On Yo! MTV Raps. At the beginning of the segment Ed Lover says peace to Fab. I wonder if he knew he would soon be holding it down for the show.

right after a white sand dust storm

Can’t really mess with this, I just find it curious Fab threw his weight behind it. Unfortunately it reminds me of that one Jamiroquai song. Oddly though I’ve watched this a few times already. I hope it doesn’t grow on me. I’m from Queens though so it’s all good, I don’t have to get it right away, or ever, right?

…no more spray paint this time around, i’m using crystals on canvas….

Fab 5 Freddy curates youtube.com’s homepage.

link (via)

One time in the early 80s when we were beginning to become well-known we went to a big 4th of July party at a popular night-club called AREA. Jean had a bunch of firecrackers in his pocket that I’m sure were made here in China. When we walked into the club we lit two packs and through them on the floor and people got very scared because they thought it was gunfire. The owners of the club were very mad and they had the bouncers escort us out of the club! Madonna, who we went to the club to hang out with, heard what happened and came outside with us and told the club owner she would never come back if they didn’t let us both back in. They did!

WHAT ARE THE TOP FIVE PROJECTS THAT YOU’VE WORKED ON THROUGHOUT YOUR ENTIRE ARTISTIC AND MUSICAL CAREER?

1. Making the movie Wild Style.
2. Hosting Yo! MTV Raps.
3. My first art show in Rome, Italy.
4. Painting the Warhol tribute Soup Can Train.
5. Producing a documentary on Bob Marley directed by Jonathan Demme [coming out in 2010].

A three minute excerpt from an episode of Paul Tschinkel’s ART/new york program filmed in 1984. The focus was Graf, or Post Graffiti, a term they used (and when I say they, I mean probably just Tschinkel, but what do I know) back then as an attempt to describe the jump to galleries. The full episode is about half an hour and features interviews with Lady Pink, Crash, Keith Haring, Rammellzee, Fab 5 Freddy and others. In this excerpt you can witness what appears to be Rammellzee giving terminology training to Fab 5.

*folds arms, waits ’til someone orders the dvd and posts it to the cloud*

Peace to SA.

Wild Style Special 1: Kool Moe Dee
Wild Style Special 2: Crazy Legs
Wild Style Special 3: Fab 5 Freddy

Kool Moe Dee: Every three and six years there is a transition within hiphop. I know I get a little over-analytical with it. And scientifical. And mathematical. Let me explain. The very first paradime shift happened in 1982, with Planet Rock and The Message. This means that everything before Planet Rock and The Message feels totally different than anything you ever heard, up untill them. I’ve noticed that this occurs very systematically within hiphop. Every three years there is a small paradime shift, every six or seven years a huge paradime shift. So in 1982, hiphop was going in a different way than in the three years before. Planet Rock and The Message were the first things that sounded different from Sugar Hill Gang. In the next couple of years, you see LL Cool J and Run DMC appearing on the scene. They were influenced by Planet Rock and Grandmaster Flash. So in 1985 the second paradime shift happens. Slick Rick and Doug E. Fresh step on the scene with The Show and La Di Da Di. This is were two important elements became huge for hiphop: beatboxing and storytelling. That made me write a couple of storysongs, see what I mean? In 1988 I would say the whole Public Enemy movement, plus the birth of gangsterrap with N.W.A. Then you see 1991, which completely killed everything that happened before that: Naughty by Nature and Das EFX. They completely changed the way everyone was rhyming back then. Three years later in 1994, you know this one right? Biggie, Snoop, Pac, Nas, the whole lot of ‘em. “Muthafucking right/ My pocket’s looking kinda tight!”. Laid back storytelling, it was amazing. Then in 1997, you get Diddy. He slows the gangsterinfluences down with glitters and partyhiphop. Then in 2000 there’s Eminem and Nelly, artist like that. Dirty South gets bigger and bigger. The year 2003 belongs to 50. Ain’t no arguing with that. He completely shifts it back to gangster, maffia shit. In the following period of time you see artist like Kanye becoming huge. The next paradime shift happens in 2006, the Dirty South takes over. Artists like T.I. bring hiphop to unkown levels. He alone completely changed the way hiphop was going after the 2003-2006 paradime.

Crazy Legs: I created The Windmill accidentally. I was practicing to go from a Backspin into a Chair Freeze, but I overrotated, so I went into a Backspin again. I created another move accidentally, the 1990. But I didn’t even call it the 1990. People started to call it that, because Ken Swift did a similar move in 1990. I called it the Handspin, because you spin on one hand on the ground. I also evolved the Backspin, also by mistake, haha! I was trying to go into a Chair Freeze while in a small hallway. While spinning, I didn’t want to get hurt, so I kinda jumped up with my hand. That’s how I evolved the Backspin.

Fab 5 Freddy: One time me and Charlie [Ahearn] were at this party in the Bronx. There used to be a drug that guys would smoke back then, called Angel Dust. So at this party, there was this BIG black guy, right? You could tell he was superhigh, just walking around looking fucking mean, man. Everyone at the party would get out of his way. There was a lot of tough guys at the party, but if you’d see this dude right here, nobody was touching him. Charlie and I would see this guy, and I would be like ‘oh shit, I hope he don’t come this way’. But jolly ol’ Charlie was out here taking pictures, you know, being the happy white guy. ‘HI! What’s going on? I’m Charlie!’. I was standing next to him, just fucking scared of this big black dude, man. Next thing I know, I suddenly see that big dude from across the club looking at Charlie. I started fearing for everyting I had and had ever known. This guy started walking, walked all the way right up to Charlie. I was standing there going ‘oh fuck this is it, this guy is the fucking monster that’s going to eat us’. So the guy is standing in front of Charlie, looking at him, and I don’t have any idea of what the fuck is about to happen. All of a sudden, Charlie looks at me and says ‘HEY FRED!’ ‘HEY FRED! I THINK THIS GUY WANTS ME TO TAKE HIS PICTURE!’ Then the big dude just walked off! I nearly pissed myself right there. It was like a fucking movie!

Peace to Capital P and Dj Chino.

Fab 5 Freddy On The Block Radio / July 11th

The Video Music Box 25th Anniversary Show was a historic event. The artists either performing or in attendance was a virtual who’s who of Hip-Hop aristocracy (partial list below). The whole concert lasted about three hours with 10-15 minute sets for each act, which meant a steady stream of classic material. If you couldn’t make it to the show and want to get a sense of what tracks were performed, just throw on your best of 80s and 90s hip-hop mixtapes.

I gotta give props to Ralph McDaniels and crew for a few things that added to the show’s success. One is keeping the event so organized. Even with the hustle and bustle of artists continuously going on and off stage, everything ran smoothly. Also, the set lengths. There was always enough entertainment throughout the night to keep the crowd involved and on their toes. Of course, major props are due for the line up. Honestly, when was the last time you heard Spoonie Gee, Schoolly D or Milk Dee rock the mic? Let alone at the same free event! Throw on the fact that none of the artists who hit the stage got paid a cent. They all did it out of love and respect for Uncle Ralph and Video Music Box. Hip-Hop unity at its finest.

Obviously, there are plenty of highlights I could run through like Ralph showing off his DJ Clark Kent designed Air Force One’s made specifically for the anniversary. Or July 18th being officially declared Video Music Box Day by Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Paterson. However, the livest part of the whole show was when the Sugar Hill Gang hit the stage to the tune of Rapper’s Delight. By now, most of us should know the back story behind Big Hank’s verse. After Wonder Mike finished up, I wondered how the crowd would react to Hank’s part of the song. The answer was that they didn’t get a chance to because Grandmaster Caz suddenly ran onto the stage and started spitting the rhymes! The icing on the cake was when Rahiem and Mele Mel of Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five joined everybody up there. Amazing.

Big ups to Ralph for being the first and putting in 25 years of hard work. And here’s to another 25+! I got video footage for most of the sets but until those are edited and uploaded onto our youtube channel, check out some pictures I snapped in between recordings (after the jump).

Sugar Hill Gang
Grandmaster Caz
Rahiem
Mele Mel
Lovebug Starski
Crash Crew
Chubb Rock
Naughty By Nature
Nice & Smooth
Special Ed
Milk Dee
Spoonie Gee
Schoolly D
Dana Dane
DJ Jazzy Joyce
O.C.
A.G.
Fab 5 Freddy
Kool Herc
Awesome 2
Mr. Cheeks
Kool DJ Red Alert
Large Professor
Dres
Hakim (of Channel Live)

Sugar Hill Gang, Grandmaster Caz, Rahiem and Mele Mel

Special K

Smooth B

Ralph McDaniels and Kool Herc

Ralph McDaniels

Rahiem

Naughty By Nature

Mele Mel

Kool DJ Red Alert

Greg Nice

Greg Nice

Grandmaster Caz and Rahiem

DJ Jazzy Joyce

Dana Dane

Chubb Rock

This film was recently featured on VH1’s Hip-Hop Honors award show with performances by Grandmaster Caz, KRS-One and Busy Bee with Grand Wizard Theodore on the decks. Dopeness. (thanks Roberto!) link

The DVD contains a digital transfer from the original 16mm film with commentary by director Ahearn and Fab 5 Freddy. Several extras debut on the special anniversary edition of WILD STYLE including a mini documentary featuring interviews with Fab 5 Freddy, Lee Quinones, Busy Bee, Lady Pink and Ahearn plus footage from the 20th anniversary concert held at the original amphitheater, a “Bongo Barbershop” DJ battle in the Bronx featuring Grand Master Caz, a new musical short with Busy Bee titled “Busy On The Beach,” scenes from the 25th Anniversary Wild Style Reunion Show and an expanded gallery with unreleased photos.