Please visit the main collection page here:→ [Proof of life (continued...)](zora.co/collect/zora:0x4cc5fbe2ea14d8fb62af7bdcff1ac0f8211daab4)← to experience proper world building as it is meant to exist. Photos Captured April 24th, 2024 (cst) in The Dutchyyy / Dutchmassive Cave of Solitude somewhere in the desert 🏜️ 📷 by cxy ↓ Ok, you actually are doing yourself a disservice if you don't absorb the context that provides the deeper and beautiful meaning behind this Artifact. Do you mind sparing 10 minutes to watch/listen to that context before proceeding? ✅[YES] → [🔗"Music Nerd" (Evolving Portals) f/ cxy🔗](zora.co/collect/zora:0xaecf7d807b137eae8c67d24c4e0e66c1e6319266/2) 🚫[NO] → .... you sure? ok, for those who took the time to digest the context, I'm sure without even going into further written detail you'll likely understand a bit more how special this moment was for us both. For those who didn't, I'll do a short summary. I've been releasing music (officially) since my 1st 12" Vinyl release that dropped in 1998 while I was still in highschool. There were a few years of stumbling into, teaching myself, practicing and just falling in love with creating music before that first official release. So you do the math... 1995 - 2024... That's a lot of years dedicated to collecting, creating and releasing Art/Music.... If search engines weren't cursed and broken, I'd just say google "Dutchmassive" of "Equilibrium" or "Dutchyyy" fka "Dutchy" or just check discogs but the reality is... The internet is not the same open and free space of discovery it once was. Typing "Dutchmassive" into your search engine in 2014 would yield around 2.6 million search results. When I checked in 2017, around 17k came back. That's a lot of history / legacy wiped from digital archives.... Around 2015, nearly all social media platforms moved from the cherished (if it's not broken, don't fix it) Chronological timelines and introduced algorithmic feeds. As someone who grew up using the internet and every new platform from 1995 to that point and did so as a net positive of discovery and reach and being a boon to my artistic career, I was very sensitive and observant to how quickly things changed after this. I would no longer see posts from people I chose to follow, and the days of me being a reclusive, mysterious artist that was able to live life in the real world not on camera, and use that life experience as fuel to create well thought out albums had swiftly been nerfed into oblivion... The days of just making a single post on each different platform, with a link that says "pre-order new album" and selling out the same day or week.... it vanished hahah. At the same time, Streaming Services were picking up steam, but I refused to adapt to a model that was clearly anti-artist, So from 2017 and on, I stopped releasing official albums, and to this day not even 3% of Body of Work is available on digital streaming platforms.... from 2017-2022 I made more music that remained unreleased than I did in total from 1995-2016... I figured, I lost the direct pipelines to my fanbase and supporters I spent decades slowly building, and doing self promo over and over again on social media is a lose/lose as people just feel you're spamming and the internal feeling of showing the world something you spent a lot of time and love on only to get immediately lost in shuffle, just wasn't a new meta I was willing to adapt to... Did any of this stop me from creating daily? not even a little bit. Not releasing was self care. I wasn't willing to risk tainting my love of the most magical part of being an artist.... getting lost in the process.... So I kept creating and kept hoarding hahah.. Fast Forward to 2021, My health (which had been declining since 2015) became hard to manage. Your perspective changes when mortality feels closer and realistic. For me personally, All I could think about was not only all this unreleased music, but the 3 decade legacy I put my heart and soul into and sacrificed so much along the way to always find or create those moments where I could express myself artistically. If you are alive, you might not want to, but you do have the ability to pivot, or re-upload your music somewhere else if the place it exists suddenly goes away (i.e. Myspace, AOL MAIL, Imeem, etc) This unfortunate reality of mortality led me to blockchain... The magic of smart contracts.... Being able to attach credits, backstory, etc to a media file in a way that that data can't be separated from the art/music. So I pivoted... I kept my head down, and began uploading back catalog music as 1/1's on 💽Catalog Works💽 🔗[beta.catalog.works/dutchyyy](https://beta.catalog.works/dutchyyy) + 🔗[beta.catalog.works/dutchmassive](https://beta.catalog.works/dutchmassive) While doing so, I did something that went against everything I felt about art and music, and I began to write very long and detailed backstories / lore for almost every track I added to the Forever Library... Prior to me doing this, I always felt that... it didn't matter how I felt, or what inspired and what I intended for the music to mean. That context just never needed to be shared publicly, because once that music is released into the world and heard by strangers... That feeling, that meaning becomes theirs. How it impacts them, who they bonded with hearing it, If it's something that they experience alone that helps them get through days.... I hope this makes sense haha... needless to say, I was very conflicted about explaining my art or being transparent in general, but I fully leaned into and committed to it. I wasn't / and aren't a part of any communities, I just kept to myself, focused on sharing my art and story, while also collecting and supporting art that moved and impacted me... I was blessed to have a few people collect my 1/1's and because I wasn't used to receiving that type of value for my art, for me it was the perfect resonance checkpoint. It allowed me to reach out and get to know some of the people who chose to collect my stuff. Not everyone who collects cares to know about the artist or context, but I was fortunate to have a few that I am thankful I can call them friends... The common theme between those few were they really appreciate the near perfect recall backstories and world building.... cxy being the most interested in the things I valued the most... Not the finalized, shiny polished end result, but he really appreciated the process that led to it.... I just so happen to have made my entire identity since 2016 about sharing the full, unedited real time process... "The Reluctant Clap" (Daily Rambles) - Tascam Freestyles (2015-2022) "Evolving Portals" which was born from live streaming on twitch and then became my whole default process of basically, Recording the music making process from start to finish and having fun experimenting and drawing out of the lines and capturing that whole process. So the more C.Y. and I spoke, the more core principles seemed to align (w/ my hoarding being the exception haha, but we are working on that) I could go on and on and on, and I likely will.... Hopefully you took time to listen / watch the "Music Nerd" (Evolving Portals) Video, so a lot of what I just spoke about makes more sense and better explains how magical this moment was, Having someone i've been talking to the past few years, who believed in me more than anyone else ever has, and is the literal reason I have to ability to type out this backstory, in my new home across the united states, two miles away from childhood best friend I've known since 1985 and for him to be able to meet that friend and also capture us both holding our original pound puppies together hahaha. Proof of Life was meant to serve as a collection to document past experiences before my health complicated things so there was proof I once was out in the world sharing memories with loved ones and creating tiny little ripples..... Proof of Life (continued...) isn't something I thought would happen, It's only been possible because of this special "Music Nerd"... So do you know how full circle and fulfilling it was to be able to invite cxy into my home. which is basically a museum of not only my full artistic career, but holds evidence in abundance that beyond just an artist, I'm a lifelong collector and supporter of culture / art / music..... C.Y. is very busy, so he was only here for less than 24 hours, and to even begin scratching the surface of this insane archive of dope tangible relics and artifacts, you would need at least 3 or 4 days minimum. So until we are able to reunite and deep dive into the archives, I'll continue documenting Proof of life (the good, bad... all of it) and keep slowly archiving my back catalog on chain and world building across platforms.... If you took the time to read all of this, and you want @cxy and myself to actually film a proper "Music Nerd TV Cribs" episode before 2025, Please let us know in the comments.... ↓ Get to know "Cxy" below. The More You Know 🌈 ↓ [🔗Productizing Patronage: Vol.1🔗](zora.co/collect/base:0xaac93a2f96e884b4258a71eab768c9566e42a01d/2) [🔗Productizing Patronage: Vol.2🔗](zora.co/collect/base:0xaac93a2f96e884b4258a71eab768c9566e42a01d/3) [🔗supercollector.xyz/cxy.eth🔗](supercollector.xyz/cxy.eth) [🔗MusicNerd.xyz🔗](www.musicnerd.xyz/search/cy%20lee)