Reggie Ba-Pe III has always been at the forefront of innovation in entertainment. From running underground music events in Shanghai to working with 88rising, and now pioneering virtual content creation with Alias and Blockrot, his career is a testament to staying ahead of the curve. Jim sat down with Reggie to discuss his journey, the challenges of blending technology with creativity, and the future of virtual creators.
J: Let’s start at the beginning. How did you go from running events in Shanghai to 88rising and eventually founding Alias?
R: I spent about 13 years in China, where I was deeply involved in underground music culture and entertainment. At one point, I ran an underground club called Arkham and a promotions company called STD, where we’ve booked shows like Squarepusher, Boys Noize and Flying Lotus.
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I also ran a cocktail lounge where people could play video games called Arcade. My entire life for a long time was just partying. It was a professional job. But when I turned 30 I started to realize that it’s not a life that I wanted to continue sustaining. It just felt like I was burning the candle at both ends.
Around that time, I met the founder of 88rising. It was still a small media company back then, but they had big plans to expand into Asia. We went on to dominate Asian entertainment/youth culture, headline Coachella, work with top brands and even produce the soundtrack for Marvel’s Shang-chi film. I started as a consultant, then became their first hire in Shanghai, expanding the company as a creative director and general manager. By 2019, I felt my time in China had run its course. I wanted to continue supporting Asian youth culture but with a focus on where technology was taking entertainment.
That led to creating a virtual talent agency called Avastar. We managed virtual influencers and experimented with releasing music and content for non-human characters with various top brands like Adidas, Lane Crawford and Nylon .One of our virtual singers, Maie, became the face of Puma in China. But the production overheads were massive. Making a single piece of Instagram content could take days, and it just wasn’t scalable. That’s when I started thinking about how to make virtual content creation more accessible, which became the foundation for Alias.
J: What problem does Alias aim to solve?
R: Alias was born out of the challenge of making virtual content creation easier and more scalable. Traditional VTubing and virtual influencer setups required high production costs and technical expertise. With Alias, we’re building tools that make it simple for anyone to create, customize, and interact with 3D avatars. It’s about democratizing access to the next generation of content creation.
J: Where do you see the most potential for content created by AI or virtual characters in media? What types of media might not be engaging today but could become a normal part of our daily consumption in 10 to 20 years?
R: I think memes are where it starts. They’re short, easy to consume, and resonate with people instantly. That opens the door to experimenting with longer-form content, like dynamic live streams or interactive videos. Imagine a YouTube video where you can interact with the characters to personalize the experience. That’s where I see this technology heading.
There’s so much experimentation happening across different silos—whether it’s generative video tools like Runway or platforms generating music or acapellas. What’s really exciting is how these tools are beginning to intersect. In the future, I think we’ll see AI agents that can seamlessly shift between formats, creating interactive content that feels truly personalized.
J: How does Blockrot fit into this vision?
R: Blockrot is a showcase of Alias’s technology paired with our custom AI model. He’s a 24/7 interactive virtual live streamer who plays Minecraft and can connect with his onchain data. Blockrot’s first month was all about soaking up feedback from the memecoin and AI agent communities. Now, we’re refining his capabilities to grow his influence and enhance the technology.
We’re testing gladiator battles in Minecraft, where Blockrot can fight other AI agents, collect loot, level up, and score points. It’s exciting because it combines dynamic gameplay with interactive content. Beyond that, we’re exploring ways for Blockrot to create more types of content, including video-on-demand, to make the experience more engaging and versatile.
J: When I log on to Twitter, I feel like a lot of people are kind of excited about this AI wave of content creators. But when I log on to Instagram and I check out some accounts that I follow that relate to music or art, people are very skeptical of AI-generated content. What do you think about that difference?
R: Totally, I’ve noticed that too. On platforms like Twitter, there’s this excitement about experimenting with AI content, especially in Web3 communities where it feels raw and underground. Instagram, though, is much more visual and personal. People are skeptical of content that feels overly automated or fake.
I think it’s about how relatable the content feels. If it’s purely generative, it risks becoming noise. That’s why I believe in keeping a human touch in everything we do. It’s about making these agents entertaining and relatable without crossing into territory that feels deceptive or uncanny.
J: What do you think is the role of human creators versus AI creators in this future that you’re building?
R: It has to be a collaboration. I use generative AI tools like Midjourney for concepting and moodboards, but it’s not something I would share publicly to claim as my own. AI can enhance creativity, but it’s the human element that makes things relatable and meaningful. Without that, it just becomes noise. The goal should be to use AI to amplify creativity, not replace it.
J: Which types of audience do you think have been most receptive to projects like Blockrot?
R: Definitely the memecoin crowd. Right now, some people care more about the memecoin than the character itself or even the technology. It’s something we understood going in, but balancing those interests with our vision for Blockrot as an engaging virtual character is key.
Web3 feels like a public forum, almost like 4chan, where raw experimentation and discourse thrives. A lot of ideas emerge in this space before they hit the mainstream. We’re trying to create agents that are entertaining and relatable, not just bots you interact with once and forget.
J: Time for the lightning round—what’s the best live performance you’ve ever witnessed?
R: LFO (Mark Bell) on Warp Records. I saw him at Electraglide in Makuhari Messe (Japan) in 2003. It was life-changing—the sounds, the visuals, everything. He was a close collaborator with Björk, and that show left a huge impression on me (we found a super old video of the rave, skip to 54min for LFO: https://archive.org/details/electraglide-tokyo-2003).
J: Favorite spot for a holiday?
R: Thailand, Bali, New Zealand, and Lisbon—they all have their own magic.
J: One app you can’t live without?
R: ChatGPT. It’s great for organizing words when I’m all over the place.
J: Anything you want to plug?
R: Definitely check out Alias and Blockrot. The ticker is $BROT on Solana if anyone wants to support!
