Yakob El Moussa

Episode 82: Show Notes

When you spend most of your waking hours freelancing, it can be tough to find the time, energy, and inspiration to build a portfolio you’re proud of and fill it with projects that truly represent you as an artist. Our guest today, Yakob El-Moussa, is a fantastic photographer, cinematographer, and glitch artist. But before Yakob discovered NFTs he was struggling to find the motivation to pursue his creative goals outside of freelancing. In today’s episode, he shares how discovering NFTs gave him the inspiration he needed to grow his body of work and why he’s so excited by the possibilities presented by NFTs and crypto spaces. Tune in to learn all about Yakob’s journey as an artist, his fascination with hardware (particularly within the digital world of crypto), his advice to artists on navigating the world of NFTs, the importance of community, and much much more! 

Key Points From This Episode:

●      Meet Yakob El-Moussa, a photographer, cinematographer, and glitch artist.

●      Why Yakob is so fascinated by hardware, especially within the crypto space.

●      Yakob’s extensive hardware wallet collection.

●      How Yakob uses his hardware wallets for different functions.

●      Yakob’s advice on how to manage a multi-sig setup.

●      Find out what Yakob thought of NFTs when he first heard about them.

●      Learn about Yakob’s journey as an artist and how creativity runs in his family.

●      Why Yakob struggled to build his portfolio while freelancing.

●      How NFTs sparked Yakob’s drive and inspiration.

●      The anxiety Yakob felt around answering the question: “What Animal would you be?”.

●      Yakob shares his favorite food and the best advice he’s ever been given.

●      Hear Yakob’s advice for artists joining the crypto art space.

●      Why community is so important in the online art space.

●      Where Yakob would like to settle down when he’s older.

●      Hear NorCal’s answers to Yakob’s questions!

●      Yakob and NorCal’s thoughts on recent developments in the crypto space.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

Yakob El-Moussa

Yakob El-Moussa on Twitter

NorCal and Shill on Twitter

Transcript

EPISODE 82

[INTRODUCTION]

[00:00:31] NorCal: Hello everyone. Welcome to the next episode of NorCal and Shill. Today's guest is Yakob El-Moussa. Yakob is a photographer, cinematographer, and glitch artist. He combines his two favorite mediums, studio photography and glitch work to create most of his art. Everyone please welcome Yakob.

[INTERVIEW]

[00:00:54] NorCal: Hey, Yakob. How you doing today?

[00:00:58] YEM: I'm doing well. Big day for my sister today. So, kind of just been at home supporting her on a big drop. Yes, not much going on. Nice and clear here in Vancouver. Snowed yesterday, but it's pretty good. How are you?

[00:01:08] NorCal: Nice. Yes, doing good. Just, I mean, waiting for the storm to come in. I mean, I can see the clouds. They look like they're coming. I'm just waiting for it to start happening.

[00:01:20] YEM: Yes. I love that California – I mean, I lived there for a few years. So, I used to love it when it did rain, because it rained.

[00:01:26] NorCal: Yes, it's nice. And it's supposed to be a pretty good cold storm. But yes, and just been experimenting, you know, with some new recording software and having issues and I appreciate your patience.

[00:01:37] YEM: No worries. No worries. I know. Software can be tricky to learn once it's new. Are you a cold weather guy or?

[00:01:44] NorCal: I mean, I love sand. I love running around with flip flops and shorts and just chilling. That's my vibe.

[00:01:54] YEM: I'm the opposite. I love the cold. I don't mind the warmth, but I love the cold city nights and the winter. Just the best.

[00:02:01] NorCal: I mean, if you have the right gear, it’s definitely nice. You can't go wrong with a fireplace with a fire going and just being bundled up, and just nice and toasty. 

[00:02:16] YEM: It’s true.

[00:02:17] NorCal: I don’t know, watching some YouTube or something.

[00:02:20] YEM: It’s true. You love your YouTube. I just got premium the other day. That changed my life.

[00:02:27] NorCal: No commercials.

[00:02:27] YEM: Yes. I didn't even notice that I needed to play in the background, and on my phone because I always like put it, watching something. I put it in my pocket and I hate leaving my phone on. So, now it's kind of nice.

[00:02:39] NorCal: So, do you have a hardware wallet?

[00:02:40] YEM: You know I do. Oh, my god. Ledger MAXI. I think, I have five or six Ledgers. I only really use three. One of them is for ETH, like cryptocurrency itself. One of them is for my NFTs. And then I have one for my girlfriend because, she doesn't know how to use those things. And then I have another one. I mean, I used to mint on a hot wallet because when I started — it wasn't a good idea. So, I kind of took that off Metamask and added the seed phrase, I guess to my Ledger. So, it's kind of like a warm wallet, I guess, now. Just so it’s still safe. But yes, all cold wallet now. And then I have a few extra. I did a bunch of giveaways. So, I still have a few laying around.

[00:03:26] NorCal: Yeah, I think you got like almost every special edition ledger.

[00:03:32] YEM: I love them. I'm so fascinated by hardware. It's so scarce in this world, in this space. So, when there is new hardware, I mean, I just try to collect it all and I have ones I'll store for later. And hopefully they become kind of like old school hardware. I don't know. It's just fine. I saw you had the Ledger Blue, right?

[00:03:53] NorCal: Right.

[00:03:54] YEM: I tried to get my hands on that, but can't seem to find one.

[00:03:57] NorCal: Yeah, I don't think they sold very many of them. It never worked very easily or very well. I know. I got one for my dad back in the day. Because I was like, “Oh, it's a screen. It's going to be easier for him to use. Perfect for people that are kind of technology illiterate”, and it doesn't really work that well.

[00:04:20] YEM: I mean, it actually kind of looked, if I'm remembering correctly, I just kind of looked into it the other week and it actually kind of looks similar, because it had a screen, right? It's similar to their new, the Stax one they just created in some ways. Are you getting one of those?

[00:04:33] NorCal: Yes. I mean I bought the NFT, like I bought six of them just to –

[00:04:36] YEM: Holy.

[00:04:37] NorCal: – grab some. I'm not going to let you be the only MAXI.

[00:04:42] YEM: What made you choose Ledger over Trezor?

[00:04:45] NorCal: I don't know if I would say I chose one over the other, because my primary wallet from the get go has been a Trezor. But I will say, Ledger seems to be more NFT friendly and developing more for that, which makes me want to switch and try them out. I mean, I just bought like five Nano S to set up a multi sig for myself.

[00:05:11] YEM: Jeez. So, you're going to have to transfer them all then, all your NFTs to that?

[00:05:17] NorCal: That’s the thing – I think I'm just going to transfer like the big value ones, and that's the hard part. Because people are like, “Well, why are you transferring mine over there?” They're all valuable. In time, in time I’ll just transfer them.

[00:05:36] YEM: Are you feeling – or you just extra added safety? Or how come you’re doing multi sig?

[00:05:40] NorCal: I mean, it's a huge layer of security, because you have to sign with each wallet and store them in different places. So basically, like, either have to go get the wallet and bring it to your computer or take your computer there, and then sign each transaction as you go from wallet to wallet.

[00:05:58] YEM: I mean, I could do that. But I'd have to do like two or three. I could not do. I mean, I'd be so afraid I'm going to lose one of the seed phrases and the wallet is going to –

[00:06:07] NorCal: That's one cool thing about multi-sig. So, I don't know how Ledger would say this, but with multi sig, you can get them all together, basically, and then reject one of the ones that's lost and add a new one.

[00:06:23] YEM: Oh, holy, it’s like a whole – oh, jeez. That's pretty cool. I like that.

[00:06:28] NorCal: Because you'd have to have a seed phrase for each one of those and that can get messy. So, your seed phrases aren't necessarily needed when you have a multi-sig.

[00:06:36] YEM: I kind of want to do that now. I love the whole security stuff. So, I'm always helping Ayla kind of get hers down. So, I should try that. Maybe not that I'm too worried and I don't have anything to valuable. But it's fun. More Ledgers.

[00:06:48] NorCal: Yes. It's fun. I just got to go through the process of setting it up, and then distributing them.

[00:06:56] YEM: Good luck with all that.

[00:07:01] NorCal: So, what were your first thoughts when you heard about NFTs, crypto art?

[00:07:08] YEM: Definitely didn't understand it at first. Kind of came on my radar, just with those big projects, punks, and CryptoKitties, I think it was, and a few others and I didn't fully get it. I remember kind of trying to play around with OpenSea and stuff like that, and it really clicked when Clubhouse was big. And everyone was in Clubhouse chatting.

I remember I got in there and — I don't know who it was, I wish I could remember — someone basically said, “It's exactly like traditional art. It's just mostly seen, purchased, and transferred digitally.” And that's all I kind of needed for it to click. And then once I saw photography, getting minted and collected, it didn't take that long for me to understand NFTs. It took me quite a while though, to understand how to navigate all the platforms and the safety and, the amount of scammers on Twitter and whatnot. You get used to it. But it's definitely good to have someone in the space before you get in. Luckily, I had my sister. She was in it a few months before. So, that was nice. What about you? Was it a big like, must get on this trend right now or kind of?

[00:08:20] NorCal: No, because I remember when CryptoKitties came out, and I was just like, these people on ETH are doing stupid stuff over there. It's just a game. I'm not going to play any of that game. It's going to be a waste of time. And that was my thought for a while until 2020, and I started hearing more and more about it. And then I started to actually just kind of, I guess, look into it more, and read up on it more. And then I was like, “Ah, okay, that makes sense.”

[00:08:48] YEM: Was it easy for you to kind of get into the tech? Because seems like you're pretty well versed in it already.

[00:08:54] NorCal: Yeah, I mean, I understand the core concepts, I guess. I'm not a dev or anything, and I still like have to go read up on stuff to understand certain things because I'm not technical in some of those aspects. I'm just, I guess, have a broad understanding. 

[00:09:12] YEM: It's good. It's definitely tricky to get into, but it only thing was communication. If the communication was on point from either the platform or, or wherever you were doing your work, it was easy. But all these things kind of definitely have a learning curve. So, I remember it was very, very difficult for the first few months and then kind of just, it wasn't even like a gradual, kind of everything just clicked on how everything works and that was history.

[00:09:39] NorCal: Yeah, for sure. So, what brought you to art? How did you choose art?

[00:09:46] YEM: Oh, man, it was – it's my whole family. I mean, my father's a photographer. My sister was always painting and stuff, and my other sister is also doing photography, and I started, it was pretty young. I mean, I was picking up a camera at like, six, seven, and we would go on our family walks, and I would start shooting photos. We ended up having some of those framed in the house. So, that was pretty cool. And then what really took off kind of that artistic spark for me was cinematography. I remember stuff on my parent’s computer or something, I would like film just seriously just like dogs or something and put it together in iMovie. I was like, “Hey, this is pretty cool.”

It kind of started like that. And then from there, it was all cinematography, and kind of photography on the side. And then photography kind of took back over, because they both kind of mixed. So, I use cinematography mainly for my promos. Or if I'm shooting freelance for something or some project, or just for fun. But, yes.

[00:10:48] NorCal: So,what jobs have you done along the way?

[00:10:51] YEM: Mainly all freelance. I was actually just talking to Jessica Carlucci, I think, you say her name. I was talking to her about this the other day, because I think she's been in a similar situation. I just wrote a thread on it. But I was never able to really like pursue the art I wanted to do, because I was always doing freelance in so many different genres. So, whether that be lifestyle or product or architecture. It was great to do and I obviously had to do it, but it was definitely draining and I could never build my own portfolio because I was too tired, either dealing with clients or just tactics.

So, when NFTs came about, that was huge for me that sparked. I mean, I've said it before, I'll say it again, like you can't underestimate the opportunity we have right now as artists. The chance to create, basically art in this world of artists and collectors is so valuable. You couldn't do that before. It wasn't that accessible. That was huge. I mean, I had to join there. And because of that, it started kind of building my artistic spark again, and allowed me to be able to build my portfolio.

[00:11:58] NorCal: If you're an animal, what would you be and why?

[00:12:01] YEM: This question is the only question that kept me up at night. Seriously, for two hours I was researching. I was like, what would be the coolest? I was on forums and everyone had the same few answers. I still can't fully pick – I found something funny and it said I'd be a horse because I want to have a stable job. I thought that was hilarious.

There's a few different. I mean, I remember listening to Killian’s podcast with you and I think you said he said wolf just because they're in a wolf pack and they have all that support. So, I love that. I mean, I have to pick a few here. Anything that flies, different perspective. You can't keep me to one. It's too hard. I'll settle on wolf. I think just a great support group. That question. Oh, man. I seriously did not know, because I read something else funny too. What did it say? It was like, I would want to be a golden retriever and an upper middle-class family, and I started laughing so hard. I mean, a dog would be great, too. They're always happy, happy at everything.

[00:13:02] NorCal: All you're worried about is like man, can I get one of those extra scraps? 

[00:13:05] YEM: Exactly. I can't choose one. I think artistically, I would be a bird, a falcon, and then support group, definitely a wolf.

[00:13:18] NorCal: Do you have a favorite food?

[00:13:19] YEM: Oh, yes. In Vancouver and the sushi here is amazing. I mean, that's always a food I could just always have no matter what. Recently, which you would like, is I’m on a Mexican kick. To have just fresh ceviche and tacos. Oh, my god. So, I have to add that into the mix. I know that's your favorite.

[00:13:39] NorCal: Yeah, I love Mexican.

[00:13:41] YEM: So good.

[00:13:41] NorCal: Just had some for lunch today.

[00:13:43] YEM: I might order some for dinner or go out, because craving it again. But yes, definitely, I would say those two. I mean, Lebanese food just because I'm a bit Lebanese. It's always like home cooked. It's great.

[00:13:55] NorCal: That is good food. I'm not going to lie.

[00:13:57] YEM: Did Ayla make for you? I don't think – oh, my goodness. Okay, well we have good recipes from our grandma so we'll definitely make some if we do a little food get together.

[00:14:05] NorCal: I saw her making some tebouleh or something on Instagram –

[00:14:11] YEM: She has the recipe for that.

[00:14:12] NorCal: –a few months ago and I was like, “Hey, I want some of that.” She’s like, “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

[00:14:20] YEM: I’ll tell her to make it, because that is good.

[00:14:23] NorCal: Come on, hook it up. When we meet up, just bring me a little to go cup.

[00:14:29] YEM: I mean, we could. It lasts a while. It's actually best when you make it and you leave it in the fridge overnight. So good in the morning.

[00:14:35] NorCal: Yes. So, what's the best piece of advice you have been given?

[00:14:40] YEM: I don't remember who gave it to me and I don't remember what the source is from. But I remember someone or some – I don't know if I read it, but it stuck with me forever, and it said don't promise when you're happy, don't reply when you're angry, and don't decide when you're sad. I found I could apply that into so many things, whether that be relationships, or work, or art. I mean, just those emotions really do affect your decision making in the moment. Also, wear sunscreen is a pretty good piece of advice.

[00:15:16] NorCal: Right. That is good. I like that. The first one was super solid. That was good that. I haven't thought about that.

[00:15:22] YEM: It's good. I mean, think about it in anything, if it's like relationship turmoil, or if you did amazing on a project and you feeling happy, you want to do something, just double think about everything. I don't know, just helped a lot.

[00:15:35] NorCal: Do you have advice for artists joining the crypto art space?

[00:15:40] YEM: I mean, it's been said before, but community does really come first. It’s definitely about making a good friend group, good support group with artists and collectors. I know it's hard for – I think, I always feel bad because I find some collectors so fun. And I just want to talk to them, but I have a feeling they think I'm like suddenly trying to, “Hey, I have art available.” But that's not what it is. I think I just really want to talk to them. 

So, I know it's great to definitely have like a friend group with artists and collectors. It's huge, and they can kind of walk you through everything and learn the basics. Learn the basics before you mint anything, all the safety protocols. Once you learn all that and get how everything works, then it's just mint mindfully, carefully, build your portfolio, how you want it to be forever, and then you're off to the races.

[00:16:31] NorCal: If you could live or move anywhere, where would you live and why?

[00:16:36] YEM: Oh. So, another question that I have –

[00:16:40] NorCal: It has to be somewhere cold.

[00:16:41] YEM: Yes. So, I have two answers to this. I'm only 23 now, so I'm still pretty young and city life is for me. I love the cities and New York City for me, specifically, is the greatest city on earth. I mean, I've been to a few big ones. But that one, the vibe, the people, the East Coast, there’s just nothing like it. I would definitely move there. I think once I'm 35, 35 plus, I definitely want to settle down though kind of on a farmland and the anywhere could be cold, kind of mixed seasons. But yes, maybe California again.

[00:17:17] NorCal: You grew up on a farm in Canada.

[00:17:20] YEM: Yes, Vancouver Island. So, it's just a two-hour little ferry ride across from where I am now. Amazing way to grow up. I would definitely move back to a farmland, not necessarily on the island. But I would say, California, Kelowna, it's really close to here. Beautiful and lots of nice wineries and stuff. So, those would be my two.

[00:17:41] NorCal: Do you have any questions for me?

[00:17:42] YEM: Yes. Oh, wait, I wrote these down. Okay, what are you proud of, but never had an excuse to talk about? That might be a thinker. But if there's something you're proud of, maybe it wasn't art or something that you've just kind of never been able to talk about? Or talk much about? Is there anything?

[00:18:00] NorCal: I don’t know.

[00:18:01] YEM: It's a hard one. I have another one. But it's also kind of hard. But we'll see. We'll see what you want. Any of this work. If you could pick one day to relive over and over, what day would that be and why?

[00:18:14] NorCal: That's even harder, because wedding day was pretty awesome. And then my kids’ births.

[00:18:20] YEM: Yeah, I imagine that.

[00:18:22] NorCal: Because there's a lot of emotion on those days. I don't know if I would want to live all those days over and over. Because that’s a lot of emotion.

[00:18:29] YEM: I get that. Okay. That's it. Oh, man. How are you feeling about the space right now? I guess that's a more simplistic question.

[00:18:40] NorCal: I like it right now. It's a little slow. It's pretty chill. Platforms are fighting for –

[00:18:45] YEM: Yes, that's a big one.

[00:18:48] NorCal: Zero royalties.

[00:18:50] YEM: How do you feel about that? I mean, it's a hard one.

[00:18:53] NorCal: In a way it doesn't affect artists much, because this is mainly focused at profile picture projects. Getting upset about it would be mainly if your collectors are only selling on OpenSea. And if they are ignoring royalties, which most probably, I would think most who are collecting art are not just ignoring it.

[00:19:18] YEM: I know. I sold something the other day and it gave a big pop up, like what royalties do you want to do? And it automatically sets it to the max. So, it was pretty good. And I guess most people do that. I know, obviously, there's a lot of big flippers trying to do, I guess, like addition projects, trying to flip that so that becomes a bit of a little royalty war. But seems good overall. I haven't heard too much besides just the initial announcement on this big blowback.

[00:19:45] NorCal: I think we're finally kind of dividing the space between shit coins with pictures and art.

[00:19:55] YEM: Yes. I'm excited about a few. I mean foundation right now is absolutely killing it.

[00:20:00] NorCal: They are. They definitely are.

[00:20:01] YEM: Their website is gorgeous. And I mean, if they add 155, somehow, in a way that only allows art, like additions and stuff and not profile pictures onto their platform, that could be huge.

[00:20:14] NorCal: It'd be interesting if they came out with an exclusive premium product –

[00:20:19] YEM: For that?

[00:20:21] NorCal: Like a super rare competitive.

[00:20:22] YEM: Yes. I mean, I'm still at first getting on to super rare, it was amazing. But after just trying to mint one collection, it was just hectic. I think they were pretty open about – all I was asking for was some transparency. And they just released something which was great. So, I know they're being a bit more open and trying to update the UI and stuff. So that's good. But I think if they get on it fast, they’ll be good. But if they don't, someone else is going to pop up.

[00:20:48] NorCal: Be like, foundation black.

[00:20:51] YEM: Yes. It's interesting. I mean, that's the big thing. Open editions was – keeps going back and forth. Its royalties and open editions, just seems like the drop. You don't even scroll the timeline, though do you? I remember you said, I think the first time I talked to you was on a Twitter space while back, and I think the first thing you said was you don't even like Twitter at all, which makes sense. Have you gotten used to it anymore?

[00:21:14] NorCal: I mean, I have notifications turned on for like a few accounts. So, I catch everything. So, I don't have to scroll Twitter basically. I mean, I'll miss some stuff here and there, but it is what it is.

[00:21:26] YEM: I don't mind it. I kind of gotten used to it. It's definitely hard for new artists. I think that – I mean, my friend just hopped on and I did a whole kind of class with him on how to work everything and how to mint stuff and got it. He picked it up pretty fast. But the only thing is just kind of how to work Twitter and engage and all that stuff. It's really a marketing game, honestly, which isn't ideal.

But with art selling so fast, that you could never sell art this fast and so much in so instant. So, I mean, I don't mind that you have to put in the work to kind of get it. It's hard one. What are you doing for the rest of the day?

[00:22:04] NorCal: I've mailed out my click.

[00:22:06] YEM: Oh, to ARTIFACTION?

[00:22:07] NorCal: Yes, to ARTIFACTION. I mailed him the camera, and I don't know. I guess, I’m going to kind of clean up my mess that I made trying to set this all up real quick.

[00:22:22] YEM: Are you going to go forward with using this platform, do you think? I mean, you'll see how it works, I guess, once we're done.

[00:22:26] NorCal: I don't know. It's nice because they're only go somewhere, they can use their phone or iPad. Where the other thing I was using, it's like computer only laptop or desktop. I don't know. We'll see. Maybe I'll try it. I ordered an Insta 360 webcam to see if I like that.

[00:22:44] YEM: All the tech. It's great. Actually, I was going to ask the camera, the Polaroid that you're sending around for the project. Has that got any damage yet?

[00:22:52] NorCal: No, this is actually a spare one.

[00:22:53] YEM: Oh, it’s a spare.

[00:22:55] NorCal: No, It hasn't gotten any damaged yet. This was just like it, it hasn't been damaged. I have a – so you can’t even see. I was looking at it. I have a case for it that everyone has been drawing on. So, that's been fun. But yeah, everyone's taken care of it. I got this one just as a backup when I went with Ruben to go shoot, because it was out in the freezing cold and I wanted to make sure I had an extra –

[00:23:16] YEM: Yes, that looked fun. That was fun. I wish we – Ayla was so jealous. Oh, my god. It would look fun. It's really cool. How are those mints doing? Oh, I forgot to make an offer on yours again. I made an offer. Apparently you wanted number one. So, I couldn't even buy something you minted because –

[00:23:39] NorCal: Good. People are still like, “Hey, when are you going to get back to that?”

[00:23:43] YEM: You have so much going on.

[00:23:45] NorCal: I need to get back to that thread and finish trading with everybody, because with the click create release, I got kind of back and behind.

[00:23:52] YEM: So, what's next for that that's going to be March release of arts?

[00:23:56] NorCal: March 6, I think is when we're going to initially drop or the first drop and there'll be 24 hours to mint for sub pass holders. And then it goes to how we make the allow lists after that.

[00:24:12] YEM: Cool. I'm excited. Excited to see it and congrats. That was a big release.

[00:24:17] NorCal: And congrats to you. You just – yes, you just sold some and I missed them.

[00:24:24] YEM: I did it late. Sorry.

[00:24:26] NorCal: Came and outbid me.

[00:24:29] YEM: She’s awesome. Just talking a bit more or less like she's great. And she's in Calgary close by, so that's fun. I mean, that's a fun new project. I definitely have been struggling to – I love black and white. But I've been really trying to add color to my minted work, in a way that complements. It's not kind of completely different. I love this series and yeah, I'll be releasing once a month or maybe a couple a month for as long as I know for now. I have two other things that I can't speak on publicly, but two big things that are coming up. I'll text you about them.

[00:25:10] NorCal: Awesome. Well, Yakob, thank you so much for your time and coming on this show and tell us a little bit about you. I really enjoyed it.

[00:25:20] YEM: Thanks. Me too. I don't know why it took me so long to do this, but glad I did.

[00:25:25] NorCal: Because I didn't send you an invitation.

[00:25:25] YEM: I know. But I never asked. 

[END]