might be even more interesting to create the name of a group that will find the power to make its art equal to Banksy’s. It is even more powerful than a spin-off of an already existing artist. Web 3 needs new faces, new heroes, new names: It needs you. It needs a Cool Kid!

Okay, I got the history of art thing but how do you deal with the bear market?

The bear market is an opportunity for us. We actually were trying to match our timing as much as possible with these fluctuations. We believe that it’s the bottom of a new wave, a quiet reflective environment where young and different projects like us have a better chance to hatch. When speculation was too high, there was no time for philosophy. Our mission is to bring humble wallets to the table and give them the chance to participate and enrich themselves in our crew. If we don’t start with low floor prices and low fees, it gives less chances to build a long chain of markets where a maximum of our crew members can take well-earned commissions in between. This economy matches our philosophy. By moving slowly and starting from the ground up, any group of people can equally participate, bring their creative skills and receive financial, cultural, social and political rewards.

This is also why we chose a no burn strategy. We will grow by following a maturing market. Our team knows the art market by heart and in-depth. We have witnessed up close artists doing fast money, fast careers with no long term plan. They crashed and burned and went missing in the jungle of art, losing every cent along the way. The Cool Kidz are not like this. Our art experience, knowledge and methodical plan are designed for a greater and wiser ambitions. We plan an artistic rise from micro to macro economy. We know that money stays where trust is. We know trust is where guts is. Today NFTs are dissed and challenged by high representatives of the centralized world order and we need some solid sustainable projects to show we are actually less abstract than them, stronger than them.

Why don’t you just follow the path created by the Apes?

We love the Apes. But we love them because they created with their philosophy. They pioneered generative art and all the complexities of rarities. But we are the Owls. We have to try something new. The amazing evolution of web3, outside of smart contracts, blockchain storage, whitelists, rarities, etc. has brought us the emergence of the DAO.

But first let’s talk Web2 and we’ll get back to the DAO. Social media and similarly structured web 2 services have favored hard competition, abusive behaviors, the destruction of real art and long form thoughts. They have favored dictatorships and labor abuse. Believe us, this seemingly soft power had a huge and dark impact on reality. We, the Cool Kidz, also use Social Media albeit reluctantly. What other choice do we have? They are so powerful and are the only tools available to kick-start our crew efficiently by bringing together new people truly interested in our world. This is the outdoors of our DAO. But let us take a look inside.

There are several doors to access the deepest chambers. The keys to these doors are held by the holders of our NFTs who later obtain ranks. It’s like a Zelda game. The more you have an interest in understanding our secret society the more you will have access to. You might be attracted at first by short messages on social media. That could pique your curiosity but the real game starts when you later subscribe to the Discord and take part or witness the community DAO. If you possess an NFT you will have access to secret channels (the chambers) where you can take part in our guerilla street marketing actions. Show your talent privately to crew members who will love it. Help others where you can and develop ideas together. Not shorts, tweets or memes but strategic moves. It is like being in the military corps of a peaceful and creative softpower. This is called the 36th chamber.

Did you ever read Dante? He structured hell and heaven in circles. The deeper you go, the less people there are. Because, in the good or in the bad, people who invest the most of themselves are naturally going to go deeper in their environmental societies as they go deeper in themselves. After the 36th chamber, there is the Lobby-Island where the political decisions are influenced by democratic votes. Here is our DAO. It is an hemicycle. In the middle, there is the Tao Dao. It is a powerful place of philosophy. In this place you behold a government token. In our world, philosophy is the strongest money. Other secret places has to be discovered later by playing the game. But we are not going to tell you everything here.

So, let’s make it clear. We don’t want to structure a hierarchy. We just believe that people are interested in financial reward. The more they enter the chambers, the more they gain, the more they have to read about art philosophy and transmit it, like you do now. Those in the center have a real impact on social media and all the community. They can be anybody but they have to experience the philosophy on their way there in order to lead. That’s our way to privilege self-sufficient, self-educated speech and empowerment. Without structure our ideas it would be like a river without its bed. It would finish as a social swamp. It would deserve a better explanation but we want to make sure that we are not dividing people like social media has done but to represent a family, a crew, a society where trade and exchanges make small guys and big guys help each other out. This also makes the walls of our DAO more secure and resistant to the danger of destruction by enemies of our philosophy or malicious bots and bad actors.

In conclusion we would say this: Our roadmap, like any true piece of art, meditation or life itself must not simply be told but be experienced to make you grow

Why I can’t borrow your idea and do my own version?

Feel free but trust us, executing innovative ideas in this NFT market is already very complicated. We have spent months, actually years, preparing everything for you, Use us. Join us. Choose our path and we will move faster than anyone can alone. Separated, our powers are limited but in union there is strength. One voice screaming is something powerful but 8000 voices screaming is political power. We rolled out the red carpet for you. With us you can be an investor in artistic freedom. To us this is something solid. More solid than your bank account, than the Mona Lisa or even your identity inside a nation. It is, to us, a complex agora where consciousness can meet, help one another and progress. Unlike other projects we are also grounded in reality. A reality fueled by decentralized street marketing. An independent path from micro to macro economy, that is at once politically powerful and fun to walk. And.. this is just the trailer. Those who recognize freedom are going to love it. If you really want to understand how far it goes, you have to buy the ticket. So… Are you ready to play the game with us ?

Love it! But why do your NFTs look like masks? Is it related?

Yes! You got it! Are you ready? Because now we enter even deeper waters. We told you a real masterpiece must link multiple topics in order to cross the ages… Well, here it is:

The Cool Kidz, like other generative NFT drops, have a gamified experience including super rares, collectibles or Willy Wonka style golden tickets. But there our traits also more complex combinations which impossible to read by bots. Some, maybe even yours, will gain value with time and storytelling. Some will gain value in relation to their journey inside the DAO community. This is one reason why we are a different set. That’s also why we don’t burn. The lowest floor prices or unsold items are not necessarily the least valuable.

And now, to the masks. A mask is a hidden personality; an avatar. As we told you avatar were present in graffiti long ago. It is because an avatar like a nickname hides your face and therefore allows you to think outside of your natural environment, outside of the box.

A historical perspective

Masks exist since the beginning of the self-aware man. From rituals to carnivals and balls, from tragedies to super-hero movies, from funerals to battlefields.  The mask represent an archetype of god-like chimeric representations of uncountable human feelings, traits and psyche. When worn it gives the wearer power and a responsibility within a society. That’s why Batman or Superman are the guardians of responsibility to their city. The mask is present across cultures but for us Africa is the continent of the mask. It is also the culture closest to oral traditions. Through an analysis of many tribal rites, we can discern a common pattern: the roots of every human ritual.

The ritual is as follows. When the child leaves maternal care, he/she is invited to travel outside of the village. On some occasions times he/she will meet a Shaman external to his habitual environment. In order to survive the jungle and savannah he/she must spend time alone. He is made to fulfil chase his quests and risk death. When he returns to his village all the adults are wearing masks like demons and gods. In a half-dance half-fight the child symbolically kills the biggest demon by taking his mask away. When the mask is removed, the child discovers the face of his own father. Through this symbolic ritual the child learns the cycle of life and its structure. He fought shadows and fears and survived. He can now wear the mask himself and embrace his roles and responsibilities in the village society. It’s like Luke Skywalker discovering his father under Darth Vader’s mask at the exact moment he is killing him.

In this sense our NFTs are pieces of multiple masks that are going to play the quest of the hero, the quest of adulthood, the quest of life inside a collective piece of art: the society of masks, the society of the Cool Kidz is a growing society that will show you how to grow. The deeper you go, the deeper you will graduate some rung of the knowledge of self and environment, the skills to make you aware of life as a Cool Kid. It is just like a book but this time you play the hero and NFTs are the lines to be read. Did you know before books, mankind used games to make itself aware of good fortune and which paths to take in society. We want to go back to these roots.

TLDR: Masks have incredible cultural importance, especially in Africa. We borrow heavily from the significance of masks and the rituals around them.

Is it why the aesthetic is a bit darker?

Our aesthetic is notably and intentionally more adult than the usual collectibles. It fits our artistic choices perfectly. African masks gave birth to modern art through Picasso, Brancusi and Modigliani. They made their way through to Brut Art as well as the Bad Art of Jean Michel Basquiat. Our collage style makes reference to this continuity, this legacy of past masters. It was the best way for us to bridge the 90’s and 2000’s aesthetic of graffiti and street culture (that we love!) with fine arts like Neo Pop, Bad Art or Brut and Expressive Art. (BTW Sorry if all of this is new and a little dense to read but we’re all here to learn and share what we know).

Remember this, we want our assets to be engraved in and conscious of their place in art history. Our NFTs have layers of understanding to make sure they will make an resonate with NFT collectors, street art collectors and contemporary art collectors at the same time. We sell visual constructs of immeasurable timeless value. Beauty at this point is always strange, profound, intriguing, complex and mysterious. Sometimes it’s also dark. But, just like with your long term lover, we don’t want you to get bored too easily. As we told you before, a piece of art has to be perfectly coherent from A to Z. That’s the key for it to shine for years and that’s why ours have a distinctive feel.

Alright, who is the artist behind it?

It’s you.

No for real!

Well. Okay, maybe you mean the founders. There are four people united behind one complex idea but the capital actor is the Idea itself. The idea of our project grew out of the collective brains of our 4 founding kid. They made sure it would remain the empty vortex in the middle of our ever-growing society. No one can appropriate it. No one can put his name on it. Truly decentralized. This idea will therefore stay pure and strong enough to transcend the limits of space and time. We believe that once a strong idea like this appears, it is hard to kill it. The four kidz we mentioned are just protecting and nurturing this idea during the seed stage. Later, when more people will enter the crew, we will not need them anymore. The idea is the butterfly, the rest is the cyclone. Think about this: If the idea remains the master, a natural consequence is that we will create the first eternal and uncorruptible artist in the history of art. A non-fungible artist. 

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