Biographical note taken from the Fab 5 Freddy papers, written by Amelia Carlin in 2020.
Fab 5 Freddy is an African American director, TV host, graffiti artist, and a key personality in the history of hip-hop culture. He was born Frederick Leroy Brathwaite to Theresa Florence Brathwaite and Frederick Leroy Brathwaite in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, in 1956. His god-father was the jazz trumpeter and composer, Max Roach. Fab 5 Freddy was instrumental in connecting the New York uptown worlds of graffiti, rap, MC, and breakdance artists, with the downtown modern art scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1983, he worked on the seminal hip-hop film Wild Style and later gained widespread fame as a host on the MTV series Yo! MTV Raps (1988-1995). He has directed a number of music videos, including his debut work for Boogie Down Productions' release "My Philosophy" (1988), as well as clips for a number of other artists. He has worked in music and event production, on major motion pictures, and in television roles. He studied communications for a period around 1978 at Medgar Evers College, Brooklyn.
Fab 5 Freddy was one of the members of the graffiti crew "The Fabulous 5" alongside the noted graffiti artist Lee Quiñones. The group were key participants in the movement of the late 1970s and early 1980s that saw graffiti move into more established art spaces. Both Fab 5 Freddy and Quiñones were invited to exhibit their work in at the Galleria La Medusa in Rome, in 1979. Fab 5 Freddy's most well-known graffiti work is a series of soup cans painted on a New York City subway train circa 1979-1980, referencing pop artist Andy Warhol's "Campbell's Soup Cans."
Fab 5 Freddy exhibited works at various galleries including the Fun Gallery; in the Times Square Show (1980), which also featured Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat; in the Beyond Words show at the Mudd Club (1981) that Fab 5 Freddy co-curated with graffiti artist Futura; and in New York/New Wave at P.S. 1 (1981).
During this period, Fab 5 Freddy frequented the tapings of TV Party, Glenn O'Brien's cable access show, where he met Debbie Harry, and other members of the new wave band Blondie. He is famously referenced in Blondie's track "Rapture," in the phrase "Fab 5 Freddy told me everybody's fly," and appeared in the song's 1981 music video together with Quiñones and Basquiat.
At the Times Square Show, Fab 5 Freddy met director Charlie Ahearn. Together they developed the concept for the film Wild Style which depicted the burgeoning New York rap, break dancing, and graffiti scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Fab 5 Freddy created the original music for the film and played the role of "Phade," a nightclub owner.
In 1982, Fab 5 Freddy released the single "Change the Beat" on Celluloid Records. The B-side of the EP contained a French version of the song by the rapper Beside. At the end of this version of the song is the line "This stuff is really fresh," which has become one of the most sampled pieces of music of all time. This single, and five others were recorded to promote the "New York Rap City" tour. The tour brought Fab 5 Freddy, and a group of MCs, DJs, break dancers, graffiti writers, and the Fantastic Four Double Dutch team to France and the United Kingdom in November of 1982.
Fab 5 Freddy is best known as the host of the MTV series Yo! MTV Raps. This was the first television series to present hip-hop and rap music videos, and is often credited with disseminating the genre throughout the United States and other parts of the world. The concept was developed by Ted Demme and first aired in 1988 with Fab 5 Freddy as the host, broadcasting every Saturday night. Owing to its popularity, MTV developed a daily format of the show that was filmed in-studio, with Ed Lover and Doctor Dre as the weekday hosts. The program featured interviews and performances with many of the most popular, widely regarded rap, hip-hop, and R&B acts of the time. The show was broadcast until 1995.
In the same year the first episode of Yo! MTV Raps aired, Fab 5 Freddy made his music video directorial debut with the Boogie Down Productions' track "My Philosophy" (1988). He directed Queen Latifah's "Ladies First"; Snoop Dogg's "Who Am I (What's My Name)?"; "One Love" by Nas; several Shabba Ranks songs; and videos for artists such as Sharissa, and Ziggy Marley and The Wailers. During his career, he has directed more than 70 music videos.
Through the 1990s and early 2000s, Fab 5 Freddy and business associate Roy Cormier headed several ventures in the music industry, including F&R Records, and In the Middle Entertainment. Cormier, an American recording executive, was an early promoter of hip-hop and rap events in the 1980s, moving on to become a talent manager, and record producer. Together, they were co-presidents of Pallas Records, a label distributed by Universal Records, the biggest record label in the industry at the time. At Pallas they were responsible for launching the Chicago hip-hop/rap group Crucial Conflict's first full-length album, The Final Tic (1996). After leaving Pallas, Fab 5 Freddy and Cormier ran F&R Records for a short period around 1997-1998, where they worked with the artists 45 King and Boogie Shoes. Following this venture, they co-founded the independent urban record label In the Middle Entertainment. By 1999, they had signed four acts; one group and three soloists: Ill Street, Tikki, Gee Pierce and Mike Ransom.
Fab 5 Freddy's media projects have included acting parts in the feature films New Jack City (1991), and American Gangster (2007), on which he also worked as a production consultant. In 2001, Fab 5 Freddy hosted a web based hip-hop lifestyle series The Fab 5 Freddy Show on GetMusic.com. He has been involved with the VH1 Hip Hop Honors awards since its inception in 2004, working as co-producer and host on a number of the shows. He regularly participates as a speaker and panelist in programs at galleries, schools, and conferences.
His writings include a dictionary of contemporary hip-hop terminology entitled Fresh Fly Flavor: Words and Phrases of the Hip Hop Generation, published by Longmeadow in 1992, and several articles in commercial magazines. From the 1990s, he has collaborated with other writers on several film projects with themes of rap and hip-hop culture. He continues to create art works, and direct, produce, and appear in television and film productions.