Fab 5 Freddy
Biography
Fab 5 Freddy, born Fred Brathwaite in Brooklyn, is an American visual artist, filmmaker, television personality, and hip-hop pioneer. He got his start as a graffiti artist with the Brooklyn group the Fabulous 5 in the late 1970s, painting subway car exteriors and moving into gallery shows, including a 1979 exhibition in Rome. Freddy became a link between uptown rap and the downtown No Wave scene through appearances on Glenn O'Brien's TV Party and at venues like the Mudd Club. He appears in the film New York Beat, later called Downtown 81, and in the Blondie video for Rapture. With Charlie Ahearn he helped create Wild Style (1982), contributing music, co-producing, and playing the club promoter Phade. He also rapped on the 1982 single Change the Beat, hosted Yo! MTV Raps beginning in 1988, and served as an associate producer on New Jack City. His other screen credits include cameos in American Gangster and Rachel Getting Married.
67years old
Turns 68 on August 31in 293 days
- Born Brooklyn
- Star sign: VirgoThe sign runs August 23 to September 22
- Also credited as Frederick Brathwaite, Fred Brathwaite and F5F
Movie Career
- Films
- 5
- Career span
- 39 years1982 to 2021
Every film, newest first
- 2021Biggie: I Got a Story to TellIMDb rating 6.8
- 2010Blank CityIMDb rating 7.1
- 2010Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant ChildIMDb rating 7.7
- 2009Burning Down the House: The Story of CBGBIMDb rating 7.5
- 1982Wild StyleIMDb rating 7.0
Genres
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A first
In 1988, Fab 5 Freddy hosted the MTV music video show Yo! MTV Raps, which made him the first hip-hop VJ.
A first
Freddy co-curated the 1981 Mudd Club show Beyond Words with Futura 2000, the first time many Bronx hip-hop figures appeared in the downtown New York art world.
Languages
Bill Laswell's band Material produced the 1982 single Change the Beat, whose A-side had Freddy rapping in English and French. A shorter French version of the same song, performed by Beside of Time Zone, was on the B-side.
A first
Freddy worked with Die Toten Hosen, a German punk rock band, in 1983. Together they produced a hip-hop take on "Eisgekühlter Bommerlunder" titled "Hip Hop Bommi Bop," described as the first punk and hip-hop co-production.
Fab 5 Freddy movies on Netflix
Most often with
Three actors appear in two of them each. Pick a number on the chart or a name in the list to see the films they share.
Films together
Debbie Harry's page
Jim Jarmusch's page
Thurston Moore's page
Online
Official profiles and reference pages.