CO.FAX JANUARY 2022
GOLD BOYS
On financial literacy, managing the Gold Boys brand, & keys to running any business.
LOVER BOY TALIB
On his musical and fashion background, and how freestyling is a process of his creation. MICHAEL SPARKS
On basketball helping with his mental illness, his journey through Lincoln High School, and becoming a pro athlete.
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PAGE 3 | CO.FAX MAGAZINE
EDITORS NOTE I’ve had this idea going on two years now. Besides the help of my brother Mack, this issue was done all by Kei-Shaun Thomas (reasoning as to why it took so long). I allowed life to get in the way. I was complacent with my ideas and potential, and didn’t have the mental capacity to finish the project. Yet despite the various trial and errors, multiple set backs, and many obstacles, it’s finally here! I introduce to you a new platform for Colorado called “CO.Fax Magazine”. This platform is intended to be filled with entrepreneurs, financial literacy, artistry and music, interviews, sports, community involvement, mental health awareness, history, opportunity, and so much more. This platform was created to shed light on our districts… our people, our talent, and our advancements. There are so many great individuals in the state of Colorado that need more acknowledgment towards their crafts and community collaboration. therefore CO.Fax aims to be of service. This first issue will not be our best issue, nevertheless this provides our readers with the opportunity to grow with us as we continue to learn along the journey of creation. There is so much more to come for this platform, and I’m excited to spread more awareness throughout Colorado in a positive fashion. HUGE SHOUTOUT to my guys Talib Abdullah, GOLD BOYS,Michael Sparks, Fishscale Media, and my editor for this project, Iimani Monèt. I appreciate you all for giving me the opportunity to shed more light on your careers and developments, and for making this project come to life. I wish nothing but the best for you all, and I will continue to support each of you on your road to success. Let’s fuck the city up! CO.FAX MAGAZINE
E L B A T
N O T E
Designer's Opening Message
T H E
P U R P O S E
The Purpose Behind It All
T H E
H I S T O R Y
The Past Can Recreate The Future
L O V E R B O Y
T A L I B
Interview
G O L D
B O Y S
Interview
M I C H E A L
S P A R K S
Interview
A R T I S T
Shout Out
O F
T H E
M O N T H
CONTENTS
F O
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E D I T O R S
Thank You! Thank you for taking the time to read our magazine. We hope you enjoy our first issue as there are many more to come!
CO.FAX
T TH HE E V VI IS SI IO ON N -D DA AP PP PE ER R K KT T
“An UNCUT Lifestyle For PURE Individuals”
FISHSCALE TRAP COLLECTION Est 2015 IG: FishScaleTrapCollection FB: Fishscale Trap Collection www.FishScaleTrap.com
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JAN. 2022, ISSUE 1
THE PURPOSE Article Created By: Kei-Shaun Thomas
THE MISSION KEI-SHAUN M. THOMAS
CO.Fax magazine is a newly created platform administrated by me (Kei-Shaun Thomas) . This magazine was created to shed light on various amazing individuals, small businesses, and organizations that help inspire, motivate, and teach communities through executing their accomplishments. Though Colorado is filled with hundreds of entrepreneurs, artists, and small business owners there seems to be a lack of acknowledgement towards their evolution. I see the grind y’all put in and I anticipate that there are countless conceptions bound to blow from our state. This is where CO. Fax’s come in. Our goal is to educate and illustrate to the world the excellence we have in store; beyond nature, skiing, beer, weed, and sports we carry a ton of heavy hitters waiting to pave the wave for others in the spheres of the arts, culture, and history in Colorado. in this issue we will be interviewing the great artist LoverBoy Talib, the extraordinary business owners (Mitch & Julian) of GoldBoy Clothing, and the remarkable athlete Michael Sparks. These are just a few of the many creatives ascending through the love of their careers while representing, contributing to, and acknowledging Colorado. While there are so many individuals that deserve recognition, I can only promise to try my best to feature each and every one of you in the Co.Fax Magazine. As we all become masters in our careers and lives, I plan on doing my part to continue to create opportunities for everyone contributing to make Colorado a name bigger than perceived. It’s on all of us to cultivate the history of our state from the past to what we create now. Which brings me to our next topic of discussion…the history of Colorado: a journey of what once was and what CAN and WILL be refurbished in the near
THE HISTORY With this in mind, I must ask do any of y’all know what the fuck a Dearfield is? No? Well neither did I . But apparently back in 1910 a man by the name of OT Jackson created the first African American Settlement in Colorado. For our next issue (which will be centered on Black history), I plan on discussing more about this historic settlement. While I’m sure the settlement will be news to many as it was to me, this illustrates that the historical impact we have in Colorado as arcane. Dearfield is one of the many pieces of information that should not be withheld from our communities, our culture, or our school systems. It is essential that African Americans collaborate to recreate modern infrastructures that have been needed for our people throughout generations.
Black and White photo of a post office created by OT Jackson (pictured on right) before ‘The Great Depression’
To gain this knowledge or give it to the ones who can benefit from , it will only inspire positive creations through Colorado history, It will only allow our communities the autonomy and resources to get back on track. Black people as a whole have been victimized by intentional miseducation, depression, oppression, drug problems, high imprisonment rates, and more.. but it is important to reimagine this image. We are a $2 trillion race with nothing but potential to elevate. Consequently, I will do everything in my power to educate myself and our people about our history through Co.Fax. This determination will result in forward motion and an elevated mindset aiding us in the creation of opportunity for African Americans and people of need. Let’s learn our history and create change throughout Colorado. Again more to come on the history of Dearfield in our Black History Month Issue releasing in Februar.y.
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GOLD BOYS 303 5535 W Colfax Ave Lakewood CO, 80214 (+1) 720-372-9843 www.goldboysclothing.com
INTERVIEW #1
Artist LoverBoyTalib preforming live
A Father, Brother, Son, Creative Entrepreneur/Entertainer, Artist. These are a few of the many positive descriptions of the prolific artist, Talib, deriving from New Jersey. Although he is a lyrical genius, I want to emphasize that Talib has more then just pen skills. Through music, fashion, and business Lover Boy Talib has been making a name for himself and his label ROOT nation. Whether through his lyrics, his flow, or his production choices, Talib possesses the ability to delight his fans. Songs such “Somebody“ , “That’s Romance“, and “Only Way” have made even made their way into my playlist. During my interview with Loverboy, we sat in the comfort of his living room as I picked his brain about music, fashion, financial literacy, his origins , and his plans as his career starts to flourish to new heights. page 14 | CO.FAX Magazine
“For the ones who don’t know about you, tell
them who you are”
It’s lover boy talib, mr.9000, you feel me? Root nation or nothing, you know what I’m saying .the youngest ceo in the city, I’m going crazy. I’m just.. I’m excited man, it’s a lot of stuff that’s going on”
“ I see you behind the scenes working!” That’s really my biggest thing… I do a lot of… even shit that I don’t really talk about. I’m walking in the background so that once I start running ahead of everybody, it’s like where did this guy even come from,but I was here the whole time you. Feel me?
“Exactly, and thats why I had to put you on here (Co.Fax) cause I felt like you’ve done, a lot of fucking work. But at times it can go unnoticed.” I mean, at this point it’s like… I don’t think they need to notice yet. We getting there you feel me, but we finishing the final steps to where it’s like, we can really start pushing everything and it’s gonna come. It’s gonna come.
“So, you got a whole bunch of shit going,the music shit,obviously business shit out side of this, your also into fashion and shit thou right? I’ve seen you model shit before, seen you at a couple events , get into the fashion side of you, explain that background.” I feel like, as far as fashion, I just do what I want. As far as the fashion scene out here, I can’t really say like, I started it but like realistically I know for a fact ….we all know for a fact, that we were one of the first people to really started doing it. As an influencer and a model I view myself as an guiding force for this shit. I feel like a lot of people that are my friends that make clothes got to learn from my mistakes and really got to put themselves in the right position. I transitioned from being a creator to more of like helping other people create. I see myself as more of a creative director rather than actual designer you know what I mean?
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LoverBoy Talib On Stage
So music,I personally feel like Colorado doesn’t have a sound because of our versatility, but how do you categorize your sound?” Well a thing that’s like different about me is, I grew up in Colorado. I lived out here for a while but I’m not from here you feel me? I’m not originally from here. I’ve lived in mad places before I even moved here. I moved out here from Atlanta and I’m from New Jersey… I lived in Florida before I lived in Atlanta to so it’s like I’m from everywhere.
“so you kind of got an experience from everything?” Definitely and it’s like a lot of different music in these places…a lot of different sounds and then on top of what I personally listen to. I listen to a lot of different music. I appreciate a lot of different aspects of music, like I used to only just care about lyrics you feel me, and that’s just an east coast type of thing. That’s what I thought mattered the most but being experienced to more music and being opened minded I transitioned to just loving music as a whole. There’s so many more aspects to it then just the words even thou I do care about the words A LOT you feel me, I’m a wordsmith that’s what i do.
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CO.FAX | JANUARY 2022
“And that’s one thing i had to acknowledge, I see you as an artist, like I can’t say your just a rapper, your so versatile I can’t categorize you as such.” I think one of the big reasons why is because it’s like I’m scared to put myself in a box you know what I mean…I’ve seen people try to do a certain thing just so they can become poppin, and then once they get there they like, try to be themselves more and switch up, and it’s like that shit ain’t gonna work. Their fans don’t support that and they’ll fall off. Like nigga you gotta be like this, we only like when you do this type shit. And it’s like nobody can ever really say that to me because, if I drop a song that’s on like some boom bap east cost type shit , the next song I drop is not gonna be like that. So your not even gonna be able to experience me doing the same thing over and over again. “ What does a typical day in the booth look like for you? and do you write your music? I feel like you go off top in some songs.” I write my music most of the time. I freestyle a lot, but I’ll never release a freestyle because its apart of my creating process. Like I put on a beat and, bro I could rap for hours. Like on some juice world shit, like I could literally keep putting on beats and keep rapping but there’s a difference between being able to rap and being able to make. From repetitiveness I build structure. So I’ll rap to a beat like, 100 times freestyling to it, try to pick what flow to use, decide if I’m gonna have a hook or not, etc. I literally build the song before I plug in the words and I do all of that outside of the studio. I only go in the studio to record the song when it’s done. So a typical day in the booth, I’ll record like 10 songs. For instance, like “Territory 2” I recorded all of that in one night, just back to back to back cause it was done already.
“IM SCARED TO PUT MY SELF IN A BOX”
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“So in 2019 you released ”Punch Your Ears in the Face” and it had some fire on there but tell me about the making of that whole project because that wasn’t your first introduction to music.” Definitely. one thing that i’m not scared to say that I do is I am a copycat.The reason why is because it’s like there’s people that come up with ideas that I never would’ve thought of but I bet you if I tried it I could do something dope with it so it’s like my inspiration for “Punch Your Ears in the Face”was Comethazine (shout out to Comethazine) I went to his show and mind you I get paid to perform places I don’t like paying to see other people but I saw Comethazine for free one of my friends had another ticket. When I say this nugga put on a show.. like his performance was fucking amazing like this nigga was going crazy. That shit was dope as fuck and I was thinking about what type of sound made that shit. If you go on my YouTube older songs like “Only Way” and “Bodman” aren’t really like that. They aren’t that type of performance. Those aren’t really songs for that I will have to make some. So I was like all right I’m finna do some fucking crazy outrageous shit fucking rap rockstar shit you feel me and Ima give it a crazy ass name too “Punch Your Ears in the Face”. “ You really don’t have that many features you just like doing shit by yourself I assume?” I mean like I hop on songs with people because they hear me rap and they’re like bro let’s make a song together I am so with that. I don’t even have a feature price I don’t need to be charging because it’s fun. For my own shit if I drop a project and you’re expecting to see features, there probably aren’t gonna be any. Because it’s like when I hear a beat I can’t stop rapping…Like unless we plan to do it together OK bet the hooks gonna go right here we’re both going to do 16 and you’re gonna go first I’ll go second. But most of the time, I will make the whole song myself. If we’re free styling you know how niggas start rapping in the circle… If I rap first, the number one reason is because I’m gonna go dumb. Niggas will just forget that they even wanna rap and just listen to me but also if you don’t just interrupt me and start rapping I’m not gonna stop. I’m not just gonna stop rapping so you can have a turn I don’t care if you have a turn I’m just rapping my guy. it don’t matter I’m like that whenever I’m making music like I just keep going.
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“I don’t even want to compare you because you’re your own breed fasho, but literally I was thinking like a Juice WRLD type of musical mentality.” Bro Juice WRLD was literally my favorite. When he passed I cried that day i was sad not even gonna cap, I cried like a fucking baby like I was sad as fuck. Rest in peace to Juice. I had a dream that I met him and it was funny because he walked up to me and he was like I can freestyle better than you and I was like nigga put on a beat right now. Who the fuck are you talking to nigga, you got me fucked up, and we both started rapping the whole night that was my dream when I met him. ”So how’d you come up with your name?” Honestly; how I came up with lover boy is like.. I was tryna think of a way to say some pimp shit you feel me? But then at the same time make it some heart felt shit. Like a lover and a fight type of shit, that’s going to be the name of my first album by the way. I don’t know when I’m going to drop that but yea, it’s not just about girls it’s like, I love you feel me? Like I’m lover boy, like the way I am, the way I approach the world, the way I attack every situation is out of love at the end of the day. So it’s just like, that’s my name. It’s all love.
I want to thank Loverboy Talib for allowing me to pick your brain on your uprising through music. I can’t wait to document your journey as you rise to the top. More of Loverboy Talib on the CO.FAX Magazine YouTube page 20 | CO.FAX Magazine
MOC.ERITTAALUFT
DESIGNER STREETWEAR LABEL IG: TFULA.ATTIRE FB: THE TFULA ATTIRE SC: xxTFULAxx The Fuck U Lookin At
CO.FAX MAGAZINE SHOUTOUT
100Pack Savy One of this months featured shout outs goes to Artists 100Pack Savy. With hit songs like “Box State Baby”, “Sweet Lady Freestyle”, and “303 to 810” Ft RMC Mike. Savy has climbed his way to the top of the leaderboard when it comes to musical influence, impact, and craftsmanship towards the Colorado music scene. Savy isn’t your stereotypical rapper, with his ability to create off the dome, he’s able to come up with some of the most unique lyrics which makes him known as one of the best lyricist the Box State has to offer.
ORIGINATING OUT OF AURORA, CO. 100PACK SAVY IS PUTTING ON FOR HIS CITY AND OR THE COLORADO MUSIC SCENE AS WHOLE. SHOUT OUT TO 100PACK SAVY, CO.FAX MAGAZINE SUPPORTS YOUR CAREER AND WILL CONTINUE TO SHOW LOVE THROUGH THE DURATION OF OUR EXISTENCE.
FOLLOW IG: 100packsavy FB: 100packsavy TW: wavyasssavy
CO.FAX TOP 3 100Pack Savy: Box State Baby Polo Hilfiger ft 100Pack Savy: Dapper Money Freestyle 100Pack Savy ft Gee Rilla: Go Off
CO.FAX MAGAZINE SHOUTOUT
HEYY AYYONE The last honorable mention for this month’s featured shout outs goes to Artists/videographer Heyy AyyOne. I’ve never met AyyOne personally, but I’ve followed his work for the past few months and I respect everything he has done for the community and the Colorado music scene. His work ethic is crazy, and professional, and he does it all by himself.
ORIGINATING OUT OF VIRGINIA , HEYY AYYONE MOVED TO COLORADO IN 2017 AND SINCE THEN HAS BECAME THE GO TO MAN FOR YOUR VISUAL ARTS NEEDS. SHOUT OUT TO HEYY AYYONE CO.FAX MAGAZINE WILL CONTINUE TO ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR GROWTH AS YOU REACH THE TOP.
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Interview #2
LIVIN GOLDEN WITH THE GOLD BOYS To ‘Live Gold’ is the mentality business brothers Mitch and Julian share with CO.FAX Magazine. As we talk In the comfort of their empire, accompanied by ‘FishScale Media’ CEO Mack, we picked the brains of the creators who run one of the dopest brands located in Colorado. What started as just an interest into the marijuana industry, owners of ‘Gold Boys’ has turned that interest around, They now provide sustainable clothing, a recording studio, a skating ramp, and opportunities for local community members in need, And that’s just through their shop. This brand has created, collaborated, and contributed on a plethora of events and platforms that aid Colorado’s uprising individuals through the spheres of music, fashion, community, and arts. Enjoy this article as we explore the start of the brand, information on financial literacy, owning a business and so much more. Exclusive interview only available through CO.FAX Magazine.
page 28 | CO.FAX Magazine
“As you guys introduce yourselves, What was the start of gold boys, can you explain the brand for new readers?” J.R: I’m Julian R. I’m from Kansas, originally. Came to Colorado in 2015, dibbled and dabbled into some marketing and stuff like that and made an introduction into the marijuana industry where I ended up meeting my “Business Brother” in 2017 (aka: Mitch). M. : I’m Mitch. I’m from Wisconsin I moved to Colorado back in 2010 and I strictly moved out here just to get into the industry (marijuana). Weed wasn’t legal in the state of Milwaukee, so I just wanted to be around it. So I moved out here and that’s kind of how it lead into the brand (Gold Boys). We started wholesaling extracts for a company called ‘Gold Bars’. The owner was a good friend of ours who soon moved to Sacramento for better business opportunities and once that happened we kind of stepped back from the industry, started a little bit of CBD, along with smoking accessories like grinders and things of that nature. We had an opportunity to get a store front, and we started building this place in early 2019. J.R: Around February of 2019 M. : Yea, and started gutting it out into what you see today. ”How did you get into the marijuana
industry?Did you attend school? Was it a job opportunity? Get into that.” J.R: Nah, no schooling. What we did is totally legally though and I hope one day it becomes federally legal. But everyone has their own perspective, you know what I mean? They all view it differently or what not but, I’ve personally started smoking in my teenage years. There’s time I had to take a break to focus on, my goals you know because I think that, it can distract you if your not mentally prepared to take on a whole load like that and be able to juggle everything. You have to find that balance. But now I think it’s, therapeutic so…
page 29 | CO.FAX Magazine
Business Brothers Mitch and Julian at an event
“I definitely think you have to have that
separation from your distractions and business, and weed can be one of those distraction’s at times.” J.R: it’s self accountability man, you gotta hold yourself accountable. Let yourself know when you fucking off or you doing too much, you know. Smoking or playing the game, going to kick it with your homies, doing that extra shit you know?
“What was some of the challenges of starting ’Gold Boys’, what was some L’s you probably took or some information you would like to recommend to people before they get into this type of industry?” M. : So we were trying to do fashion and CBD at first, and there was so much yellow tape with the CBD and the internet and promotions and marketing that was one big step. So we eventually kind of steered away from the CBD and focused on what we loved most which was fashion. And of course you gotta think of the financial aspect. It definitely takes a lot of money to get things going, but over time those seem to be the most difficult obstacles.
Mack: “Did you guys have to get any type of licensing or anything like that starting off, if so tell us a little about that.” J.R: yea we got our wholesale licenses, and sales tax licenses ; we were just selling business to business at the start you know, and when you first start a business your kind of anxious, and egar to get out there and just excited that another business wants you to carry there products and stuff like that. So we were taking on a lot of other products, now currently we still wholesale products from different businesses one of the main products we carry is ‘Hemp2O’ we have distributions rights in Colorado. We went out to there head quarters, we got to sit down with their owner and built a relationship and he allowed us to take on his product.
He liked our vision, we went out there with a plan on how we would distribute this product and he believed in us and allowed us to those distributors rights to sell in Colorado. There’s other products that we carried and tried to take on that just didn’t fit so we had to get rid of them, and we was putting and investing our money into other peoples products.Then we got smarter and wiser and started putting that back into ourselves. Like why carry this other brand of CBD when we can make that ourselves?
“Last time I came to the facility, you guys told me a story about how you started out by selling from the trunk of your car at times, can you talk about that period of the brand?”
M. : You also gotta remember that you get what you pay for, so always looking for a deal might not help you in the long run. It’s better to do what you can to insure your product is reliable.
M. : and with the brand, you know the LOGO usually whenever we just wear something we get asked questions like “what’s ‘Gold Boys’? What’s that?” And that’s one way we create a lot of customers just through that method alone.
J.R: We still do that now! We recently just got back (during the time of the interview) from Tulsa Oklahoma. We went down there for the ‘Black Wall Street Festival” and every time we go out of town, we load up the trunk and try to hit the streets and reach the people. And it’s like that pretty much every where we go.
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Mack: “you know with managing a store front like this, during the pandemic when people weren’t really coming into stores and things of that nature. How were you guys able to stay afloat?” M. : Gotta give a big shoutout out to our landlord he definitely helped out, we ended up getting the front of the store done and basically within a couple of months after we opened our doors, Covid hit. Had to shut our doors at that moment and we could’ve just sat back and let time go past but we decided to double down, and built a music studio, got a skate ramp in the back, and just made it to where when we do open up again it’s going to be better then when we had to closed. Mack: “I know you guys also have a website, so did you start seeing more online traffic during that time then opposed to foot traffic?” M. : yea that was a big part of generating revenue for the brand were through online sales. We appreciate everyone who supported us during that time. But now that we’re back open it’s a fun place to be, a lot of people are pulling up to shop, hang out, record, skate, it’s really just a vibe to be here.
”Make sure your always working, towards your goals.” “What kind of marketing strategies do you guys use? I know you can’t give us everything because secret sauce is secret sauce but what would you recommend to small business owners or any upcoming entrepreneurs?” M. : Get that email list up, that’s big in the industry. J.R: Get your core values right. M. : Make sure your always working on or towards your overall goal. Not all time will it be money, you gotta keep that in mind. But stay on track, you can give away stuff that doesn’t cost you anything, and that can ultimately catapult your brand.
THIS IS NOT A TOP 5 LIST! This list is comprised of individuals that are ascending at an extensive rate. You will hear these names more and more in the upcoming months as they work hard to contribute to the Colorado Music Scene! #5 Loverboy Talib #2 KWONRACKEDUP
BREAKING OUTDA BOX
BOW! Insomnia Phone Tag
Frieza Motion Kobe
FOLLOW IG: Loverboytalib9000 YT: Abdullah Gang Ent.
#4 Jaewes
Tb4l Coastin Family Tree FOLLOW IG: _jaewes_ YT: Jae Wes
#3 Whoisdollaz
Battle Cry Paranoid My everything (Remix)
FOLLOW IG: Kwonrackedup YT: KwonRackedUp
#1 Gee Rilla
Redrum Problem Child Do You Mean It
FOLLOW
FOLLOW
IG: Whoisdollaz YT: Dollaz Ent
IG: Geerilla_ YT: Gee Rilla
Shout out to all of these Artists! Keep going crazy!
Lone N Disaster was created to promote creativity and confidence in anything you do no matter the obstacles in the way. We believe in so much more than following clothes … we believe in creating a difference in our world
LONE N DISASTER IG: Lone_N_Disaster FB: Lone N Disaster www.lonendisaster.com
interview #3
THE JOURNEY OF This interview will always be one to remember. As I entered, an empty Abraham Lincoln High School gym to the sound of a dribbling ball and a swish echo I approached the smiling athlete, Michael Sparks. He was and continues to perfect his craft in his “second home”… the court. Before Michael made one of his biggest athletic decisions to join a professional Armenian basketball league, I dove into his background which lead him to become one of the most respected athletic individuals Colorado that has to offer. From Denver, Colorado in a well known community called ‘Sun Valley’, Michael grew a passion for basketball. He attended Fair View Elementary School with his sister, just minutes away from his house and by playing the well known “mini-game” of 21 (which the two altered to the score 100) he became better at his craft. He soon joined an AAU Team and from there became the best 8th Grade basketball player in the state. He attended Lincoln High School, and continued to rack up respect from the community through his career evolution. After attending Chadron College and facing an injury, Michael came back to his community to help future Lincoln High School Students athletes in perfecting their skills through the sport, While recovering and in the process of getting ready to enter a professional league, Sparks played for ‘Yerevan Ararat’. In his first game he
dropped 43 points, grabbed 7 rebounds, and threw 6 assists! Since then he has been dominating the league while becoming a better athlete, living as a servant of God and managing his mental health issues. Here is the exclusive interview with Michael Sparks only available through CO.FAX Magazine page 38 | CO.FAX Magazine
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I think the main thing, that I feel everyone actually knows about me is that, everything I do is for God.. That’s my everything, I play basketball, I do a little business and stuff through my community, my family. But the main source for all of that is God. I feel myself as a servant of God. so I just try to bring positive energy, and light to every situation as much as possible whether that be through basketball, if I’m conducting business, or whether I’m in my community. Whatever I’m doing I just want to make sure that they feel the spirit that God put into me, and just have everyone know it’s real. As crazy as it is, it’s a lot of people that don’t acknowledge God’s existence. I just want to make sure everyday I live, and everywhere I go they know who He is and that’s kind of how I’m living. “So we’re here at pretty much your second home (Lincoln High School) you’ve put in a lot of work here always perfecting your craft. Tell me about your experience here, and how Lincoln plays a part of you becoming a better athlete and individual.” I wasn’t really tempted to come here at first. I was gonna go to ‘South High School’. Lincoln’s community is known as a majority Hispanic community and I wanted to be surrounded by people who shared my ethnicity. And to denounce all prejudice ideologies or accusations that people may try to depict from that, I really just wanted to feel like I was home. But Coach Vince, was a staff member attending Lincoln and seen me playing ball in like 8th grade where he told me I had the ability to do something special. And there were a lot of school options available for me that I would consider but coach V brought out his whole coaching staff just to see me play in an 8th grade game. Which that year I was ranked the #1 8th grader in the state for basketball. He’s a big reason why….he to went 9 News and told them I needed to be acknowledged. He saw me… and from that day on he showed me love, I came here and started on varsity as a freshman. So that experience built my confidence a lot. In addition, I like what you stated about being a leader and I appreciate you for that compliment because this is where I learned it, It was here. I was a freshman playing with seniors I had to learn how to be a leader the right away. There were people in the halls that didn’t understand English, that I shared classes with so I lead by helping to show them the ways. In many aspects this community, this school, really forced me to become the leader you call me today. A lot of people were living the same way, we had no hope, I had to lead myself into the hope I have for me now… for my dreams of basketball, For the dreams I had for my immediate family. I had to learn to lead myself or be lead into the dirt. So Lincoln , is my second home. Every year that I’ve had a summer break for college I’d come back here even though I’m waiting to go play professional basketball soon,..where am I at? I’m here, at Lincoln, leading the place that lead me. Even in the smallest of instances like when I dealt with mental health issues the janitor would let me come shoot around for hours… just cuz. That love and leadership mounted me into my success and my life. Lincoln supported me with love and leadership no matter where I was. I would never be in tune with God, be the leader I am, the activist, the athlete or the man I am today if it wasn’t for Lincoln.
“I actually attended and graduated from there branch school ‘Respect Academy’ and everyone in Lincoln and in Respect really support, it really is a community. If you come here you can understand it, but from the outside looking in you won’t understand it.” Your gonna judge it a whole lot. “So where did basketball start with you, I know you played for an AAU team, was that the introduction towards taking the game more serious?” I was doing things before then, not on a competitive level though. Really, my sister taught me how to play basketball we went to Fairview elementary and just play to 100. Not 21, to 100 and from there I fell in love with basketball. And you know with dealing with mental health issues at a young age, basketball was able to help with that. So really basketball started at a young age. But really AAU it started off rough for me. My early years of basketball were very up and down. Like in 6th Grade I was scoring 40-50 points, 7th grade was the same deal and during those years I was playing AAU for the first time and I wasn’t very good. It was times where parents that had students on the same team with me would take bets on how many turn overs I would have in a game. That’s how bad I was. That’s how rough I had it and from that I just worked. I put in mad work. I just trusted my abilities, put trust in the process and God, and luckily I was able to come here a lot. t I was growing up to become something I haven’t seen. I come from the ‘Sun Valley Projects’. No one comes from there, so I felt it was a necessity to doing something big. I fell in love with basketball and that’s what really helped me. But my sister put the ball in my hand, and told me how much she believed in me and I kind of ran with it from there. ”Man, shout out to the Sun Valleys, I’m familiar with that neighborhood and it’s sad how much they’ve gentrified that area.” Man it’s all knocked down. I was down there not too long ago, and I dead serious shed tears because that neighborhood is me man. Anyone that knows me, they know that’s part of who I do it for. Facts man, just shout out to the Sun Valley. ”As long as they keep Rude Rec.”
Player Of The Week: Michael Sparks
Since joining the Armenian Basketball League, athlete Michael Sparks has been putting on for the city and going crazy. Already being known as an MVP for his first game where he scored 43 points leading his team to win 115-98. Now he earns more titles like player of the week as he continues his journey through the league. CO.FAX Magazine will always support Micheal Sparks through his path of success and we can’t wait to work with you on future projects for the community. Keep working hard, keep representing the state, and continue to grow through the love of basketball. We wish upon you a healthy, ascending career. Shout Out to Michael Sparks !
“So beyond basketball, because this has been something you’ve gone through for years at this point so, what mechanism do you use or what do you do that kind of helps with your mental?” I think honestly embracing it. In elementary school I remember I was running from it, I was really dealing with it since I was that young. But I think it started in middle school where I kind of like, just embraced it. Like yo, this is an issue I have and again you know basketball was really one of the biggest paths of me breaking that stuff. I used to just be alone, deep in my own thoughts and sometimes that’s not the best space to be in when you’re seeing a bunch of sex, drugs, killings, like I had seen somebody killed when I was a little boy. So like all those things just, growing up in the neighborhood played with me mentally.
And I didn’t get to express that to anyone because I didn’t have a lot of friends at the time, I didn’t really do anything. So I was dealing with all those problems, all of the issue coming out of my neighborhood ultimately by myself. My mom always worked to provide, my parents weren’t together so my dad wasn’t home, dealing with sibling issues as well I just had a lot of stuff piling up on top of me. And basketball ended up becoming my escape to lift the weight on my shoulders and stand up. So really that’s why I love basketball so much, that’s why everyone knows me for basketball, I wouldn’t even say because I’m good or anything it’s just because I’ve embraced it.
Everyone can remember me, walking from bus stop to bus stop with a ball in my hand. And my mom was a huge part of all of that, I didn’t want to see a psychiatrist and because of that my mom let me govern myself. She let me go about things, the way I wanted to go about things. When your kid has mental health issues your probably not gonna let them go anywhere they want by themselves, my mom let me rock how ever I wanted to rock. She believed I was going to the gym, she believed everything I was saying so, she really helped me in a lot of different ways just by trusting me. She didn’t make me feel like I was a crazy person even though other people did. My mom, basketball, and God help me take off from those mental health issues for sure. With out them I don’t know where I would be.
page 42 | CO.FAX Magazine
CO.FAX Exclusive
Artist of the Month
January 2022
GEE RILLA
20
G
ee Rilla, takes over our artist of the month slot for our first ever issue! With his lyricism and story telling abilities, Gee Rilla has become one of the hottest artists ascending through the Colorado Music Scene. Supported by other great artists such as Kwon Racked Up, 100PackSavy, KashlifePolo, and many more Gee Rilla has climbed up the rank and has proven he deserves recognition for contributing to the growing interest of the Colorado Music Industry. page 44 | CO.FAX Magazine
22
Though Gee Rilla has worked with various artists throughout Colorado, his soon to release project called ‘Pain Made Me’ seems to have no features giving fans more room to see the artist’s full potential as he is reaching his prime within the music industry. With new songs like ‘Blacking Out’, ‘Stepped On’, or even older songs like ‘Walk Ups’ you can see how that statement is being held true. I’ve never met Gee Rilla, and I don’t have to for support. With hardcore promotion and backing from a plethora of artists and fans his work came to me. I see the vision and potential he has with his career so huge shoutout goes to Gee Rilla, CO.FAX Magazine will continue to support your music!
GEE RILLA Pain Made Me
EM EDAM NIAP
gee rilla
01.04.2022 OUT NOW!
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