Bitbasel Feature: The Story Behind The NFT: JusSke “Models Suck”
Jusske is much more than a top dj/musician in New York City, as well as co-founder of the world-renowned sunglass brand, “Illesteva”, he is also a photographer and artist designer, who has recently joined the NFT industry with his limited-edition NFT, “Models Suck”. This statement was based on “Danucht”, the clothing brand he and his partners, including the late world-renonwned phographer, Davide Sorrenti started in the 90’s and created a movement among the fashion and media industry.
“Models Suck” was an anti-commercial statement rejecting the intersection of fashion and commerce. The statement showed that models were more than just breathing mannequins — they are personalities, self-aware, and have the power to influence the world. The message was supported by many high-profile models at the time. This was before social media and internet influencers, “much ahead of its time”, according to JusSke. The statement was able to reach influential figures of the time and how it now relates to current times of social media influencers and creators. The statement was originally made into a shirt which was featured in Spike Lee’s “Girl 6. Graffiti-style” Movie, and worn by supermodel,Naomi Campbell. The story was also published in various media sources including the New York Times, Vogue, and Dazed magazine.
JusSke recently started dealing in the NFT space, and has a hopeful future for this technology assisting artists and creators in the future of content distribution. Non-fungible tokens or NFT’s use blockchain technology and allow artists and creators a new distribution channel for their assets, which include music, art, and media. NFT’s will bring back what piracy and peer-to-peer software took from artists and musicians in the early 2000’s, when the internet era boomed and Napster and Bitorrent allowed for the distribution of free music and movies, decreasing artists revenue. Jusske and his partners are the example of the american dream. They created a fashion house, dropped mixtapes, and even acted in movies, which in those times was the best way to “make it in America”.
This all changed during the Great Recession of 2009, where the housing crisis and banks made our dollars less valuable, and more difficult for investors to invest in such industries, compared to high-tech industries such as data science, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity. “We believe that NFT’s will be the bridge between tech, fashion, and commerce”. JusSke states.
In media and entertainment, blockchain is being explored as a new way to reduce content piracy, improve the distribution of royalties, and most importantly, “democratize oversight of digital assets”, which are usually controlled by music, fashion, and movie corporations. JusSke states, “As an artist and creator, I at first did not understand the internet, emails, google in its early ages, but now I do understand its power in modern times. Well for us, NFT’s is the internet for artists and creators, it’s the new shit”. The NFT has been minted on the SuperRare marketplace, and production of the t-shirt have stopped, making this NFT unique and part of fashion history.
