Fab 5 Freddy Discusses Brooklyn Arts Award & New Memoir

When you understand that the culture of Hip-Hop, as it was born out of the grit, hustle, and energy of New York City, has a pantheon of pioneers, it’s only right to place the legendary Fab 5 Freddy within that group. While many recognize him for his presence as the trailblazing and dapper host of Yo! MTV Raps, Fab 5 Freddy was already an established cultural connector hailing from Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, whose foundational work with Lee Quiñones would give graffiti more prominence and respect, and would go on to star in and help create the first Hip-Hop motion picture, Wild Style.

On May 19, Fab 5 Freddy was rightly honored by the Brooklyn Arts Council with a Brooklyn Arts Award for his storied
contributions to the culture. It was a momentous occasion, as the Council was celebrating its 60th year of operation in helping artists & art educators achieve their creative goals, in addition to the timing as Fab 5 Freddy’s highly anticipated memoir, Everybody’s Fly: A Life of Art, Music and Changing The Future, was newly released. CassiusLife had the honor of speaking with the legendary artist to gain more insight about the impact of the memoir and his take on receiving the Brooklyn Arts Award.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

CassiusLife: What was the experience like for you, being honored by the Brooklyn Arts Council in the borough that raised you and made you, for your massive contributions to the culture?

Fab 5 Freddy: Man, listen…it was really special. I’ve been wrapping up my book tour, which I’ve been on for the last couple of months, if you will. But to see the energy, seeing all those artists come out…I wasn’t aware of the incredible work going on and the facility that they’re based in. 

It was all very impressive. Everybody was incredible, all the people, the board members, and Rasu, of course. And it was a big event. I didn’t understand it all in the context of it, people who had been like this is the biggest that they’ve ever seen, and all the people that came out. So it was overwhelmingly impressive, and I was super happy to be a part of it.

The timing of the honor is supreme, as you’ve just released your aforementioned memoir, Everybody’s Fly. Quick confession: I’ve read it about seven times already. 

Oh sh-t, [laughs] thank you. Wow.

What’s been one thing that people have told you has resonated with them after they’ve read it?

You know, a lot of people kind of were aware of some of the things I was involved in, most famously, I guess, Yo! MTV Raps. But a lot of people maybe knew a little bit about my background as a visual artist, but didn’t know all the pieces of that puzzle, as well as other things I’ve done. That’s why I always was like, ‘I can’t wait to tell people, to let them get a sense of my whole story and see the journey that I’ve been on.’ So it’s been a lot of people who’ve been like, ‘Yo, there’s things I knew, but a lot that I didn’t know.’

And a lot of people have said that while reading it, they’ve been hitting YouTube and Google ’cause there were little things they didn’t know, but when you click, it all comes right there. Like, here’s these little underground things I was involved in the beginning. And then they can see those things that they didn’t hear about or see before. So YouTube is great for that as well as Google, of course. It’s all there somewhere. [Laughs]

That actually ties me into my next question, going back to your connection with the Brooklyn Arts Council and working with Rasu. Having been honored, and now we’re with a mayor that is pretty much prioritizing the artist, do you think this new creative energy is taking a stronger foothold in New York City? And what do you want to contribute to that?

Well, I think it’s good having people in the administration that are big supporters of the arts and making it known on a loud and proactive basis at a time, particularly when nationally, a lot has been cut from various programs that support artists. So it’s really especially significant and a statement, if you will, that we have an administration that is really stepping up in that regard and putting positive and progressive people in positions to make moves. 

It’s great, but it’s still based on the current situation. People are under a lot of pressure, a lot of stress, and a lot of anxiety who’ve done similar kinds of things. Similar organizations have lost funding coast to coast. So when you get the national picture, it’s horrific. It’s great that we’ve got some support in the hometown focused on that, when everybody else is under extreme stress and problems. I’m sure the national funding that Brooklyn Arts would’ve gotten has probably been big, feeling the pressures and the cuts like everybody else.

Circling back to the book and its impact, along with your impact as a cultural pioneer, what do you feel is the one thing that you would tell somebody who, at any level of artistry, is feeling stuck?

Oh, boy. [Laughs] Feeling stuck. I don’t know – creative people have blocks, like, writers have writer’s block. You can have painter’s block, if you will, as a creative. I guess if you keep doing it, like watching what the Knicks are doing, this phenomenal run…take from what these athletes do, how they talk… I heard one cat in one of the post-game interviews last night, it was Jeremy Lin.

I had a buddy that used to hook me, get me tickets. He worked for the NBA. It just so happened that the game we had tickets for was when the Lakers came to play the Knicks, and Jeremy Lin had just went on this incredible tear. It was Linsanity. So he was on ESPN, breaking down what was going on, and he talked about when athletes get tired. How do they get over that hump?

He talked about the muscle memory of when you have a great coach and great practice, and you do get tired, the muscle memory kicks in, where you’re just doing these things that you’ve done a million times. And so when you are creative and you develop that muscle memory, even in times when it’s not flowing, you can still get it moving. You know what I’m saying?

And then you’ll get over the hump because that’s what happens. It doesn’t come out 100% nonstop every single minute, but if you’re aware of that and your confidence is there, you’ll go, ‘Let me pause this right now. Let me take a breather. Let me walk away and come back and get it popping like it’s supposed to be.’ I mean, that’s what I do. [Laughs]