January - March 2018 | Issue 9
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TEXT WORLDWIDE TO 970-00 AL RUCKER PRODUCTIONS
BAB’S PLUMBING
A FAMILY
LEGACY
THE “PREMIER” FASHION HOUSE Voted Bestof Lake Charles THE TOP HOT TRENDS FASHIONABLE - CULTURAL - POPULAR STYLES - MILLENNIAL CLOTHING BRANDS STREETWEAR - TEAM APPAREL - FAN GEAR - AND MORE
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Contents BILLBOARDGANG
JANUARY - MARCH 2018
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09 THE HOTLIST
Introducing young talent to the Lake Charles and surrounding areas.
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BAB'S PLUMBING "A FAMILY LEGACY" When determination over rule.
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KID MODEL
take over styling Eauxte easy to wear bowties.
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Over 8 years of Excellent Service Professional - Premium Quality - Affordable Cost 100% Satisfaction Rate
Book Today: (337)532-4992 #SMILEFOREVER
Faces of Fantasy Photography LLC
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DATING IN 2018 N
ice eyes? A great smile? A quirky sense of humor? There are a lot of different things that might make you attracted to someone. But having a healthy relationship with your partner is about more than attraction; it requires respect, trust and open communication. Whether you’re looking for a relationship or are already in one, make sure you and your partner agree on what makes a relationship healthy. It’s not always easy, but everyone deserves a healthy relationship! Look for someone who:
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• • • • •
Treats you with respect. Doesn’t make fun of things you like or want to do. Never puts you down. Doesn’t get angry if you spend time with your friends or family. Listens to your ideas and is
• • •
able to compromise with you. Isn’t excessively negative. Shares some of your interests and supports you in pursuing what you love. Isn’t afraid to share their thoughts and feelings. • Is comfortable around your friends and family. • Is proud of your
• • • • • • • •
accomplishments and successes. Respects your boundaries and does not abuse technology. Doesn’t require you to “check in” or need to know where you are all the time. Is caring and honest. Doesn’t pressure you to do things that you don’t want to do. Doesn’t constantly accuse you of cheating or being unfaithful. Encourages you to do well in school or at work. Doesn’t threaten you or make you feel scared. Understands the importance of healthy relationships.
Model information : Morgan Pete Antonio_chase
Mike D. Smith Photographer, Mike D. Photography 337-251-2305 booking.mikedphotog@gmail.com www.mikedphotog.com Billboardgang // Magazine
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@DARTUST_CREATION Lake Charles, La. @sann_tiiaa_ @seriphian @m.y.a_xx @_taankaa_ FOLLOW
@ENV.3 GROUP PAGE ON INSTAGRAM AND STAY UP TO DATE WITH THEIR CHALLENGES AND FUTURE PROJECTS!!! VOTED “BEST DANCE GROUP” AND “CROWD FAVORITE” 2017
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COMEDIAN GROSSMAN
CELEBRITY THE COMEDIAN
CHRISTOPHER REID
JUAN VILLAREAL
@KIDFROMKIDNPLAY, WWW.KIDNBLAZE.COM
WWW.ONLYJUAN.COM
Al Rucker Productions presented us with the “Back to the 90’s Comedy Show” recently. Lake Charles, La. residents enjoyed a star studded event. With hundreds in attendance to laugh all night with some of our favorite stars from years past, along with new faces that are on the rise. When Al Rucker says he is bringing a show to town, you better believe the event will be amazing! Visit www. billboardgang.com to see the interviews with Comedian Grossman and Kid from Kid-n-Play.
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A FAMILY LEGACY Introduction Our mom married a man in Welsh 20 years ago. We started off learning the plumbing trade from him, doing it on the weekends and after hours, not really taking the trade seriously. We are actually third generation of plumbers. We didn’t know that we were destined to be plumbers. We started off with a little service work, now 20 years later, and we are still here doing plumbing. When we first started talking about plumbing it was more about making money. I told my brother, by me going to school for business, I wanted to be a business owner, and my brother always had the ambition to do it too. When I came home it was just a push. We were both on the same page, brother and best friends, so we always had it on our minds to do it together. Getting together and making something happen. With the growth over the years, getting the master’s license, understanding the trades of business, getting a llc, licensed and bonded, overcoming the negativity, etc...It ended up coming from a dream to reality. When we first started doing side work and little houses, we didn’t realize how blessed we were with our hands and the work we can do. The progress just got better and better. We noticed the people around us, the stuff they were doing, we were doing. It got to the point that my brother would go to businesses and really-really excel, and do real well at these businesses. I was like, you know, we need to think about doing this on our own, and with that drive it all started from a dream. We took off with it and here we are. It’s just the beginning.
to think that we’re not accommodating them. We wish that we could, but the stars are not aligned right now, and we are on another level of plumbing. We want everybody to understand that we want to come back to do the everyday plumbing jobs, but as of now, the way the economic boom is in the housing
market it only makes sense to do new construction. We’re preparing to do everybody work, but just not right at the moment. Starting a business...when we first started off it was more about being. We weren’t raised with a father so it was more about spending family time and being our own boss. Right
We do mostly new construction, but we can do it all; commercial work, industrial, really whatever. If it has plumbing to do with it, we can do it. We do most of the bigger jobs right now because we are only equipped to do new houses, running two trucks. We would like to accommodate everybody, but it’s just realistically not possible. Right now, we are trying to build a brand name for ourselves. Babineaux, Bab’s Plumbing is the household name. How we handle business is “Professionalism is through the roof”. We started at one point doing smaller jobs and now that we’re doing big jobs, we don’t want people
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to build a brand. It’s going to start with us. We have kids. I have sons, he has daughters, and in the future they will be able to grow up and people will say I knew your dad and uncle, they were some good guys. We aren’t really doing it for us and the benefits, we want to leave our kids and family a foundation. Whether they want to go into plumbing or not, whatever they want to do, with they will have something.
You know you come up and families have kids getting to be 18 and have nothing, they don’t know nothing, and they don’t know what they want to do. The kids don’t know what their father or mother was, they are just living. We just want to change some of that stuff. You might not want to do plumbing, but you got the resources to where you can start your own business. You can do whatever you want to do. You can be whatever you want to be. Keep God first, keep striving, keep working hard, and the sky is the limit. I think really and truthfully it’s going to be a beautiful thing, because we aren’t stopping here. The whole legacy, it’s already changed without even going further. We are there with our kids, we love them, and raising them without major problems. We live life like, love and live life, that’s all there is to it, and keep on moving.
THE NEIGHBORHOOD
now we really don’t have time to spend with our family, and some don’t really understand our lives. Some people don’t really understand that we have so many people that need what you need, and at the same time we have needs of our own. We have family lives, holidays, and working days. There are other things that we do to sacrifice and still on the back end everybody won’t be pleased.
Why?
When we got to the point of us really starting this, it was more than just a business. That was the reason in naming it Bab’s. We wanted to name it Babineaux’s, but someone already had that name. It was like our legacy, bringing our kids so people can see, “oh that’s a Babineaux”. If they know that, they know who their father was, they know what they built, and where they come from. Leaving the legacy back from where we started off at square one saying, “Okay, this is where we were,
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this is what they know, and we can keep on moving from this point”. We both understand that we probably not going to reap the benefits of everything from this company. We are already living our dreams, this business is for generations. We are trying to build this brand, Bab’s Plumbing, for our kids and grandkids. People can think that LeVar Ball is crazy for wanting his own brand, but there is nothing like having your own brand. I don’t wear Polo or Nike, I wear Bab’s, that’s ”MY” brand! You can’t take that from me. When you are building a brand you want to have a level of professionalism and ethics. I won’t ever have anyone say that we didn’t finish a job for them. I will lose money before I have someone say I didn’t finish a job for them. I don’t care about the money I care about the name. When you protect your name, that’s worth way more than a million dollars. A million dollars can end tomorrow, a name can go on and on and on. That’s really what we’re trying
We grew up in North Lake Charles, Goosport, Louisiana. Everybody knows we went to Molo Middle School on Cherry St., and Washington Marion High School, so you know we are Indians and Molo Astros for life. We try to do a little bit with the community with the football teams, and we try to give back as much as we can to Washington Marion High School. We just let people know that we came out of the community, started a business with nothing, and anybody that come out of that neighborhood should understand that you can do whatever you want to do also. You just have to be willing to make the sacrifices, and not do what everybody else is doing. I know you can go a long way. We started this business with faith and dreams. We had a little money, but we didn’t have anybody that just said here is $50,000 y’all go start a business. It wasn’t like it was just that easy. Two years later will still have a business that is worth a lot more than when we started. Coming out of a situation where nobody around us, or in our family had
a business.
Coming from Goosport, people most of the time already write you off. They say negative-bad things, but we try to explain to them that there are so many doctors, lawyers, business owners, and successful people that come out of Goosport and the north side of town. Not even just got Goosport, La., but black communities all over. At the same time, all of the opportunity is there, you just have to go out and get it. Don’t let anything deter you. The negativity is going to come, just feed off of it. When we hear negative, we don’t really let it drive us and put us down. We say okay we’ll show you better than we can tell you. Being a man of action is way better than just sitting around talking about it. So we just got to the point, we don’t really talk about it no more. Just want to get out and go do it, and at the same time show people that they can do it too. We are willing to help everybody, on any level, old or young. We have eight employees mostly young guys who Lynn teaches the trade to, on a level where they are going to be successful. They are going to be able to teach their kids, and make money for their kids. If you are in business just to make money, that is not the business that we want to do. We in business to build a community. I tell people all the time, I’m actually passionate about plumbing. I’m actually in love with what I do. You gotta look at it like this, if plumbing feeds your babies, takes care of your kids, and gives you everything that you have, how could you not be passionate about it? So if you go to work everyday and you’re not passionate about what you are doing you ain’t going to like it. If you want to go into business and you going into business for the money, don’t do it. If you’re going into it for the vacations and all of that, don’t do it. Because the reality is that the people that are really in business, they are not living like that. It’s a little glitter and gleam, but glitter and gleam isn’t all what it looks like. We work! Now we are responsible for at least 10 people lives.
We are just an example of regular people that came out of the neighborhood, didn’t have a dad in the household, didn’t have a mother with a lot of money, but we had a lot of drive. I was blessed to have a brother like this. We got each other. He went to college to further his education, and we combined what we had and built The Power Team, you know.
MASTER’S LICENSE
It was an overwhelming release of pressure. When I got it, it was like wow.
I finally got it! What messed everybody head up was when I got the Masters license they did not know what the next move was. I called my little brother two weeks later, and I said look this is it, we are doing it. Now Is the time. We are not waiting. We are not waiting another year. We are not waiting for the right amount of money. We not waiting on none of that, we’re going to take what we got, the talent we got and we going to do this. However it is going to come out is how it is going to come out. That is how it is with the dream you We cannot wait for the right moment. Ain’t no right moment! We didn’t discuss with anybody what we were doing because we didn’t want to invite negativity into the situation. Once you talk to somebody about something that you trying to do, that’s almost like inviting them in. I don’t need you to tell me how you feel about what I’m about to do. We are doing it regardless. When you are trying to do something like this a lot of people are not going to see your vision. Us as a people we are always trying to find people to except us. So a lot of people dreams get killed before they even get started because somebody bring some negativity into the situation.
We really pride ourselves off the name. When you dealing with us, It really is not about a slogan or LYNN BABINEAUX how we are going to BAB’S PLUMBING push it. It’s just that you know who you are dealing with. I have people who deal with us just because it is it is it doesn’t even matter about the money. They want to deal with us because of the brand, and they know what type of people they are dealing with. They know when they are dealing with someone like my brother on the job it is going to get done and it is going to be done the right way. Damon & Lynn Babineaux (Owners) Bab’s Plumbing. Billboardgang // Magazine
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"WE STARTED THIS BUSINESS WITH FAITH AND DREAMS"
DAMON BABINEAUX BAB’S PLUMBING
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Eauxte Bowties
If you wanna be somebody you gotta rock a Eauxte Easy To Wear Bowtie. Eauxte Eauxte
Model Shalom Donte' Age: 4
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Eauxte Bowties Easy To Wear Eauxte Eauxte Model Shalom Donte' Age: 4
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Ashley Alfred
B
etter known as Ashlee Live, is one of Lake Charles’ newest cosmetologist. She performs her beauty endeavors under Ashlee Live Beauty Co., and is lead mentor and founder of Awake the Ministry, a mentoring organization for teenage girls. Ashlee is a 25 year old native of Lake Charles, La. Graduate of Washington Marion Magnet H.S., McNeese State University, and Aveda Institutes of Lafayette where she obtained her Cosmetology Certificate. Ashlee was chosen as a winner of the Professional Beauty Association’s Beacon program in 2017, thousands of students participated in this competition nationally and she was chosen as top a 100 student in the nation. Ashleelivebeauty Ashley Alfred
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ALEXXUS CEASAR PROFESSIONAL MAKEUP ARTIST
A
lexxus is a local, 24 year old entrepreneur. With over six years of experience, she has developed a passion for elegant and timeless beauty. She has become well-known and loved for an incomparable experience for brides, music artists, models, and the every day woman. Though her artistry is very versatile, she considers herself a bridal expert. She gained a love for make up at the young age of 16 years old and began a professional career two years later in Houston, Texas. To further her education, she relocated to Lake Charles, Louisiana working as a freelance artist for MAC cosmetics and a student at Stage One school of Cosmetology. Immediately upon graduation, she invested in her business by learning under the hand of some of the most sought after celebrity make up artists including Nickey Posely, Cher Hukill, and Tiyana Robinson. She also serves under the mentorship of celebrity makeup Chamonique Short. She has had the opportunity to obtain celebrity clientele with national recording artist Briana Babineaux, working on set of concerts and single covers. Alexxus is currently the official make up artist and ambassador for Grey Tree boutique and Rawalty Hair company. This is only the beginning for Alexxus. She is working on many upcoming projects, so stay tuned.
Lexceasar Lex Ceasar
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Alexis Nicole John
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y name is Alexis Nicole John I am 23 years old . Born and raised in Lake Charles,La. When I attended high school at Washington Marion I started changing my hairstyles and wearing make up. I never knew Washington Marion had a cosmetology program , I didn't even know what cosmetology was ! I would always pass by the cosmetology department just out of curiosity . I decided to take cosmetology during my 10th ,11th, and 12th grade years of high school ! I learned so much in those years! After graduating I had a few challenges before taking the state board test, but thanks to my teachers, family, and friends for motivating me not to give up paid off. I'm a licensed cosmetologist with a passion for beauty! I'm always trying to find ways to perfect my craft ! I'm always traveling to different hair seminars learning things I didn't learn in hair school. You can never stop learning in the beauty industry ! You can also look at some of my work on
@Lexkreations @Alexis John
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UNDER GROUND KING S
www.skykeetoninc.com
ky is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He was born, “Schylar Sinclair Keeton,” on July 11, 1976 in Laurel, Mississippi. Sky’s musical genius is no surprise, because not only is he the child of encouraging and music loving parents, but also the nephew of the legendary opera singer, Leotyne Price.
Sky got his start as a kid. He would sing whatever song came on the radio to his adoring mom. Sky’s mom loved her son’s voice so much that she would make her friends listen to him sing. His vocal ability made those around him happy, so he continued to practice. In High School, Sky along with his buddies formed a harmonic vocal group and performed in local Mississippi talent shows. However, Sky decided he wanted more than the small-town life Laurel, Mississippi could offer him.
Full of hope, talent, and boyish charm, Sky moved to Atlanta, Georgia in the winter of 1996 with a single twentydollar bill in his pocket. Despite not having a place to live in Atlanta, Sky participated and won an Atlanta area wide talent show, hosted by the late and great, Lisa “Left Eye Lopes.” Lopes recognized his talent and took him under her wing. They formed an unbreakable personal and artistic bond.
By the year 2000, Sky made his first featured artist debut, on “Where Them Girlz At,” which also earned him his first certified gold record via The Recording Industry of America, (RIAA). “Where Dem Girlz At," climbed the charts and was a single on Lil Jon & the East Side Boyz hiphop album, “We Still Crunk.” Amongst recording industry insiders,
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acting in movies and television. Weaver specifically starred in the movies ATL and Drumline, as well as, the Motown TV mini-series titled, The Jacksons an American Dream and Disney sitcom, The Smart Guy. Fellow group member, Timothy “Attitude” Clayton is celebrated for his rap skills, lyric writing prowess, and pop appeal. Attitude has collaborated and worked alongside producer extraordinaire Timbaland and pop singer Nelly Furtado. Sky Keeton, Jason Weaver, and Timothy “Attitude” Clayton together are the trio, “Sons of Bobby Brown.” Sky is recognized for his lyrical genius. He has participated in sculpting, writing, and influencing the musical careers of many worldrenowned artist. He has worked most closely with the recording group TLC.
TLC’s meteoric success was Sky’s entree to writing songs for other music acts. He has written for London based singer, Lemar Obiko. Obiko is famous for participating on the British talent show Fame Academy. In addition, Sky has written songs for, and in collaboration with the musical acts Daz Dillinger, Kurupt, The Dogg Pound, Veronica Vega, Keri Hilson, David Banner, Carl Thomas, Bone Crusher, Pastor Troy, Nelly, Keisha Cole, Mya, as well as, the groups Blaque, Dru Hill, Jagged Edge, and so many more.
About 2014, Sky conceptualized a new R&B group that included himself and his true friends Jason Weaver and Timothy “Attitude” Clayton. His talented colleagues, Weaver and Attitude are both respected on their own individual merits. Jason Weaver is publicly adored for his
Sky started the top of 2017 with his independently released self-titled album, “Underground King.” “Underground King’s” tracks consist of original songs written and sang by Sky Keeton. “Sons of Bobby Brown,” songs are scattered throughout Underground King’s track list and these tracks were written and produced in collaboration with Attitude. Rapper Kurupt also makes a feature on the track, Doggy Style.” “Underground King” explores the joys, pains, and adventuresome nature of relationships over guttural baselines, harmonic alto vocals with melodic soprano overtones with rhythmic rap delivery. Underground King’s heart of a grown man perspective, satisfies a R&B void in today’s music market.
Anyone that has been a fan of R&B over the past 20 years has probably been a fan of Sky Keeton’s work, without being aware that Keeton wrote it. Sky is respected amongst industry insiders and loved by his friends, colleagues, and underground music connoisseurs. This is the guy, who might just be your favorite singer’s, favorite singer.
Louisiana
VLOGGER Ashley Nicole Williams, better known as
YoursNaturally11 on her YouTube channel, is a Louisiana-based, mother of 3, Cosmetologist, and natural hair and beauty Influencer.
S
he creates upbeat, natural hair tutorials and product reviews to encourage women around the world to maintain and love their God-given, natural hair. She has always had a passion for hair since she can remember; growing up with a Caucasian mother, she had to learn how to do her own hair at a very young age stating “ My Mom didn’t know how to manage my kinky, curly hair, so she relaxed it.” She didn’t grow up loving her hair because she always had a hard time managing it by herself and found herself always trying to force it to be straight, but in 2009, she did the “Big Chop”, a term used for cutting and ridding hair of all chemicals that alters its natural state, and has been growing her hair natural and curly ever since. “I want to teach women, especially women of color that their hair is beautiful and manageable, no matter their texture. The minute you learn to love what God-has given you and embrace what you have instead of trying to alter it, the more freeing and happy you will be.” IG: @ashleynwilliams_ Youtube: yoursnaturally11 22
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