These are just some notes from the backstage. I was honored to be invited two days in a raw to hang out with Rhyheim Shabazz and his crew.
A unique opportunity
As most of our readers probably know, Rhyheim Shabazz has settled for several weeks in Rio de Janeiro. Coincidently, I took my Thanksgiving vacation this week.
Although we had developed a virtual relationship, we had never met before. This was my chance to finally meet Big Bro. Not only we met, but besides we had the privilege to witnessing his team of artists in action. I had full access for several hours in two different days.
As you know if you follow Rhyheim & his friends, a big deal of his success comes from team work. Additionally to meeting Rhyheim, we also enjoyed meeting and observing Eyefilmz’ in action. In my opinion, there is no better videographer and photographer in the adult entertainment industry. Besides Rhyheim’ and Eyefilmz’ evident talents, they are also fun, humble, and generous souls.
Consider the contrast. We are a little blog with 12K followers in Twitter and +1K in Instagram. They… well, you know. Their welcoming me to observe from the backstage, their giving me full access, their patiently listening to my ignorant feedback and comments (I am an outsider), their overall love and consideration, is just another clue to the quality of their character.
As usual, I will start reporting my learnings and interpretations after I return home. I need to process all this learning. Furthermore, I still hope to have more opportunities to observe them working during these few days I have left in Brazil.
Right now, my intention is just sharing a few notes with objective observations. No opinions. No interpretations. And no gossip. If you are looking for gossip, you better click away. I am only sharing facts from the backstage.
Some notes from the backstage
- We saw a luxurious house with big open spaces and generous outdoors, placed on a hill with an amazing view.
- Each artist residing in the house has his own room.
- I saw that all expenses for the team (and their guests) were covered. Rhyheim even paid for my Uber and invited me to dinning out in a nice restaurant. Everyone was invited but the kiddos chose to go somewhere else, with the bill covered anyways.
- Every single performer not residing in the big house, has his own room in a nearby hotel. Rhyheim brought 6 Americans, one Colombian, and I do not know how many Brazilians. When I was there, observing from the backstage, the total number was about 13 performers, but more were arriving.
- I saw that all their travel and staying expenses were covered. I said this before, but I want to make clear that this benefit included everyone, not only the artists residing in the big house. Everyone was consistently treated with upmost respect and personal and creative consideration.
- Observing from the backstage, one of the things that stroke me the most was the joy. I saw artists happily and freely working and enjoying working together. Perhaps this is the most important observation from the backstage. I saw a lot of work and a lot of relaxing, but they were always joyful.
- I saw that Rhyheim makes sure he gets his own content. However, everyone has most of the time available to do their own thing. Indeed, it is their decision whether or not they want to chill and enjoy themselves or instead work on collaborations to generate their own content.
More notes from the backstage
- I did not observe any commands or demands.
- From the backstage, some of the conversations I heard the most: “Would you like to….?”,“Would you feel comfortable with…?”, “What do you think about…?”, “Is there anything you have been thinking of doing with us, here?”, “Is there anybody you would specially like working with?”, “When do you want to shoot your scene with…?”
- I witnessed how Eyefilmz has full freedom to display his talents
- Not only him. There is no hierarchy of respect and privilege, other than been chosen to reside in the house.
- I saw the performers asking Rhyheim to do some things he was reluctant about, and Rhyheim surrendering. From the backstage, it truly seems the role of boss is open to circulation. Alternative leaderships are encouraged and fostered.
- There is no much pre-planning. What Rhyheim does reminds me of what good teachers do in their classrooms. They do not focus on rules and demands. Instead, they set high expectations for behavior and learning, and then let it go. They are not the center of the classroom, they model and facilitate learning. Big Bro does something very similar. He chooses the performers (actually this decision is made in a small core group, it is not only his), he sets a culture of respect and joy, and then steps aside and lets the outcome go.
- We clearly noticed the difference between the big house residents mindset and quality of personal interactions, and most of the other performers. Without betraying my effort to remain factual and objective, I dare to say that the difference was between most (not all) of the South American performers on one side, and most of the Americans on the other side. What exactly the difference is is matter of interpretation. Despite that fact, the difference was clear from the backstage.
To close
My memory sucks. I cannot trust I will remember everything I experienced from the backstage. These are all factual observations taken from the notes I keep, because I know I will need them. Later on, once I am back home, once I have the chance to process all the learning from this privileged opportunity, I will write something more subjective and less factual.
One of the many things I’ve observed is that Rhyheim’s shyness and humility is not a faked posture. I know it is hard to believe, I did not believe it myself until I experienced it in person. He clearly does not like to be in the spotlight.
Therefore, we will do our best to learn his lesson. This is not about him or anyone in particular, but about them all, and about all of us. This is about celebrating each other in all our diversity of shapes, colors, and minds. If we love and respect each other, there are no much rules and demands to set. Only good things will come out.
Hell, I cannot control myself. However, I do think I did stay on the facts. Be patient, more is coming but I do not have much time to write.
Hasta la próxima pinga, amig@s
josesoplanucas@gmail.com