For Bobby Kim, more commonly known as Bobby Hundreds, his 20 years spent building his iconic 90’s streetwear company, The Hundreds, has helped pave the way for him to invite The Hundreds community to join into a new conversation and community in a way that he’s never done before. 

As the creator and founder of Adam Bomb Squad, a community-based NFT collection that serves as a direct nod to Mickey Mouse Club, Kim has leveraged ABS as an extension of The Hundreds’ universe by putting the brand’s “Adam Bomb” cartoon mascot front-and-center as it continues to infiltrate streetwear, food, crypto, and the emerging tech cultures.

When Kim first discovered NFTs in 2020, he knew that the technology had the makings of a revolution, but only if the right questions were being asked and insightful conversations were happening as a result –

Are NFTs a good idea? 

Are NFTs truly the future of creativity – or are they just another fad or ticking time bomb that comes and goes?

Or, are these creations nothing more than a modern day, digitized scam?

Maybe they are all of those things…

And it’s these questions and lines of thinking that we’ve all thought about and asked ourselves and friends, that Kim digs deep into through his own personal narrative and journey that also asks the questions of whether NFTs are  – fashion? A cult? Already over? Or just the beginning?

Regardless of how you may feel about NFTs and the many ways in which they’ve been utilized (for good and bad), none of these answers are simple, which Kim makes very clear throughout his new, upcoming book, “NFTs Are a Scam / NFTs Are the Future,” which drops on May 16. 

Hypemoon was given a chance to read Kim’s upcoming book, prior to its release, and it is definitely worth the read if you’re looking to really dive into an “in real-time” development of NFT culture — following the good, bad, and ugly.

Throughout the book, readers will be able to pinpoint how The Hundreds creator works through each of those questions with the thoughtfulness and hard-earned insight that have continued to carve him out as a fervently sought-after voice in these more complex, creative conversations involving commerce and community. 

Hypemoon had the opportunity to read the new book prior to its release, and sat down with Kim over Zoom to talk about the book’s structure, messaging, and the “rise and fall” of some of the projects mentioned throughout the book’s pages. 

Getting to Know the Book’s Structure

The logical progression of the book, according to Kim, is actually a compilation of essays that begins at the end of 2020 and early 2021, and continues through up until a few months ago, showing the space start to materialize in the last pages of the book, in addition to Kim’s understanding of the tech coalesce in real time.

“There are some essays I didn’t include, because they didn’t necessarily fit,” Kim told Hypemoon. 

“I felt like even if some of the things I was talking about have aged poorly or haven’t proven out, I thought it was still important to include those thoughts because they spoke more to the context of what was happening during that period,” he continued.

The book, which serves as Kim’s second memoir, following his 2019 memoir “This Is Not a T-Shirt: A Brand, a Culture, a Community,” has a chapter for everyone, regardless of whether you love or absolutely hate anything to do with NFTs. 

And for those who aren’t sold on NFTs, crypto, the metaverse, or A.I., Kim wants readers of his memoir to recognize that all of this “just takes time.”

“That’s actually a lesson that I impart in my first memoir, and it’s perhaps, one of the greatest challenges, especially for younger generations to wrap their minds around and in an economy and a culture where everything happens immediately,” says Kim. 

He emphasized that in the tech realm, people want things to happen automatically and instantly, which creates a false sense of reality and value:

“We need to give these spaces room to breathe. We need the tech. We need to afford technology with the room to grow and to organically manifest. It’s okay to challenge and I believe we’re meant to challenge and to work with the material and find what its limits are,” he explained.

Kim says that he didn’t want to set out to create “a manual,” as he pointed to some of the really informative books and college courses that are already available on the market. 

Instead, he set out to illustrate his personal perspective integrated into the philosophical underpinnings of the culture, community-based approach to Web3. 

So, if you’re looking for the “101” into blockchain technology and stocks trading/economics, you won’t find it in “NFTs Are a Scam / NFTs Are the Future” – “that’s just not my language,” Kim confessed.

For Kim, it was the art and the relationships that attracted him to the space, affording him the ability to explore and excavate this new world that he believes we can all potentially build together.

“…but if we’re just here to debase and to insult and to erode on what this technology can be, I feel like everyone misses out.”

Kim told Hypemoon that his book isn’t just a message or cautionary tale for tech and what NFTs are or could be – instead, it’s a story about what we’re affording each other as humans and giving each other the space to exist and logically, organically grow. 

“There’s so much cancellation going on, and there’s so much commotion and online chatter around the subject – both positive and negative – and it almost suffocates any type of real, meaningful innovation,” he pointed out, referencing his decision behind wanting to include all those essays in the book – “warts and all.”

“There’s some things I saw that are absolutely ridiculous now, and some things that people are going to say – ‘well, that never happened’ or ‘that looks silly in hindsight,’ and I’m okay with that, because I wanted to show everyone how things happen as they’re growing,” Kim continued. 

The Hundreds founder told Hypemoon that the book’s subtitle is “The Early Years,” which he says is important to define because it isn’t him saying that “NFTs are forever” or that this work is any type of bible or alpha/omega – rather, it’s a personal understanding of an important moment in time and laying down the foundation of where he believes we are potentially headed with this new technology.

The Critical Role of Media Publishers and Journalists

There’s no question that the emerging tech space, specifically the narratives created around the Blockchain, cryptocurrency, NFTs, the metaverse, and A.I. have been shaped and built on the backs of the media. 

Indeed, the pen is still mightier than the sword – for good and bad, which includes the extremely toxic and often psychologically damaging waters of Twitter. 

And it poses a number of legitimate questions that the emerging tech space and average consumer rightfully have in showing their justified hesitation of the space – 

Is the media doing everything it can in covering and presenting this space (and its technologies) in a fair, unbiased, and accurate lens?

Or is the media actually part of the problem, seeking to exploit these technologies in ways that are designed strictly to gauge clicks and spark FOMO-based conversations?

When we asked Kim for his perspective on this, he said that he hopes for “a more balanced journalism,” that doesn’t always talk about the really crazy sensational scintillating parts, but also captures the philosophy, culture, and community around why it is that our landscape did what it did.

Turning to today’s sensational, wacky headlines, Kim also acknowledged the historical business of media being centered around high volume clicks and as much sensationalism as possible, which also existed in early 20th century journalism. 

“And nothing is more sensational in the midst of a global pandemic than the idea of a JPEG of a cartoon Bored monkey selling for millions of dollars like that; it’s just such a ridiculous premise,” he explained, emphasizing that what this sensationalism has done is “eclipse all of the other meaningful, purposeful elements of this technology and the capabilities of what this can be on an everyday, almost mundane level.”

Kim says that these technologies should be incorporated into our daily habits and lifestyle in a way that we don’t even think about, like electricity – but it has changed the narrative for the worse:

“Unfortunately, what it became about was this ‘sudden gold rush’ where now we have this way to make a quick buck off or out of someone else at someone else’s expense, and then let’s day trade these things and engage in Ponzi-nomics and gambling, which has that same element in streetwear culture that I’ve participated in for 20 years.”

Kim revealed to Hypemoon that initially, he wanted to call this upcoming book “The Biggest Bet,” because the world’s largest corporations – some of the most intelligent characters in culture and some of the most variable, vetted names in institutions – have put everything on the line to believe in each other, rather than the technology.

“And I took that as a very hopeful, romantic sentiment – that everyone was going to dive in and want to build this thing together, in real-time. And with so much political division spread across the country and world, here’s something we can all finally agree on – this is a potential future, but instead, what the media has decided to capitalize on was how silly all these expensive cartoons were that grown men and women were trading.”

Speaking to the current media landscape, Kim wants to see balanced coverage that discusses all the other positive attributes of crypto and NFTs, and what that underlying theory is to help support those attributes. 

“Unfortunately, we didn’t see that,” Kim confessed to Hypemoon, saying that now, the burden is on us who are actively participating in the subculture, as well as those of us who reside outside mainstream media to discuss these topics at length.

He pointed to our era of having access to growing social channels, including Twitter Spaces, Clubhouse, and other platforms that enable us to be “our own media.”

“We are a decentralized media, where our voices might actually carry more credibility than a FOX or CNN,” he says, acknowledging the blessing that we do have this opportunity to defend what this culture and technology can be. 

Validating the current industry sentiment, Kim says “it is hard and it is frustrating” seeing how the media has portrayed the growth and development of this new tectonic shift in emerging tech. 

Treat This Like a ‘Bedtime Book’ — Jump, Skip, and Enjoy It On Your Terms

Those who get a hand on Kim’s new book will notice that each chapter is its very own narrative and conversation, where you don’t necessarily have to read the book from beginning to end. 

“I kind of look at this as almost like a bedtime book,” Kim told Hypemoon, sharing that if you want to just grab a chapter and take a chunk out before you fall asleep, you can do that, just as easy as dusting the book off in one-sitting.

When picking up “NFTs Are a Scam / NFTs Are the Future,” Kim recommends readers jump all over the book while reading it:

 “…because that’s kind of how it’s been, with the information coming out so fast. It’s been so capricious and all over the board, that it’s like playing whack-a-mole. It’s more than happy for people to read it a little bit out of order, or just to take it by certain chapters. There are actually parts of the book that are redundant, if not repetitive.”

Kim says that there are even a few times where he explains concepts like the “Metaverse” multiple times, using the same analogies and metaphors:

“I decided to keep some of those in, because I wrote these chapters at different moments over the last few years. You know, there’s some times where I had to reiterate, because I think it does take a few times to actually understand this stuff, as it can be kind of dense.”

As for those chapters that may not capture a reader’s immediate attention – whether it’s streetwear or NFTs, Kim encourages you to just “skip it.”

“If you just don’t have any interest in streetwear and you don’t want to understand what that relationship is, don’t read it. But you know, maybe, you’ll be more attracted to the NFTs or religion chapter, and for some, they might have a visceral response to that one.”

As you read the book, the chapter titled “NFTs Are Religion,” is one that Kim says he thinks about most – referencing this moment in time where it seems that we are having this sort of “existential crisis” as we are faced with issues around climate change and political division to A.I. doom. 

“For whatever reason, there seems to be this undercurrent with crypto and NFTs that feels very religious and zealous at times, if not cultist,” he shared. 

As Kim was diving into the book in early 2021, coming off of 2020’s COVID-19 pandemic and the U.S. Presidential Election to watching people storm the U.S. Capitol in Q1, he also took note of this entirely separate sector, where groups of people were diving into stocks and NFTs, trying to figure them out. 

He described this phenomenon as “radical” and being reminiscent of him growing up in the church and having studied religion and faith for much of his life. Taking note of the many parallels, he said he would bring these observations up to different people in crypto and Web3, only to be met with dismissiveness and those who were quick to jettison to another topic. 

“Much of what we’re doing is ritualistic. Much of what we’re doing is established on faith and not seen,” he described.

He referenced these “intangibles” — like the metaverse — as “metaphysical” and crypto which is like a “magic currency” – and then turned to NFTs, something we can’t physically hold but crave. 

“Everything I’ve ever understood about why religion is wrong is because you can’t see it and it’s not empirically backed, and there’s no science to it. But yet, those same people are also trading in money that you can’t touch or see, and doesn’t exist. We’re all living in these imaginary worlds…and so much of this is all based on conviction, which is really faith,” he shared with Hypemoon. 

Analyzing the philosophical nature of his new memoir, Kim also recognizes that it’s something that he doesn’t typically tend to write about, as his community wants to hear him write about building a streetwear brand and why crypto is important. 

“There’s this part of it that is really fascinating to me, and I know it won’t be for everyone, but I think you know it’s a good conversation piece. At this time, I think people are looking at God and religion maybe differently than they did 10 years ago.”

So…Are NFTs a Scam? Or Are They Our Future?

Of course, we asked Kim about the message he wanted his new memoir to leave readers with, regardless of how many chapters they chose to read (or skip). 

“You don’t have to read it A to Z, and in fact, I’m assuming people are going to skip to the Epilogue and I kind of call readers out for it when they do skip to the end of the book – because everyone wants to know the answer – ‘well, is it a scam? Or is it the future? Just give me the quick’ – and that’s exactly my point. There is no quick answer to this stuff. And there are no immediate answers in life. We just have to let things materialize and let them grow organically, and that’s really the ‘take home’ message.”

Kim’s upcoming memoir, “NFTs Are a Scam / NFTs Are the Future” is available for pre-order on Amazon, with a release date of May 16. 

You can also catch the author and Adam Bomb Squad founder speak at Coindesk’s Consensus 2023, which runs from April 26 to 28 in Austin, Texas.

Hypemoon will be at this year’s Consensus 2023 in Austin, bringing you the latest in Web3 and emerging tech culture. 

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