"If summer's ending soon..." (2018) The Story Behind "Backstreets": So this one kinda came out of nowhere.... We made this in August 2018', it dropped in September and ended up being one of my biggest records to date. I had a car (rip 2013 chevy sonic, u did me well) that was soooooo tinted that I stopped driving on highways and stopped doing night drives. I would drive around Memphis on backroads w/my faithful doggo, Niko and my wonderful gf Jules. Backstreets was randomly (I say randomly because I still have a hard time believing it to this day) the most viral song in America on Spotify for a weekend and was my first record to get on NMF (New Music Friday). It was a really proud moment for me because it helped cement the fact that I could make good pop music that was left of center and that resonated with people. It's a record that got me brought into a lot of conversations that I otherwise wouldn't have been a part of and i'm forever grateful for that. I'm minting this at 1.09 eth because everything i've minted this year is a reference to Memphis, TN (901 area code, three 6 mafia, etc...) because i'm a firm believer of bringing culture on chain and introducing people to ideas and things that maybe they wouldn't have previously exposed themselves to before. Is music still valuable in this market in web3? Let's talk about it. Music NFT prices are at an all time low along with the sentiment, and surely only heading towards that direction even more. Are we as artists supposed to undervalue our work and wait for "a better market"? I still choose to believe that music is valuable, because I know it is. Music is powerful, it helps us navigate through feelings that are hard to put into words. It tells stories. It introduces us to different walks of life and cultures across the country and across the world. It helps us make sense of LIFE, it brings us together. It's wiggly air for our bodies to move to. Can we stop pretending like it isn't valuable because of market conditions? Truth be told, I know this record either won't sell or will take a long time to sell, but i've minted all of my catalog because I believe it's valuable and there's meaningful stories and culture behind them. Now that we've lost the majority of speculators, is there room for music lovers who want to support culture over speculative upside?