Adriana Fasano

“Sex, drugs and mayhem. Romance for the streets, man and I'll tell ya it'll be a best seller.” Truer words were never said when you apply it to a recent conversation Hip-Hop Wired had with video vixen Adriana Fasano. This Italian beauty walked us through her journey that went from being handpicked by Lil Wayne to star in his “Fireman” video to fighting felony charges. Talk about a fall. Who would've though the life of a video vixen could be so rough?

HipHopWired: So how did you get your start the industry?

Adriana Fasano: Lil' Wayne put me on. I never thought about modeling but I met his manager Melissa and she really liked me. Then me and Melissa became close friends and she introduced me to Wayne and I hung out at the studio and interviewed him. After that I ended up being friends with one of his artists named Nikki [Minaj], and then she asked me to go on the tour bus with them to shoot the video and I was like sure.

HipHopWired: Get on the bus. So it happened just like that?

Adriana Fasano: Not exactly. We went out to Houston and they didn't want to put me in the video because I didn't go to the casting, and the way it works you have to go to the casting call to get the job, you don't get the job from knowing the artist. If you get the job by knowing the artist, the casting director gets pissed off because they want their girls in the video. So we were in Houston shooting the video then we left because there was a hurricane coming. All the people on set picked up their stuff and just drove 24 hours all the way to Atlanta to finish the shoot. So then the director was trying to get his girls in the video so there were problems with that. Then I got into a fight with the hairdresser because he wanted to dress me up like a little girl. I was like, “Nah I didn't travel on this bus for 24 hours to be put in a side shot.”

HipHopWired: So how'd you fight your way into the video?

Adriana Fasano: Wayne just started rearranging stuff like I want you in this spot and you in this spot. So that's when I kind of got put on. He called me 3 months later like, “Yo, you got a really good scene in the video. I'm so happy for you!” And I'm like, “What, cool!” So then like a year later he blew up and got big like he is now and got big headed.

HipHopWired: Do you still keep in touch with him?

Adriana Fasano: I still do so, but he just had a baby so I'm like do you, but I've always been really cool with him and his camp. He's always been really cool to me. I actually hung out with him when I was in Atlanta last year. But it was different because he was really cocky and I really just don't like being around people like that. Like I knew him when he was trying to get in the game. [Ed Note: Lil' Wayne and Cash Money have been on the scene nationally since 1998] And I don't like that, when people change who they are once they get into the game.

HipHopWired: How many videos did you end up being in before you took your break?

Adriana Fasano: Um I don't even remember. Let me look. Lil Wayne. The Young Dro album cover…

HipHopWired: We saw that, how'd you end up on the Young Dro album cover?

Adriana Fasano: I was just visiting Atlanta and I ended up meeting Hannah who manages all of Grand Hustle's people. She had me and my friend Sunshine, who models too, to do the cover with her. For other videos there was Boo and Jazze Pha. I got the main part in that video. “Myspace Freak,” Gucci Mane “Freaky Girl,” “So Hood Remix,” 50 Cent and Ciara. I was able to get in on that video and Ciara was a fu**ing hater so we had to leave the set.

HipHopWired: What happened with that?

Adriana Fasano: ‘Cause 50 Cent was trying to talk to my home girl. But Ciara is a hater, and she's a pretty girl so it's no good reason to hate. But she told the casting director that she wanted me and my friend Deborah (Omarion's ex girlfriend) off the set.

HipHopWired: Oh wow. Sounds like she was flexing her muscle on that one.

Adriana Fasano: Yeah I have a lot of stuff; I actually wanted to write a book.

HipHopWired: With other vixens writing books, what would make yours different?

Adriana Fasano: Well I was gonna write a book because this is what happened to me. I was living in Atlanta and I was hanging out with the wrong people and got charged with conspiracy of trafficking cocaine. That's the main reason I stopped living there and stopped modeling. Got in trouble so I was about to go to jail for 10 years. So they tried to charge me with conspiracy and I explained that I didn't know what the person was putting in my car and I was 19 and didn't know the consequences. So it went from 10 years to 3 years and then to 12 months. Then I had to hire a lawyer to fight for it because there was another girl on the case that was going up there every single day, taking stuff to another state. And they gave her 5 years probation, mostly because she was married and had a baby. And they were trying to give me my time and they gave her 5 years probation just because she got pregnant during the time she was being sentenced. It just looked fishy. And here I am, 20-years-old, never done anything before and they are trying to give me time so I fought and it ended up only being 4 days, but I didn't know it was gonna go down like that.

HipHopWired: Yeah, so that would be a good book, or movie, or both. Da*n, that's pretty young, how old were you when you did the Fireman video?

Adriana Fasano: I had just turned 18.

HipHopWired: Being so young, did you find having people want to take advantage of you as a problem when you were working as a model?

Adriana Fasano: Yeah it was a problem because everybody would always want to talk to you. See me, I'm not Black or Hispanic. I am 100% Italian so I stand out compared to other girls so of course, they're gonna be like, “Oh let me talk to her. When you are working at a video shoot, people look at you as a video ho. And that's just what it is; I don't care who it is. If you are working in the video they look at you that way. And a lot of girls don't even get paid for it. They just do it just to do it for exposure, to meet people and to fu*k the artist. They just want to be in the scene. And that's why I say there is no career in that work. Every video girl that you know has never made a career in it. Name one person.

HipHopWired: Right cause they end up doing something else to make money.

Adriana Fasano: Yeah, its just such a negative lifestyle, I feel like God removed me from that situation to change me as a person. So once He did that, that's when I turned my life to God. God is number one in my life every single day. Before it used to be about money and about me looking good and doing this and that, it was all about me. When it was all about myself I would attract more negative energy and create more negative things that happen to me like I was in three shootouts in the past year when I was modeling and living in Atlanta. When I was in Vegas one time, out with Suge Knight and one of my homegirls, the next time was in Vegas at a strip club with Pac Man Jones and the third time was at a strip club in Atlanta. So I really felt like I was attracting negative people around me. I could've died three times in one year and I'm still young. So I decided to get out. I didn't know what was going to happen to me but I had to change my lifestyle. After not getting charged with conspiracy and not getting shot I felt blessed. That's part of the reason for writing the book is to let others know in similar situations to avoid those situations and focus on bigger goals. Not just living by the day or the month but living for the future.

HipHopWired: Like a guide to other girls to show them what to watch out for?

Adriana Fasano: Yeah, take Show Magazine, they own your pictures forever, so even if I became a big celebrity, they own the rights to my pictures and can make money off me forever. Like there's a bunch of girls that have taken pictures and never were paid but [Show] has memberships for $20 so they are making money off every single girl. So there's a lot of stuff people don't' know about if they take pictures of you they can post them or sell them on any site.

HipHopWired: We saw that you dated Kyle of Jagged Edge for a while. What's it like dating in the industry?

Adriana Fasano: It was actually okay. I just kind of felt he took advantage of me because I was so much younger than him.

HipHopWired: How much older was he?

Adriana Fasano: 10 years. I was 19.

HipHopWired: How did ya'll meet?

Adriana Fasano: I met him at a video for Jagged Edge, and I lived with him for about 7 months.

HipHopWired: Do ya'll still keep in contact?

Adriana Fasano: Nope I haven't heard from him, I heard he got this girl pregnant and is living in South Carolina.

HipHopWired: Wouldn't have guessed that one…

Adriana Fasano: I mean we had a good relationship and he was a good person to me but it just didn't work out. He was a little over controlling. He didn't really like me modeling. He was controlling to the point where I felt kind of stuck, so that's why I left.

HipHopWired: Would you date anyone in the industry again?

Adriana Fasano: Yeah I would. If it was the right person, ‘cause I'm not going to let it affect me from my past experiences in the industry.

HipHopWired: What do you like in a guy?

Adriana Fasano: I like people that are considerate to my feelings, someone who can emotionally put me on a pedestal. Money isn't really the issue, even when I was dating Kyle, I was the one paying the rent. I just want a guy that knows how to treat a woman. You know, treat me like a queen, and give me positive energy.

HipHopWired: Do you ever see yourself modeling again?

Adriana Fasano: Yeah, I do. I have to be in a place where I can do it. There's not much I can from Orlando.

HipHopWired: So you just need to get back in a target market…

Adriana Fasano: Well I'm not gonna front, I could work more if I wanted to but I just haven't committed myself to doing that.

HipHopWired: And you seem to be doing okay since you stopped modeling…

Adriana Fasano: Yeah I'm making more money than I thought I would and it's really just supply and demand. Why would you pay me to do what someone else will do for free?

To book Adriana for your event or to use her to help brand your product or service, contact Dennis Byron Management at 404-577-8800.

Photo by Dennis Byron