What you give is what you get... When you give 110% people take notice, and one person that you should take notice of is Panama. BRM felt this so much that we made it our business to sit down with Panama and have a conversation. Read the interview below. Guarantee you, you won’t be disappointed.

BRM: We’re here with Panama and his sponsor Tyku which has been very nice to set him up with Cocktail hour.

Panama: After a long day’s work we come here and celebrate with Tyku and make a little cocktail in one of the offices.

BRM: Sounds good, so how did you get the name Panama, we’ll start off with an easy one.

Panama: Panama, well I’m actually Panamanian, (Panama then speaks Spanish). My family’s Panamanian so it keeps me at a humble mindset. It keeps me sane, keeps me focused, keeps me grounded and keeps me hungry. That is one way to remind myself who I am, where I’m headed and where I came from.

BRM: Are you actually from that third world country, did actually walk those streets, or are you just repping it just too…

Panama:  Every day, every year for the last 9 years of my life. Slept and ate between feces and urine. Slept in a shack. One bedroom, shared a bathroom with the neighborhood. It was real life.  And to this day, my family wakes up every morning and has to figure out what to eat for breakfast. So it’s not something where I can pop champagne or go to the club knowing that they go through that on a regular basis. I always have that thought in the back of my mind, because of where I’m going. Got to look back….

BRM: How much of your family is still out there:

Panama: Father and Mother combined, about 80%. Most of the elderly aunts and the cousins. My cousins have kids now. There’s only a few of us that were born here in America. I was born in Brooklyn, but as soon as I was born I got shipped back.

BRM: Why did you get shipped back?

Panama: I didn’t get shipped back, I went back to actually meet my family... My mom’s mom, my grandmother as well as countless others, to meet those people. Then I came back to the United States.

BRM: When did you officially come back to the states?

Panama: It was off and on, but permanently I would say 5^th grade.

BRM: Why’d you come back?

Panama: Had the opportunity. My mom was here; my father actually got shipped here. Once the opportunity arrived, to put me in the circumstance and the atmosphere that I’m able to express myself and learn new things we made it happen. I think that was the best decision.

BRM: Where’d you land when you were shipped back?

Panama: Brooklyn. My birth place.

BRM: What part of Brooklyn?

Panama: Flatbush, Utica Ave. I’m all over NY in that way.

BRM: Where do you lay your head now?

Panama: The Bx., to take care of mi Abuela, my grandmother. I’m in the bx right now, not my original stomping ground… but yes I’m in the bx.

BRM: What made you decide to take care of your grandmother?

Panama: You have to give her that love and care when she feels alone. Give her that laughter and joy. The person who took care of your father and mother. Grandchildren have to step up. When she’s down and out, when she’s feeling lonely, when she’s sick or when she’s hungry. You have to learn values and morals from her: the cooking, the cleaning, the laundry… the domestic life…. You want to spend that time with her before your lifestyle changes and you can no longer be there on an everyday basis.

BRM: So with you learning all the domestic stuff, are you going to be doing all those things yourself when you become rich and famous or are you going to have someone do it for you?

Panama: I wouldn’t want to blame someone for accidentally breaking my antique or accidentally putting a stain on my Persian carpet. I don’t want to have to ask why did you do it; I want to be able to say I did it. I’m going to train my kids to do the same thing. This is our property, our stuff. I’m not going to have a maid, I didn’t come from that lifestyle and it’ll humble me as a man to have to do all of that stuff myself. The way I know how to. I was raised to clean certain situations a certain way. I’m not a dishwasher type of guy. I’m really like plates, scraping pots and pans with comet. To have another person go through that and not do it the way I want to would be disastrous.

BRM: Lets actually get into your career, what made you decide to do what it is that you do?

Panama: Passion for the arts. I think to have that voice because it’s so universal: music, acting and modeling, it’s just a universal art form, and to have that opportunity for people to be receptive to actually have fans, not too much “yeah I’m in the virtual world, the internet”, but to have actual physical fans. You know what I’m saying. When you get into a magazine and they purchase that magazine, that’s like a real fan who says “I want to see him in that mag, instead of clicking through pages on the Internet”. That physical fan is like wow! People are actually supporting me believing in me Panama and because of this I’m able to spread my voice, wisdom and words throughout the universe. I don’t know where it’s going but its being heard. Through ITunes I find out who listens to my music in London, in Cambodia, in Florida and just to have that voice… I think it’s very big, its stadium status.

BRM: So where do you ultimately want your career to go?

Panama: Well, I’m chasing a man called Quincy Jones. That executive, pioneer, mogul status. That highly respected man. A man who saw a vision when he was down and out, and just went to the top with it, not by crossing people, but by helping them, influencing them, touching and transforming them, as well as their careers, into something else. That’s where I want to be ultimately. In the next 40 years that’s what I’m chasing. Immediately, just progression. I’m walking with the man upstairs. GOD is my best friend. I can’t even complain about things that are going on.

BRM: Do you have any advice for those coming up who want to be the profound rapper not profane rapper?

Panama: Determination. I always tell people to live well with pride, love life with faith, and laugh often with joy. Be yourself, stay true to your character. When you stay true to your character people only have to love you. You try to win them by making them love who you are and when who you are makes that person feel that you are profound, then you’re doing your job. You can’t try to imitate or mimic anybody else and have that person think “oh he sounds likes so and so, oh he’s doing so and so.” Do you. Be determined. Don’t mistake reality with something else. You don’t want to be 30 years old and say “Yo I’m doing, I’m doing”. There are really no arguments for you. Be a realist about your situation. Understand where it’s going, who you have included, and learn the business. Educate yourself. Definitely educate yourself in this industry cause the music industry is not about the glitz and the glamour, there’s a lot more that goes into this situation than you can ever imagine. It’s not about the MTV’s and BET’s all the time, you can be with TYKU and spread your name, you can be with Blackberry and spread your name in a different way and be successful like that and market yourself with different brands. To sum it up Education, Determination, Innovation, and Creativity.

For more ways to find Panama.. check out these links:

www.panamaloveu.com
www.twitter.com/itspanamababy
www.facebook.com/itspanamababy
www.myspace.com/daspanishkid