Jakson Robinson, Business Development Manager of Chicago-based Flava Works Inc., says that Flava Works began as LukeBaby Productions in 1999 featuring primarily two adult entertainment websites, CocoBoyz.com and ThugBoy.com. These interactive sites offered live Black/Latino sex in a dormitory setting as well as live chats and, eventually, links to videotapes of past live scenes.
In 2001, LukeBaby began to produce video titles for sale, the first LukeBaby title being Mix It Up Boy 1. In 2004, LukeBaby was changed to Flava Works "to better reflect our business,” which is “to sample the ‘flavas’ of hot and innovative Black/Latino gay adult and lifestyle media, with fresh talent in the most innovative of ways and formats."
It’s all original as well. "Our video series include DormLife, featuring Black and Latino men of roughly college age; ThugBoy, rougher men with more of an urban feel; RioUncut and OLatin, Latin and South American models and content; FlavaMen, both Black and Latino models with a gamut of age-range and the whole spectrum of models — whether it’s the college type, the rough boy type, or the South American type — with mixed-race, Black and Latin sex; and MixItUpBoy, which features interracial sex — Black, Latino, and White.
"We produce out of Chicago," Robinson says, "where we have a permanent staff of nine, but the filming or shooting may be in Brazil, Miami, New York, or Puerto Rico. What’s fun about it is, you feel like you’re sort of traveling with our models. We have a website where models can apply online, and we’ll interview those who have what it takes. We use both amateurs and professionals, but our productions could probably best be categorized as pro/am. We’ve used several persons that I think are pretty well-known: Ruff Ryder, Baby Boy, Chris Cruz, international models like Fausto, Gilberto, and Claudio. We’ve worked with Platinum and Castro. In fact we’ve put out videos called Castro 1 and Castro 2. Devin Wiley and Keith Kannon are our most frequent directors.
"Our best sellers are the DormLife DVDs. DormLife 1 through 6 have done quite well. We sell our videos to the general public through CocoStore.com. Our wholesale DVD titles are distributed by 1 Distribution in West Hollywood, California."
In addition to videos, DVDs, and web-based lines, Flava Works also publishes two magazines, FlavaMen (nude layouts of individuals and hard-action photos) and the non-X-rated FlavaLife, subtitled Black/Latino Gay Travel and Entertainment Guide. "And we must not forget our popular FlavaMen wall calendar," Robinson adds.
"Our new site, ThugsForSex.com, features 'flashchat,' with much crisper imagery than streaming media. Our future? We plan to expand our operations to South Florida in six to eight months. We'll have an office and studios there. There’s just so much more Black and Latino talent available there, and it’s so much sexier and provocative a location to shoot videos in! We look forward as well to expanding the editorial content of FlavaLife to include more lifestyle subjects, such as fashion, politics, and business features. And of course we plan to continue to flood the world with high-end Black/Latino gay adult video — and maybe some straight porn too!”
Flava Works is distributed by 1 Distribution: 877-284-2919; 1Distribution.net.
