Bobby Hundreds — Building an Iconic Streetwear Brand, Making $7 Million in 40 Minutes, The Power of Garfield, Why Korean Entertainment is Taking Over the World, Maintaining the Mystery, The Fickleness of Fortune, and Developing “Nunchi” (#671)
“Koreans are known to have this emotional repression, which then manifests and converts into brilliant art, romance, and passion—and also violence—and it’s called han.”
— Bobby Hundreds
Bobby Hundreds (@bobbyhundreds) is an artist, designer, and storyteller based in Los Angeles. He is best known as the co-founder and chief creative officer of global streetwear brand The Hundreds. He is also behind the Family Style Food Festival and the NFT project Adam Bomb Squad. Bobby is also the bestselling author of This Is Not a T-Shirt, a memoir about his life and how he built a brand around community.
His new book, NFTs Are a Scam / NFTs Are the Future, about his two-year journey into Web3, will publish through Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
Please enjoy!
#671: Bobby Hundreds — Building an Iconic Streetwear Brand, Making $7 Million in 40 Minutes, The Power of Garfield, Why Korean Entertainment is Taking Over the World, Maintaining the Mystery, The Fickleness of Fortune, and Developing Nunchi
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Want to hear an episode with another world-building artist who also doesn’t allow himself to be outsmarted by corporations? Have a listen to my first conversation with legendary comic book artist and writer Todd McFarlane in which we discussed rejection letters, meeting deadlines, compelling storytelling, leading a corporate exodus, bucking the status quo to become the status quo, and much more.
#639: Todd McFarlane, Legendary Comic Book Artist — How to Make Iconic Art, Reinvent Spider-Man, Live Life on Your Own Terms, and Meet Every Deadline
What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
SCROLL BELOW FOR LINKS AND SHOW NOTES…
SELECTED LINKS FROM THE EPISODE
- Connect with Bobby Hundreds:
Substack | Twitter | Instagram | TikTok
- NFTs Are a Scam / NFTs Are the Future: The Early Years: 2020-2023 by Bobby Hundreds | Amazon
- This Is Not a T-Shirt: A Brand, a Culture, a Community — A Life in Streetwear by Bobby Hundreds | Amazon
- The Hundreds
- Family Style Food Festival
- Adam Bomb Squad | The Hundreds
- Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG)
- Open: An Autobiography by Andre Agassi | Amazon
- Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of Nike by Phil Knight | Amazon
- City of Arts & Innovation | Riverside, California
- Confucianism | National Geographic
- Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy | Amazon
- Les Miserables by Victor Hugo | Amazon
- Garfield | Wikipedia
- Calvin and Hobbes | Wikipedia
- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Wikipedia
- A Bathing Ape (BAPE)
- Neighborhood
- WTAPS
- A Beautiful Mind | Prime Video
- Trapper Keeper | Mead
- Blogger
- Growing Up with Gorilla Biscuits & Revelation Records: How Hardcore Influenced The Hundreds | The Hundreds
- A Brief History of Zines | Punktuation!
- Odd Future (OFWGKTA)
- ’90s and 2000s Fashion Brands That Will Make You Nostalgic | POPSUGAR Fashion
- American Apparel
- Gone with the Wind | Prime Video
- Every Look From Fear of God’s Hollywood Fashion Show | High Snobiety
- Tommy Hilfiger
- Wayback Week: A Brief Tour of The Hundreds’ History | The Hundreds
- 10 Celebs You Didn’t Know… Love the Hundreds (Or Wore It Once) | The Hundreds
- The Hundreds Los Angeles | The Hundreds
- Memento | Prime Video
- WARP Magazine | Holden Now
- A Beginner’s Guide to Backpack Hip-Hop | Anywhere The Dope Go
- The Rise and Fall of Rawkus Records (Documentary) | Def Goldblum
- Break Down The Walls by Youth Of Today | Amazon Music
- Japan’s Influence on Denim | Kiriko Made
- Edwin Jeans Brad Pitt (Guitar) (Long) Japanese Commercial | YouTube
- Cafe De L’ambre: Legendary | Tokyo Coffee
- Jiro Dreams of Sushi | Prime Video
- Squid Game | Netflix
- Parasite | Prime Video
- K-Everything: The Rise and Rise of Korean Culture | The Guardian
- Everything Everywhere All At Once | Prime Video
- Who Is Bibigo, the Latest Los Angeles Lakers Jersey Sponsor Company? | NBC Sports Bay Area
- Farmer John
- Korean BBQ & Hot Pot | KPOT
- League of Legends: Origins | YouTube
- Crazy Rich Asians | Prime Video
- HYBE
- BigHit Music
- Gangnam Style | Psy
- ‘Gangnam Style’ Brought K-Pop to the World, but Haunted Its Creator | The New York Times
- 1988 Summer Olympics, Seoul | Wikipedia
- There’s a Uniquely Korean Word for Rage and Regret. So Why Had I Never Heard of It? | CBC Radio
- Full History of Korea in 5 Minutes | History on Maps
- Physical: 100 | Netflix
- Cherry General Store | Cherry L.A.
- Runnin’ Down a Dream: How to Succeed and Thrive in a Career You Love by Bill Gurley | McCombs School, University of Texas
- How Fairfax Ave. Became the Mecca of Streetwear | Complex
- HUF Worldwide
- Diamond Supply Co.
- Supreme
- The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich by Tim Ferriss | Amazon
- What Is ‘Nunchi’, the Korean Secret to Happiness? | The Guardian
- Pachinko by Min Jin Lee | Amazon
- Pachinko | Apple TV
- What Is the Game Pachinko? | POPSUGAR Entertainment
- Orange Is the New Black | Prime Video
- Mission: Impossible | Prime Video
- Catch Me If You Can | Prime Video
- What Is RRR? All About the Award-Winning Indian Film Getting Oscar Buzz | People
- The Phantom of the Opera | The Hundreds
- Why ‘Phantom of the Opera’ is Closing on Broadway — And How It Will Rise Again | Variety
- Peter Pan | Prime Video
- The Lost Boys | The Hundreds
- MAGIC Fashion Trade Show Las Vegas
- Dark Horse Comics
- Usagi Yojimbo
- The Jacket | Andrew Lloyd Webber, Instagram
- Pokémon
- The Official Home of Harry Potter | Wizarding World
- Happy Earth Day T-Shirt | The Hundreds
- Blue the Great | The Hundreds
- Roald Dahl | The Hundreds
- Star Wars
- Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
- Frank Ocean: “It Came to Me in a Dream” | i-D
- Frank Ocean (In Our “Arch” T-Shirt) | The Hundreds, Instagram
- Epitaph Records
- Hope, Revolution, and Dedication: My Life with Epitaph Records | The Hundreds
- Who Framed Roger Rabbit | Prime Video
- ‘Who Framed Roger Rabbit’ Creators on How They Broke All the Rules | The Wrap
- Dakin Garfield Stuck On You Commercial | YouTube
- The Tasteless History of the Peeing Calvin Decal | Trivia Happy
- Dear Mr. Watterson | Prime Video
- Snow Leopards 101 | National Geographic
- The Brethren vs. Freeganism | Memoirs on a Rainy Day
- ABC Primetime: The Brethren (AKA Garbage Eaters) | YouTube
- What Is a Non-Fungible Token (NFT)? | Investopedia
- NFTs Are Forever | The Hundreds
- Sneakers, Streetwear, Trading Cards, Handbags, Watches | StockX
- Online Marketplace to Buy Fashion | Grailed
- Bored Ape Yacht Club Sells $96 Million of Mutant Ape NFTs in One Hour | Decrypt
- CryptoPunks — The NFTs That Started It All — Their Origin Story and Future Plans | PROOF
- Lorcana by Ravensburger | Disney
- Doodles
- Cult Digital Artist Beeple Raises Record $3.5 Million in NFT Auction | Crypto Briefing
- An NFT Artwork by Beeple Just Sold for an Unbelievable $69 Million at Christie’s—Making Him the Third Most Expensive Living Artist at Auction | ARTnet
- NFT Royalties: What Are They and How Do They Work? | Cyber Scrilla
- The Fall — And Arrest — Of FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried | Vox
- The Manson Family Story That Should’ve Been Turned Into a Movie | W Magazine
- What Are the Safest Ways To Store Bitcoin? | Investopedia
- Lessons From Proof Founder Kevin Rose’s $1.4M NFT Phishing Experience | Blockworks
- Smart Contracts: The Blockchain Technology That Will Replace Lawyers | Blockgeeks
- Starbucks Brewing Revolutionary Web3 Experience for its Starbucks Rewards Members | Starbucks
- About .SWOOSH | Nike
- ‘Michael Jordan Changed the World’: The True Story behind Nike Movie Air | The Guardian
- NFT Royalties: Why Artists Love Them, and Traders Don’t | CNBC TV18
- Minimum 10{1652eb1ffa4184925f6a63a9c04ea6b421acb7a78117241e7d4325cdca8339fa} NFT Royalties: Letter to Platforms | Matt Kane
- OpenSea Just Cut Fees and Creator Royalties | NFT Now
- FEWOCiOUS Writes Emotional Letter to OpenSea Regarding Artist Royalties | NFT Lately
- Deadfellaz’s Betty on Defending Artist Royalties | NFT Now
- Is Removal of Royalties a ‘Race to the Bottom?’ | Hypemoon
- OpenSea’s Royalty Controversy Created a Unionization Movement in Web3 | NFT Now
- The Meebits
- The Hundreds Badam Bomb Squad Launches NFT Mint | Hypemoon
- Detective Comics #27 Value & Price Guide | QualityComix
- Full, Sealed Box of First Ed. Booster Packs Nearly $250k at Auction | Rally Rd.
- Gerhard Richter Surprises the Art World Again | Design Milk
- A Fictional World Built for These Chaotic Times | The Legend of CØCKPUNCH
- Funding Cutting-Edge Scientific Research | Saisei Foundation
- Gold by Rumi | Amazon
- The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers by Ben Horowitz | Amazon
- Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action by Simon Sinek | Amazon
- Leaders Eat Last: Why Some Teams Pull Together and Others Don’t by Simon Sinek | Amazon
- Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free by Héctor Tobar | Amazon
- The Godfather by Mario Puzo | Amazon
- The Godfather | Prime Video
- Shades of Grey: My Conversation with Mister Cartoon | The Hundreds
SHOW NOTES
Editor’s Note: Timestamps will be added shortly.
- Signing to the prestigious Farrar, Straus and Giroux (FSG).
- Bobby’s black sheep origin story.
- When art entered the picture.
- Who was Abram Edelman?
- The double life of a parent-pleasing law student and clandestine artist.
- The Hundreds: from early days to 20 years on.
- The cosmic intervention of WARP magazine.
- Japan.
- The Korean Wave.
- Getting on the radar of tastemakers.
- Collaboration over competition makes a movement.
- Curating creatives assisted by nunchi.
- Necessary disconnections.
- Korea’s a creative hotspot today. Where should we look next?
- Rolling with the tides of fickle fashion.
- Collaborations, corporations, and the reason for limited editions.
- The current state of The Hundreds.
- Frank Ocean maintains the mystery.
- Getting collaboration deals without almost being sued or selling out.
- Hermit north stars.
- How to make $7 million in 40 minutes with NFTs (sort of not really).
- Making NFTs more useful than just another set of playing cards for wannabe day traders.
- Why did Bobby write NFTs Are a Scam / NFTs Are the Future?
- Charles Manson vs. SBF and subcultural security.
- Notable Web3 innovations emerging.
- A rumble over royalties and a counterintuitive lesson about collectible value.
- Recommended reading.
- Bobby’s billboard.
- Two tattoos.
- Parting thoughts.
MORE BOBBY HUNDREDS QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEW
“Koreans are known to have this emotional repression, which then manifests and converts into brilliant art, romance, and passion—and also violence—and it’s called han.”
— Bobby Hundreds
“I’ve never looked at anyone else as a competitor. I have always believed that I’m competing against myself. If any other brand is winning or getting one over on us, that’s our fault if we want to play that game. And so I’ve never looked at anyone as an enemy or going against or mitigating our success in any way. We have to work collaboratively in order to build the entire platform so all can be seen.”
— Bobby Hundreds
“Being a little bit far ahead, we’re always the harbingers of the bad storm approaching.”
— Bobby Hundreds
“It’s not about making money. It’s about making noise.”
— Bobby Hundreds
“If you’re going to work with a big dog, always make it look like you got one up on them, whether you got paid or you just came out on top.”
— Bobby Hundreds
“So much of what we do in streetwear is theater, and that’s the message that I want to send to the audience: that it’s all one and the same.”
— Bobby Hundreds
“Branding is all about saying ‘No,’ but I like saying ‘Yes’ to so much.”
— Bobby Hundreds
“Be slow to judgment.”
— Bobby Hundreds
“Everyone is in such a rush to be right, and definite, and have such a cemented idea of what truth is, or what the reality is, that they don’t want to give anything room to grow.”
— Bobby Hundreds
“Technology and science are all about making mistakes. Correcting, getting closer and closer to truth, which you never quite achieve. We should be doing that with people too, but we abbreviate them all the time, and we stunt them in our minds and say, ‘This is what that person is. Now I can move on to the next one.’ We’re collecting them as JPEGs. And people evolve, and they live, and they grow, and they change. They become different. We have to allow people to become different.”
— Bobby Hundreds
PEOPLE MENTIONED
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