Fabbien Nahounou, better known as Paperboy Fabe, is an American, Grammy Award-nominated, R&B, hip hop, and contemporary music producer. Paperboy Fabe is from Hartford, Connecticut, and now resides in Los Angeles, California. He is best known for his production on Cyhi Da Prynce "Studda", Game's "Do It B.I.G" featuring Yung Joc, and Cyhi Da Prynce's "Thousand Poundz" featuring Pusha T & Pill, and for his pivotal role in the development of the careers of Brent Faiyaz and Bibi Bourelly.
Music career
Paperboy Fabe moved to Atlanta from Connecticut in 2002 to attend Clark Atlanta University. There he entered into his first beat battle, and won first place over producer, M16, gaining notoriety on the Atlanta scene. Paperboy Fabe continued winning beat battles in Atlanta, New Jersey, and California. He was introduced to Cyhi Da Prynce, which led to a placement on Cyhi Da Prynce’s mixtape Royal Flush Vol. 1, hosted by Greg Street. Cyhi Da Prynce went on to make a video for the song "Studda", which Paperboy Fabe produced. The video went viral and was posted on Kanye West's blog. Soon after, Cyhi Da Prynce was signed to G.O.O.D Music, with a large contribution of Paperboy Fabe’s work. Rapper Game heard one of Paperboy Fabe’s tracks via a mutual friend while in Atlanta. Game loved the beat and instantly released a song the very next day entitled "We Do It Big", featuring Yung Joc. The song became the official promotional single for Game's next studio album, The R.E.D Album. The track failed to make the album due to clearance issues; however, it made the mixtape Break Lights, hosted by DJ Skee. Soon afterwards, Paperboy Fabe had the honor of working with Cyhi Da Prynce again when he produced "Thousand Poundz", featuring Pusha T and Pill. The track appeared on the mixtape Royal Flush Vol. 2. Paperboy Fabe got his first major placement on Ledisi’s album Pieces of Me. She used the same instrumental that Cyhi Da Prynce used on his mixtape Royal Flush Vol. 1, for the song "Studda". The track on the album is titled "Coffee". The placement brought Paperboy Fabe his first Grammy nomination. Paperboy Fabe relocated again to Los Angeles, where he currently resides, to further himself in the music industry has an A&R and producer. In 2013, Paperboy Fabe began developing Bibi Bourelly's sound as a writer and artist, which quickly led to her working with Kanye West and Rihanna. In 2015 he executive produced her debut album. In 2016, Paperboy Fabe took a break from music and began focusing on finding new talent. Before long, his partner/friend Worldwide Ty introduced him to Brent Faiyaz. From there, Fabe quickly started focusing on Brent and eventually put his music team together executive producing Brent's first EP, A.M Paradox, and also co-executive producing Brent's debut album Sonder Son. In 2018, Paperboy Fabe began to travel back and forth to his homeland in West Africa by way of Cote d'Ivoire to begin working on the infusion of Afrobeat and R&B. He is currently working with many local artists from the Ivory Coast, Ghana, Ethiopia & Nigeria.
