Meet Me On Cloud Nine, written in Sharpie, spans the back wall of a small, well-lit, partially swept shop space repurposed for a RhymezLikeDimez installment under the same name. A half-block off the main axis that dissects Wynwood from North to South, the space is unassuming from the outside. But inside, anyone familiar with Velghe’s work – anyone who even follows him on social media –instantly recognizes the fact that they’re in his world now, simply another animated figure, colorized and caricatured upon entrance unto Cloud Nine. Unavoidably the first thing to be noticed, a floor-to-ceiling blow-up balloon figure of the protagonist in his new collection, named Puff – seemingly a near-self-image – that silkily skates through the collection of shorts defining Meet Me On Cloud Nine at length. Greeting attendees to the whimsy, color, and immersive world that he’s crafted, RhymezLikeDimez’s towering float was the perennial hello that one would expect to find in the physical world as his digital one so, too, bubbles with positivist immersion. And to the left, on a wall high with mirrors and low with clothing racks, a one-off series of white tees commemorating Meet Me On Cloud Nine’s installment space at Wynwood during Art Basel Miami Beach. Sure to become a grailed addition for anyone lucky enough to attend, the streetwear world will be the first to flock to the ubiquity of the tees, just as in many ways they were – as a corner of the street culture sphere in their own right – the first to absorb the artistic ingenuity of RhymezLikeDimez’s hip-hop inspired animation. Think of Kaws’ rise in the ranks, or Arsham or Lorenzo or the late Abloh, and see what the future has to offer a young creative like Velghe crafting a new world for those searching for a space to transcend the art of the existing one.

But beyond the tees, the ballooned figure, and the backbar squatting beneath skateboard decks adorned with stills from the animated shorts on display, the real focus was on the string of screens encircling the other half of the transformed shop space. Here, cuts of Meet Me On Cloud Nine loop individually, all the while coming together to tell a greater story of influence, inspiration, and aspirations come to life and yet to be fulfilled for young Velghe. A series of eight visuals in all – each of which will be for sale as an NFT through digital marketplace OpenSea – seem to curate Velghe’s own world, where much of his previous work has been defined by granting new life in animated space on his vision for the work of other artists and musicians.

A first and necessary note orbits music. After all, it’s music – with a particular emphasis on hip-hop – that has been a seminal influence for the entirety of the RhymezLikeDimez universe. And here, Meet Me On Cloud Nine calls an old collaborator and a cornerstone figure of the modern street culture spectrum to score its duration. Chad Hugo, producer for N.E.R.D. and The Neptunes, crafts silky, funky, and fun-loving beats to soundtrack young Puff’s floaty voyages through worlds that any viewer with parallel interests to Velghe would likewise love to experience. On Cloud Nine, they can. The Hugo beats allow Velghe at once to tear through the shimmering galaxies of his own inspiration, to a tune that allows the series to be detached from specificity in musical influence. Though specifically, one of the animations focuses on Hugo, N.E.R.D., and the Neptunes themselves.