Playing It Safe

With early experiences working in security for his family’s business, it is no surprise that Tadow grew up to become a bodyguard. “I’ve been doing security since like ten, 12 years old,” explains Tadow. “My folks used to have a building in Carson called Samerika Hall, which was a venue my dad and his brothers had opened up together. Basically since I was a kid I would be watching the back door. It’d be me, my brothers, my cousin, there’d be like five or six of us working the two back doors along with the other security. We had people from MC Hammer to Boo-Yaa T.R.I.B.E. to Dre, everything that was in the South Bay would happen there.”

Tadow’s story starts out similar to many Samoan Americans–parents moved from Samoa, settled in Carson, California, and aspirations to play pro football. But when an injury cut short his dreams of a football career, Tadow found himself looking for a new path. With friends and family already working as bouncers at Hollywood nightclubs, Tadow felt that he too could use his size and strength to work in security.

Tadow: My whole thing was, I wanted to become a police officer at one point in my life. I got hurt playing football, so I worked for two seasons instead of playing. Then in ‘98, I went back to El Camino and tried to play ball again. Then mid-way through the season, I fucked myself up. It was after that, just going through, “Fuck, what am I going to do now?” So I come to Hollywood and my cousin Big Dave asked me if I wanted to work that night. I had been bugging some of the other homies, “I need a job out here in Hollywood,” and they were like “Yo, you’re too small, too short.” I was like, “For reals?”

So I’m like, “Fuck it.” When I was healthy, I started working out again, hitting the gym, started getting a little bigger and shit. I happened to be out in Hollywood on a fluke, just fucking around with one of the homies, and I ran into Dave, and he was like, “Yo, you need a job?” He needed some help that night. I started working with him at Dublin’s, and that was my first Hollywood club. Then my cousin Star took me under his wings, he started teaching me the ropes. I would take over nights he couldn’t make it when he was on the road with Chaka Khan, so he let me work the door for him. I hooked up with Sarah and Jen Boathouse and just took off from there. I became their go-to security guy. I did all their venues. I just met different people through there, and just started taking trips with people, and that’s how bodyguarding started for me.

Frank151: Were there a lot of people that you saw in the bodyguarding game who were making good money?
T: I met Fred Durst’s old bodyguard, and he told me that he used to do security at clubs too, and he had made the leap to bodyguarding. I was like, “Oh shit. Well fuck, I need to do this shit, right?” It wasn’t even the pay, because the pay to me was nothing. You make more money working the club scene, depending on what club you’re working at, and how hot it is, and how much you want to hustle. I wasn’t even the door guy, and I used to make anywhere from 200 to 300 dollars, to like a thousand, depending on where I was at that night and working security. The most I’ve ever taken home was like 3,500 bucks. Going out on tour, unless you’re working for like a rock band that’s paying you five G’s a week, you’re really making more money in the clubs, even if you make a consistent 300 bucks a day, and you’re working seven days a week, you’re only working four hours a day, from ten to two. That’s 2,100 a week cash, tax free. It’s good money.

F151: Being a bodyguard is a 24/7 gig, right?
T: Oh yeah. When you’re with a celebrity or group, you’re gone. There’s no such thing as a day off.
F151: So what’s the attraction?
T: Travel, man. The opportunity to see the world. It’s an opportunity of a lifetime. If someone will give you the chance to do it, do it. You get treated just as good as your clients do. You’ve got people kissing your ass, because they know that you’re a representative of your client, so they don’t want to piss you off either.

F151: Do you need a license to become a bodyguard?
T: To me, there’s three types of bodyguards. There’s the professionals, which is basically like ex-Secret Service, dudes that are suited and booted. Those guys need permits for all that shit. Then there’s big guys, where you’re just big and you move people out of the way. Then there’s your homies. You can be any one of those three, or somewhere in between.

Let me break it down like this: bodyguarding isn’t a game for idiots. There’s a lot of idiots in the game, but it’s not a game for idiots. You have people’s lives in your hand. I’ve taught myself, and I’ve picked up a lot just watching other bodyguards when I was working the club scenes. There is a lot of preparation: the pre-walk-through, to know where all the bathrooms are at, where all the exits are at, know where your car is going to be when you walk out. You got to have all this shit all planned out; know where the nearest hospital is at, and shit like that. There’s guys that I know, their job is to get the layout of the town, to and from the hotel, where they’re going, where the nearest police station is, the nearest this and that, and that’s all they do. The only time they see the client is when the client gets there. There’s teams, there’s guys that work by themselves, the bodyguard game is a real big business since 9-11. But even now, we’re always the last ones people think about paying, taking care of. But we’re always the first one they call when shit goes down.

Luckily I work for a dude that’s got my back and looks out for me. I’ve worked for Wilmer Valderrama for like five years. Once in a while I will work for somebody else, because they are a friend of mine, or as a favor. But mainly I work with Wil.

F151: Who is the craziest client you‘ve worked for?
T: I used to work for B2K. The biggest tour I went on was Scream Tour 3. We were literally running from kids. It wasn’t even scary, it was just the fact that you didn’t want to hurt them. They’re in a hysteria. You had ten and 12 year olds running next to the bus. We had to get out and say, “Please stop chasing us, someone is going to get hurt, and this isn’t going to look good for anyone. Please do not chase us.” What do they do? We get back inside, and they start running, banging on the bus. We’re like, “What the fuck?” All we need is for one of these girls to fall and get run over by the bus, and it’s a disaster.

F151: Do you feel like Samoan’s are particularly well equipped to be bodyguards, beyond just size?
T: The thing about Samoans, we’re very respectful people, and very faithful people. If you’re my boss, and taking care of me, we’re the ones that are going to be taking care of you. Like if a dude is going to try and pay me off so they can beat up my boss. Hell na, I’m going to beat you up just for saying that. So that’s why a lot of people work with us. We’re about who we are.

F151: What precautions do you take when working?
T: If an athlete or rapper wants to hire me, I let them know from jump, “If you come out with your ice, I’m not going to work with you. If you want to floss, you can floss, but I’ll let you hire somebody else that’s going to be stupid enough to catch some of them bullets that are going to be flying your way later on that day because dudes want to jack you.” Especially now, the economy is bad, you don’t want to put yourself out there to get jacked.  Even with security, just because you have security doesn’t mean you won’t get jacked. You get a lot of people who get security and they’re feeling invincible. Why put yourself out there to get jacked? A lot of dudes who do have money, and do have security, most of them don’t floss. They just want to go out there and have a good time. I’m only around mainly so that dudes don’t come around and just hate. Because those are the biggest dudes to deal with, drunk boyfriends and stuff.

F151: What’s next?
T: Just doing security has opened up other venues for me. I’m opening up a casting agency, a one-stop shop for Samoan and Polynesian talent. I’ve gotten chased down by casting directors looking for Samoans, so I’m like, why not just crack one open and do it myself? I’m also doing artist management. I’ve got a group from Carson, Trey Smoov (myspace.com/treysmoov), they had a cut, “Summer Time Again,” with Omar Cruz that was bumping all summer. I’ve got another artist, a rapper, Chris Ball. Yeah, so it should be good.