Everything I know about Open Source I learned from Indie Hip Hop

Aloha
Tuesday, October 6, 2009

initially submitted something along the lines of “how to be a fashionable ruby tester”
i didn’t get a response at all, but I really wanted to go to hawaii
so i ﬁgured i’d send something completely off the wall, seth got back to me within 24 hours.

atmos.org / @atmos / atmos@atmos.org
http://github.com/atmos

i learned linux about 10 years ago.
i’ve been comitting to open source for the last 8 years or so, sourceforge since 2001...
i did not win a high altitude open karate championship, i just found that medal.

rspec webrat

sinatra
passenger

integrity datamapper

these are the tools i use as a ruby hacker, all of them are open source, on github.
testing is evenly split with other libs that contribute to delivering code.
thank you @dchelimsky, @brynary, @aslak_hellesoy, @bmizerany, @phusion_nl, @dkubb,
@godfoca

open source &
independent hip hop
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/barrielynn/1817195121/

they’re both pretty dude saturated.
both are underdogs, the business people pat you on the head and tell you to go play in traffic.
“selling platinum artists and building global partnerships, that’s where the REAL money is” ...

context

rappers & labels
hackers & companies

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/onkel_wart/3514652575/

how they did it and why i like it more than what you see on techcrunch.

communities
they create

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/stjc/355427133/in/set-72157594476216069/


how creating things organically allows you to remain in control of your ideas

participation

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/marcelgermain/1256439153/

how to choose a nickname or a persona
why traveling is so important to professional development
inspiration through collaboration
hustling

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/lant_70/3441405150/

Returning ...
Text


we have GREAT jobs, what can we give back?
mentoring, free access to your work, a self sustaining ecosystem.
what kind of environments can we create for the next wave of open source hackers?

Indie Labels

doom is 12+ years now
living legends is going on 14 for some members
rhymesayers is pushing 15

Not On a Boat

no t-pain, no boats.
no simple path for distribution.
there is no radio air play, DIY marketing.

tell
you
a
story


this was me when I was 15, it’s the canadian embassy in washington DC.
i got to travel through skating as a teenager.
i went to a hip hop/punk rock show, the ﬁrst time i went to an atmosphere show.

Minneapolis, MN

Rhymesayers

Slug

slug is a leader, he’s more or less the public face of rhymesayers
my online persona comes from a group he’s a part of, Atmosphere

Murs Los Angeles, CA

Living Legends

Rhymesayers
Deﬁnitive Jux

murs is a collaborator
he cross pollenates

The Grouch

Maui
Oakland, CA Living Legends
Los Angeles, CA

collaborator, positivity
10+ years independent
Living Legends, the crew he’s a part of is an amazing collective

Brother Ali

Rhymesayers Minneapolis, MN

padawan -> jedi -> mentor
what’s the ﬁrst thing you need to be a hacker or a rapper?

Identity
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/ﬁltran/3656916218/

who are you when you participate in open source?
it’s not your myspace or facebook accounts, hackers have github accounts and own domains!

DOOM
•Metal Fingers
•Danger Doom ( w/ Danger Mouse )
•Madvillain ( w/ Madlib )
•King Geedorah
•Viktor Vaughn
•MF Doom
•Doom

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/brianconnolly/73450927/

DOOM is a rapper that has continued to publish things under different names over the years.

i like that he got creative, metal ﬁngers on beats, metal face on rhymes

_why


why is an awesome example of an open source persona.
he just disappeared one day, never to be seen again. left countless memories with us.
i hope _why comes back as another persona, but we’d probably never know

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/videoplacebo/2476230102/

personas can be superheroes

be a troll, a savior, a leader, a collaborator.
a whole lot of hard work, and it’s growth.
in a year or two you can be the kid rockin’ their underwear on the outside.

crew
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/kansasexplorer3128/137712897/

a lot of that growth can be accelerated by ﬁnding a crew of quality people
couldn’t help but use something like this growing up in a military family
crews excel in teamwork, and teamwork is....

http://fuckyeah4chan.tumblr.com/post/192239314/via-juiceinabox

ﬁnd people that you enjoy working with.
a group of people teaching and learning from each other.

Living Legends
• Mystik Journeymen
• The Grouch
• 3 Melancholy Gypsies
• Bicasso
• Asop

•50 albums
•300,000 units sold

formed slowly over 10 years or so.
shipped a ton, mix and match on different projects.
not stupid rich but they have more support than ever.

What’s an Open Source Crew?

might be your local user group, this is boulder.rb.
couple of friends contracting together, this is a good way to start looking for income.

Tender
Lighthouse
Countless Plugins


entp is an interestingly similar collective.
active reload launched lighthouse, got consumed into ENTP.
if you write ruby web apps i’m pretty sure you’ve used something that came outta that
incubator.

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/ciaranj/2100790386/

gimme the loot

so I know who I am. I got my crew with me. i’ve been practicing!
we have some open source stuff on github.
I need to survive, how do we make money?

hitting the road
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/deppi/237977864/

go meet people in real life, people who don’t live anywhere near you.
you’re going to need to.

two conferences a year

the personal connection you make with people at conferences trumps twitter, irc, message
boards.
“but railsconf is like 700$ how on earth do you make it happen?” don’t go.
attend more intimate conferences, the rubyhoedown was free, mountain west isn’t too
expensive.

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/eelssej_/413385838/

open arms

I work at Engine Yard, they couldn’t work sending me here into the budget.
Cory Shaw graciously offered to take me in for this conf. Mahalo, that meant a lot to me.
if you a nice person you’ll be surprised who will take you in.

two tours a year

every spring and fall Rhymesayers hits the road, they’ve always got merch
even for the loyal fans who’ve been going for years.

EPs of current work

have examples of what they’ve been working on.
each of those squares is a CD. used to ﬁt on a card table.

releases of current work

when you meet other hackers, show them what you’re working on, even if you’re not too
proud of it.
ﬁgure out what other hackers are struggling with, passionate about.
if you meet people and you’ve got things to share....

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/dollymixtures/299311799/

strangers might have
work for you

charge people a fair amount, be nice, communication is extremely important.
open source persona can be disconnected from the people who pay you normally

collaboration

the grouch pairs with a dude from the living legends named eligh (LA -> Oakland).
i pair program with halorgium (tcs), we kick ass but it took practice (CO -> NZ).
while pairing is hot, there’s more to collaboration than just pairing.

MURS

mixing and matching with whoever he vibed off of, continued growth.
worked with deﬁnitive jux, rhymesayers, living legends, who knows else. 173 tracks on my
laptop.
“i’m all about good music, people and progression.” -- murs

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/jeffhester/165316370/

collaborate with strangers

defunkt/wycats - not only collaborate, they don’t stick to one language.
promiscuous programmer, not just who you work with but what you work in.
One kid is working on digging a whole, next thing you know 3 more kids you don’t know
show up to help

mentoring
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/leighblackall/76202401/

where do you draw the line between consulting, collaborating and helping someone out?
especially when they show natural talent?
how about helping people for free?

Slug

Rhymesayers

this is a shot from 2002 in washington DC.
this was a little bigger than the ﬁrst show, may 150-200 people this time.
ﬁve years means longer travels and a few more fans.

http://www.doomtree.net/about/

Doomtree

kind of a mixed bag, there’s a girl, some white dudes, a pirate in the back left
P.O.S was my ﬁrst introduction to doomtree when he opened for atmosphere

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/stolt45/303728799/

P.O.S

Doomtree

a little different than slug but all he needed was to get on.
he’s got a punk rock background that’s transforming to something in between.

Brother
Ali
Rhymesayers


the opening act was killer, a heart felt accappella of ‘bedroom window’, a big albino dude.
until he starts rapping... and that was 7 years ago.

Brother Ali

hip hop live with ghostface and rakim.
he’s a headliner now, and he’s getting HIS friends on.
that dj in the back has been there the whole time, his name is bk one.

people who show promise
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/leighblackall/76202401/

help them understand the solution?
help them clean up the mess associated with them trying to implement a feature?
help them learn how to test that use feature?

Thoughtbot
hoptoad
suspenders
shoulda paperclip
clearance


they’re independent and maintain a SOLID blog.
they give back and do things like poker tournaments when a conf is in vegas.
nick quaranto (qrush) was their intern, he does cool shit, have you seen gemcutter?

Corey
Haines

http://www.coreyhaines.com/images/corey_and_sue.jpg

he’s been hacking forever
he’s on pair programming tour

http://fuckyeah4chan.tumblr.com/post/202709041

personas, crews, hustling, collaborating, mentoring.
i’ve done multiple iterations of this successfully.
l made a personal connection with ezra at railsconf 2006 and ended up at Engine Yard.

we’re already doing it

(ass kicking)

gregory brown, seth ladd, jeremy macanally.
entp, hashrocket, thoughtbot, corey haines.
kicking ass is getting over the fear of failure.

Github
http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/31679616@N08/2960047774

i can’t say enough good things about github.
i was sad to see them leave EY but i’m so stoked to see them thriving.

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/shaderlab/1975179984

10-15 years from now, and ruby is a thing of the past.
and we look back on how things changed when we were waist deep in it.
open source allowed people to build little empires of their own over time w/o investors.

Be Smart About Investors

roll the dice on those stock options, buy a place in hawaii when you cash em out... if it pans
out.
if you need to take money, do it wisely.

Ice
Cube


they did it without doing a complete 180º
in his defense i’d be ready to bail on LA gang violence too.

Atmosphere @ Red Rocks

it takes years, regardless of whether or not you take funding.
choose wisely, your work/company/software reﬂects on you as a hacker and as a
professional.
let’s stop being indentured servants to other people and let’s do it ourselves.

Atmosphere @ Red Rocks

8300+ people at red rocks amphitheater for an atmosphere show.
there were about 40 at the show i saw 11 years ago.

http://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/michaelcr/1392656919/

Organic

organic communities, like the foods, don’t leave a bad taste in your mouth.
they’re ﬁlled with passionate people that care about their craft and doing what’s “right”.
in the long run, those are the kind of people i want to surround myself with.

Mahalo


Mahalo Seth for such an amazing conference.
talk to the closest person next to you that you don’t know.
ask them why they’re at aloha on rails, i bet you won’t regret it.

Everything I know about Open Source I learned from Indie Hip Hop

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