DAGBO: DeGods Are Gonna Be Okay
Let’s open with a bit of contrast for this week because I think a reference point is needed.
Me in DeDAO this morning:
During the rise of DeGods, I made a point to do this every time someone punched down on us:
Today was our turn. Too many members of my community punching down on Okay Bears. And we’ve earned a whole basket of cute little buddies.
Okay Bears is awesome! So is DeGods.
I want to make something abundantly clear:
Our demographic is not their demographic.
These are two brands that could not be more different.
Anyone in the DeGods community who is putting all their effort towards complaining about the floor price needs to get their head back on their shoulders. Recognize the niche we occupy, and keep building up that lane to bring in people who fit our culture.
What any other project does is parallel to what we do. Look forward, keep moving, and stop caring about how far another train is going. Because their destination and path to get there are completely different from ours.
Let’s get to the analysis, shall we?
Brand Tone
Note the difference: a clean brand that can easily cast a wide net for an audience that’s friendly to kids. I don’t know what direction Okay Bears will go from here (it’s only three days old!) but as of right now with the content they’ve released, it would pass a Rated G review.
Now for contrast: the song DeGods used in that clip above for our new basketball team has fifteen seconds of switching to louder volume for emotional emphasis. I count four words in those fifteen seconds that are PG-13 or Rated R.
Art: Tone, Value, Audience and Expression
The art for both projects is fantastic and 100% on point for what each brand represents.
The two DeadGods pictured above were purchased by the CEO and Co-Founder of SpiderVille — an upcoming web3 studio in the business of building startups. He paid $185,370 for both.
Shaq dropped $28,000 on this DeadGod during the same run-up.
Every single PFP in the Okay Bears collection is clean, has personality and provides some much needed warm vibes. I can absolutely see why that would motivate people to change their PFP to it, and members of other communities really need to get over themselves about criticizing those who decide to swap.
This is straight fire in its own way. Welcoming, warm, chill.
And here’s my own DeadGod. I love it and just had it printed up for my wall.
Check out this thread by SCUM to get an idea of what went into the creation of the DeadGods set. Some of them are literally 1/1s. SCUM, candyapple and Delilah are three of the top 1/1 artists in this space who launched into the stratosphere thanks to the exposure of their work on this.
Music as a Reflection of Culture
I’ve been in the Okay Bears LoFi channel and it’s excellent for winding down after a long day. Here’s an example of what they spin in there.
I would uhh . . . I’d post a video of the song the latest member of the DeGods community and business partner wrote, but it is legitimately the most controversial song in history.
I guess you can argue 2 Live Crew was more controversial? But 35 years later this remains a landmark song for an issue that’s still a dominant issue in American culture. And if you play it, you’re still gonna piss a LOT of people off. Politics is a third rail you don’t touch in the NFT space. That’s why I’m attaching a clip from Straight Outta Compton here to at least provide some context for the motivation.
NSFW clip here. Obviously.
Promotional Video Content
These speak for themselves and lead us into . . .
Community
I think a huge part of the success of Okay Bears was that they were low key and chill with their marketing. Every other new project is constantly raiding and jumping up and down screaming for attention.
Okay Bears took a completely different approach with a slow burn, releasing a little bit of information at a time as they went along.
Their brand is established, but their community vibe is just getting started.
DeGods has been around since October 2021 and had a rabid community from Day 1. So, yeah. This stuff.
Price History
Okay Bears absolutely shattered all expectations for how much money could come into the Solana ecosystem.
Live look at the native Solana communities and how they’re coping with this.
If anyone in the Solana space feels the need to complain, they’re being shortsighted and need to suck it up.
Okay Bears gave us the first 24 hour period when Solana topped Ethereum in volume. And within that same 24 hour period, 5 of the top 25 projects were from Solana — to my knowledge, this is a record.
By the way: the project that received the most benefit from this attention was Solana Monkey Business/MonkeDao: the definitive bluechip project on our blockchain.
(I’m excluding Lavish Lions here because it was a new mint and therefore is going to have a skewed volume day.)
The kind of money and attention we’ve always hoped for is finally here.
And if your project wants a piece of that, you’re going to have to build and work to make it happen. You need to EARN it.
Straight up: a floor price of five figures is a luxury item, so you’d better create something of value worthy of that kind of investment.
Okay Bears did a phenomenal job building a brand that skyrocketed beyond anyone’s imagination on Day 1. The price action was mind-blowing.
DeGods had a lot of buzz after the mint, but over time it declined. The floor got to a 4 SOL level, and volume was limited to a few sales per day.
The notorious Balloonsville Rugger made a point during his famous unhinged rant that was hard to argue with.
And so DeGods did what we do best: refocused, made a pivot after realizing the 33.3% #PHBT just wasn’t working, grinded, clawed and scratched our way from that low all the way to the #1 project on Solana.
I’m going to post the graphic from that chart one more time here because it is THE definitive story of DeGods. A community and team that had to outwork everyone to earn their spot. And I couldn’t be prouder to have been a part of this.
We continue to grind and build and add value for our holders.
Frank continues to experiment and try new ideas. It’s exciting. It keeps us on our toes. And man, is it fun to be on this ride.
The attitude is “Why not?” Why not try something new, constantly experiment and make this not just a brand or a product, but an experience.
Oh yeah. Frank wears that getup to remain undoxxed. And it’s become a lot of fun for parodies and putting us all in a position where he’s a symbol and avatar for our community. Not just one individual.
Boosting Community
Check out how Magnum AI was able to play off this.
Note that the promotion ended with DeGods raffling off special 1/1 NFTs in $DUST to help support Magnum AI as a part of the overall Solana ecosystem. When you’ve been at the very bottom, you know the value of helping to build those projects up and give the good ones the boost they need to get running.
Worked on me! I did some more research, got an idea of what they were all about, and then dove in when I saw the price dip following the exit liquidity pump that came from these clips.
And now Magnum AI is climbing back up on its own two legs after the collab with DeGods. They ran with the opportunity and earned their own attention and price movement upwards.
And of course Frank + Peblo from Cets on Creck are BFFs.
We were vocal about supporting them early on, and still recognize they are doing things we’re not doing.
I’m absolutely thrilled to see Okay Bears having the same unified growth mentality. Their success is our success. Be patient! It’s just been a few days. And I can’t wait to see what kind of collabs they put together.
East Coast and West Coast
The core of DeGods is from Los Angeles, and 100% represents the culture of the city: elite level artists, developers, project managers and the ability to be comfortable to express yourself, dress how you want to dress, act how you want to act, and still maintain the highest level of professionalism. Also note that Shaq and Ice Cube (the first two celebrities to purchase DeGods) are both LA icons
I’m still not sure if my thesis on Okay Bears being inspired by New York culture is correct. Either way, I 100% get that vibe from their project.
I’ve lived in both cities, and like every human being I have different aspects of my personality based on my life experiences and environments.
When I saw the Okay Bears roadmap, I knew I wanted to be a part of their community. It fits one part of my personality, just like DeGods fits the other.
Whoops! Holy shit.
Please mark this one down for “Worst Prediction of the 2022 NFT Market”. It’s almost May but I think we can all agree I’ve got this one on lock.
Then again, I guess there’s the next one below. You be the judge! FYI this was in response to the FOMO circulating around the big DeGods frenzy that’s dominated the last few months.
Massive irony.
Just like DeGods six weeks ago, those who got in on Okay Bears are elated, and many on the outside looking in have extreme FOMO and depression from missing out. This is the fastest level of success and biggest dopamine hit we’ve seen in Solana NFT history.
But we’re only a few days in. And any focus on profit after the mint that doesn’t reflect the brand’s vision is entirely from the reaction of the market. NOT the fault of the Okay Bears team on any level. I hope the financial part of their success so far leads to funding for the development of their roadmap and being able to achieve these goals. If/when they do a second mint down the line to expand their community and its IRL events, I will 100% buy in (ASAP this time!) to be involved.
Empathy
The main reason I’m hoping for a second mint down the line for Okay Bears is that I value what they value as a community: empathy and kindness. It’s severely lacking in this space, and it’s something we desperately need. Their upcoming initiatives to launch meetings in real life around these values absolutely resonate with me.
Alright, look. I do get a little aggressive sometimes.
But you can combine both! How DeGods expresses its core values along with its trademark attitude fits me like a glove.
DeGods has a punk rock style DIY brand that led to members going off to create their own successful projects like Particles, Blocksmith Labs and Tombstoned High Society. It’s always done with a sense of unity, encouragement and love.
You can check out the full list of DeGods associated projects here.
Yes, Frank went directly after the Balloonsville Rugger and chased him away from his tweet storm.
Most would have reacted with anger when asked about it. But Frank chose empathy.
Whenever a fellow DeGod sells and exits the community, we make a point to give out congratulations and support. This one just happened today. Yes, there’s one negative comment here, but that’s an outlier that I’m sure is coming from the emotional sentiment right now. Everyone else is on board with the positivity we provide with each exit.
Last month DeGods was in the position Okay Bears is in now: the target of FOMO hate from other communities. And I made it clear that to me, creating a community with a reputation that makes this kind of first impression means more to me than having the #1 spot.
Integrity Is Everything
Note the stats on the bottom tweet there because they are far more relevant now than six weeks ago.
DeGods had its pump to hit #1 for the first time with a marketcap of $80m. After a few days, we retraced down to the #3 spot . . . with a valuation of $117m.
Let’s get as real as possible: yes we value our communities and the friendships we form there. But at the end of the day, we’re in this to make money.
So what are we going to choose? Ego or profits? Is the greater good for everyone on Solana to keep buyers coming in, or throwing a tantrum because you’re not #1?
It’s naive to think DeGods will always be at #1. That’s ridiculous.
I can tell you that our bluechip status is on lock. No one has outworked this team so far, and we have a community that’s stuck by the brand from the start.
Any project that puts in the work, does right by their holders and this ecosystem deserves respect. So far, Okay Bears is a shining example of how that’s done.
I will let haters know about how DeGods are building up and what makes us different.
DeGods is no longer in the NFT business. We are in the brand business.
We are doing things differently and staying true to our culture just like we’ve always done. But it’s on a much higher level now with millions of dollars in our budget and all the growth advantages that come from being in Los Angeles.
Dumb money in this market acts on emotion, chases pumps on FOMO and panic sells on the way down.
Word to the wise: if you’re going to buy Okay Bears, know that they have an excellent growth path ahead of them. But there will be retracements. If you believe in the vision of the brand and their roadmap, you shouldn’t be selling at the first sign of a market correction.
The floor price for DeGods dropped about 60 SOL over the last few days. And as I write this we’re about to have an explosive weekend that historically leads to giant pumps.
If you have the financial means and belief in these teams and communities, buy both of these projects and hold onto your conviction. They’re completely different demographics, and you’ll gain your profits by getting exposure to both of them. If they’re executing their roadmap and putting into place the concepts I want to be a part of, I’ll absolutely look for an affordable entry into the Okay Bears community.
But if you’re not a whale, rotating back and forth based on wherever the market goes on any particular day is going to leave you wrecked. There’s a huge difference between investing in quality brands run like businesses and gambling.
Big money is coming in this summer. It’s a huge opportunity for all of us. The fishbowl has expanded into a much bigger environment with far more financial opportunities.
But we’re now sitting at a table with elite level sharks who are capable of outplaying us at every level. Your emotions are going to get triggered to make you FOMO buy on the way up, and panic sell on the way down. And if you get caught up in these waves, you will be the exit liquidity.
If you can’t spot the fish at the table, you are the fish. And you’re going to get eaten alive.
This isn’t a game! This is real life. Protect Ya Neck.
