Nick grew up watching his trumpet-playing mom get ostracized at 19 in Louisianna and experiences that taught him "you can't be happy when" after watching his grandmother die the day her dream house was finished. His journey included fashion industry exploitation, forex trading, building Web3 projects, and living full-time in an RV with his wife and toddler. Now he's building Wave: a platform that rewards people for listening to music while empowering artists to create authentically instead of chasing algorithmic trends. This conversation unpacks childhood trauma bonds, the death of complacency, what real community means beyond Discord channels, and why the music industry's incentive structure is fundamentally broken.