Journalism and Notes For my Magazine

DPS – Lauren Cato

Special features

Hash tags (#LaurenCato, BeCreative, UkMusic, RawTalent), bold quotes from the text, page numbers (the web site address next to them), departments or sections with 5 questions within them, advert for either bigga fish or Cato87

Props – chair, Cato hoodie, old school microphone, Watch, school tie, cato87 card

Questions –

1.       What has been inspiration your over the last couple years of your career?

Umm, I think the biggest thing that keeps me going is just seeing everyone else around me growing; like looking at my brother, older cousins… Everyone’s moving up and it’s like I want to be part of it and make my family and myself proud. I’m someone who doesn’t like to just sit down and do nothing, so whatever I can do I will. I love being around creative people who have different ideas so we can try to build something. I believe that inspiration can come from something so small.

2.       How did you feel when you wrote the chorus for ‘Resistance’ for raw talent only?

I was excited to get the opportunity to write the chorus for them, because they are also an up and coming group from London which is really good and They all so their own individual thing as well. The song was basked around a situation that happened to Shaq (Member of the group) and when he explained it to me I felt that I could really relate to it, so it was quite easy for me to find the right words.

3.       Where can your fans catch you performing next?

That’s a hard one because I’m not sure when I’m going to be singing performing. But I think I might be having a hula hooping performance early next year in walthamstow and I’m trying to get a slot on a talent show in central London.

4.       When you’re not in the studio what kind of things do you do?

I like to work out and hula hoop, I’ve also been doing some short films and writing me own scripts as well I’m at university and I’ve been working. But I always just try to be creative

5.       In the future, near future I hope, whom would you want to do a collaboration with?

I would like to work with Bobii Lewis again, I love what he’s doing at the moment; just in terms of me being in his videos again whatever because his work ethic is out of this world.  Burgs as well, he’s got a few things coming out next year. I have had the chance to work with Ashley waters as an extra in his directorial debut called………. I like working with a range of people from different areas of the UK music industry.

6.       What has been your most exciting Project to work on to date?

I think my most exciting project has been preparing from my SB.TV should be bigger video which came out this month. I wanted to get a new hoop anyway but that sort of pushed me to get one that week. I didn’t really have much time to prepare something because of university and deadlines. I live with a DJ so he was playing music for me – he came up with a good mix so it was just really fun to work on that in such a short space of time as well. But it was unfortunate that not all of it got to go in the clip.

7.       I really like your style and fashion sense, where have your ideas come from and what are your favorite brands?

I don’t know where my ideas come from obviously the media has a big influence on what people wear and how they dress, but I don’t really watch TV a lot its just how I feel at the time. Sometimes I feel like wearing a tracksuit and I don’t want to do my hair or I want to be really girly I’ll be in a dress. I like to wear stuff from ‘American apparel’ ‘unico’ I sometimes shop in primark don’t get it twisted! New look, H&M and I work in accessories so some of my stuff comes from there too. I shop in normal shops I just don’t pick out the normal things in the shop.

8.       How important are trainers to you?

Trainers and too important to me, I get this feeling in my heart every two months it’s like I need something… what is it… trainers. I’ve got so many, some of them haven’t even been worn yet, some of them have been worn once and I’ve had them for three years. I think I need to slow down. I’ve just brought some Jordans, which are on the way from America.

9.       What has been your highlight this year?

I think this year my highlight has been joining the national youth theater, that way a really good experience and obviously being with the national youth theater can open so many doors for me. It was really fun for me to meet different people from different back grounds and ages; and we put on a really good show.

10.   You’re a very talented young woman I believe you’ve been busy working alongside sbtv, Starmellow TV and you’ll be in a short film coming out in December, tell me a bit more about that?

Aww thank you. Yeah I’ve been working with quite a few people; it’s funny because when you first start out it’s like this exactly what you want to do it feels like you’re not getting anywhere. But all of a sudden everything comes at once and it’s hard to try and juggle everything. Working with SB.TV was really good, like working alongside Quanson Matthews again, he’s a great guy, and he’s really creative. Working with Starmellow tv was great too working with Moses Levs and darnel was amazing both experiences were really good. I was also in a short film called ‘Statistic’ with Jide Fisher was amazing too I’ve got the preview already but I’m just waiting from him to finish the colour grading before its out, he’s also going to push it to some film festivals as well.

11.   Ultimately what has inspired you to make music?

I think it’s because I’ve always been around people who value music and who are quite creative like my Auntie, Lurine Cato is a gospel singer, my dad plays the guitar and my brother used to play the piano so I’ve always just gone back to music if I haven’t found anything else to do. I love the way it can make people feel it can really help to lift up your mood or you can find a song to relate to your mood in that that time of struggle.

12.   I notice that you’re wearing a cato87 Hoodie; can you explain to me what it is?

Yeah, Cato87 is my brothers company. It’s called cato87 because he was born in 1987 and the clothing part is just an extra, what he actually does is he mentors, takes coaching sessions, he does classes for kids, futsal, foot free styling and anything to do with the sports industry. We needed tracksuits and stuff to work in so he decided to make a clothing brand out of it as well available to anyone.

Advert – cato87

2 models For Cato87 – 2 items will be modeled – vest top and hoodie (Kadeshia)

To view a range of clothes and to get your Cato87 attire Visit cato87.com today. Each item comes in a variety of colours so pick the one that suites you best.

Advert – bigga fish

Bigga fish is a non-profitable organization set up to provide a network of support for young people aged 14-21 who are a part of the street team. Bigga fish is also an option for up and coming artists who are looking for a way to set the foundations for their music careers. If this sounds like something you would like to get involved in follow @BiggaFish on twitter or visit Biggafish.com for more info.

Next event – push 9-12-12 Picture of the top of the flyer.

 

Contents page

Picture from on top of a bridge – Leytonstone So the scenery can be seen in the frame (houses/buildings).

Side view of model (oumy) looking forward (Mid shot) – the text of the content will be in her line of view like she’s looking toward it.

Props – headphones Grey (urban ears), coat, scarf, backpack, snap back

The text will be in a box that will be transparent so it looks foggy so the reader can still read the text against the background and so the image isn’t covered completely.

Content – Market Deco and identify

Section 1 – Regulars

·         Starmellow – Moses (founder) give an exclusive interview and update of this month’s progression

·         Inbox – The public can leave messages via email, twitter or Facebook and persona tries to answer questions / respond. Related to the UK music industry under the brackets of our genres

·         Look out – where we highlight the efforts and progress of an artist who we feel is about to blow and will make it big. In this magazine this section will be featuring pagey cakey

·         Editors letter

·         Contributions – The magazine is out to tether by a number of different roles i.e. the writer, photographer, stylist and illustrator

·         The chosen one – the winner of underground rap artists has their time to shine the competition will be like Lord of The Mic, Def Jam and SB.TV’s Cypher artist

·         Whatever suits you – The section where artists from each genre are put together and recent or the best tracks (results from an online survey) are displayed to increase the awareness of their songs, widen their fan base and to encourage to audience to explore all genres.

·         Where will they go next? - we find out where a range of artists are planning to go in the future

·         Competition - Win an ipad, meet BBK members

Section 2 – essentials

·         Hot spots this month/where to be – gives readers a list of events live concerts, festivals and fairs which Will include live performances from UK artists which are coming up in the next month

·         News and views – news within the music industry about record labels, who’s been signed where and gossip

·         Connect – twitter wars amount artists, and just generally things posted by artists that are interesting but mostly positive because of the age of my target audience

·         Who’s ready for 2013?!

·         Urban Meets classic – Children in need

·         How well do you know the UK music scene?

Section 3 – Features

·         Lauren Cato #BeCreative – a question and answer style of interview giving readers an insight into this young up and coming artist

·         Roxxxan - up close and personal - interview

·         Cashtastic #AskCash – interview with Cashtastic but readers have had the chance to ask questions before the magazine is published, they would have found out about the opportunity on the website they can contact via email, twitter and Facebook. We find out what he’s been doing and what he has planned for the future

·         Lessons with George the poet – interviewer Claira Hermet plays a game with George the poet where she goes against him to think of the best lyrics/rhymes about topics picked by the writer.

·         Stooshe how it all happened – Stooshe gives persona mag exclusive information about the group.

·         10 ways to Play Dirty (Krept, Konan and Yungen) – the play dirty boys tell us about what they’ve been doing to up their game

·         Amplify Dot – 50 greatest songs/10 to delete

-          Collaborations – Emili Sande featuring Labrinth – beneath your beautiful Misha B featuring Cashtastic – look at what you’ve done

·         Twitter highlights of 2012

Editor’s Note

Welcome Persona readers, you’re now in the capable hands of Persona where you can feel free to browse through our departments; Regulars, Features and Essentials; and check out the extra content from behind the scenes of interviews, and photo shoots and get regular recent updates on Persona Magazine. This month we’ve been visited by special guests like Roxxxan and Amplify Dot from ‘Female All-Stars’ and other up and coming artists from the UK music scene like Bobii Lewis and jade Ellis.
Our cover star this month is North London’s Lauren Cato. She has told persona about what she’s been up to since taking to the Stage to be the opening act for Marsha Ambrosius earlier this year. Her passion and drive to produce good music, makes our jobs here at persona just that little bit easier.
So sit back and relax…

Front cover

Set in Kingston London Domino telephone boxes, to illustrate the London theme within the music industry. My model will be Lauren Cato. My idea is to capture an image of her interacting with the scenery so that the frame includes her and still illustrates the London theme to my audience.

Special features:
Cover lines
All of my cover lines will be just the names of artists rather than short stories about what is inside the magazine

The barcode will be in the bottom right of the page so it doesn’t take up too much space in the frame – I will also include a QR code (Quick Response Code) to enable practical use for the reader with mobile phones so they can access the magazine through our app.

My date line and price will be next to or beneath the barcodes.

Costume:
Denim shorts, black tights, burgundy creepers, cream socks, burgundy top, cream jumper and a leather jacket.

Props:
Sony headphones, geek glasses