Sergio Neptuna Talks: Merging Art, Comics, and Community

Episode Transcript
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Rob Lee (00:10):
Welcome to the Truth in Us Art. I am your host, Rob Lee.
And today, I'm excited to be inconversation with my next guest,
an artist whose work mergeseveryday life with contemporary
culture, crafting narrativesthat challenge perceptions and
provoke thought. Born out of apassion for comics, movies, and
music, his artwork is acelebration of the boundless

(00:32):
power of creativity in thedigital age. Please join me in
welcoming the incrediblyinventive digital artist, Sergio
Neptuna.
So, thank you for, for coming onand making the time. This is,
it's going to be a treat, like,you know, because I have my ear
to the street and my eyes to theboards and what's around and you

(00:53):
get names and like, alright,who's this dude? And, now we're
here. So I'm happy about this.

Sergio Neptuna (00:58):
Yeah. This is crazy. I mean, I can't imagine
somebody told you about me. Imean, I'm such a new artist in
the city. So, I'm hoping thatyou saw the billboard or
something like that or okay.
Alright. Cool. So it's I mean,again, it's an honor to be here,
man. I'm you know, for somebodystarting off and to be a fan of
the show, then to be actually onthe show, this is like, my my

(01:21):
well, I just actually see you.It's kinda crazy.
You know? So so yeah.

Rob Lee (01:25):
That's great. And, I wanna wanna set the stage. You
you you're already gonna know.You already know my whole
playbook. You know what I mean?
And, I do. So, you know, forstarters, like, describe your,
creative background. Like, youknow, I I I like to

We're not starting there. We're starting
we're starting this is where weconnect. Okay. I also grew up as
a comic book head.

Rob Lee (01:45):
Go on. Tell me.

Alright. So I'm from Winston Salem, North
Carolina. A lot of people don'tknow where that is, but it's in
North Carolina, A small city.But we had this place called
Heroes. Great name.
Heroes aren't hard to find. Itwas a comic book shop. And I had
my subscription there. I wouldgo there and get 2 books. I
would get Generation X, which isthe spin off of Marvel.
And I had x men 2099. Those arethe 2 that I would always get.

(02:10):
So, and I just love the artwork,like, I grew up even more filled
than the comic book, the books.I was big into the cards. Mhmm.
Like Marvel Masterpieces, FleurUltra, all that stuff. Joe
Jesko, Judy Bell was anothercrazy artist that I grew up with
and, I admired. So that's kindawhere my my art side started.

(02:34):
But to be honest, it reallystarted with music. I think
music and art are like brotherand sister.
So my family I come from amusical family. My mom was the
choir director at my church. Shealso played for the symphony.
She played the flute. To bequite honest, I don't know if I
would have even gotten tocollege had I not had a music
scholarship because I wasn't thebest student.

(02:55):
So, so yeah, yeah, yeah. So itreally started with music. Just
understanding, I always had atheory, I guess, if you do
something every day, you'll getgood at it. So I guess what I
took from the music side, I kindof brought up to the art side.
So I try to do something everyday.
And as a human being, if you dosomething every day, you'll get
better and better and better.You won't get it won't be

(03:16):
perfection, but you'll becomebetter just by practice. So,
that's where I am

Rob Lee (03:22):
with my art. Thank you. Wow. That's, it's it's like the,
it's like you're you're you'relearning to drive or what have
have you. So it's hours doingit, that time doing it.
It's, you know, I as I'vementioned numerous times that
you know, I've been doing thisfor a very long time and doing a
lot of it in the last few yearsat a very concentrated, like,

(03:45):
high volume sort of way. And,yeah, I think you when you take
a break from it, if you're doingit every day, you know, whatever
your creative pursuit is,whatever your pursuit is, when
you take a break from it, yougotta rest, you gotta recharge,
but also you gotta still bedipped in it, especially when it
comes to something that has anemotional response and has sort
of like, I got feelings aroundthis or as a lot of creatives

(04:07):
encounter, I got insecuritiesaround this. 100%.

It's a, I think not that I've, like, dipped my
toe into it. It's more of alifestyle. You know? It's almost
like being like a samurai. Youknow?
You gotta go and, you know,practice and learn and watch
YouTube. You know what I'msaying? Learn different people's
techniques and, you know, getdifferent brushes and, you know,

(04:32):
just immerse yourself in the theculture of being an artist, you
know? And and the camaraderie ofit because I feel like, you
know, I feel like it's mysuperpower. I I can it's it's
almost At the end of the day, Ican always fall back on.

(04:53):
I can really make some I canreally create some dope shit at
the end of the day. And theamount of, confidence that gives
me is just, like, out of thisworld, you know. So that's the,
that's the kind of the crux ofeverything. Just be like, you
know what? I create stuff thatpeople like.
You know. And I got I createstuff that I like. It's more

(05:15):
important than anything. So

Rob Lee (05:16):
And and before we we start talking about your work, I
at least wanna throw this outthere. This is the idea I've
been playing with, and I'm gonnashare this the first time with
this podcast, actually. It'sthis this idea of, like, filled
in lines, dotted lines, and dashlines. And what you were
describing is sort of thatchecked offline, that fully
solid one. Like, I know that Ican make some dope shit.

Right? Yeah.

Rob Lee (05:39):
Oh, I for me, my baseline is always because it's
collaborative, right? You know,like if someone comes in,

I got I don't know

Rob Lee (05:46):
what to do. You know what I mean? I'm gonna try my
I'm gonna try my best to do mything, but that's what it is.
But my baseline, I sort of,like, filled in check is I know
I can get audio out of this. Iknow I know I can control my
side of it.
I can research. I could get allthat stuff done. And some of
those other things, like, ifit's a different environment,
that thing becomes a little bitmore of a dash line. Mhmm. I

(06:09):
don't control that as much or ifI may not have an updated artist
statement or bio, more of a dashline.
But, you know, some of thosethings, I put these sort of
check marks in there and thelifestyle thing you're saying,
absolutely. You know? I startedapplying that to how I navigate
through the world, and I think alot of creatives and people with
creative sensibilities and andartists kinda live in that sort

(06:32):
of lane of, I don't turn it off.It's always on.

Yeah. Especially because I work for the school
system and it's summertime. Anda lot of that downtime at work,
I got my iPad out. You know whatI'm saying? You know, I'm trying
to you know, I got something onmy screen that looks like I'm
working, but I'm really outthere just, you know, scribbling
away.
And sometimes even, you know,with that lifestyle, I'll be in
the bed 2 o'clock in themorning. And I know my fiance is

(06:57):
like, go to sleep. Chopping awayat some artwork, you know? I get
up at 6 o'clock in the morningjust to do art before everybody
wakes up. Yeah.
I do an immense amount ofclasses that, yeah. But it's
just like, this is the journeyand the path that I'm on right

(07:18):
now. Yeah. So, I'm gonna seewhat's I'm gonna see what's
what's at the end of it. Sothat's the that's the goal.

Rob Lee (07:25):
I I describe it as I'm riding this wave, and I wanna
see where it goes. And, youknow, it's it's one of those
other things where when when Iget up in the morning, I've been
getting up a little laterrecently. Just I'm beat up. I
get 66 days a week lifting. It'sa little too much, but it's
that.
And but I think it's one ofthose things that it it applies,
right, where I get up in themorning. I'm headed to the gym

(07:49):
to try to get there by 7 becausethat's essentially when it
opens. And I'm trying to getthose wins. I'm trying to finish
those sets, have that sort ofpositive energy going in. And
because I'm a data analyst, itsays it's the day job.
Right? In in a in a schoolsystem, not these school system,
but

a school. Okay.

Rob Lee (08:05):
I kind of look at things through that lens. I was
like, all right, maybe I shouldstart tracking like when I'm
doing an interview on a day thatI've had those early wins is my
confidence level higher becauseI had those wins first thing in
the morning of finishing thesesets and accomplishing in some
new PR or what have you. And ismy confidence level so much
higher when I do theseinterviews? And where is it at

(08:27):
after? Because inevitably, youknow, as creatives, as artists,
as anybody pursuing something,you're gonna have something that
falls flat.
You're gonna have somethingthat's that's kind of mid. So
I'm gonna put a pin in that, andI'm gonna I'm gonna go in and
kind of set into the to thissort of thing of describe your
current work. Give us give usyour current work. We're gonna
we're gonna get into the deepconversation, but

I'm gonna

Rob Lee (08:46):
at least set that out there.

To be honest, my current work is is is infantile,
man. To be honest, I'm stilltrying to figure out what my
style is. So I just do a lot ofstuff that I like, but I'm
really gonna start like, it'salmost like language. Like, I'm
I'm putting my words togethernow, And then I'll have a full

(09:09):
sentence. Yeah.
And once I have a full sentence,it's over for everybody. I'm
joking. I'm joking. But no,seriously, I think art contains
the world. So I have some ideasI wanna do.
I think my my current idea is Ilike word play. It doesn't say
that in my my artwork now, but Ilike things that if you read it,

(09:29):
depending on where you are inlife, you'll get a different
meaning out of it. You know, soI have this idea around, you
know, with all this stuff goingon with, affirmative action and
things kinda getting rolledback. Mhmm. I've got this my and
I'm giving you some, you know,how the sausage is made.
My my current idea is more of aAmerica's got us fucked up.

(09:53):
Mhmm. And some typography. Butdepending on where you are, that
could mean so many differentthings. Mhmm.
America's got us fucked up couldmean, oh, they got us fucked up.
Or drug induced. They have usfucked up, you know. So it can
it can be so many differentmeanings depending on where you
are and how you translate thosethings. But I leave that up to

(10:15):
the to the viewer, how they seethat.
So that's kind of one of mygoals to kind of make stuff more
like that with kind of morethought provoking things.

Rob Lee (10:23):
Yes. You're you're you're provocateur. I like this.

I guess. I don't know.

Rob Lee (10:28):
Well well, and even that even in that sort of
sentiment of, you know, Americadid this to us is another thing
that's right there, you know,where that what we have sitting
there. And, you know, when wereturn to these things that are,
again, the dotted line, thecheck line thing. We thought it
was a dotted line. We thought itwas a check line.

Oh, 100%.

Rob Lee (10:47):
And now I'm just like, oh, let's retroactively go back
to this. And then Sixties.

The you know, we're going 70, sixties, we're
going back in time.

Rob Lee (10:56):
You know?

18, 70, sixties. Like, we're going back there.

Rob Lee (11:00):
And it's like to your to your point, it's like
America's got us fucked upbecause you you think that this
is just gonna be fine?

Right.

Rob Lee (11:07):
We're just gonna accept this?

100%. Yes. 100%. Yes. So so yeah, that's why I'm
I'm really trying to saysomething.
I'm I'm not saying anythingright now, but I'm really trying
to start saying something.

Rob Lee (11:22):
Is is it would it be safe to say that, you know, as a
digital artist, right, you're inthe sort of ideation and growth
phase within your work, but youfeel something like bubbling of
this is the message that I wannado, and I wanna use the work as
a way to extend and share thatmessage.

Yeah. That is is is twofold. It's also it's that
and, just finding the art ineveryday life. I think I did one
of those one of my pieces wheremy son is in the, you know,
dentist chair. You know?
But that's art. And the thingfor me, my son's black. His
dentist is Indian. And there'sanother black lady who's the

(12:02):
assistant, you know? That meanssomething.
That means something. At leastto me, it does. When he was
born, his doctor, the lady whodelivered him, was a black
woman. That meant something tome, you know? It even brought me
back to, like, ancient times.

(12:23):
Like, we've been doing thisthing for so long. You know,
this process of bringing peoplein into the world. So having the
first person he see be a Blackwoman meant something to me. I
didn't think that it justhappened to happen like that.
You know, I'm always listeningto the universe.
But, yeah, it was, I'm justtrying to get those moments back

(12:45):
into

Rob Lee (12:45):
my art. It's, you know, I'm reading in there in the bio,
you had this penchant for beingable to to craft narratives. And
and what I'm hearing was wasthat it's like, you know, a
person will think about sort ofthe the the the the actual thing
that happened, the thechildbirth and those
circumstances. But the way thatyou described it made it

(13:08):
something much more precious andmuch more personal because it is
that. And I think that'ssomething about, like, you know,
being able to paint that thatsort of narrative.

Chad GPT did a did a good job. Where'd it go?
Where'd it go? It works. No.
Well but seriously, that's what,you know, those moments are
important. Yep. And and I and

Rob Lee (13:32):
I like you know, you're touching on, like you know, I
don't think your work is aphotographer. It's it's in the
earlier stages. Right? But Ilike that you're doing stuff
that you enjoy because I think alot of times and, you know,
there's a lot of people thatcome on here and I get a lot of
bios and artist statements andI'm like, what's your work
about? You know what I mean?
And I think a lot of times sortof trying to accomplish multiple

(13:55):
layers because you fit a certainthing, you know, demographically
speaking. Right. And it's justlike, where's the you in it? And
in it, when I was going throughsome of the images on your
website of the work that you'vedone, I was like, okay. No.
That's that's to him. I I getthis dude, you know, from this,
at least from this angle. And Iwas like, I see the Andre 3 k. I
see

get on that. Let's get on that. Oh, I'm I'm
looking on and and, also, Icannot post the video a picture
unless I had the music to gowith it. It's just I they're
married together. I can't.
But to the Andre piece, for megrowing up in the South, Andre
is such a pivotal, pivotal,pivotal, pivotal, pivotal,

(14:35):
pivotal. Help me out here.

Rob Lee (14:37):
I like it. I like it.

Edit that out. I know. I'm sorry. You know, we
all make mistakes. That's thethat's the dash line right
there.
He's such an important I'll goto that. He's such an important
piece of, the culture. -Yeah.-Because me growing up, I'm 40
years old. You're a little olderthan me, but we kinda grew up
around the same age.

Rob Lee (14:57):
Younger than you, Jake. Are you? I'm 38.

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. My apologies.

Rob Lee (15:02):
I was like, are we being spicy right now?

No. No. No. No. No.
No.

Rob Lee (15:05):
I'm good. You got it. You got it. He's

such an important part because growing
up in that time when AT aliensand you know, Southern playlist
that came out, you know,unfortunately, in the black
community, at least around thattime, I think these have gotten
better. Mhmm. Your sexuality,like, it was tested at all all
times, you know. But Andreshowed that you could be

(15:31):
different and still be cool andaccepted. You know, you didn't
have to necessarily wear whateverybody was wearing or listen
to, Master P at the time orwhatever.

Rob Lee (15:44):
Master P. I love it.

I'm telling you, Andre was that person that made
people think, well, alright,well, I like his rap. He's
dressed like a genie. What? Ican get with it. So for me, he
was like the person like, he waslike the big brother say, yo.
Be yourself. You don't have todress in all the clothes. You
don't have to wear waka rockerwear if you don't want to. You
know what I'm saying? You don'thave to wear fat form or fubu.

(16:08):
Look at these references. I'mtelling you. You can you can
shop at Hot Topic and still sogo ahead.

Rob Lee (16:15):
Let me let me throw this one out there to you,
because that it's a really goodpoint you're making. So I think
freshman year of college, thatwas when, Speaker Box Slope
Below came out, and I think thatwas sort of it's it's the it's
the wrap up. Right? But whichwe've later learned was the wrap
up, but in in essence, it waslike them showing their

(16:37):
individual things by proxy ofthis double element. They're
each doing their own thing, andI gravitated towards, you know,
a 103,000 more, and I always waskinda in that lane.
And I know I've said this beforein this podcast, but I'm an
Aquarius, and I was hoping I waslike, dude's an Aquarius. Right?
And it's like, no. He's theGemini. And I was like, nah.

(16:58):
The big boy is the Aquarius. Iwas like, come on, man. And my
brother is a Gemini, and he heacts like big boys the way that
he's depicted, and I have moreof the Andre three k
sensibilities. Wow. Butdefinitely, that, you know, that
whole thing, all of it worked,and and I and I think sort of
changing, I did a podcast for awhile called unofficially black.

(17:22):
And in it, my co host and I, wewould sorta challenge. And we we
we weren't as refined in it. Wewere just kinda, you know,
barbershop talk, but, really, wewere talking about sort of what
are the topics of the week, youknow, that's on our radar as
black men or have you. And theit was born out of this idea of
these are the 5 things a blackguy can do. And I was like, I

(17:44):
don't do any of those.
Actually, I'm into professionalwrestling. Oh, black guys do
that. I was like, put me inwhat? Or I'm into anime. No.
We're not into that either. Andit's it's just sort of this
weird dynamic of, you know, whatyou can do from a media
standpoint. We're not even towhat you were discussing. Right.
What you can wear, how you canact, what is your sexual

(18:06):
presentation

or whatever. Right. So yeah. And so he's he's
like a patron saint in my life.You know what I'm saying?
Seriously, that dude, broke downso many just to show me that you
can do it. You can be be you atthe end of the day. Yeah. So
that's why I did the art. Andit's funny how people and that
brings up, something I wastalking about, last week.

(18:27):
It's just like, I did thatpicture last year, and I feel
like I've gotten so much bettersince I did that. But everybody
goes back to that. It's almostlike, we want Kanye's first
album. We want old Kanye. It'sthe same thing.
People people love thatdepiction of Andre. And I'm
like, yo. I've gotten so muchbetter. No. We don't care about
that.
We want this. So it's like,that's just that's just the

(18:49):
beauty of art. That's just, youknow so, yeah. That's, that's
the story behind the Andrepiece.

Rob Lee (18:57):
I I would tell you this that when I looked at the
Caitrineta piece, I ended upgoing back and looking at the
boiler room video. That's allyour fault. You you made me go
back and watch that. I wasn'tplanning on doing it today, but
that's the effect of your workon this this 38 year old and

My apologies. I'm so sorry. You, bro.

Rob Lee (19:15):
I'm getting you. And and I even see from from the the
sort of, like, the the the theart standpoint. I saw the, king
of diamonds, the Romare Bearden,as French

and Mads.

Rob Lee (19:24):
So talk about, you know, once you you you got into
that spot of this is what youwanna do creatively. Like, this
is in at least has that sort ofearly interest. Yeah. Like, what
was that that initial feeling ofyou know, I I I was I'll
describe mods and then Okay.

Go ahead. Go ahead.

Rob Lee (19:44):
When I I was listening to podcasts and radio and all of
that stuff when I was, like,2,009. Right? And I was just,
like, not satisfied with my dayjob. You know? It's just, like,
not creative.
It was very much spirit sheets.And, you know, I was listening
to a Kevin Smith podcast, andhe'd mentioned what his audio
equipment was just just inpassing. He's like, yeah. I use
the Fast Track Pro. I took thatnote down, and I ran across the

(20:07):
street to the Best Buy audiosection, bought mics, and spent,
like, $400 on equipment.
And that was my entrance intoit. It's just like I almost felt
possessed by the creative holyghost. Yeah. That's that's what
that was for me.

You know what? That's interesting because I
have parallels that too. I usedto work for ad agency for 7
years. And I felt like I was theI probably was the worst graphic
designer there. Seriously.
And it's funny because I'm goodcompared to everybody else. But

(20:43):
everybody in my job was justthey they got it. And it it made
me a machine, which is the giftand the curse because I can I
can drill out stuff now that'sjust, like, really, really quick
because I had to do it every dayat my job? But I think because
I've I've never felt soinadequate at a job that it

(21:06):
forced me to put my attentionother places. So it forced me
into, I also did podcasts.
I've done short films. I'vedone, just doing art, getting
back into playing guitar. Allthose things because I didn't I
wasn't excelling here. Myinsecurities were here at my

(21:27):
job. Now I had to express themsomewhere else.
You know? So I understand, youknow, that that feeling of,
wanting to get out. Yeah. Wantedto be heard, You know? So I get
it.

Rob Lee (21:45):
So you had that that sort of initial, like like,
spark or what have you describedthat for us. It's like, you
know, did you know, whenbecause, you know, I would
imagine you have something whereit just has that sort of
experience. I'm not fitting. I'mnot fitting whatever this is.
You know, it's from a culturalstandpoint when you especially
when it comes to a job.
Jobs and creativity, sometimes,it can be a clash. And I think

(22:08):
depending on when you do it,like, I was young. You know what
I mean? Like, I was 24, and Iwas like, oh, what do I wanna
do? And this could have went ina very weird direction, and I
could've been completelybuttoned up if I didn't feel
satisfied or satiated from thissort of creative inspiration.
And, you know, it wasn't youknow, it was a lot of money at
that time, you know, to spendthat or what have you, which,

(22:32):
you know, I think maybe I did 2podcasts, and then for, like, a
month, the gear just sat there.And I was like, I'm gonna have
to use this. I can't return it.You know? So so what was that
like for you when you were like,I'm gonna start making my own
stuff.
I'm gonna start figuring thisout. You might be getting
controversial. Alright. Oh, bespicy. Go ahead.

Sure. You want me to be spicy. I'm sure.
Alright. So here we go.
Alright. So I'm a leave thenames out. You can infer who it
may be. But what got me over thehump to like start selling my
art is I was in Atlanta on, itmight have been a anniversary

(23:11):
trip With my fiance, we go toAtlanta and one of her friends
takes us to an art show of thisfamous famous artist and we go
there and I look around and Isee like a orange ladder on the
floor. I see like a blown upFaceTime as art.

(23:37):
You know, I see these littlethings. I'm like, wait a minute.
This place is packed. Yeah. AndI'm and I got I left there and I
was like, if he can do thisMhmm.
And people are coming to seethis, I have to do it. I, I,
because it was just so like,thoughtless. Mhmm. You know? And
I understand.
I used to work at an art gallerytoo. I understand sometimes

(23:59):
about the story. But on the buton the surface of it, I was
like, this is just this isn'tfor what he brought out, this is
not what I, you know, I can dothis. So, that that was a spark.
Now this is how the universeworks.
I was at the Black Boy Art Show,like 2 weeks ago, right? And, I

(24:25):
didn't sell any art. I didn'texpect to sell any art. However,
I looked to my left and a girlunder her arm had a picture of
the person that I was talkingabout. You know what I'm saying?
So somebody bought the pictureof him. I was like, see, that's
the universe. Like, yeah.Uh-huh. Yeah.
It might have been, you know,it's about perspective. It could
have been see where you are, youknow, or it could have been

(24:46):
like, yeah. You thought it wasgonna be easy. You you you

Rob Lee (24:49):
have you have these things where it's like people
remind me on occasion at night.People close to me, like my
partner will remind mesometimes, and she'll say, yo,
you've kind of, like, leaps andbounds, like, from where you
were at to where you're at now,and I'm like, that's not it.
That's not the thing I waslooking for. I'm looking for
something else. You know what Imean?
Mhmm. And and I think when wehave our own goals, those things

(25:11):
feel really cool. But to youryour your point, it's like, nah,
this was my motivation. And nowI'm kind of getting that
reminder yet again, like theover, like I'm around, bro.

Just Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes.
So, that's kinda how all thisgot started. Just realizing, yo,
you can do this. If this personcan get this going, then you can
too.

Rob Lee (25:33):
It's, it's kinda like do you ever watch, I don't know
if you you watch any of the, Iguess, it's the barbershop thing
or shop,

Ryan.

Rob Lee (25:40):
Yeah. Yeah. And I just remember the one with Tom Brady
on there. He's like, I'm betterthan this one. Is that energy?
I have that energy a lot,actually.

I understand it. I definitely understand it. I'm
trying to get away from thatenergy if I can.

Rob Lee (25:59):
Be petty. Be petty.

It's it's tough. I'm trying to, you know, as you
get old as I'm getting older inmy old age, I'm trying to, you
know, I'm saying just keep it aspure as possible. Yeah. And we
can and we can talk about thattoo. Even at the Black Boy Art
Show, like, I I walked in therefeeling like, yo, this is my
this is my tribe.
This is my peep these are otherblack artists, black male

(26:24):
artists. This this is my people.And I didn't get that energy out
for it almost felt like it waseverybody was in their little
corners. Mhmm. You know what I'msaying?
And I was trying to mingle withpeople, where people like, nah,
I'm doing this. So, but it kindof it kind of turned into that
later on once all of the steamkind of, you know, got out the
room. But, Yeah. I love thecamaraderie of I guess because I

(26:47):
was in the I I was in I was inthe marching band. I was so I
understand, like, community.
Yeah. So I wanna see morecommunity for art, especially
here in Baltimore.

Rob Lee (26:59):
So so I'm gonna actually wanna ask you about
that a little bit. And I'm gonnago a little forward, but
definitely wanna talk about, youknow, sort of the there's some
process oriented stuff, but Idefinitely wanna ask this since
we're on the topic. What is itthat you dislike about, like,
being around, being in the artscene? Because I find some
people who are artists and say,I'm not in the scene, though.

(27:22):
And you know that I'm around thescene.
I'm I'm so old. I'm out of it orwhatever the case may be. What
what is your take, you know,like in terms of like some of
the challenges, you know, of,like, the local, like, art scene
here?

I don't know what the scene is. I know
people. I know. I just wish wehad a place where we could say,
hey, look, these are all thethings that are going on for
artists. We've got a place forthat because there's so many
things that, I just don't knowthat are going on until it's
already happening.
I mean, I would have loved tohave been a part of this, you

(27:59):
know? So, Yeah, just I wouldlove for it to just be a place
that we could all submit stufffor. Yeah. I mean, I guess
that's a good enough answer foryou to kind of, you know, figure
out what we can, you you know,as as a community, what I mean,
first of all, what is thecommunity? That's part of it.
I I know my people. I know Iknow people in different

(28:20):
pockets. Yeah. Just to haveeverybody together to be like,
look. This is Baltimore.
Yeah. That would be great.

Rob Lee (28:26):
It it it it's this feeling of decentralization,
this feeling of their you know,you're right. There are some
clicks, that are around, andit's not in a sort of negative
thing. It's more of anobservational thing of if you
know one person, that person canprobably connect you to someone,
but you need that sort of entrypoint. Like, from my
perspective, if I'm trying to doan interview or book someone,

(28:49):
it's like sometimes it'sreferrals. Like, I might reach
out to a person a few times, butthat referral is the thing that
gets me in, and I was like,okay.
Cool. But with that, becauseit's set up in that way, at
times it lends to likegatekeepers kind of floating in
And they're like, oh, well, I'mthe person you gotta talk to,
but really, they're not. Youknow?

So most times when you can't find the person
to talk to, is you. If only wehad an archive of people that
you have interviewed.

Rob Lee (29:27):
Oh, my gosh. You know,

see. Maybe you are the oracle. You just have
never realized. You gotta stepinto your role, man. You know?

Rob Lee (29:34):
I mean, I I tell people all the time, I was like, look
over here.

Yes. Yes.

Rob Lee (29:39):
So with it, now this is this is a sort of a shift, and
but still still in the same sortof part of town, if you will.
What does it mean? You're you'veyou've moved in from, you know,
Winston Salem. That's that'swhere, like, CP 3 is from.
Right?

Yeah. Yeah.

Rob Lee (29:55):
You say

yeah. He's from there. Yeah. Where'd it go? Yes.
He's from, he went to WestForsyth. Yeah. He's from there.
And that's about it.

Rob Lee (30:09):
So this this brings up this question. So moving in and,
like, people have their sort of,you know, romanticism about a
city, if they're from andthey're doing the work here and
so on, but you've you've movedin, and I would imagine maybe
have a different perspective.What does it mean to you to be
an artist with ties to Baltimoreand knowing how Baltimore is
presented outside of this area,what have you, which a lot of

(30:32):
times is not a completenarrative? What does it mean
that you'd be, you know, anartist here with ties to
Baltimore? And and in what wayshave, you know, been around
being around people who arecreating and figured it out a
lot

of times, what does that mean for you, like, in
kind of developing creatively?Baltimore is beautiful, man. I
mean, such a cliche, but itreally is. And when you talk
about Baltimore, you're reallytalking about the people of
Baltimore. And, I just did avideo where I talked about, the
shameless plug art therapy,YouTube, Instagram.

(31:09):
Where I said, you know, at myage of 40, I've done basically a
lot of the things that I wantedto do. But a lot of those things
were because of Baltimore andthe connections to people I have
here in Baltimore. The, oncepeople in Baltimore realize that
you wanna be a part ofsomething, they will bring you
in. They will put you at thetable. Yeah.

(31:29):
You know, there's there I don'tThere's gate keeping, sure. But
if people know that you have agood energy and you're here to
help. Oh, this is this is theplace to be. You can really I
hate to say move up the ladder,but you can be amongst the crowd
of people very quickly. Yeah.

(31:51):
Certain things I never wouldhave thought I would have played
been on stage at the Autobarplaying guitar. What? Are you
kidding me? I've done that. Youknow?
So far, the, the music thingthey have on YouTube, I never
would have thought I would havebeen able to do that. I did
that. It also, yeah. I mean,it's been such a blessing for

(32:13):
me, especially coming from asmall city. The reason why I
actually moved up here isbecause I saw people that looked
like me that were making money.
You gotta understand growing up.All I want to do is make $40,000
a year. Now, $40,000 inBaltimore money is probably like
a 120. But you know what I'msaying? But I really just wanted
to make $40,000 a year, work atRJ Reynolds, shoveling tobacco.

(32:37):
And because that's what I sawpeople doing. -Right. -So, so
for me to now make more than$40,000 a year and have
responsibilities and I'm livingmy wildest dreams. It's only
because of Baltimore and myconnections to this city.

Rob Lee (32:56):
That's, that's great. That is so, such a great answer.
So so here's here's the processquestion I want to hit you with.
Mhmm. What is so set the stagefor us of, like, you know, that
you want to work on something,you know, that you you want to
make art, that ultimately you'regoing to sell, you're going to
put out there for consumption,however you might you may deem

(33:19):
it.
What is the sort of first stepwhen you're coming up with like
this is going to be some newwork that I want to do? As you
know, I was touching on beforewe got started that I'm I'm
thinking through what I wanna dofor this next season. I'm
already kinda in this ideationphase of, alright, how many
interviews is it gonna be, Whatare the sort of topics and

(33:39):
things of that nature? Well, forme, what I'm trying

to do now is I've been taking my camera
everywhere. Just trying to getmy original piece. A lot of
things I can go on Pinterest,put some stuff together. But I'm
really trying to get images thatI see and try to use those,
incorporate that into my art.That's the process.

(34:05):
You know, it's like, the way Ilook at it now is, it's like
mountain climbing. You start offat the base, you know, with a
project and then you get to theparts where it's a little rocky
and, you know, it's some coldnights and it's not but you
still gotta push through. Andthen you get to the summit and

(34:27):
it's beautiful coming back down.It's beautiful coming back down.
You And I miss that high oflike, it's done, it's posted,
and then I get up the nextmorning and I see all the
imperfections in the art.
You know what I'm saying? Soit's like, you know, or I look
at an old picture and I'm like,why did I even post that? But

(34:47):
what that shows me is there'sgrowth in my art. Yeah. That
I've gotten better.
What I thought was good a weekago, now I look back and it's
terrible. So it's, it's thegrowth. It's the growth. But I I
enjoy going up the mountain andcoming back down. I I enjoy
being out at a restaurant andthink and thinking to myself, I

(35:08):
got some art I gotta go home tofinish.
It's like having a a good book.You know? It's it's almost like
that. Like, I got a good book Igotta finish when I get home.
So, yeah.
I find myself really I findmyself at peace because I listen
to a lot of podcasts. Yours isone of them, but I listen to
tons of podcasts, especiallywhen, like, the way my office is
set up at my job. I'm a graphicdesigner, So it's a lot of time

(35:31):
in front of a computer. If I'mnot listening to an audio book,
I'm listening to a podcast, youknow. So, yeah.
But I just enjoy the process ofcreating, you know, making
decisions.

Rob Lee (35:44):
Yeah. So When you encounter, which we we all do,
right, one way or the other, II've talked about it in this
podcast, and I've updated myprocess to account for some of
these things because I'm alwaystweaking. Right? But every now
and again, we run into somehiccups. We run into, like,
burnout, things of that naturewhere the the fire is not not

(36:07):
not igniting.
The the spark isn't sparking.The the thing isn't thinking as
it were. That that that soundedreally weird.

But Okay. Okay.

Rob Lee (36:14):
But when what do you do for that reset? And and I ask
this because this is a the thingthat I'm an audiobook guy, and
the Austin Kleon book, he talksabout the analog to digital
loop. Right? So what is thatthing for you that's the reset,
you know, of when you run intothose those blocks or those,
creative, like, sort ofchallenges and getting work out

(36:35):
or even working on your work.

I don't have those issues. I'm perfect. No.
I'm playing. No.
No.

Rob Lee (36:43):
I was like, alright. Next question. For the pleads.

No, it's still fun for me. So I can recognize
not everything is gonna be amasterpiece. I got so many
pieces of art that I'm just it'sjust tucked away that I will get
to eventually. But I think forme, this is, you know, this is
this is therapy for me now.Thank you for letting me have

(37:09):
this seat.
It's the confidence, man. It'sthe confidence. Like, do you
like my art? Do you really?Like, you know, I'm talking
about Beyonce like, yo, what youlike about this?
She's like, I like it. You werejust saying that because we
dating me over there. You know,it's all of that. It's like, you
gotta keep your confidencelevel. Like, I know that I'm a

(37:31):
good artist.
Yeah. I know I'm not at thebottom half of the art in this
city. But when you look at myInstagram page

Rob Lee (37:40):
Mhmm.

And I have 200 and 17 followers. It's like,
well, what am I you know, it'sit's and I, you know, that's me
being transparent. Like, I'mjust trying to get the 500
followers. Yeah. You know?
And with the comparison thing,we talked about that you see
people whose art you think is,you know, that you may be a

(38:01):
little bit just a tad bit betterthan and they have thousands of
followers. I try to not, youknow, because comparison is a
thief of joy. Yeah. You know,but I would honestly say I know
my art is better than thefollowers that I have. Maybe

(38:22):
it's not the way.
Maybe I'm not promoting it theright way. But now even as I
talk about it, it seems sostupid to put your value of your
art in social media. Well,that's that's the thing. Right?
Where it's it's

Rob Lee (38:36):
sort of like thinking about what you're doing. I had
to come to that realization. Ihave an LLC and the you know, I
was thinking, like, alright. Iwant my LLC because, you know,
it's a this is not you know,podcast ain't free. And, you
know, maybe do ads for peopleand things of that nature.
Let's just figure that out. Andthen I started looking at it,
and I was like, that's not whatI do. That's a thing that I do.

(38:59):
But this is now I've created asecond job for myself. Mhmm.
And that's not that's actuallysucking the joy out of that and
and making it less fun. So I waslike, no. Let's let's shift it.
I I do podcasts. And if I wanna,like, shout out one of my
friends or do an ad for one ofmy friends, Let's do that.
But I don't wanna buildsomething that feels like it's

(39:20):
this because then you get intothat analytic conversation. How
many followers do you have? Howmany downloads do you have? And
so on. And then you start fixingvalue and meaning to that, that
it's misplaced.
It gets to this sort of thing ofhow many posts do you do? The
reason I enjoy doing this somuch is and and one of the

(39:40):
reasons it's still veryindependent is I I'm my own
boss. I can kinda do what I wantand talk to who I want. For
instance, I know otherpodcasters. They look at your
your your social media and say,oh, 200, something like that.
You shouldn't talk to him. It'sa waste of your time. And I was
like, no. No. It's not.
Not not at all. And I have,like, 58 100 followers or

(40:02):
something like that, and I'llsee other podcasters to to the
point of confidence. I'm like,you're not doing anything. How
many entanglement podcasts thatyou you hear in 2021 or what
have you? They weren't good, youknow, and it's sort of sort of
that, you know, people in thescene know, you know what the
thing is, people who are doingthat, the real like, like when I

(40:23):
talk to people, they're like,man, I wish I had someone that
was doing that.
It's like, well, you ran intohim. He's I'm doing a real
thing. And I think, you know,being big and bad about it when
it comes to your confidence,people aren't used to that.
People aren't used to you beingable to speak for yourself and
speak loudly and, like,confidently and can be able to
back it up for yourself. Yeah.

(40:45):
That's that's my take.

Hey. I appreciate that, man. That
perspective is yeah. It's it's Ithink that's the thing. I mean,
I'm gonna do art regardless.
Yeah. You know? And this is,this has been my time because
I've had Ipads before and Inever connected to the Procreate
app like that or any other appto do art like that. But now

(41:07):
it's just like, I'm on it. I'mon it.
This is my time to create, soI'm gonna create.

Rob Lee (41:13):
Yeah. You know, when I'm when I dive into an
audiobook or something and ithits me, and you mentioned
something earlier, and I hadthis moment before I move into
my my final question for the thereal part of the podcast. I
remember I was listening to someI I I have trouble sleeping, so
I always put on, like, an audioI live alone, so I always put on
an audio book. And, I don'tknow. Whatever reason, 1

(41:34):
morning, it's, like, 2 in themorning, it clicked.
And I was like, where's mynotepad? I wrote down, like, 10
questions just based off some Ijust knocked something loose and
appearing it in the in in theslumber or what have you, and
it's something about that. Andone of the things I've done to
keep a grasp on that, becauseyou never know when you have
that aspiration, especially forfor me, I guess, when coming up

(41:56):
with questions and observations,I keep a notepad with me. I
gotta keep something with me. Igotta keep that thing on me, you
know?

Yep. Yep. Yep. I got, I use Notion. Notion, for
everything.
That's like my bible, you know.I mean, dude, even I got some
stuff on here, like like mywhole life. Like, I have a poop
calendar and everything on here.Like, you know, you know, yes,
man. Like I everything's onhere.

(42:23):
So, from morning notes, I liketo I like, you know, from the
artist way, you know, doing youryour morning pages and stuff
like that. I have a I have abook log that I have on here of
some of the books I've read,where I am with the percentage
of the book and stuff like that.So I yeah. So definitely, I
guess the theory is your brainand I guess it's from a creative

(42:45):
standpoint. Your brain is forcreating.
So anything that you can do tojust write down, it doesn't hold
that space in your brain. So Ialways go back to, oh, what did
I write down today? So it keepsit. It lets my brain be free to
kind of like do what it needs todo. Instead of whole, it's your
brain is not for holdinginformation.

(43:05):
It's for creating, at least inmy my brain. I agree. Well, I
use my phone to create to holdthe information. That's why

Rob Lee (43:12):
I have storage. I know. I I write down, like, some very
much into ideation. And, youknow, I was just thinking
through in us a very pretentiousway, at least the way that I'm
using it to say brainstorming.But, I I was thinking through,
like, ideas of alright.
It may be a cool idea for apodcast. Maybe I don't wanna

(43:32):
host it. Maybe I can pitch it tosomeone else to host it, and
maybe I'm an executive produceron there, things of that nature.
And I have this belief around,like, ideas. Like, I don't get
really really caught on if Ididn't put something out there
and someone kinda gets the ideaand they do do it before I do.
That's what good ideas are for.I'd rather the thing be made.

(43:53):
And, and I'm always you know,this is where confidence again
comes in. I'm always gonna haveideas. And that's and that's
sort of the thing.
That's the one thing you won'tbe that is my deep, heavy mark
check checkbox. Yes. Yeah.

And that's that's a gift, man, to, you
know, to understand that therewill always be ideas. You know?
But yeah, yeah, yeah.

Rob Lee (44:15):
So this is the sort of last question, I realized real
question I have for you. We havepeople, they use the term, like,
artists, you know, like likerappers. They'll say, I'm a rock
star. And it's like, becauseyou're not that good at rapping.
But, you know, it's a weirdrelationship with certain terms.
Right? What is your relationshipwith the term, like like artist?

(44:36):
Did you struggle with it and andkinda accepting that as a term,
that you may, you know, apply toyourself? Because I hear, you
know, more folks are describedas creatives at times or artist
has a certain stank around it attimes.

I think creative has a stinker. I can't stand
that word. I'm a creative. Ican't I cannot stand that. But,
no, man.
That's my badge of honor, man.That's my, you know, Scarlet
Letter is artist, man, for real.Like, wear it with pride, man.
Like, if you are artist, man,like I said, you are a
superhero.

Rob Lee (45:08):
Mhmm. You know,

you can communicate, You know, we ingest
things with our ears, with oureyes. So like, one thing I
learned was that I was in thegrad program at Johns Hopkins,
in the film program, and I did ashort film. And people were just

(45:29):
associating things to the filmthat I never even thought about.
He's wearing a red shirt and ared shirt means this. And I'm
just like, it ain't he just cameto the set with a red shirt on.
It wasn't even about that, butto be able to bring stuff out of
people that from their past,their, their upbringing's

(45:50):
through my art. That's powerful.That's powerful. I can be with
the mayor and show them my artor I could be on Skid Row and
show them my art. To be able tobridge the gap between those two
different that's a lot of power.
Some people can't do that. So,yeah. If you're man, it's such

(46:11):
an honor and a blessing to be anartist because not everybody can

Rob Lee (46:14):
do it. 100%. And, yeah, you know, when I became aware of
that sort of controversy aroundthe term because there are some
people who don't abide by thator don't live in that way, they
just attach it to themselvesbecause it means something. And
and and it's like, what are wedoing? You know what I mean?
And I think you're right. It isa thing that not everyone does.

(46:35):
It is a thing that at timesfeels rarefied, but I think we
need to open that aperture alittle bit more to be inclusive
of folks that look like you andI because a lot of times, you
know, we're we're that term isapplied in a different way.
There's a qualifier in front ofit. And it's just like, no, just
just artists.

Like, black artists?

Rob Lee (46:56):
Yeah. You know, you have folks that they you know,
again, I get all the statementsthat lead with identity before
just what do you do? What whatis it what is the thing? And,
you know, I think I do this. Iapply in in sort of artful
mindset to this.
I'm a podcaster. I think it'ssomething important about how we
term ourselves and when whatterms that we use. So when

(47:19):
people try to reject it orsomeone calls you something
else, like, I've been called aninfluencer, and I'm like, I get
a little like, what do you mean?But yeah, I like that you you
defined it in that way. So herehere's the the rapid fire
portion, you know, kind of thewrap up of the real questions.
So here's the rapid fireportion. This first one is

(47:41):
ridiculous. Don't overthinkthem.

I won't. Trust me.

Rob Lee (47:45):
It doesn't have to be healthy, but it has to be good.
What is your sort of late nightgo to struggle meal snack that
you're like, this hits? You'refrom the South, so, you know,
I'm I'm waiting to hearsomething fried. Nah.

I think Baltimore was taking that a
little bit out of me. Man, Ihate to say this. So bland. What
I what my go to snack was Iwould get some yogurt.

Rob Lee (48:19):
Zero fat Greek yogurt thing.

Yes. The Greek yogurt. Absolutely. I think it's
called Chabot or something likethat. You did Chobat?
No. No. It was it wasn't that.It was like, it was some kinda
off brand. That was it wasn'tthat.
I'm I'm trying to save somemoney here. With some, like, you
know, some some nuts and some,some dried cranberries and some

(48:44):
honey on it.

Rob Lee (48:45):
What is this healthy snack?

I'm trying to lose weight, man. I gotta get
the 165, brother. I'm like 184.I gotta hear you. I'm I'm in my
keto stage now.
I don't

Rob Lee (48:55):
know. I was waiting to say, like, I need these ribs,
brother. I need, you know, bigOh,

but before that before that, it would have been
in the south. It would have beensome not to say that that meal
was keto at all. That was yeah.Anyway, I don't want anybody to
come down on me in the in thecomments. But I would go to
cookout and I would get, acookout style cajun chicken
sandwich Okay.

(49:20):
With fries. That would be my goto in North Carolina.

Rob Lee (49:23):
I hear you. I hear you. I'll I'll share this with you
before I move to the next one.It was one time I was, a couple
years ago, I was in, in Dallas,for a wrestling show, and me and
my buddy is down there. Anddimensionally, people don't
really get how big I am in reallife.
Like, I'm 64, and I'm a monsterof an individual. And when
people see me, it's like, I seethe face and I recognize why is

(49:45):
it on a different body? That'ssort of the energy. Right. And
this is maybe the bestcompliment or the dirtiest shade
I've ever gotten.
Dude looked at me when we werein Texas, and he was like, damn,
bro. Like, you should be workinga grill, man. Like, get the
cookout. Wow.

I had that. It can mean so many different
things. It could be like astatus thing. Like, you are the
father of the family. Oh, youmade a family.
Like, what does that mean?Because dad, dad, that's kinda
weird, man. You know? See thatsee it full circle. Depending on
where you are in life.

(50:21):
Right. What are the things thatYes.

Rob Lee (50:26):
So, you know, a lot of us, we we do multiple things,
right? We have multiple, like,side projects and other skills
that, you know, if we're in it,we gotta learn other things. But
let's talk about something thatyou you don't have as a talent
or a skill that you would reallywant. What is that what's
another talent that you wouldlike to have? Like, you're like,
I need that.
I need to be able to do thisbetter.

I think if I could be like an MMA fighter,
like, if I could just, like,choke somebody out.

Rob Lee (50:54):
So cute it wasn't.

Yeah. Like, if I could, like, be a boxer and just
knock a dick out like that. Ijust, you know, oh my good. I'd
be a different person, man. If Icould just right hook somebody.
Yeah. I think that would be if Icould just do

Rob Lee (51:12):
that, I'd be I wanna do physical things that my size
didn't denote. So, like, Iwanted to practice Muay Thai
because I wanna trip someone,like, leg kick, and they just
flip over.

Yes. Yes.

Rob Lee (51:24):
Something about the visual of flying a to someone's
chin piece.

Embarrass somebody. Yes. I'm telling I
want somebody to shit onthemselves. Put in

Rob Lee (51:34):
the diary.

Yes. I wanna hurt somebody in the juice. I
do. I'm telling you, I reallywanna, you know, and I'm a nice
guy. But if I had that abilityThat's that's one of the
funniest thing in the world.
Get the art. Take the art out.Forget the art.

Rob Lee (51:48):
I'll trade my art so I'll bring someone into

Yes. Sanctify these hands. Yes. I want yeah. I
want no more art.
Yeah. We're going straight JonJones.

Rob Lee (51:58):
I mean, I I saw my man, Derek Lewis the other day
through a flying knee. Yeah. AndI was like, 1, he's an Aquarius.
2, he's a heavyweight. I waslike, look.
I can do this. I can throw aflying knee.

Yes, man. Defying gravity. That's a big
dude too, man. Not a small guy.Yes.

Rob Lee (52:13):
His balls get hot too.

Hey. There you go. Right? My ball was hot.

Rob Lee (52:19):
What is that one treat? You know, because there's a
storytelling thing too that thatwe all kinda touch with. You
have the the comic backgroundmovies and and things of the
sort, and even a lot of musichas the storytelling element to
it. What do you think makes fora good storytelling?

It's simple. It's normal. Explosion. A new
normal. That's storytelling.
You know, that's drama. That'sthat's the formula to add. When
you distill everything down,that's what it is. Normal
explosion, new normal. You know,so that's pretty much it.

Rob Lee (53:00):
Here's the last one. This is the one I added. Is it?
There was one more. There's onemore.
This is the last one I have foryou. It was, you know, I added
this one because it was only 3initially, and I added this one
based on something you saidearlier.

Hey, man. Hold on. Just put this out there. I
paid you good money for thisinterview, man. Paid you good
well, I'm getting my I'm gettingmy hour and 15 hours.

Rob Lee (53:20):
There's no payola here. But, here here's the last
question. So and this is gonnabe a challenge, I think. I have
one, and I'll share mine withyou. And I actually got one of
the artists I interviewed, He hedid me see did a nice favor for
me.
He made a card. You know, youtalked cards earlier. He made

(53:40):
card of one of my favorite comicbook characters. So I'm gonna
ask you, who is

your favorite comic hero? Oh, easy. Gambit.
Really? Smooth.
Yeah, man.

Rob Lee (53:54):
This guy.

Yes. Gambit was the coolest dude, man. I like
Spawn. I I mean, that's justlike a but, yeah. Gambit was
just, yeah.
He was that dude. He was a yeah.

Rob Lee (54:06):
Okay.

You know, like, side note, I gotta ask you this.
Because I have a theory. You cantell a lot about a person based
on who their favorite NinjaTurtle is. So who's your
favorite Ninja Turtle? Okay.
This is what You look like youlook like a Michelangelo guy.

Rob Lee (54:21):
Funny you should say that. My brother's a
Michelangelo guy. Okay.Everybody that I know that has
known me, we we get into theturtle conversations. They're
saying there's a duality to methat I'm 2 guys.
Okay. Otto and Rafael.

Ah, okay. Alright. And I really That's
like that's opposite sides ofthe spectrum. Yes.

Rob Lee (54:41):
It is. Wow. I'm a I'm a cusp Aquarius, so I have the
sort of Capricorn energy that'svery, like I I like to be petty,
but then it's sort of, like,overthinking. And what's the
next thing they were gonna do,the airiness of an Aquarius? And
it's always been that way.
When I was younger, it wasdefinitely, you know, love
Leonardo, leadership. But andwatching that first movie, the

(55:04):
live action one, the one thatwas probably the best one before
it got all crappy. 100%. I waslike, yo, this is just a Raphael
movie. He's I've watched it,like, recently, And I was like,
I relate to Raphael more thanthe rest of these guys here.
And it's it's kinda that. It'salmost like when someone ask
you, is it Michael Jackson orPrince? And it's like Michael
Jackson when you're younger,Prince when you're older. Mhmm.

That's deep. What is your turtle? Leo. No.
Leo.
Oh, I'm sorry. I I yeah. I thinkit's Leo. I know it's Leo. He's
my favorite.
I judge people

Rob Lee (55:37):
who pick Donnie. I look at him like side eye.

Yeah. It's not too actually, yeah. Donnie's a
kinda weird, man. Yeah. Yeah.
They're definitely Internettrolls for sure. Yeah. I I will
be going to

Rob Lee (55:48):
the movie tomorrow, by the way.

I, I was asked to go yesterday to take the kids
out there, but we're probablygonna go this weekend.

Rob Lee (55:55):
Oh, yeah. I was

here for this podcast, so I couldn't go.

Rob Lee (55:57):
So We we gotta we gotta trade notes on it. We gotta
trade notes on it.

Yes. Yes. Yes. Oh, Sada, before we go, can I
just give a shout out to acouple artists?

Rob Lee (56:04):
Yeah. Let me let me do let me do my my sign off thing
and then you got, you know, allof that. Go for it.

Go for it.

Rob Lee (56:09):
So one, you know, thank you. Thank you for for making
the time and being a part of,this the the best podcast in
Baltimore. I'm gonna just sayit. And thanks for being a part
of it. And, I wanna invite andencourage you to share with the
listeners your final thoughts.
You know, like, you know, socialmedia, website, all of that good
stuff, but any shout outs thatyou have?

I wanna start a couple artists that, you know,
have been quite instrumental inmy maturation as an artist. Adam
Stabb is one of them. The youknow, I started off graffiti,
documenting graffiti. He wantedto be a part of graffiti scene,
and he's somebody that kindatook me under his wing. He's one
of those people that, like, wewe haven't seen each other in a

(56:50):
long time, but when we see eachother, it's like nothing nothing
stopped.
That's my guy. So Adam Stabb,Brian Brian Robinson, who's
actually been on the show too,from the Black Genius art show.
His story is crazy because Iremember the first time we met,
we were at the creative alliancedoing a like, a music video bash

(57:12):
together, and we're just showingoff our art and, you know, the
video around. And I wentoutside, me and him went outside
and my car got towed and he tookme to get my car picked up, you
know. So ever since then we'vebeen cool and I saw that guy
from day 1.
Tell me I'm gonna make art everysingle day and now look great

(57:34):
that he got his own gallery. Sothat's not inspiration for
somebody like me to see thegrime and him put in the the man
hours, the person hours. I don'tknow if this gonna be, you know,
correct in in years. The personhours, and look where he is now.
He's thriving.
And also something somebody asamazing as, somebody else you

(57:55):
had on the show. And we talkedabout this. Monica Kegel. Mhmm.
She's like the Tom Brady ofthis.
To be so young. Like, she's justcrazy. And I reached out to her
on Instagram, like, how are youdoing this? How are you getting
these show? And she You know,just something as simple as
reaching back out to somebodylike me, who is an aspiring

(58:15):
artist to hopefully get to whereshe is, which I I will probably
never get to her level.
But the fact that she respondedback to me means a lot.

Rob Lee (58:23):
So I

just want to shout those people out. And, you
know, Travis Case, another guywho does voice over that you
interviewed, good friend ofmine. That's my brother. He
always inspires me. I used tokinda be like his his boss
because we used to both work atMorgan together.
I was a Morgan. I'm a Morganalum. Yes, I know. He was I was
a professor at Morgan and he waskinda, no. I was he was the

(58:46):
assistant there.
I guess I wasn't his boss. Hewas like, but anyway, but now to
be out of that and to me be moreinspired by him than he is by me
is just, it's a blessing to havethat friendship that we can
continue to inspire each other.So hats

Rob Lee (59:01):
off to the people. That's really dope. Yeah. And,
Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, every person youmentioned has been on here, so
that's great. I mean, love Adam.You know, he's great. We run
into each other regularly at pietime getting, some delicious
coffee. Mine's is just superblack.
But, yeah. Website, socialmedia. Tell the folks.

No. Before we get there, I'm a I'm a give you
your flowers too, man. Like, Idon't. I think some people don't
understand, like, thesedignitaries in Baltimore in the
Baltimore area. And you're oneof them.
Like, you know, it's the kind ofsame reason why I'm doing the
art. It's because I'm trying toleave a legacy. When I'm dead,
Lord willing, the artist stillcontinue. And it's the same

(59:46):
thing about what you're doing.Like you're you're making time
capsules of these amazingpeople.
But only an amazing person cando that. So hats off to you,
man. Because, I mean, to be ableto and I know sometimes it
probably gets tough for you. Youprobably don't have it in you.
You might not even had it in itin you for this interview.
But to come off and it seems asif you're genuinely interested

(01:00:07):
in somebody from Winston Salem,North Carolina means a lot, man.
I mean and, again, I can't Ican't thank you enough. I've
done a lot of cool stuff thisyear, but this is probably the
coolest thing I've done thisyear. So I wanna make sure I I
give you your flowers too.

Rob Lee (01:00:22):
Thank you. That's very special to to hear. I appreciate
that. Thank you. This is it'sgreat.

Sergio Neptuna (01:00:27):
Yeah. I'm Sergio Netuna. Sergio, Netuna on all
social media, which is only 2social medias, which is
Instagram and Facebook. Yep.That's my that's my name.

Rob Lee (01:00:39):
And there you have it, folks. For the great Sergio
Neptuna, I am Rob Lee sayingthat there's art, culture, and
community in and around yourneck of the woods. You've just
gotta look for

Sergio Neptuna (01:00:52):
it.

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