About me: I'm Brandon Tory Thorpe. I was raised as a Messianic Jew in Brockton, Massachusetts. Faith was foundational in my family, as well as artistry. Both my father and grandfather were multi-hyphenate artists. In my professional career I was most recently a staff level engineer at Google, in the RMI (Research and Machine Intelligence) division. Prior to that I was a senior engineer at Apple working on first party iOS applications, and in my earliest days I worked on embedded systems for military and aeronautics hardware at Teradyne. I am currently serving as the CEO at FORMLESS, which I co-founded formally in 2022, building the next internet with smart contract infrastructure. My mission is unifying the languages of technology, faith and creativity to inspire the next generation.
"ABSTRACTION"
INTERVIEWED BY EARL EDWARDS (UCLA)
PRODUCED BY JAI SABREE (FORMLESS)
#00:00
BROCKTON, GOOD WILL HUNTING, MIT, HOMELESS SHELTER
#07:37
RADIOSHACK, C++, LINUX, WRITING A VIRUS LISTENING TO TUPAC
#11:40
MULTI-DREAM THEORY
#15:49
APPLE, GOOGLE, CORE PRINCIPLES, AND INSECURITY
#21:50
OWNERSHIP, CULTURE
#28:00
LITTLE HACKERS, EDUCATION, BREAKING RULES, LEARNING TO CODE
#36:25
ABSTRACTION, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, NUTRITIONAL TECHNOLOGY
#42:40
DO NOT DESIGN THE FLOWER, VISION FOR BLACK PEOPLE, LEGACY
#51:00
FEAR, VIRTUALIZATION, FORMLESS MISSION, AND FAILURE
#01:02:37
SOLVING PROBLEMS, MUSIC IS TECHNOLOGY, UN7C0RN
#01:08:24
CAN WE FIX HIP-HOP WITH TECH – BLOCKCHAIN? THOUGHTS ON TIDAL, REVOLT, DAME DASH
#01:13:35
DEFINE "BLACK CULTURE". WHAT ROLE DOES FORMLESS PLAY?
#01:22:00
MUSIC, ART, TECHNOLOGY AND COLLABORATION
STREAM "STREETS OF GOLD" FROM
PROJECT UN7C0RN.
3D UNICORN DESIGN SKETCH. IN COLLABORATION WITH HANK WASHINGTON, NATHAN RILEY, JAI SABREE AND JUSTIN ZUBRICK.

Writing

MONEY CAN'T BUY LOVE DECENTRALIZED VIDEO CASE STUDY
"One of the most difficult challenges for creators on the internet today is getting seen consistently in the face of algorithms. At the same time, consumers are seeking deeper forms of participation that go beyond social network followings and offer more immersive ways to identify with and join experiences.This case study demonstrates how SHARE Protocol solves both challenges by aligning incentives for both creators seeking distribution and consumers seeking more meaningful participation, introducing a fundamentally new social dynamic."
MONEY CAN'T BUY LOVE DECENTRALIZED SONG CASE STUDY
"Imagine an internet where people can share upside together, where incentives are strongly aligned, and where consumers get something they want––which is also fundamentally new. SHARE protocol allows for setting custom prices for products, immediate payment to digital property owners, and the unique opportunity to share revenue directly with community members using realtime liquid royalty splits. This article is a full breakdown of how my own release using the technology came together, and how revenue sharing in the digital economy fundamentally changes the incentive dynamic between creators and consumers."
THE MULTIPLAYER DIGITAL ECONOMY
"In today's digital age, the concept of community has taken on a new form, often reduced to online followings driven by corporate interests. However, it's important to remember that genuine communities have always been an integral part of human existence––and they have thrived because of participation with purpose, not simply consumption. This article discusses how purpose, revenue sharing, and digital property rights form the foundation of a multiplayer digital economy."
MICROTRANSACTIONS AND THE FUTURE OF CONTENT CONSUMPTION
"For the first time ever, there is a technology which allows creators to distribute media (including music) into an application agnostic layer, which can both (A) facilitate transactions and (B) interoperate with other standard technology."
WHY LEARNING TO CODE IS THE WRONG GOAL
"What is the difference between learning to code and having a path to a successful career in technology? I believe the key differentiator is leadership. In many cases, kids already have some form of natural leadership ability."
PARTNERING WITH GRAMMY AWARD-WINNING DALLAS AUSTIN TO BRING SHARE TECHNOLOGY TO THE MUSIC BUSINESS
"Dallas Austin has produced more than 50 hit singles that debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 list. Dallas has not only made a strategic investment in FORMLESS, but we also have signed a partnership agreement with Dallas Austin Distribution (DAD) to offer the first-ever distribution deals in the form of smart contracts."
SHARE: DECENTRALIZED DISTRIBUTION USING PEER-TO-PEER PAY FOR ACCESS MICRO-TRANSACTIONS ON BLOCKCHAIN
"The evolution of music distribution is largely characterized by incremental developments based on technology advancements. From early recordings and cassettes to digital media and MP3s, a song has always lived as a static piece of information interpreted by a machine to transfer an experience between humans. The problem with this trend is that the machine vendor has always established the terms of access to the song. Along every step in the progression, this model has crushed creators—eliminating any control over pricing, and the ability to directly connect with consumers. In this paper we propose a technology advancement that disrupts this trend by redefining digital content (such as music), not as static information, but as a dynamic self-contained machine. A simple analogy is the vending machine. A vending machine can be placed anywhere in the world, and its owner controls its access independent of the property on which it operates."
THE MEANING OF LIFE
"We've reached a point where machines can emulate humans at a very high level. Computers can now generate art, music and language. But is there meaning in the output of a machine?"
MULTI-DREAM THEORY
"How being a Google Engineer, Apple Engineer and Rapper are all the same."
www.formless.xyz

Press Archive

CNBC
"This engineer was a homeless teen — now he’s a rapper who also works at Google."
Forbes
"Google A.I. Engineer/Rapper Wants Kids To Know It's Cool To Be A Genius."
Fast Company
"This Google engineer’s book teaches kids to code using paper, not screens."
WSJ
"For years, Brandon Tory led a secret double life."
Yahoo Money
"How this Google engineer/rap artist lives two dreams at once."
CNN
"The Genius of Rapper and Coder Brandon Tory."
Inside Google
"Brandon Tory spends his days working in artificial intelligence, training computer models to better understand how humans use language."
2dopeboyz
Brandon Tory - Purpose.
The Hundreds
"Listen to Timbaland Co-signed R&B Artist Brandon Tory's 'Yaga Season'."
HipHopDX
"Brandon Tory announces “YAGA SEASON” EP."

Subscribe

* indicates required