“Sound Money” is an audio-documentary of Bitcoin that I hope will reach audiences of all walks of life; from nocoiners to Bitcoin whales.”
The idea was to simply make the type of music I normally make - raw, soulful, edgy and eerie hip-hop, and slap Bitcoin, Bitcoin, Bitcoin all over it. If you are into “store of value” and rap, then I hope this album is a go-to, but I also wanted to make this a piece that could be consumed and appreciated even if you don’t know who Satoshi Nakamoto is.
The album features a ton of random audio samples I acquired from podcasts and YouTube clips paired with my beats and a sprinkle of underground heavyweights like ANKHLEJOHN, Rome Streetz, K-Beta and Fleetwood Deville, who show up on three of the ten tracks.
The good folks at Citadel21 asked me to break down and dissect a few of the tracks, so here it goes.
“Faith In My Money (Money Printer Go Brrr…)”
This piece doesn’t show up until Track 7 on “Sound Money”, and actually doesn’t even mention Bitcoin, but it was the first song I started working on for the album. I knew the beat was speaking drama and I decided to throw the 2008 Financial crisis all over it. As I was finishing up the album, the World Economy decided to come to a halt. The “Money Printer” meme had just hit the meme market, and I decided I had to incorporate it into the nearly completed album. I decided to make some room on this track for it. Turns out the people have devoured it so far, as it has gotten the most attention on the album, probably partly do to the meme-orable video I whipped up to accommodate the more visually stimulated consumer.
“Dark Market” featuring ANKHLEJOHN
I’ve been listening to ANKHLEJOHN for a few years, and actually first produced an unreleased record with the Lordy back in 2014 with my man Rahiem Supreme. He has since escalated into one of the most heralded lyricists in the underground rap game, with his dark and raspy delivery paired with sickening and grimy instrumentals, many times free of percussion entirely. I saw him tweet his new album out last year, and on the back cover was a Bitcoin logo. I knew when I conceptualized this album that I had to get him to jump on a track. Both of us residing in Washington D.C., it was easy to record and shoot the video. We did that video in my studio and I decked it out with Bitcoin paraphernalia and he just went in.
“Dream Of Empire” featuring Rome Streetz
I got in contact with Rome through ANKHLEJOHN, they did a crazy record last year called Paul Janssen. Rome Streetz is heating up in New York right now, and I started rocking with him after hearing him on a Lord Sear Sirius XM radio show a while back. I heard him sprinkle some crypto jewels in some of his music, and he had a song called “Alphabay”. It was only right he jump on this project. His dark web word play helped craft the title for this track. I paired him with Gilfoyle’s “Sound Money” dialogue from Silicon Valley and the track starts with a Ripple diss, which I think may be the first crypto diss track on wax but don’t quote me on that.
I made this album mainly using ProTools, Turntables, vinyl and an MPC2000XL. I may or may not have smoked a Bitcoin during these sessions. You can buy or stream the album online. If you want to donate some Bitcoin and receive a copy just get in touch. Brrrrrrrrrr.
Mostly known as a DJ & Producer, DJ J-Scrilla began his string of production credits in 2001, and has since developed a long discography which boasts hall of fame rappers Killer Mike, Raekwon, Smif N Wessun and 100s more. Since throwing his hat in the Bitcoin space, Scrilla has written a few articles on Bitcoin, hosted a well- respected crypto art podcast, “Art On The Blockchain”, operated some BTMs and designed some Bitcoin clothing. He has just released a new Bitcoin-infused hip-hop project: “Sound Money”, which is a musical journey into the world of Bitcoin.