Natalie Orfilia FOCUSED from WINTER to SPRING

FEBRUARY 2019

Pamela Myles: Balancing Family & Business

Gina Barboza: No Rules, Just Risk

2 Months 2 March:

Aquarius Brothers

Natalie Orfilia: FOCUSED

Richie Re: Reloaded

Publisher’s Note

Welcome to the world of Fame Live Magazine a place that being weird is cool,

freedom of speech is admired but creativity is the KEY to it all. We have been preparing this issue for a while now it’s ready for public consumption. This issue is dedicated to the ladies Natalie Orfilia will provide her definition of a THREESOME, Pamela Myles gives us insight into running a business and GINA BARBOZA talks working with a few heavyweights in film, music and television. Once again THANK YOU ! for checking out our little publication we are four issues in and growing.

Cover shot at Decal Studios, College Park, GA Peace, Rodney (Akshun) Simpson

Staff Founder/ Publisher Rodney Simpson Managing editor

Guy Lawrence

Art Director

Sergio Venters

Entertainment editor Karla Smithinson Writers

Keivon Patterson and Sherry Rose

Marketing Director FLMG LLC, Events coordinator Akshun Editorial Assistant Steven Chambers 2

Contributing photographers

Ray: Miami Travis Christian: Atlanta John Kelly: New York Ryan Beckley: Los Angeles To contact anyone on our staff email attention Staff members name Famelivesubs@gmail.com flmginfo72@gmail.com Instagram: @famelivemagazine

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Natalie Orfilia: FOCUSED 16

Black Men & Mental Health

n I is e h T su s I 7

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Pamela Myles:

Gina Barboza:

Balancing Family & Business

No Rules, Just Risk

Riche Re: Reloaded

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Los Angeles

By Photographer: Ryan Beckley

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Black Men & Mental Health Mental health for so many has served as a taboo topic, despite its obvious affects on our community. We have constantly brushed it off or attempted to downplay its existence in ourselves and others. This stigma has to change.

To properly have this conversation we have to first understand that mental health is NOT the same as mental illness.

Everyone has mental health but everyone does not have a mental illness. Mental health is the same as physical health, heart health, or any other bodily function we possess.

I believe it’s well understood that, our brains are our most powerful organ we have. It’s the control center of the body, so it’s only fair to say when our brain is experiencing a challenge our life will as well. It’s so imperative we understand this and prioritize our mental health. For Black Men, we have historically found ourselves in positions that would challenge the psyche of any person yet we find it hard to admit when we need help processing our challenges. This has often served as a toxin in our progress.

We have misconceptions of what it means, or looks like, to be strong. We are, too often, raised from an early age to “suck it up” or “man up” creating a belief that addressing our emotional health is not a manly act. Of course, there is nuance to being able to discern minor verse major issues but we also have to understand everyone doesn’t have the same capacity to cope with different experiences. What one person perceives as small can be large to another. While I am no licensed professional, we have all seen where traumas and unresolved challenges have lead to adverse affects.

Sometimes fatal.

We can’t allow ourselves to continue in that pattern if we want the best out of life. One of the actionable steps we can use to help begin the process of healing internal wounds is therapy.

We have to view therapy the same way we do physical therapy. It’s a place where we go to work through our functions in an effort to regain our power. The process of finding the right environment that you feel comfortable in might take some time an exploration, just like finding the right doctor.

Freeman Warren

Asking for help when you need it might be an act of vulnerability but it is also an act of courage. We can’t receive what we don’t express we need. We can’t heal what we don’t admit is fractured. Collectively it is our job to support and uplift each other through difficult times. As men, especially Black men, we have to make it okay to address the issues that burden us. We are all worthy of an opportunity to pursue the best life we are meant live.

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FLM: Where are you from originally?

Pamela Myles: Memphis, Tennessee

FLM: At what age did you decide that you wanted to become a business owner ?

Pamela Myles: On my educational journey I have always worked to be the best in the corporate fields. My degrees are in technical and project management I have my MBA as well and I am currently working on my doctrine in organizational leadership.

And from those experiences and working with a major company I picked up those skills and one day it just blinked in my head, I am helping them run multi million dollar projects why am I not doing it for myself.

Pamela Myles:

Balancing Family & Business

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FLM: Did your experience in technology help with your vodka business venture ?

Pamela Myles: Definitely so with the websites and how to make communication more efficient and being able to streamline processes with what we have and what we need to communicate with our vendors and the different groups that we work with. I would definitely say my technical background has helped that process from the basics to the most complex type of scenarios, with using Microsoft excel and word things like that building data bases and updating the website. All of those experiences and user experiences from my current position and in the past has helped to making this transition into being a business owner more beneficial for me.

FLM: What advice would you give other young ladies looking to start their own business ?

Pamela Myles: Don’t put a ceiling on yourself no matter what the field is, because in this field with liquor it is mostly male dominated. The biggest thing is to feel more confident in communication and know that I am going into a male dominated arena and speaking with male business owners and remembering their still people at the end of the day. You just have learn to be confident within yourself, get your communication plan together and know what it is you want at the end of the day and be able to articulate that the best way possible.

In most of those scenarios we meet different business owners and what they basically want to know is you know what you want and you can communicate that.

Because if you can’t it doesn’t matter if you’re male or female. It will not matter at the end of the day. But for a women or anyone just know what your plan is don’t be afraid to put in the hard work because if you can do it for someone else you can definitely do it for yourself.

FLM: What advice would you give someone that loves a product or has a passion for something but doesn’t know how to capitalize off that interest ?

Pamela Myles: One of the first things I did was to understand what vodka meant. What I mean by that is what is it made of. I have seen ingredients from pickles, sweet potatoes, to ever thing under the moon is out there and available right now. And when we were doing the comparisons, I can say, well this vodka made me feel this way. And that’s what made us focus in using grain as a base ingredient for the product. Then I looked at how other brands distilled and filtered their products and how that made me feel. So based on those after effects and taste test from other products. I knew the things I wanted and didn’t want. And that helped me figure it out. I think with any product you start you have to look at the history of it and how it’s made. Also what’s done in the process to make it effective and efficient. And also what you liked and didn’t like about it. Those are the things that helped us build the product and allows us to be able to say that, ok we want this result, and that’s how we came up with Myles Select.

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FLM: Ok, so know your product by tasting it yourself ?

Pamela Myles : Yes! Yes! Because at the end of the day I can stand on my product and say I love it in comparison to any other brand in the market and I can tell you why I love mine.

FLM: What are some of the goals for the future of your company ?

Pamela Myles We want to be in 50 states and licensed in each state and be able to provide Myles Select in each one of those states. We recently had some discussions about going international. The sky is the limit. We want to be wherever vodka is being sold. There is just no limit on how we have that plan to grow and expand in the market. I want to be known as a brand people love and celebrate and look to as a personal choice. There are so many brands in the market now, people are familiar with them, and they only chose that brand. We want to be that brand that they say, I want Myles Select! That’s the place we want to be with repeat customers that love the product.

FLM: Right now where can people find you ?

Pamela Myles: Right now we are in 50 plus stores in the Georgia market and just expanded to North Carolina so it’s available in their market as well. We are working on a plan for Tennessee and Mississippi.

FLM: what do you have coming up in the future ?

Pamela Myles : We are excited to have been chosen as one of the certified vendors for the Super Bowl. That was a huge accomplishment and a lot of work to get in there. We are also working to position ourselves to be available for the NBA all star game, and also the CIAA basketball tourney. So February 2019 will be a very exciting month for Myles Select and we are also participating in the A3C convention this year. They are honoring the Wu Tang clan, I can’t wait to see them. We are also supporting some local events here in Atlanta also North Carolina to continue to build the brand as well.

FLM: How’s your family life ?

Pamela Myles: Reggie and I celebrated our 2 yr anniversary July 25th we were married on the big island in Hawaii with family and friends. Since then we have been on a journey. I have three beautiful bonus children, LiL Reggie, Akira and Ajae. Reggie Jr. Is about to graduate from college on Arizona then on to pre med, Akira is a senior at Stillwell High school graduating this year and Ajae is graduating from middle school also this year. They are all in their succession plan for movement.

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FLM: So how do you manage to balance all of that ?

Pamela Myles: Prayer and focus. We start each day with it and a plan of what we want to do and keep everything in balance. So that the family comes first then comes Myles Select. We have to keep everything in perspective, but family is first for us.

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Gina Barboza: No Rules, Just Risk

By Cherrie Garden

Gina Barboza: Producer, Director, Risk-taker “You can’t tell me ‘no!’ I’m going to keep trying until it works.” Some have mistakenly underestimated this charming belle, Gina Barboza, but she is not one to be taken lightly.

“I was determined at a very young age to be another person from Fall River to make it.”

Hailing from the tenth largest city in the state of Masschusetts, Fall River, Barboza was born of a West African heritage. Her grandparents were Cape Verdean, and she is also part Cicilian. Despite growing up dirt poor to a single mom on welfare in the projects, her colorful spunk and go-getter spirit began breaking boundaries as early as her high school years. While at Durfee High School, Gina donned the crown as the first black homecoming queen, the first black senior class president, and the class entertainment editor.

“I’ve always been writing, since I was like 9 years old. I was always doing poetry and finding ways to tell stories.”

Barboza’s English teacher, Mr. Guiera, honed her literary skills, and after noticing her talent, he encouraged her to further her education in writing. But Gina loved fashion and had her eyes set on becoming a buyer in New York. After her pursuit of a college degree in fashion merchandising, she moved to Boston to manage clothing stores.

The Entertainment industry was always calling to her. Gina admits that one of her fondest memories of being in Boston was witnessing the creation of Source Magazine by Raymond “Benzino” Scott and David Mays while Mays was at Harvard University. It wasn’t long before a friend of hers who lived in California encouraged Barboza to move to LA to build her writing career. Gina’s retail job obliged, and transferred her to Fox Hills Mall, which happened to be one of the tougher malls in LA. Within the first week at work, Gina got into a fist-fight with a fellow employee who was trying to steal money from the store.

Barboza quickly moved on from retail and found herself with a stroke of luck, being recruited by Suge Knight to write for the burgeoning Death Row UnCut magazine. However, the first assignment Suge gave her was to work at Tarzana Studio. She was excited to see the likes of Snoop Dogg, Lil Bow Wow, and even Tupac in the studio day to day, but there was one problem, “I was getting frustrated because everyone [in the building] was hitting on me..... hard!” After a month, she told Suge that she can’t work there anymore, because everyone was persistently vying for her intimate attention. He said, “I know, I told them to. You passed the test. You proved are not a groupie. You can come to the office tomorrow.”

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When Gina arrived onsite, she was directed to a huge, beautiful office and told it was hers. She asked, “Aren’t I just doing freelance writing for the Magazine?” Suge’s response was shocking, “No. You are the publisher. Name your salary.” And, so she began fervently developing DeathRow UnCut Magazine. Gina’s life became consumed with the focus and dedication necessary to bring the concept into fruition.

“My nickname at DeathRow Records was “Life” because I wasn’t afraid. I used to bring life inside of a place called Death Row Records. And I’d bake cookies for gangsters.”

After endless nights of working to put UnCut Magazine together and seeking distribution, Death Row was finally granted a distribution deal with Time Warner. Quincey Jones of Vibe Magazine soon found out about the new developments with UnCut, and it became a competition for which magazine was going to be distributed through Time Warner. In the end, Vibe Magazine won. Barboza was crushed.

Gina’s cousin, Anthony Barboza, a well known photographer in NY, came to visit her at Death Row and decided that she needed a change. He suggested she try a new industry: Film & TV. He refered her to the position of assistant for the renowned actor, director, producer, Bill Duke. “He became like a father to me, I called him Papa Duke. The first commercial we did was with Robert Townsend for McDonald’s, and that’s when I caught the production bug.”

Soon Barboza made a rambunctious move to Atlanta for a change of scenery, but things did not go as smoothly as she’d hoped. After stepping in as manager of girl group “About Face,” she had them flown to LA to audition with Dr. Dre at Aftermath. Dre offered the group a deal but their paperwork with Too Short, who they were already signed to, was not fully dissolved yet which lead them to miss out on that opportunity to sign with Aftermath.

Out of money and a place to live, Gina found herself homeless in Atlanta. She slept in her car for two days, and showered at the gym. Right at the moment when she figured it was time to give up and head home to Massachsetts, two of her clients who she did makeup for, insisted that she move in with them. They let her live with them rent free for 6 months.

“These two were my saving grace. It chokes me up a little bit because... they saved me.”

Within weeks, a temp agency that Gina was registered with offered her a job in the accounting department at Turner Broadcasting Systems. Tears of joy streamed down her face when she heard the news because she had been applying for jobs at Turner for months.

One day while working temporarily at Turner, she reached out to the Director of Creative Services, Michael Borza, just to say thank you for always getting his department’s paperwork in to Accounting on time. Shocked by her gracious gesture, Borza offered Gina a job as his assistant.

From there, Barboza began her climb within TBS networks. Over 17 years at Turner, she worked hard for promotion after promotion, all the way up to six figures. Barboza became the Director of Production and Music Liscensing for Turner Broadcasting Systems. Her department would come up with mini-docu-series pieces for movies being advertised on the network, develop creative content and shoot interstitial pieces with the actors of all of the shows that aired on TBS. “Having that faith and just believing, “I’m gonna get through this,” and the Golden Rule “treat people the way you want to be treated,” is how I live my life. That’s what gave me my blessings.”

In 2014 Turner Broadcasting systems had a huge layoff, where 1500 people lost their job, including Barboza. At the same time it was a blessing because I feel like that was my school, that was my bachelors, that was my Master’s, my PhD in production I learned so much about corporate that you just can’t get having street smarts. So I parlayed the two and started Balancing Acts started in 2001, but it became alive December 2014.

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Miami

By Photographer: Ray

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TM

@SipOuOui PREMIUM LIQUEUR

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Natalie Orfilia: FOCUSED

We had a sit down with Natalie Orfilia, a new R&B singer who is originally from Chicago, Illinois, but is now in Atlanta making some things happen for her musical career. She recently dropped her new single “Threesome� and also has some more projects headed our way soon.

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FLM : We see you ju st did a spread with Rolling Out covering your new single Threesome, can you give us a little more information about th e meaning for this song?

me, well i t f o d o i er out in a p ’m very much b a e m a I gc I feel like d bettering my, that son . e t a m o s m e ’ I e r re an Th e now whe n myself t ilia: “So o h f g r d i iod of tim e r O s r e e u e k i c p i l o l t f a f a t t o h s t a t u r N g dj of time so st markin elfish, an u s J . h c m u o r f m a period e ry ic lf, I’m ve re Threesome cam e s y m specif o t u a e h e abo w r e t so, that’s : Is th ould like M L self. And F w o .” ge you music or d y in my life a s s e m r o n you hem to enj i y a l t re want t s u j you Natalie Orfili a: “I want people to get a piece of joy an d relief. My music is light hearted and ha ppy, you know. I wa nt people to feel a litt le lighter after they h ear my music.”

FLM : And it definitely gives you that feel after listening to it so you’re going in the right direction with the meaning and intent of it. How long have you been singing?

Natalie Orfilia: “Aw m an, that’s a tough questio n. I have videos of me at one-years old singing. An d I always could sing, I just never took it serious thought I could be a singe and r until I was maybe like sixteen. Well, my eighth grade talent show lol.”

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FLM :

Are th ere an y othe

r talen ts tha t you w Orf ould li ilia ke to s : “U my howca m, I se thro hea rt to gues ughou t war s y m o u r caree y lo ds p v r? eopl e, I e for Vi s wan t pe ual Art ople s to k as well now . that I want to thro ugh showc a my mus se ic.”

FLM: That’s whats up, I’m a big fan of Nat

alie

visual arts as well. And my last question is, do you have any new music/ projects coming, that we should be looking out for?

Natalie Orfilia: “I sure do! I have a song dropping.. well I can’t really give a date because I still have to get that situated but yeah a song plus a visual.

It’ll be kind of similar to Threesome.

I’ll drop it, plus a visual, and that should be coming within the next month for sure.”

FLM: Great, we will be checking back with you to how it all goes and we wish you the best of luck. Thank you Miss Natalie Orfilia, for sitting down with us at Fame Live magazine. You’ve just gained yourself another fan.

Natalie Orfilia: “Aww, thank you all so much

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By Keivon Patterson Stylist Royal Fudge styling Designer Blow by Shari Photographer Decal Media 19

s h t n 2 Mo h c r a 2M 20

By Keivon Patterson Stylist Royal Fudge styling Photographer Decal Media

2 Months Till March (2MTM) are a new pop-rock group. Although the duo is based in Atlanta, Georgia, Nevada and Scotty, the groups members are from Charlotte, North Carolina and Colorado. They both started off as solo artists but after being under the same production team and noticing how many similarities the two shared in both they’re music and style, the two decided to join forces and become 2 Months Till March. Well we got a chance to interview 2MTM and they gave a little info on what to be expecting next.

FLM : Well, let me start by asking you guys, How did you come up with the name 2 Months Till March for your group?

Scotty: “Well, we’re both born in January, and we’re both Aquarius. So we only have two more months until March comes.”

FLM : How long have you guys been a group ?

2MTM: “Well for about a year, we’ve known each other a little bit longer but we’ve been doing the music thing together for about a year as a group.”

FLM: What would you like for your audience to gather from your music? Is there a specific message you want to convey or do you just want them to be entertained ?

2MTM: “Nah man, it’s all interpretation bro you know. Individualism of course, is the main push.

Just personality, freedom of expression. You know what I mean, to just do what you want regardless of judgement. And to be your own person and express your own character. And if we can give that off thru music, interviews, or thru fashion, you know however we can do it. That’s what we want to do.”

FLM : Are there any other talents that you would like to showcase throughout your career?

2MTM: Nevada- “Well really I would think whatever opportunities that can present themselves to us, you know as entertainers, because you’re an entertainer you can kind of have that ability to stretch outward once you have that realm of success or that platform, so I definitely can see us stretching out to do other things. You know what I’m sayin, just being open to it and just being a creator.

Scotty- “But right now man, I think all we really need to be worried about is the music, you know what I mean. That’s where our love is right now. We’re not trying to use music to get to a different platform per say but nah, we love what we do right now and this is what we want to do. Whatever comes in the future is what comes, whatever God wants to bring to us.”

FLM : I definitely understand and can agree with you all on that. My last question to you is, Should we be expecting any new music/ projects from you guys?

2MTM: “Definitely bro, we got a lot of new music on the way and in the chamber. We have our song out right now called Toxic. So as far as releases, we’re waiting on it but we got a lot, we got a lot coming man. Visuals, New musics, no exact date for you but definitely stay tuned for real, it’s coming soon.”

FLM : Well we will definitely be tuned in waiting on the new music and visuals to drop. And we wish you guys nothing but the best, Thank you for sitting down with us here at Fame Live Magazine.

2MTM: “Thanks for having us man! We appreciate the opportunity, God bless!”

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Riche Re: Reloaded

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Richie-Re is a new female hip-hop artist, who’s new single “If I want to” is becoming a anthem to many young women around the country. We sat down with Miss Richie-Re from Flint Michigan a few months ago to get her story. During our interview, we spoke about Richie-Re’s Debut EP, Re Loaded, which she dropped on October 26, 2018. It is available to download on all music platforms.

FLM : Why did you decide on Re Loaded to be the title of your EP?

Richie-Re: “So Re Loaded comes from my nickname, Re-Re, and Loaded is just you know I’m loaded with so much talent that it has to be heard. So Re Loaded, it goes together. Some people think it’s re loaded like the gun but it’s not that what so ever. You’ll see why it’s called reloaded when you download that EP.”

FLM : Are there any other talents that you would like to showcase throughout your career, other than rapping?

Richie- Re: “Eventually Acting, I feel like if you are an artist, whether it’s Hip Hop, R&B, Pop, I feel like you have to have some type of aspect of acting because it’s all in character. If you ask me, so yeah definitely acting. I want to be the next Denzel, because that brother is getting those coins.”

FLM: Is there any type of message that you want your audience to receive from your music?

Richie-Re: “Definitely, I would say for the women, just to be confident.

Always be confident in all that you do. I know a lot of us, including myself, we seem to not feel enough. Especially with all that’s going on with Social Media today, we tend to compare ourselves to outside and other women, as well as for guys too. So I would typically just say, be you, be confident in you and never let no one tell you what you can or cannot do, what you’re good at and what you’re not good at. Sell it and have confidence because confidence is the key.”

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FLM: We know you just dropped your new EP, but should we still be expecting any new projects or performances coming up soon?

Richie-Re: “Yes, I have a few performances coming up actually this weekend. I’m going to Tennessee and I’m going to be opening up for Gunna, and this Saturday for YFN Lucci. So yeah um, that’s really exciting. I actually just got back from D.C., where I performed at Howard’s homecoming. I’m going to New York next week on a press run. So ya girl is busy, I definitely can’t ask for anything more than that. You know if I’m not doing anything on the road, I’m definitely in the studio. And I’m thinking about doing some studio time while on the road too, just to get different feels of different studios and possibly different sounds, so yeah.”

FLM : Well we see she’s not playing any games at all, she’s booked and busy. Thank you so much Miss Richie-Re, for sitting down with Fame Live Magazine. We will definitely be looking out for you and your work in the near future.

Richie- Re: “No problem, thank you all for having me!”

By Keivon Patterson Stylist Royal Fudge styling Designer Blow by Shari Photographer Decal Media 24

New York

By Photographer: John Kelly

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Paolo (PowLow) GETS PERSONAL Paolo (PowLow) is a rising R&B artist here in Atlanta. Although he was originally born in Alabama, he grew up in the Clayton County/Riverdale area of Atlanta, Georgia. Paolo is signed to Got Ta Know (GTK) Enterprizes and has an upcoming project called “Heartbreak54” that will be dropping on Valentines Day, February 14, 2019. We recently spoke with Paolo, where he caught us up on the album and some more things that he’s been working on.

Interviewer: So Paolo you have to tell us bro, how did you come up with the name Paolo? It’s really dope though, I like it.

Paolo: Alright, check it. So it was a crazy process... I was just playing with you, it’s my middle name. *Laughs So yeah, I’m half-black and half-Mexican, and middle name is Paolo, so I really thought it was cool. I mean, the only person that I can see that’s in the game right now with a Hispanic name but with a black background is Miguel. You know, what I’m saying? That’s dope!! And no one else is doing it right now, ya know. I mean, I do Latin music too but primarily R&B, so that’s part of the reason I chose Paolo.

Interviewer: Okay, I’m digging it bro. Well, I did a little research on you man and I see that you have a new project coming out, Heartbreak54. I listened to a few samples that you posted on your Instagram, and every track I heard was fire. So can you tell us a more about it?

Paolo: Heartbreak54, so basically everything that I do is planned but before I got with Renzy808 and GTK, I was a.. me and my main guy RxCullen, the producer of that tape, we’ve always been making music together but we were SoundCloud artists back then. And me saying that, I haven’t always had a really good stable sound so, when I got signed to GTK I learned a lot of about mainstream.. basically I learned structure, you know what I’m saying? But with this project I’m taking my SoundCloud sound and mixing it with the mainstream sound that I’ve learned through working with GTK. That’s basically what it is, like a mixture of R&B with Trap elements. So, it’s going to be different! That’s where the sound came from initially. Now the idea for Heartbreak54, I just went to Hawaii with my managers. We did some school performances, I performed at a graduation, as well as some other appearances and I fell in love with a girl that I met over there. Long story short, she told me she loved me wayyy too soon so I knew it wasn’t going to work but I told myself, and this is going to sound crazy, but I told myself I need consistency and not something that isn’t just about sexual intimacy. So I asked her to be my girlfriend, and of course she said yes, so. I just really let that play into my inspiration so, that’s how Heartbreak54 came along. Like every song on Heartbreak54 has something to do with her. If you’ve ever heard the track “Heart Attack” or seen the music video, basically in the music video I’m burning a letter. And in the song I’m saying “You said you loved me, I thought we were better than that. You even said you loved me in the letters in fact.” And in the video, I’m burning the letters that she sent me when she was in the army. So, its all legit. Real emotions.

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Interviewer: Wow, that’s whats up man! Your inspiration was real and you can definitely feel it in your music. Keep it up! Is there any type of message that you put out through your music? Anything you want your audience to know or hear from you personally?

Paolo: I’m basically going to show them, with Heartbreak54, this girl did me so wrong. And I’m showing people that, for one, men can be sensitive and not have this hardcore exterior like I’m basically crying on the track and letting people know how I felt about my heartbreak.

And also, the next tape that I’m going to drop after I drop Heartbreak54 is going to be called “Love Ain’t Breezy.” And in that tape, I’m basically going to explain the karma of the things. I did this girl really wrong and that’s why Heartbreak54 happened the way it did, it was all karma. I had this one beautiful, amazing girl. Like d***, you never find things like that in this world. Yeah, I did her wrong man. And I hear it all, guys try to play the victim as well it isn’t always the girl. Girls aren’t always innocent but sometimes as men we like to make excuses for no reason. So the first album, Heartbreak54, I’m heartbroken because of the girl doing me bad but I’m also teaching karma because when I drop the second tape you’ll understand, it’s like a 360 from what homie was telling us at first.

Interviewer: That’s a really dope concept bro. I can see where you’re going with it. Alright, and my final question is, are there any other talents that you would like to showcase throughout your career or any other that you want to tap into?

Paolo: Visual Arts, as far as being a creative director, acting, giving people ideas etc. I have a list of things that I want to get into. But the thing is this, Singing is my key. It’s what’s going to get me thru the door.

Interviewer: Cool cool, I can dig it man. So is there anything else you want to let your fans and the world know?

Paolo: Yes, Heartbreak54 dropping ironically on Valentines Day. So get ready for that. I’m getting ready to drop some visuals. I have a lot of things going on in 2019 so just make sure y’all stay posted. Don’t miss out. You don’t want to miss out.

Interviewer: Well there it is, you guys better stay posted. Alright, thank you Paolo for speaking with us here at FameLive and we’ll be checking in with you soon.

Paolo: Yessir, hit me up anytime man.

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The ROACH MOTEL is open for business creator Rich Graham aka DJ Filthy Interview by Cherri Garden Written by Catherine Lenorah FML: Where are you from, are you from Atlanta ?

No I’m from Willingboro, South Jersey.

When did you move to Atlanta? How old were you?

I move to Atlanta in 1999 I was 20 attending college at the Art Institute of Philadelphia for 2 years studying animation. I’ve been drawing since I was a kid, DJing is something I did later it actually started when i moved to Atlanta. My best friend was here in so while on a visit I kinda fell in love with the city. I found out that there was a Art Institute of Atlanta which would make my transition even smoother. So I went back home and transferred there. In school I continued to pursue my degree in animation. The reason I moved to Atlanta was because I felt like there was more opportunities here than home.

FML: Ok let’s get back to the subject are there different types of animation?

Yes there are , so you have 3D animation. 3D animation is what you would call... Like Toy Story, A Bug’s Life and cars. And then there’s 2D animation it’s more like Tom and Jerry or Bugs Bunny...

FML: So roach motel is in 2D? Roach motel is in 2D but I try to have a 3D background which is called mixed media which is when you do both. So I have 2D characters on digital backgrounds. So I use video and photography to make it happen, and make it look cool. So it still is not necessarily 3D but essentially yes, it’s a 2D cartoon.

I’ll take my camera and record outside with the trees and then bring it to the computer and have my characters in front of the trees talking. Some things I just look funny if you make it look real. Because they are roaches I kind of want you to feel like they’re in the real world a lil bit.

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FML:When you were a kid, were you drawing cartoon storylines or just sketches?

No, originally I just drew Transformers and comic book characters, I was real big on X-Men. I used to draw like Wolverine all the time. So that was my thing, comic books. I was reading a bunch of comic books. One day my best friend and I started trying to make our own comic books and would draw our own characters. That’s how I got into storytelling. We would create our own characters, give them super powers, make up the story lines and draw the comic books and put it all together.

FML: Could any of them be found online?

I don’t even think online existed then and I also didn’t have the entrepreneurial spirit. We were just kids taking paper and drawing comic books and showing them to each other. Like I don’t think we would even show anybody but our parents. I was never like ‘Ah man let’s take this comic and try to get published or take it to the comic book store’, it was never that. Honestly it was just so fun, we were just trying to see if we could make a comic. And just kept doing it, and kept doing it and got good at it and that was it, we both got the bug, we told our parents we want to do this.

FML: In your teenage years did you continue creating comics and drawing ?

No actually, I was drawing when I was young and then I got into my teenage years then I started doing what normal teenage boys from Jersey do. Like I really wasn’t thinking about drawing that much. I was hanging out with my friends, partying, Kickin It. I got into music. I wanted to rap and make music.

FML: So, you had a rapper name?

Yeah, Filthy Rich was my rapper name actually. But I just kept it when I started DJing because everyone like my name. I didn’t want to change it because half the people that no me don’t even refer to me as rich. They Call Me Filthy, I was like I’m not going to change it cuz that’s what everyone knows me as and it just applies. So I was just rapping, but I was still drawing. But I really wasn’t taking drawing seriously until it was time to go to college. And it never changed, I was like I still want to go to Art School. I still want to learn animation so, once I got in college I was able to learn everything I wanted to learn. And that’s when I really started taking animation seriously, because I felt like damn I can really do this, I felt like I was good enough. Our school is different than regular College because everybody is creative. Regular College everyone it’s kind of normal and trying to figure it out. When you’re in art school everybody knows how to draw or everybody knows how to create, so there’s different levels. When you get around those people it’s either one or two things. It’s either you realize you’re not as good as you thought you were, like I look at other peoples projects and think dang how did you get in this school. I wouldn’t say it out loud but I knew I’d get an A. So it built my confidence up. I’m stubborn and focused like if I really wanted to do something I figured out how to do it, and put all my energy into it.

I didn’t even like my school at first. The teachers didn’t like me cuz of the way I carry myself. I look back now and it’s like okay, I can kind of see how I was a walking stereotype. But I wasn’t thinking like that back then.

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FML: What do you mean walking stereotype?

Meaning art school is a place where you should be able to be creative and express yourself, right? Cause that’s what art school is. I would see like golf kids around, I would see nerds, I would see all different kinds of people. But I always felt like personally my teachers always, how can I say this? They just didn’t have faith in me. They just had a stereotype of what I was and how I was going to be. I used to walk around with Timbs and baggy jeans and durags everyday, but that was all I knew thats what I was, so I kind of look like a thug to them. But I was always me I wasn’t no Thug, that’s just how I dress, that’s how I was raised. That’s where I’m from, I’m from the hip hop culture oh, that’s where I come from. So I wouldn’t notice, like I would ask questions and teachers would ignore me. I would try to get help but they wouldn’t answer me. It was super blatant and I don’t even call it racist because it wasn’t a black and white thing. It was more like, he’s not for real, he’s not going to do s***. Like, that’s how I felt so I had a chip on my shoulder. So it made me go harder, like all right you’re not going to answer me, I’ll go find answer myself. And I had another classmate, my boy Drew, and we’re actually really tight to this day. And he was dope and he recognized that I was good and he would help me when I needed it. I knew things he didn’t know and he knew things I didn’t know. But he was like the man with the computers and all that, still to this day. But he taught me so much. We just clicked, we got real tight. I used to go to his crib and figure out stuff together do projects together and everything. I really learned way more from other students then I did from my teachers. Andrew was a white guy from Mobile Alabama, you think we were complete opposites. And he’s one of my best friends today.

FML: What’s he up to? Did he continue down the path?

Oh yeah, Drew works for Turner, he’s done graphics for NBA TV. He’s all the way in the business, in the corporate world. He does Motion Graphics he doing really good. He’s worked for Turner, TBS and more. He also does freelance work.

FML: Have you ever wanted to go into corporate?

No, it’s boring. Like I feel Drew’s bored he can’t do what he wants to do. He has assignments etc. For me, I wake up everyday and I’m like hmm, what am I going to do today? I’m going to have the roaches go to the strip club and they’re going to have potato chips instead of money, cause that’s their currency. And then I’ma go to the studio with DC Young Fly and Carlos Miller and tell them what I want them to say. And they’re going to go and do these funny ass jokes and take my dialogue and make it funny. And I’ma go home and chop it up. You know? I get to be creative and have fun.

To read this entire interview log onto www.famelivemag.com 30

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Atlanta

By Photographer: Travis Christian