Just a quick commentary on some of the content I tapped into this week that I found particularly interesting. Brace yourself, this week was quite crypto heavy. I was getting to grips with a few concepts for work so I went down the rabbit-hole but found some gems.

The Crypto Renaissance Has Begun

This episode was recommended by a friend and provided a great look into the historical context of money and crypto’s place in the evolution of money. Josh Rosenthal provides a great comparison to Medieval Europe and how particular technological and financial transformations at the time helped usher in the Renaissance period in Europe. He analyses similar patterns within today’s economic context; particularly within the crypto space.

The point that was the most interesting for me was the idea that “double-entry bookkeeping allowed people to create new financial fundamentals to increase speed and unlock capital. Exploding and transforming the nature of finance […] allowing the capital to be disseminated in ways that it wasn’t previously without this ledger based protocol.” Ultimately, creating a permission-less based financial protocol. Ring any bells?

Bitcoin Whitepaper

I read through the Bitcoin White paper (for like the 4th time) and still haven’t caught everything. However, one thing is for sure the more I run through Satoshi’s white paper, the more I’m forced to think that the proof-of-stake consensus mechanism provides much more of a sustainable programme for blockchain technology. On the flip side I would like to hear arguments for the proof-of-work mechanism. I’m sure that since the white paper was released in 2008 there may be further developed insights into the PoW consensus mechanism. Feel free to hit me.

Africa & The EU

In early April 2022, the UN General Assembly voted to suspend Russia's membership in the UN Human Rights Council. For me what was particular interesting about the vote was the fact that a large contingent of African nations voted against the motion or abstained from voting. While abstaining could demonstrate a level of neutrality; it’s becoming more and more clear that the interests of Europe and Africa are diverging.

While it seems that Europe have responded by addressing the fact that they need to have “understanding and empathy for African challenges, and willingness to help find concrete solutions.” There still appears to be a neocolonial attitude from the EU towards Africa which could alienate African nations further from the EU and subsequently further entrenching the relationship between China and Africa.

One particular interesting point showcasing the diverging interests between Europe and Africa is shown in the fact that some African leaders vocalised concerns that EU sanctions against Russia in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine are exacerbating the global food crisis.

In a packed Town Hall in New York City, Nelson Mandela was asked about his meetings with Yasser Arafat and his sentiments towards Gaddafi and Fidel Castro, he responded saying: “One of the mistakes which some political analysts make is to think that their enemies should be our enemies.” While this was said some 32 years ago, I guess the point still stands.

Moonlight

  (Photo: The Cinema Archives)

I had to run back Moonlight this week. Barry Jenkins is my favourite director and the way he works to capture black skin on screen is magical. This time I had quite a focus on Juan, played by Mahershala Ali (who won Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars for his performance), a local drug dealer who takes on a father-type role to the young Chiron. Navigating the idea of “father figures” and “role models” as a lot less clean-cut and binary than is usually presented.

“At some point, you gotta decide for yourself who you gonna be. Can't let nobody make that decision for you.”

2000 - Joey Bada$$

I don’t think I’ve listened to much Joey Bada$$ if I’m being honest but I was in the gym this week and wanted some new music to go through and saw on Twitter that Joey was dropping his highly-anticipated album 2000. I ran through it during my session and the brother is the truth. Bro can rap rap.

One of the things that particularly drew me in was his intellectual maturity and his ability to package social commentary in a tight flow. I’m probably going to run this tape back a few more times and then tap into some of his older stuff. The tape is definitely a solid listen and the features work well across the tape. Diddy helps to kick off the album in only a way that he can. Reminding us that the Mecca of Rap is in good hands with Joey. All the people I’ve spoken to have said that his debut mixtape 1999 is the truth also. I’m going to tap into that soon aswell.

Favourite songs from the tape:

• Cruise Control

• Zipcodes

• Head High

• Survivors Guilt

Have a good week. Peace.