January 18, 2022.

Photography by: Charles Benoit.

____________________

Who are you?

Rick La’Flame.

Is that your real name?

THE realest it can get, in my opinion. 

That’s real.. what do you do?! Outside of.. well.. THE topic were about to get into?

Like how do I spend my “free time”? I love to travel, skateboard, ski, eat authentic food and study philosophy and successful people. And.. by successful.. I mean spiritually successful,

And what about professionally..?!

Well.. I’ve been a digital artist, primarily photo and video, for nearly 14 years. My specialty is portraiture, I love capturing the beauty of peoples individualism. But as of the past 4 years, I have gotten very much into the fields of graphic design and typography! I’m fascinated and excited by the coming up with solutions through visual systems, oftentimes being typography and graphic design. I’ve also been studying the financial markets and crypto, for the past 2ish years!

And.. just so people know your definition of typography.. Tell them! 

Well.. THE actual definition of typography is “the style and appearance of printed matter”. But.. to me.. typography isn't just the way a font looks straight out of the press.. but rather how certain styles and sizes of fonts creatively convey information when placed into a certain environment.

So.. an example of typography work.. of yours.. would be THE logo?

Undoubtedly.

Please, tell the people who are new to your brand and project.. what it’s really all about.. and how it all started. 

Sure! Let’s start at the beginning. We on a time schedule? 

I’m not.. And I’m sure that the reader will make time if they so desire!  

Beautiful answer. I’m going to speak.. As though the reader understands NFTs. If they don’t understand.. I’d encourage them to do their research and finish this interview afterwards! 

I came across NFTs a while back.. And honestly.. It took me a while to understand their utilities or what they work to do. It took me many interactions with the concept of NFTs to finally understand what what they could mean for DEFI and digital art. 

For years.. I wondered how my digital photographs could be created and sold as scarce artwork.. 1 offs? 2 offs? 100 offs? I understood the value of scarcity in the world of art.. just not how it was going to be brought to the digital world. When I finally came to the understanding of what NFTs served to do.. My longtime curiosity and questioning was answered. 

NFTs allow the digital artist to, through blockchain technology, prove that ..

1. There are indeed only as many pieces of artwork as the artist predetermined.

2. The artwork was indeed created by them, the original artist.

3. The artwork was transferred to a new owner. 

4. The artwork was indeed sold for said prices.

5. And so much more. 

With those understandings in place.. I began exploring the nature and processes of creating NFTs.

As I dove in.. I was astonished by how simple it is to encrypt artwork onto the blockchain. My mind went from “okay, what is an NFT?” to “okay, I get it, how do I create an NFT?”.. to now “OKAY, what can I put on a 1 off digital piece of artwork that distinguishes it from all other pieces of art work? What, if anything, would describe this piece of artwork as THE one and only.. THE most unique.. THE greatest of all time.. THE hottest ever?”

I sat there and pondered.. And it hit me. Everything that I wanted the piece of artwork to embody and demonstrate.. THE one and only.. THE most unique.. THE greatest of all time.. THE hottest ever.. Was all tied together by one word. THE, with a hard E. 

THE. 

And is that when THE NFT was born?

Yeah, shortly after that realization.. I hopped on the computer.. Fired up illustrator.. and came up with THE NFT.. THE OG. 

Did the mockup take much time? It seems pretty simple.. And honestly.. Genius.

It didn't take.. well first of all.. thanks for the “genius” compliment. It didn’t take thattttt long, just a few hours of playing around with different fonts, sizes, placements, etc. It was pretty fluid. 

What were your initial thoughts/feelings when THE NFT and its design reached a place of satisfaction?

I dont remember what I was thinking to myself.. But I fell in love! I couldn’t stop looking at it.

When did you take THE NFT from simply a design to an actual NFT?

Like the next day.. Hahahah. I had to see it as an actual NFT on opensea. I had to have it in my wallet. But.. I did continue to tweak it a bit further over the coming weeks.

Now.. your Opensea account’s name is “thehottestever”.. and you have “The Hottest Ever” worked into your branding. What is “The Hottest Ever” all about?.. and when did you decide to expand the idea from just THE NFT to THE NFTs and THE brand as a whole?

Well.. as I thought about THE NFT and its one of a kind uniqueness and individuality.. I simply began thinking of it as.. THE hottest ever NFT of its class.. And honestly, I didnt see it as fitting into any other class! ..

I saw it as its own, one of a kind, thing! I just saw it as simple design that worked to convey exactly what I was trying to convey! I was nottt sitting there all puffed up.. bragging or boasting about how I created “The Hottest Ever NFT” and that I’m better and more “hot” than everyone else... this and thattt.. But rather simply THE unique nature THE NFT. I saw it as truly unlike no other.. truly unique.. truly the greatest of all time simply based on its uniqueness. If it’s its own thing..  I saw it as truly.. the hottest ever! 

Then.. I realized that the first three letters of each word in “The Hottest Ever” spelled THE. 

Thats when the acronym for THE.. officially became “The Hottest Ever”.. I created “Thehottestever” crypto wallet and naturally it carried through into THE Opensea account. 

So THE NFT is listed at 19,852 ETH.. where did that number come from? And what makes you think that someone will pay that much for it? 

19,852 ETH was a number that correlated to a USD amount at one time.. which was a special number to one of my best buddies *wink wink Charles Benoit.. THE photographer of THE photos in this interview.” He gave me his resonating number.. And I combined that with mine.. And wahhlahh. 

And to answer your question about whyyy someone will buy it? People spend a lot of money on artwork these days.. especially when they back the message, artist, community, and artwork.. and come on.. this is THE NFT.. there’s no other like it! 

It might as well be called THE goat NFT because in my opinion.. Its the greatest of all time. Ahahha!! What about the different editions of THE NFTs that ride side by side with THE NFT.. THE OG. How’d those come about and what is THE mission behind those?

Well.. I thought something along the lines of, “THE NFT is cool, it’s unique, it’s got a big price tag, it’s THE OG and someone will be proud to own it one day.. but what about the rest of the world who supports THE vision and message behind it?

THE vision of highlighting and loving on individuality! THE vision isn’t just about 1 sale, 1 piece of artwork, or 1 special owner, it’s about THE movement and the creating of a long lasting togetherness around the idea of having an ongoing, unlimited collection of NFTs that embody a powerful message. So.. I took THE NFT.. THE OG.. added an “s” to the end of NFT.. changed the color scheme.. and THE NFTs were born. 

What type of utility / benefit do THE NFTs hold? 

THE launching set of THE NFTs is a set of 555 that reside on the polygon network. Quick side note but very important.. When I was first introduced to NFTs and I found out that they primarily reside on the Ethereum network, I wasn’t impressed by the gas fees required to buy and sell. Gas.. from what I’ve seen.. can be a make or break factor in the acquiring of coins and NFTs. You can’t just sell an NFT for 2 dollars if gas is involved. It’s more like $202 and that can be quite the difference for someone who is looking to get involved but may be on a tight budget. My thing is.. I don’t want people to have to pay a minimum of $200 if THE NFTs are listed for $2.. or better yet.. If I want to gift them to people.. I don’t want anyone to have to pay a dollar.. myself included.!  So I began exploring other options and I was introduced to THE Polygon network and how it’s a gas free blockchain that resides on the Ethereum network! I began testing the polygon waters by attempting to gift NFTs to my people, for free! THE first two attempts at gasless transferring didn’t work and the NFTs were lost. But on the third attempt.. Within minutes.. My friend had the NFT in their wallet and that.. blew my mind. It was huge for me. I just gifted him a piece of scarce artwork. 

So.. longish story short, I decided to place the whole project on polygon! Haha.

That decision sparked so many ideas.

The main idea that stuck was to gift all 555 of THE NFTs to THE earliest family members  in return for helping spread awareness around THE brand and movement.

For example.. “Come along and share THE movement with 5 friends.. Follow @thericklaflame and @thenftsofficial.. Join the discord.. Send a message to THE NFTs in the discord that includes the photo of the instagram comments and your crypto wallet.. And boom.. you get a free NFT!

When this idea came about.. I was already intrigued by the idea of simply exchanging awareness for NFTs. I saw it as a good swap of value! A lot of people.. Especially those not already into the spaces of NFTs.. aren’t looking to spend a lot of money on their first ones, so if I can get them holding their first NFTs for free.. that would be powerful! 

Over the coming weeks.. I began to think about what could really make THE NFTs special. “What could they hold, aside from a powerful message, that would bring excitement and real value to THE people holding them?” I wondered.

Conversation after conversation.. Coffee after coffee.. I thought. 

It wasn’t until 3 months after THE NFT was born.. that THE idea of placing a certain percentage of the original sale price of THE NFT.. into each one of THE NFTs.. THE launching set.. Was sparked. And what I mean by that is.. “When THE NFT sells.. Each one of THE NFTs and its holder will be given .0225% of the sale price.” I saw this idea as a great way to give people a real stake THE selling of THE NFT and THE evolving of THE NFTs.  

So everytime THE NFT sells.. THE holders of THE NFTs will be paid?

At this moment in time.. THE holders will only be paid following the initial sale. THE money will be in my wallet.. Soo ill be able to pay everyone out.. But when the money is in someone elses wallet after the second sale.. I wont be able to control their paying out.

So you’re kind of.. Giving an incentive to people for spreading the word around THE!? 

Tell the world.. Find a buyer for THE NFT.. and boom.. We all get paid. I don’t want to be the only one getting paid for THE NFT because it wouldn't even be a possibility without my people. 

So when THE NFT sells.. THE game will be over?
Shoot.. When THE NFT sells.. Well just be getting started! I created THE NFTs and its collections.. without any ceiling on them.. So that they could be built forever. So that THE brand could be a forever brand. 

Do you see yourself doing consistent drops of items and NFTs in the future?

Forsure.. I’d love to do weekly.. Or biweekly.. drops of limited edition NFTs. 

For this dynamic.. I’ve been drawing a lot of inspiration from Supreme. With their weekly drops.. Supreme understands how to capture and keep people’s attention by releasing highly valued products based on their brand and model of creating scarcity. I'm fascinated by it! 

You talk about the streetwear culture.. and you definitely seem to have an interest in looking fly.. Do you see yourself tapping into fashion or other markets?

Forsure.. I've already had the first few pieces of clothing made.. that’s something that I’m super excited about! We’re about to come with THE Elegance and THE swag!

Amazing.. Last couple questions. You have three collections.. The Hottest Ever collection, THE Lost NFTs collection.. And THE One & Onlys collection.. Would you mind telling us about THE One & Onlys collection? 

Yeah, absolutely! THE One & Onlys collection is super special to THE brand because it’s a true manifestation of our passion for highlighting individuality and THE Hottest Ever fact that we are all truly unique! THE One & Onlys collection is, at this moment in time, a ceilingless collection of unique NFTs that have been created special and gifted to each family member who sends over their hand written name and crypto wallet address!

Each of THE NFTs in this collection read “THE One and Only … **hand written name.**” The intention behind these NFTs is to combine The Hottest Ever fact, that we are all truly unique, with our most unique aspects; Our name and our hand writing! We need to love on our unique selves.. And we need to inspire one another to do the same. We’re all THE One & Only.. and we need to remember that for confidence and empathy!

I like that.. Let me make sure I understand. By realizing that we are all truly one of a kind.. with one of a kind life experiences.. we can have confidence in our unique selves and confidence in our understanding that we don’t fully understand or know what someone is truly going through or gone through.. and for that reason alone.. we must treat eachother with kindness! Is that the message you’re looking to embody with THE NFTs?

Thats exactly it.. Be THE best you.. THE Hottest Ever you.. for you and THE people next to you. 

Amazing. Thanks RL’F.

Thank you, my friend, and thank you to THE reader.