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iRsSlw"><a class="RubricLk-gRWSOU fgWnkQ bric__lk" href="/magaze/profil"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Profil</span></a></div></div></div><h1 data-ttid="ContentHearHed" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ContentHearHed-NCyCC iUEiRd NbxED hpJvIc">Livg Large</h1></div><div class="ContentHearAccredatn-lfctVB enhwXT ntent-hear__accredatn" data-ttid="ContentHearAccredatn"><div class="ContentHearDek-bIqFFZ Mtme">The world of Fab Five Freddy.</div><div class="ContentHearByle-kmPyCa gvUmxJ"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW jvZaPI rponsive-asset ContentHearContributorImage-cvjZXn jKACOU"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa ContentHearContributorImage-cvjZXn jKACOU rponsive-image"><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w" siz="66px"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w" siz="66px"/><img alt="" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></picture></span><div class="ContentHearByleContent-dpPmNn DRFq"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl ContentHearByl-cZqgyJ bqbBYQ"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH ivtvgj byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span><a class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM ByleLk-gEnFiw iUEiRd ggMZaT cXqSTL eErqIx byle__name-lk button" href="/ntributors/san-orlean">San Orlean</a></span></span></p></div><time data-ttid="ContentHearPublishDate" dateTime="1991-06-10T05:00:00-04:00" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ContentHearPublishDate-eIBicG iUEiRd kYZrFA kEBrdf">June 10, 1991</time></div></div></div></div><div class="LightboxWrapper-dxsWBV hhylRt"><div class="ContentHearLeadAsset-hGbumP iWPCcH lead-asset ContentHearLeadAssetWrapper-hfXHEc fTrSlG lead-asset--width-smallle" data-ttid="ContentHearLeadAsset"><figure class="ContentHearLeadAssetContent-kOfYSG dRGWbI"><div class="ContentHearLeadAssetContentMedia-bLEIpi jjhWdS lead-asset__ntent__photo"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW jvZaPI rponsive-asset ContentHearRponsiveAsset-bREgIb khLUzS"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz hxPBkq"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO KhjZz ContentHearRponsiveAsset-bREgIb khLUzS rponsive-image rponsive-image--expandable"><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w, 1920w, 2240w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Blackandwhe photograph of Fred Brathwae and JeanMichel Basquiat Brathwae wh an arm over Basquiats shoulr" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></picture></div></div></span><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn ContentHearLeadAssetCaptn-hPWmSN kuCzGS"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">Fred Brathwae and Jean-Michel Basquiat.</span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT jbIJNS ptn__cred">Photograph by Patrick McMullan / Getty</span></div></div></figure><div data-ttid="ContentHearLeadRailAnchor" class="ContentHearLeadRailAnchor-jYVcDc djtEof"></div></div></div></div></hear></div><div data-attribute-verso-pattern="article-body" class="ArticlePageContentBackGround-cNiFNN kbAoLA article-body__ntent"><div class="ActnBarWrapperContent-lasBkU cAHp"><div class="ActnBarWrapperComponent-cjwxLS bEeSLb"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="ActnBarWrapper-dhxmQh kNjTbQ viewport-monor-anchor"><button id="bookmark" aria-label="Save this story" class="ActnBarButton-dyFOZU hQrwCF bookmark large-screen"><span class="ActnBarSendaryButtonPrimaryIn-isbvyN cAwccV bookmark-button-in"><svg class="in in-bookmark" 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22.1845V8.83866H20V23.9508Z"></path><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M23 3H20V0H19V3H16V4H19V7H20V4H23V3Z"></path></svg></span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ActnBarButtonText-bYXYuh iUEiRd bkefvo gkccfO">Save this story</span></button></div></div></div><div class="LightboxWrapper-dxsWBV hhylRt"><div class="ArticlePageChunksContent-etcMtP bwyLBj"><div data-ttid="ArticlePageChunks" class="ArticlePageChunks-fLyCVG Uozmo"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg">The olt person New York at the moment is a man named Fred Brathwae, who is known most of the time to most of his iends as Fab Five Freddy, Fab, Five, or jt Freddy. Freddy has a lot of jobs. He has been, at one time or another, a graffi artist, a rapper, an ternatnally exhibed pater, a vio and TV-mercial director, a screenwrer, a film srer, an actor, a lecturer, and a televisn personaly. Currently, he is also known to lns of viewers as the host of MTV’s popular Saturday-night rap-mic show, “Yo! MTV Raps.” Freddy also knows a lot of people. He unts among his iends the late Andy Warhol, a mic promoter who go by the name Great Adventure, the pater Julian Schnabel, and the afternoon manager of a McDonald’s on 125th Street Harlem. Freddy’s tast range all over the place. In the urse of any given day, he might exprs enthiasm for Italian postmorn paters, a new rap song by Public Enemy, the oxtail soup served at a dumpy ltle Haian rtrant on Tenth Avenue, the actor who played Grandpa Munster on “The Munsters,” Mallm X, high-end stereo ponents, medieval armor, dogs, women, and nicely signed long-hl tcks. Hangg around wh Freddy is a multimedia experience.</p><p class="paywall">Freddy has perfect grammar, but, keepg wh his non-standard tast, he prefers to e a fely discrimated array of non-standard English exprsns to characterize his regular outbreaks of good feelg. The clu:</p><p class="paywall"><em>Fly</em>—impli exceptnal stylishns or unually high achievement. How Freddy scribed the food at a dner he attend wh reprentativ of the Ebel watch pany at Le Cirque.</p><p class="paywall"><em>Excellent</em>—often refers to a succsful bs transactn. How Freddy said he felt when he found out he was beg hired to play himself an upg movie.</p><p class="paywall"><em>Dope</em>—exprs all-purpose posivens, pecially about somethg tense or challengg. How Freddy rated a new album by the Jamain sger Shabba Ranks.</p><p class="paywall"><em>Extra happy</em>—refers to a big, expansive swell of feelg. How Freddy scribed his emotns upon hearg that his televisn show would be broadst the Soviet Unn.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-1 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall"><em>Yo!</em>—the ultimate, all-purpose exclamatn, which, pendg on flectn, n imply marvellons or wonrment. How Freddy begs a discsn of what ’s like for him to nsir that at this fairly early pot his life he is already the host of a hip ternatnally televised mic show, has a al wh Warner Brothers to direct two movi, travels eely among a dozen different worlds, knows famo people, and is famo himself.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">People regnize Freddy on the street all the time the days, but you get the feelg that even if he weren’t televised weekly he would still not be the sort of person to go unnoticed. On mera he n look wiry, but person he is over six feet tall and more than solidly built. He is thirty-one years old, looks about thirty, and will ocsnally assign himself a few years ls than that the tellg. He has proment, round cheekbon, a bow-shaped, wily se, and a small, nearly fettable mtache. His hands are large and long-fgered and mobile. He is very apt at the classic B-boy gtur of rap—stiff thumbs, forefgers, and pki moved liberate, threateng sweeps, endg wh arms crossed high, shoulrs hunched, and head tilted sassily—but his real body language is more subtle. He walks nted forward, as if he were about to lean over and whisper. His voice is slightly nasal and ually amg. I n scribe neher his ey nor his hair, bee he always wears a hat and sunglass—doors and out, night and day. He favors felt fedoras and Jean-Pl Gltier shas. The rt of his outfs have an equally arrtg qualy—he always looks mera-ready. One time I was wh him, he was wearg a srlet mp shirt wh flap pockets, baggy black gabarde pants, red suè oxfords, and a tpe felt fedora. Another time, he was wearg a pumpk-lored rayon shirt buttoned to the neck, no tie, a strg of large amber beads, baggy st-lored pants, green suè oxfords wh thick black sol, and a black silk trenchat. All all, his style is pretty sui generis.</p><p class="paywall">Summg up what he do for a livg, Freddy said recently, “I’m the kg of synthis.” There is no such job listed wh the Uned Stat Bure of Labor Statistics. Freddy nohels synthiz full time. An ial Fab Five Freddy project volv several media and several dividuals who reprent the high and low ends of artistic enavor or social standg and whose associatn would be disrdant if they were not harmonized by Freddy. His favore versn of such projects at the moment is the cross-pollatn of black street culture wh highbrow art. Some months ago, scribg a trip he took to Italy, he told me, “I wanted to walk by Felli’s hoe, bee I really admire his filmmakg. So I took a huge ghetto blaster, put a Run-D.M.C. tape, and walked up and down Felli’s street, right ont of his hoe, blastg rap mic. I liked the ia of bg the two experienc.”</p><p class="paywall">Freddy scribg the rt of his stay Italy: “Then I went to dner at the home of the man who ns the Galleria la Msa Rome. We were gettg together to talk about the graffi scene, and all that. His hoe was filled wh all the geo Caravaggs and Chiris and Italian Futurist patgs. It was, like, <em>yo</em>.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">One morng this sprg, I ught a b and head over to pick Freddy up at his apartment. Freddy liv a morn high rise on the wtern edge of midtown Manhattan. Before that, he lived a tenement on the Lower East Si. When he first achieved notoriety as a graffi artist, he was livg at home wh his parents, Bedford-Stuyvant. His prent apartment has sensatnal views three directns, que a few mirrors, a vacuum-sealed ambience, and, to my eye, a sort of Wall Street yuppie gleam, which mak exactly not the place I would have expected Freddy to live . As happens, though, Freddy appreciat good views and slick buildgs. He also has a lot of iends circulatg the neighborhood; one eveng when he and I were g back om a “Yo!” tapg, we ran to a rapper named Queen Latifah and her manager, both iends of his, the entranceway.</p><div class="Contaer-bkChBi byNLHx"></div><p class="paywall">The thgs Freddy do and the pace at which he do them make him seem to be all over the place all the time. This is te of many people New York—and, particular, of the kds of people who populate Freddy’s var bs—but Freddy tak beg on the move, like everythg else he do, to s hight form of exprsn. A typil day for him might clu shootg an episo of “Yo!” on lotn the Bronx, then edg one of his mic vios at a productn facily midtown, then shoppg SoHo, then meetg people for dner at the Oon, then visg iends at midnight Bed-Stuy. One afternoon this wter, Freddy lled me om Los Angel. I was actually expectg him to be llg om Japan, where he and rap have lately bee hot modi, both separately and as they are teamed up on “Yo!” Freddy is ually more than happy to travel wherever he has bee a hot mody, and a few weeks earlier he had cid he ought to vis Japan while he was still vogue, but apparently the trip had fallen through, and stead he had gone to California. In Los Angel, he was stayg at the Mondrian Hotel, a glossy place on Sunset Boulevard whose owners also happen to nsir him a hot mody: several years ago, they let him live the hotel for three months exchange for some of his patgs. Toward the end of the nversatn, I asked Freddy what he’d be dog for the next few days. He rattled off a list that clud movie, televisn, advertisg, and mic projects that would entail travellg to three natns on three ntents. When I said that he’d be hard to fd, he said, “Oh, not really. I don’t know how to drive, so the whole time I’m L.A. I’ll kd of be stuck my hotel room.”</p><p class="paywall">This particular morng New York, Freddy was first gog to a meetg about an upg mic-vio project, then shootg the episo of “Yo! MTV Raps” that would n the followg Saturday night, then workg on his Warner screenplay, and then havg a meetg about another mic vio he might be directg. I was late, but Freddy didn’t seem to notice: when my b pulled up, he was stg the lobby, absorbed a magaze about expensive stereo equipment. The lobby was by wh people smart bs sus. Freddy was wearg a silky shirt wh a pattern of brightly lored us and vegetabl, zoot-su-style brown twill pants, tan socks, his green suè oxfords, a sat baseball jacket wh the slogan “45 K<em class="small">g</em>” on the back, a small leather map of Ai hangg om a rawhi thong around his neck, a newsboy p of Irish tweed, and steel-rimmed Gltier shas wh ltle round lens. He looked stylish. He appeared to be a good mood. Upon seeg me, he hollered “Yo!” and then lghed—a loud, articulated lgh that sounds like the air brak on an eighteen-wheeler seizg. On our way out, he acsted his doorman, his ncierge, and var people enterg the buildg by ckg his head and llg out “Yo! My <em>man!</em> ”</p><p class="paywall">“How’s gog, Freddy?” his doorman asked.</p><p class="paywall">“Livg large, man,” Freddy answered, snterg through the doorway. “Livg <em>very</em> large.”</p><p class="paywall">As we crossed the urtyard, Freddy stopped to greet a neighbor who was walkg tw black pugs. “Great dogs,” he said, leang over to pet them. “I love that—matched dogs.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-2 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">“Brother and sister,” the neighbor said. “They’re not exactly matched.”</p><p class="paywall">“I love the way they look,” Freddy went on, disregardg the rrectn. “That’s so <em>dope!</em> I should get a dog. It would look fly to walk down the street wh tw dogs.”</p><p class="paywall">The morng’s first meetg was beg held at the SoHo offic of the film director Jonathan Demme. Ted Demme, the executive producer of “Yo! MTV Raps,” is Jonathan’s nephew, and Jonathan himself is a mic enthiast, who ocsnally directs vios for rap groups. This particular meetg had been lled by the rapper KRS-One, who recently found an tn project lled Human Edutn Agast Li and was proposg to make a llaborative rap rerd and vio to raise money for . A group of rappers—L. L. Cool J, Kid Capri, Freddie Foxx, Big Daddy Kane, M. C. Lyte, Queen Latifah, Run-D.M.C., and Ms. Melodie—had already been drafted to rap on the rerd. The two Demm, Freddy, and a young director named Pam Jenks had been ved to direct sectns of the vio.</p><p class="paywall">Freddy, stretchg out the b, was sg to himself. “I’m thkg, Yo, this is pretty <em>ol</em>,” he said. “Here is, right after Osrs night, and here I am gog to a meetg to direct somethg wh Jonathan Demme. That’s some ol fuckg sh! Jonathan Demme, you know—director of ‘Silence of the Lambs,’ and everythg.” He dmmed his fgers on the seat. The bdriver turned his rad up. A toxic smell om New Jersey wafted one wdow, mixed wh the air hener on the dashboard, and blew out the other si. It was a bright morng wh a wd that me startlg chilly puffs. No ra was imment. Somewhere across town, a “Yo! MTV Raps” productn assistant was notg wh relief that the day’s tapg uld take place outsi, as planned. “It’s funny, me and Jonathan were No. 1 and No. 2 for a while,” Freddy went on. “What I mean is that Jonathan’s film ‘Lambs’ is out now, and so is the movie I’d been workg on as associate producer, ‘New Jack Cy,’ and we were No. 1 and No. 2 box-office <em>Variety</em> for weeks. We’d still be No. 1 and No. 2, except that the new Teenage Mutant Nja Turtl movie is out and bumped . I’m not dissg , but do hurt to be bumped by turtl.”</p><p class="paywall">Demme’s office is a narrow, cluttered loft on the eighth floor of a buildg on lower Broadway. It is filled wh mismatched chairs and sks, and has the enomil look of a stunt-newspaper office, except that hangg on the walls are a huge “Silence of the Lambs” poster and a photograph of a theatre marquee announcg a double feature of that film and another Demme productn, “Miami Blu.” When we arrived, the meetg was already progrs. The Demm, KRS-One and his associat, and var technil advisers had pulled their chairs to a circle the middle of the loft and were discsg the logistil challeng of shootg a vio Harlem wh four directors, untls terted onlookers, and a three-thoand-dollar-a-day Steadim. The nversatn stopped when we walked .</p><p class="paywall">“Fab,” Ted Demme said, greetg.</p><p class="paywall">“Yo,” Freddy said.</p><p class="paywall">“Fred,” KRS-One said.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-3 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">“Yo, man,” Freddy said. Freddy and KRS have some history. The first vio Freddy ever directed was “My Philosophy,” a h for KRS-One and Boogie Down Productns 1988. When Freddy troduc the vio on “Yo! MTV Raps,” he variably says, wh no trace of bashfulns, “Yo, now here’s a great vio, one of my <em>favor</em>.” When Freddy refers to KRS nversatn, he que often intifi him as “the heart and soul and nscience and bras and philosophy of rap” and sometim adds that he is “my ma man.”</p><p class="paywall">“We’ll tch you up,” Ted said. “KRS was jt talkg about his project to advance human nscns.”</p><p class="paywall">“Excellent,” Freddy said. He nodd to KRS and sat down, reached for a pen, and nodd genially at the others the room.</p><p class="paywall">Everyone turned back to the bs at hand. I had never prevly seen Freddy any suatn where he wasn’t the prcipal object of attentn. In this circle, he seemed uncharacteristilly unanimated. KRS, a bulky, soft-faced man wh a rollg bass voice and a soothg, profsorial manner, did most of the talkg, scribg a plan to distribute four ln pi of a book he had wrten challengg the basic assumptns of Wtern tn. “I’m gog to drop the book onto the school system,” KRS said. “Our goal is to get people thkg. For stance, we put out the statement ‘Aristotle was a thief.’ The first reactn will be ‘What are you talkg about?’ The next is that will start people thkg.”</p><p class="paywall">“I’ll tell you what I’ve been thkg,” Ted Demme rpond. “I’m thkg that when kids hear that there are ten major rappers the neighborhood they’re gog to go crazy.”</p><p class="paywall">A discsn of lamated secury pass followed. It was close to noon. Jonathan Demme stood up, exced himself to go to another meetg, and head for the door. Then Ted Demme stood up, thanked everyone, and said that he and Freddy had to leave for the “Yo!” tapg, and that he was available to meet aga as the plans proceed. He then shot Freddy an urgent look.</p><p class="paywall">Freddy stood up and strolled over to the “Silence of the Lambs” poster and psed ont of . The large face of Jodie Foster amed the back of Freddy’s head. “Yo,” he said to me after a moment. “Dog somethg wh Jonathan is excellent. I’m <em>extra</em> happy I got asked to do this vio.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Many thgs make Freddy extra happy. Workg wh someone well tablished and succsful, like Jonathan Demme, is one of his extra-happit experienc. He is unabashed about . In fact, he aspir to . He started his movie reer, 1980, by telephong Charlie Ahearn, whose movie “The Deadly Art of Survival” was then beg celebrated on the unrground-film circu, and askg Ahearn to clu him whatever he was dog next. When he got terted patg, he cultivated iendships wh Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keh Harg. When he did graffi, he did alongsi the graffi star Lee Quon. He sred a movie, when movie srg ught his attentn, wh Chris Ste, of the band Blondie. People like Freddy; almost everyone he has sought to attach himself to has said y. The tra-off is that Freddy has a gift for gettg himself and his unrtakgs, and therefore his llaborators, noticed. He manag, seemgly whout effort, to create an ra of noteworths. His philosophy of reer advancement is not a matter of beg a succsful hanger-on. It’s a philosophy that appreciat mastery and technil proficiency but priz the knack for urtg acplished, proficient people, the knack for noticg which directn popular culture is headg, the knack for graftg one art form or pop form onto another, the knack for attractg a lot of attentn to whatever you do, and the knack for unrstandg that attractg attentn is, ultimately, the real art form of this era. Freddy has all the knacks. There are tim when I am of the opn that Fab Five Freddy is the hip-hop Andy Warhol. And, fact, Freddy’s extra-happit profsnal associatn was wh Warhol, whom he refers to as his hero.</p><p class="paywall">This is the path om Bedford-Stuyvant to Andy Warhol: “My mother is a nurse, and my dad is an acuntant. There was always a very heavy mic thg our hoe. Max Roach is my godfather, and Max and my dad are like brothers. They were beboppers together—black tellectuals. My dad lived Brooklyn, and he had a posse of micians like Bud Powell, Cecil Payne, Thelon Monk, Clifford Brown. They’d hang at his hoe—everybody lled the Chs Club. My dad’s not a mician, but he’d always hang wh all the dus. Bed-Stuy is ol—’s anchored by all the church the muny. My parents jt got ble about a month ago. Before that, I’d send them tap of ‘Yo!’ so they uld see . I grew up about three blocks om where Spike ma ‘Do the Right Thg.’ I kd of slipped out of high school and fished up this program lled Cy as School, which is for people who are smart but don’t want to listen to other people. I was gog to Medgar Evers College and I got the ia to be a pater. I’d been taggg my name up, dog graffi, when I was an adolcent, so that I uld start gettg known, to popularize myself the cy. That was when all the dus would tag up their nam. My tags were Bull 99 and Showdown 177 and Fred Fab Five. I’d play hooky a lot and go to the Met to look at armor, look at patgs, look at jewelry, and I would thk, Yo, <em>I</em> want to do this. I didn’t want to be a folk artist, I wanted to be a fe artist. I wanted to be a <em>famo</em> artist. Somewhere there, I started readg about Pop art. I was readg a lot of books about art—and some of them were really hard to read and borg and didn’t say anythg to me, and others sound ol, and they were about Pop art. I started readg <em>Interview</em> and makg my plans. I knew you had to have some kd of plan to move to the media.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-4 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Freddy’s plans to be a famo artist cid wh the Pop-art movement’s champng of enlightened amatrism every field. It was then the mid-seventi. By Pop standards, anyone was eligible to make art. Anyone uld have a punk band. Anyone uld silk-screen Campbell’s-soup ns. Anythg anyone clared to be sculpture was sculpture. Anyone uld have his own ble-televisn show and ve his iends to appear on and jt <em>act like themselv</em>, and the show would be nceptually plete. This did ed happen. Glenn O’Brien, a wrer and Warhol alyte, produced a televisn show on Manhattan’s public-accs channel which was lled “Glenn O’Brien’s TV Party”; entailed nothg much more than his vg his iends to hold a cktail hour on the air. His iends—among them Deborah Harry, Chris Ste, David Byrne, and Arto Ldsay—were members of the social set that Freddy ually scrib as “groovy downtown hipsters.” Freddy, who was a fan of Glenn’s lumn <em>Interview</em>, arranged to have Glenn as a gut on a llege rad show he was m.c.’ g. Not long afterward, Freddy was seized wh the sire to bee a meraman for “Glenn O’Brien’s TV Party.” For two years, he was a meraman for the show, and also, soon after startg, one of s on-mera personnel, and also, time, a regular member of the groovy downtown hipsters and a Warhol votee. He saw, first hand, the power of beg a smart spectator and a llector, and the satisfactn of makg yourself and your tast well known. “Andy was the biggt fluence on me,” Freddy now says. “I hung around wh him as much as I uld. For me and Jean-Michel, g om where we were g om, beg young black mal this happeng downtown scene, we were jt operatg on another pla, and Andy was .”</p><p class="paywall">Uptown, and Brooklyn and the Bronx, the notn of populist street art was nothg new, but the forms was takg—rappg, break dancg, and graffi patg—were. Freddy would often ri the subway to the cy parks the South Bronx where rappers and break dancers set up and performed. He was, he says now, jt a fan, but a fan wh tertg nnectns. “I was, like, this person who unrstood the fe-art thg,” Freddy says. “I was hip enough to hang downtown at plac like Danceteria wh all the art people, gallery owners, all the groovy people, but I had the pure hip-hop roots as well. So this was my synthis. I was creded wh brgg rap downtown. I went onstage and rapped at the Mudd Club, which was a new-wave hangout. I knew I wasn’t much of a rapper, but I wanted to fe the two worlds, and I figured the dience downtown wouldn’t know the difference if I was or wasn’t much of a rapper. I knew whatever I did down there would look tertg. I wanted people to see this whole hip-hop street-culture thg bubblg up unr their nos.”</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><asi class="PersistentAsiWrapper-VGrR daRVRt persistent-asi" style="posn:absolute;top:to;height:to" data-ttid="PersistentAsiWrapper"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssS ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="g9ziw"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></asi></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssS ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="y7vrkrf"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">Freddy’s next big synthis was proposg that graffi and break dancg and rappg were related forms of street art which, taken as a whole, fed the new athetic of black hip-hop culture. This might seem obv now, but at the time the three were nsired separate, transory impuls at bt and discrete forms of public nuisance at worst. Freddy, beg Freddy, me up wh the ia, and then followed wh this proposal: “Damn, put this all a <em>movie</em>, would be <em>dope</em>.” Charlie Ahearn, after beg approached by Freddy, agreed that would be very dope to make a movie about hip-hop. Freddy’s relatnship wh the rultg project, “Wild Style,” is a Freddy classic. As Ahearn now rells , Freddy ially planned to -wre the screenplay wh him but didn’t have the patience to niggle over the fe pots of screenwrg, and ially planned to -direct but didn’t have the patience to labor over the tails of film directn. In the end, Freddy helped Chris Ste produce the soundtrack. He also wound up wh a major role, even though actg happened to be one of the few job posns the film he had not been terted fillg.</p><p class="paywall">Ahearn is extremely plimentary when to Freddy’s ntributns. “First of all, he’s the bt actor the film,” he says. “He didn’t want to be . That was my ia. As far as the other stuff, Freddy didn’t have the foc at that particular time to wre or direct, although he was very terted dog both. His credible talents lay more his charisma, his abily to form relatnships wh a huge number of people, and to have this unique visn of street culture, and to have the sire to brg the ghetto scene downtown. In a way, he was the one who brought all together.”</p><p class="paywall">“Wild Style” is the story of a South Bronx graffi artist who has to ci whether he should rema an anonymo outlaw vandal makg street art for nothg or sh and start sellg his graffi patgs to effete, upsle llectors. Freddy plays a fast-talkg, cynil smoothy named Pha, who has no particular job but lots of important posns: he appears to be, at var tim, a club manager, a ncert promoter, a bsman, a tour gui, a master of ceremoni, a negotiator, and a general all-around operator. When word gets out that a reporter om a downtown newspaper is g to the South Bronx to wre about the graffi artist and his iends—rappers and break dancers—most of them are wary. Pha, on the other hand, posns himself to rt the reporter and act as her agent. He lghs at the notn that would be better to keep hip-hop unexposed. “You ser?” Pha says at one pot, soundg crlo. “Hey, man, ’s about time we got some publicy for this goddam rap sh.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Forty-eighth Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenu is the profsnal micians’ block midtown Manhattan. It is a jammed, jumbled, slightly seedy street, which seems to generate s own nstant buzz. The siwalks are skny and sooty. Flyers advertisg band jobs and guarists for hire flutter the gutters. Hand tcks stacked wh Bose speakers and Fenr guars le the siwalks. The buildgs are low and pla-faced, and have unglamoro storeonts, wh amplifiers, mixg boards, guar strgs, and puter nsol piled haphazardly their wdows. It is one place where the aterny of micianship prevails over the diffns of mil genre. As our b worked s way down the street, I noticed untry-and-Wtern guarists and heavy-metallists and soul sgers si by si, wdow-shoppg for equipment.</p><p class="paywall">Today’s “Yo! MTV Raps” was gog to be taped outsi Sam Ash Mic, one of the biggt stor on the block. “Yo!” is always shot on lotn. Recent episos have been filmed unr the Brooklyn Bridge, the Roosevelt Island tram, on 125th Street, and an airplane flyg down to a rap nventn New Orleans. It was Freddy’s ia to place the show—that is, the segments nsistg of him and his guts, which are terspersed wh the vios—somewhere on the street rather than a stud, to emphasize s immediacy. It is keepg wh Freddy’s nature that he enjoys havg a crowd watch him work. And ’s keepg wh his abily to regnize someone anywhere he go that on a shoot he often se someone he knows—eher a iend or a famo person. At the “Yo!” shoot on 125th Street, he ran to Aika Bambaataa, a iend and a famo person. Durg a shoot on the Roosevelt Island tram, he spotted Grandpa Munster, a famo person but not a iend.</p><div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--article-mid-ntent" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--article-mid-ntent nsumer-marketg-un__slot---ntent"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><p class="paywall">“Yo!” was the first MTV show to be entirely “remote,” and Freddy is irked that other shows on the channel are now imatg him by shootg their host segments outsi a stud. “Man, I <em>thought</em> of this, I me up wh this,” he says when he’s discsg his imators. “I hate beg pied, man—I ma on my own ias this bs. I don’t got no uncl the bs, if you know what I mean. I’m not dissg that hard, but my ias are my <em>bs</em>.”</p><p class="paywall">Other thgs were on his md when the b was on s way to Sam Ash. “You know what movie’s really dope?” he asked Ted Demme, who was ridg wh .</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-5 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">“Speak,” Ted said.</p><p class="paywall">“ ‘La Femme Nika,’ ” Freddy said, chucklg. “I saw that sh <em>twice</em>, ma me so extra happy. I’ll go peep aga wh you, du, ’s so f.”</p><p class="paywall">“Yo,” Ted said.</p><p class="paywall">The nversatn then turned to the Osrs. Freddy exprsed admiratn for Joe Pci, the “GoodFellas” star. “You know what I’m wonrg, though?” he said, droppg his voice. “I’m wonrg this. I was at that rtrant Columb one night. You know that place, a lot of actors and a lot of hip people go there for burgers, that’s the flavor—’s an actg hangout. And I’m there wh Veroni, my old girliend, and Joe Pci over to our table to say hello, and I’m tellg you, for real, he had no hair. So I’m lookg at the Osrs last night, and I see him wh all that hair, and I’m thkg, Yo! My man! Joe Pci! Is that a g, or what?”</p><p class="paywall">“That is too ill,” Ted exclaimed. “Joe Pci is wearg a lid?”</p><p class="paywall">“Yo, I <em>swear</em>,” Freddy answered. “I swear! I’m right there at Columb, and there he is, at my table, the sight of everyone, not a hair on his bald head.”</p><p class="paywall">The two of them lghed wildly and then, after a moment, sat and med. Then Ted abptly said, “Yo, Freddy, you have a r, don’t you? So this weekend we uld peep some lotns uptown for the KRS vio?”</p><p class="paywall">Freddy shgged. “I do have a r, but, serly, I’m not too to nng around ,” he said. “It is a lovely vehicle, though—lovely, lovely, love-<em>ly</em>. A ’57 Chevy, turquoise. It’s the lor of a Tiffany box.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-6 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">We were now ont of Sam Ash. So were Mos Edborough, the show’s associate producer and s director; the mera crew; three members of a rap group lled Stetsasonic; a scrawny guy wh long, tattooed arms who was furly loadg box marked “P<em class="small">eavey</em> A<em class="small">mplifiers”</em> to a panel tck; two adolcent boys wh the avid, sktish air of tants; a man dark glass rotatg a ssette tape over and over one hand; and three Asian tourists, standg at attentn. Freddy emerged om the b and surveyed the gatherg crowd wh liberate aloofns. His mood had turned distctly Garboque. This was a sea change om the Joey Bishop he had been dog the b on the way over and om his Sally Field turn at the morng meetg. We regrouped on the siwalk. In ont of , Mos was pacg back and forth, waggg a fger at Daddy-O, Stetsasonic’s ma rapper, and sayg wh mock serns, “Now, I don’t want you all to be buggg out here, got that?” Seeg Freddy, he terpted himself, grned, and said, “Yo, Fab.”</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssS ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="8iya"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">“What’s the flavor, Mos?” Freddy said greetg. “We’re missg half of Stetsasonic, but we’re gog to start anyway,” Mos said. “It’s gog to be totally f.”</p><p class="paywall">Show No. 117A of “Yo! MTV Raps” would eventually nsist, like Show No. 1, of an openg (a antic vio montage of rap artists and graphics) and five one-and-a-half-to-two-mute segments of Freddy terviewg his guts (a rapper or a rap group, ually enjoyg a current h), dropped between ten rap vios, which Ted Demme and his staff had selected. The formula has worked well for three years. It is one of MTV’s hight-rated blocks of programmg. Its viewers span a broad range of age and race. It has spawned a spoff (a daily late-afternoon stud versn, wh a former rapper named Ed Lover and the former Beastie Boys d.j. Doctor Dré as hosts). So domant is s posn the rap world the days that s choic of vios and guts prefigure and, fact, preorda rap hs.</p><p class="paywall">The genis of the show is unplited: Ted Demme, who grew up on Long Island admirg black street mic, and who apprenticed his way through the entry levels at MTV, persuad the pany 1988 to let him produce a rap-vio special, wh Run-D.M.C. as host. Two facts nspired to make this a logil enterprise: MTV had had great succs playg Run-D.M.C.’s “Walk This Way,” the first real rap rerd to be popular wh a mastream whe dience, and had recently troduced, also succsfully, s first programs offerg somethg other than wall-to-wall vios—a game show and a dance show. A third fact, though, was ls enuragg. At that time, spe Run-D.M.C.’s breakthrough, rap was still seen as margal mic: ghetto noise that was ltle more than monotonal chantg rhyme—sometim lewd, sometim ant—to rhythm tracks, ually lifted whout ceremony or license om another rerd. That rap had been around for que a few years whout movg much beyond s small, young black male dience was equally unenuragg. (The one exceptn was the whe rock band Blondie’s 1981 h “Rapture,” a novelty rap that happened to clu a reference to Fab Five Freddy.) Nohels, MTV’s programmg partment let Demme produce the special, on the strength of Run-D.M.C.’s populary, and sat up surprise when drew a huge dience. In short orr, a weekly show was planned. Searchg for a host, Demme asked for a remendatn om Peter Dougherty, who is now the director of on-air promotn for MTV Europe but was then a producer wh the work. “All the time we were puttg the show together, I was imagg Freddy as the host,” Dougherty says. The two had met ten years earlier at one of the many groovy-downtown-hipster functns that both equented—somethg at the Fun Gallery, or maybe the Roxy, or maybe a party for Keh Harg or Futura 2000 or Warhol. In any se, Freddy had imprsed Dougherty as beg a legimate Renaissance character and also a b of a ham. “There ed to be the guys fifty years ago or so who knew everyone, did everythg, uld move around the cy wh ease. They’d even meet dignari at the airport,” Dougherty says. “They lled themselv Ambassadors of New York. That’s what Freddy’s like. I mean that a very posive way.” No one else was even dned for the job.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Wt Forty-eighth Street, a gatherg crowd. “Wele to ‘Yo! MTV Raps,’ the olt hour on televisn,” Freddy announced when the mera started nng. “Gettg ready to hip-hop you right out of your livg-room seat right about now.” After this troductory segment, Freddy turned to his guts. “I’m here wh the <em>bad</em> Stetsasonic. My man Daddy-O, what’s up?”</p><p class="paywall">“What up, what up, what up, what up! How you been man?” Daddy-O said.</p><p class="paywall">“What’s been gog on wh Stetsasonic?” Freddy poted the microphone at Daddy-O.</p><p class="paywall">They bantered about the band’s new album, about Stetsasonic’s upg trip to Ai (“That’s real spiratnal,” Freddy mented. “Gog back to the motherland”), about the vio that would be played next. They spent a few mut discsg the burgeong bootleg-tape tra. Each week, Freddy lik to touch on a ser subject, and bootleggg has been one of his favor. Otherwise, the terviews are iendly volleys, a ltle posturg, a lot of promotn, some gossip. Freddy tak re of bs, too. Durg the Stetsasonic tapg, he dropped mentns of havg attend Nelson Manla’s first Amerin appearance, of havg worked on “New Jack Cy,” and of havg directed Stetsasonic’s first vio, which he asssed th: “Yo, ’s <em>ol</em>.”</p><p class="paywall">The three members of the group—the missg Stets never appeared—bounced around ont of the mera and livered sharp answers to Freddy’s wi outsi pch. Nearly every segment was shot one try. Word is that the early shows were rather raw, Freddy beg hyper and jivey, a talogue of distractg mannerisms. The days, he is mostly unself-nsc and funny, displayg good-natured bravado and manicured ol. The days, too, most of his guts are one-take, media-savvy, well travelled, and fe-tuned. Rap has e a long way. It is still a mil genre that requir ltle the way of ial palizatn and has an unrefed immediacy that suggts songs wrten between subway stops, but now is also a big, profable, important bs. The btsellg album of 1990 (over ten ln pi) was M. C. Hammer’s “Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ’Em”; one of the top four bt-sellg sgl was the whe rapper Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby”; and a recent survey showed that twenty-four per cent of all active mic nsumers this untry had bought a rap rerdg the last six months. More signifint is that over half of those ctomers were whe. Most signifint, by pop-culture standards, is that this year the soap opera “One Life to Live” add a rap group to s st of regulars.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-7 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Still, Freddy’s social skills are often lled upon the show. One afternoon, I acpanied Freddy to a “Yo!” tapg Washgton Square Park. His gut was a young rapper lled Special Ed, who had an Eraserhead-style fa hairdo, a h rerd, and a dreamy, distracted aspect that warned of ad air. Freddy was a particularly chipper mood that day. The terview went somethg like this:</p><p class="paywall">F<em class="small">REDDY:</em> So, Special Ed, I want to ask you, you’ve been able to get your msage across to a particular dience—that is, the teen-age femal. What do you thk is about you or your mic that’s gettg through to them?</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssS ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="nydpnr"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssS ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="7q1lf"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">S<em class="small">PECIAL</em> E<em class="small">D</em>: I don’t know.</p><p class="paywall">F<em class="small">REDDY:</em> Any ia of what is about what you’re dog that’s htg that particular mographic?</p><p class="paywall">S<em class="small">PECIAL</em> E<em class="small">D:</em> Nope. (<em>A pse, durg which Freddy lghs loudly.</em>)</p><p class="paywall">F<em class="small">REDDY:</em> Yo, Ed, what’s the bt thg about MTV?</p><p class="paywall">S<em class="small">PECIAL</em> E<em class="small">D:</em> I don’t know. I don’t have ble.</p><p class="paywall">Stetsasonic is of a different orr. At the Sam Ash tapg, the ments of the three who were prent tumbled on top of one another; at one pot, they burst to a spontaneo wild rap. They were articulate and funny, and they never stopped talkg. Durg one of the breaks, they and the mera crew gathered the back of the Sam Ash store.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-8 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">“I was jt thkg about this dope kung-fu movie,” Daddy-O was sayg. “It was about this baby who has swords for fists— was lled somethg like ‘The Avengg Fists.’ ”</p><p class="paywall">D.B.C., the group’s keyboardist, said, “Uh-uh, that’s the one when the baby’s got the super-powerful fists. The sword one, that was so ill— had a different name.”</p><p class="paywall">“It was ill! He was his baby rriage, and ’s <em>whip</em>, <em>whip</em>, <em>whip</em> wh those swords!”</p><p class="paywall">Freddy, standg nearby, was ignorg the discsn. He said to Mos Edborough, “You signed on to direct a vio? That’s <em>excellent</em>. What kd of bread they payg you?”</p><p class="paywall">“Very nice bread,” Mos said.</p><p class="paywall">“Do you have a fancial adviser?” Freddy asked. The kung-fu nversatn ntued noisily behd him. “Bee, man, you start gettg nice bread, you ought to have someone dog somethg dope wh .”</p><p class="paywall">“I’m planng on , man.”</p><p class="paywall">From behd: “I thk was ‘The Fists of the Avenger,’ maybe.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-9 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">“No, man, that was the <em>other</em> one, not the baby but the ltle boy who was so bad, he was so powerful, he uld chop through the door of a safe.”</p><p class="paywall">The man who had been standg on the siwalk fgerg a ssette walked to the store and head toward Freddy, sayg, “Man, I <em>know</em> what you’re dog, I <em>like</em> what you’re dog. I want you to listen to this tape.”</p><p class="paywall">“Chill, brother,” Freddy said to him, and he turned back to Mos. “Fancial planng. Yo, I remend .”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Walkg through Tim Square on our way back to Freddy’s apartment, we were greeted by all sorts of people: teen-agers, who whistled and preened to ver up their admiratn; a secury guard, who looked way too old to be a “Yo!” dience member; a young, buxom, unrdrsed woman, walkg wh her uncle or so; more kids. Freddy rpond to each of them wh a wave or a “Yo!” or a genue-soundg “How’s gog, man?” He was sg, a ltle preoccupied, as he walked along. The tapg had gone well. It would be a good show. It would make up for last week, when a boxg match on another channel the “Yo!” time slot—Saturday night om ten to eleven—admistered a nasty uppercut to his ratgs. Freddy keeps track of the ratgs, of the mographics, of the petn, of the number of people who regnize him on the street. Crossg Broadway, he noticed a gigantic Kodak billboard featurg a gigantic likens of Bill Cosby. The Cos beamed down on the thicket of traffic and jostlg crowds. “See that?” Freddy said. “He uldn’t walk through here. He’s too <em>big</em>. He n’t live his life. What I have now, as far as fame, is excellent. I’m <em>known</em>, but I’m not too known. I n still walk around, I n still eat dner out. It’s not too much. Not yet.” Another clump of kids, passg, lled out to him. He answered them, and add, “I like havg some of this, beg able to flex my mcl, but n be <em>paful</em>. Fame n be paful sometim.”</p><p class="paywall">It was four-thirty when we arrived at Freddy’s buildg. As we passed through the lobby, one of the porters, a heavyset man wh a grizzled beard, stopped and told Freddy he had somethg for him. He led back to the mailroom and, after some negotiatns wh a pile of crat, shoved a huge, saggg rdboard box marked “MTV” Freddy’s directn.</p><p class="paywall">Gettg the box upstairs took some dog. Once si his apartment, Freddy put on a Frank Satra pact disk and started diggg through the ntents of the box. It was full of mail addrsed to him re of the show. We were seated at an antique secretary his livg room. The livg room also ntaed a large-screen televisn; a black leather uch; a low, wi, bmorphic ffee table; some amg ksch llectibl; a photograph of Freddy muggg wh Andy Warhol; a photograph of Freddy on the set of “New Jack Cy”; an issue of <em>Paper</em> wh a photograph of Freddy and his former girliend, the mol Veroni Webb, on the ver; an issue of <em>Details</em> fold open to a full-page photograph of Freddy; and several telephon. Hangg across om the secretary was a large, lively patg of a Marti glass and a goblet. The style was late-seventi graffi. The artist was Fab Five Freddy. It is one of many patgs he turned out, wh alacry, durg his patg phase. “I focsed on patg for a while,” he says now. “That’s when Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keh Harg and I were really tight. I was patg a lot, but when I saw Jean-Michel’s reer really take off and explo I started wonrg when was gog to happen for me.” It did happen, sort of. In 1979, he and Lee Quon had a show at the Galleria la Msa, Rome, and 1985, after cludg him several group shows, Holly Solomon gave him a one-man show at her gallery. He had his moment, but he never really threatened to explo. Anyway, by that time he was gettg bored wh patg. “I got to a pot where I was good, but I got tired of the art world,” he says. “I was also tired of not beg able to reach a wi dience. I wanted to see thgs I’d thought of filterg out to the whole culture.” He says he will pat aga, but the patg will be Freddy style: “I won’t prent jt as patg. Patg now seems small, a ltle tre, you know? I will e back to the next year, and will be multimedia. I’ll have backg om some major rporatns, and will be shown someplace other than a gallery or where you’d ordarily see patg.”</p><p class="paywall">In the box were letters, tap, rerds, much-layed Christmas prents, a box of cholate tffl om a rerd pany, more letters, more tap. First, Freddy opened the tffl. Then he started on the letters. “Here’s a guy wrg to me om Nigeria, this is <em>excellent</em>. . . . Here’s a kid wrg om jail. . . . Here’s more people wrg om Nigeria—yo, what’s gog <em>on</em> there Nigeria? I gus ’s time for me to go to Nigeria.” He started sgg along wh “Autumn New York,” and then the phone rang.</p><p class="paywall">“Yo, girl, how you <em>been</em>?” he shouted to the phone. As I listened, beme clear to me that the young woman on the le was an employee of a striptease tablishment Tim Square lled Show World, and that while she was workg there the day before, one of her lleagu happened to get hacked to ath the back of the club. Freddy qutned the woman wh enthiasm. At one pot, he put his hand over the mouthpiece and whispered to me, “She says the guy who did was the ad girl’s boyiend. I gus the relatnship wasn’t gog so well, so he cid to murr her.” He went back to the ll. He cradled the phone unr his ch, ntued to open the mail, lowered the volume on Satra, and turned the televisn on to “Vio Mic Box,” an afternoon rap-vio show on a lol ble channel. “Autumn New York” now appeared to be g out of the mouths of De La Soul. After a few mut, Freddy got a ll on his other le, so he put the Show World employee on hold and started yellg to the phone: “Yo, I said I’d nsir beg the movie for the <em>marquee</em> value, but no one’s tellg me where anythg is at!” The negotiatns—for Freddy to play himself an upg movie lled “Juice”—went on loudly for many mut. Freddy hung up. Then he took a ll om Ted Demme about Mar Van Peebl, who had appeared that afternoon on the daytime “Yo!,” sayg thgs about “New Jack Cy” that Freddy didn’t like. Then he dialled an executive at a rerd pany wh whom he was negotiatg to direct a vio of a rerd by Shabba Ranks. He put the executive on his speaker phone and ntued to open mail. The executive’s hiccupy exclamatns about the brilliance of the proposed vio boomed through the apartment. Freddy hung up, lled a iend about dner plans, sayg, “Yo, I jt got back om Europe, where I was shootg a Colt 45 ad wh Billy Dee Williams. I gus Billy Dee wasn’t reachg the younger beer drker anymore, so they brought me .” His iend put him on hold. While he was wag, Freddy hand me a book that was stg unr a prs k for Digal Unrground and said, “I jt got this great book on semtics—’s very tertg sh. You should read .” Salt ’N Pepa appeared on “Vio Mic Box.” Satra off, Salt ’N Pepa on, extra loud. After fishg his ll to his iend, Freddy hung up, slouched his chair for a few moments, then abptly sat up, grabbed the phone, and tried to retrieve his ll om the Show World employee, who by this time would have been on hold for thirty-five mut. At some pot durg those thirty-five mut, she had apparently had feelgs of abandonment and hung up. “Damn, <em>damn</em>, that’s wack,” Freddy said, soundg sad. “I lost her.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">The Plaza Hotel’s Edwardian Room is one of those hhed, dim chambers where everythg is so padd and plhy that seems as if the rpets had rpets. Heavy swag curtas fall across the wdows. Heavy lens drape the tabl. Everywhere there are ltle ndl, large men, fancy-lookg women, trim waers, gltg platters, mother los of silver, and an air of genteel excs. Freddy eats here often, but not the dg room. He eats the middle of the kchen, where Kerry Simon, the young chef who ns the place, keeps a table for a few iends. This is some plited form of verted reverse snobbery. The Edwardian Room is not a groovy-downtown-hipster kd of place by any stretch of the imagatn, but the chef’s table the kchen has bee a hot ticket the days. When Freddy has dner here, he is rted by a lite, doe-eyed, sweet-natured woman named Paige Powell, who is the advertisg director of <em>Interview</em> and was formerly a equent rt of Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The days, Freddy refers to her as “my social ach.” Paige refers to Freddy as “a forward-thkg talyst who should have broad-reach ternatnal exposure.” They are clearly fond of each other. Over the last month or so, Paige got Freddy vatns to a dner for Grg Armani and the one for the people om Ebel watch. “I’d like to see him cross-nnect,” she said to me recently. “He should get to know the people, so they n take his great energy and e somehow. I n almost image him as an anchor on an ternatnal news program on CNN, or somethg.”</p><p class="paywall">Our dner group was to be Paige, Freddy, and Freddy’s iend Great Adventure, whose real name is Roy. Great Adventure—handsome, immaculately tailored, broad-shoulred—had jt returned om Brazil, where he had been promotg rap ncerts. He is Freddy’s current bt iend and the man Freddy scrib as his fashn ach, for graduatg him om his prev B-boy style to his prent amalgam of street and chic. Freddy knows exactly what good turn each of his iends and associat has done for him. It is as if he saw his life as a project to which a number of people have generoly ntributed. Consirg that three of his bt iends—Warhol, Harg, and Basquiat—are now ad, such acuntg seems the days to have particular meang.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-10 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">“Yo, Kerry,” Freddy said as we walked to the kchen. “I know this is <em>fely</em> about to be somethg beyond food, and totally artistic.”</p><p class="paywall">Paige and Great Adventure joed , and we sat down at a large, round table set a few feet away om the grill. The kchen was clattery, warm, buttery-smellg, dtrial-lookg. The table was set pure whe, wh pale flowers and heavy silverware. Stg at , I felt as if I’d been ensed a clean, quiet psule and dropped to the middle of a stew. Freddy, Paige, and Great Adventure were discsg an upg ncert R when the first urse arrived—a nstctn of squid and fat pellets of Arbor rice, piled together a way that lled to md a Japane pagoda.</p><p class="paywall">Freddy whistled, and said, “This is lovely, lovely, love-<em>ly</em>. We are fely livg large tonight! Tell me the name of this dish aga. I have to remember to scribe to my mother.”</p><p class="paywall">“Squid-k risotto,” Kerry said.</p><p class="paywall">“Excellent,” Freddy said. “My mother would bug out if she saw this.”</p><p class="paywall">Great Adventure started to chuckle.</p><p class="paywall">“Yo, man,” Freddy said to him. “Picture a fe squid-k risotto Bed-Stuy.”</p><p class="paywall">Three hours later, we were still at the table, havg eaten risotto, grilled monkfish, roast lobster wh rn sce, and cholate ke, and havg discsed rap Brazil, the latt Public Enemy rerd, Andy Warhol, okg, Freddy’s populary Japan, Freddy’s tert shootg an episo of “Yo!” a prison, the print of Fiat, the sisters who own Fendi, the march of the Rglg elephants through Manhattan, Paige’s home town, Oregon, a pajama party some rappers had had Los Angel, the Osrs, the Plaza, Leona Helmsley, Andy Warhol aga, the Show World murr, and the var gredients of the var dish we’d eaten. It ma for lively nversatn. Toward the end of the eveng, Freddy’s attentn started to drift, as if he’d flipped to the next page his datebook. He explaed after a mute that he was startg to thk of everythg he had g up the next few days. It was, by his unt, about a ln thgs.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-11 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">“I’ve got that movie I’m gog to be , and I have to work on the screenplay of this movie I’ll be directg, and there’s always ‘Yo!,’ and I got to get this vio gog,” he said when we had fally left the Edwardian Room and were standg outsi the revolvg doors. It was now dark. A group of women swaddled mk stol bshed past , murmurg as they head to the hotel. A horse rriage and a b were double-parked at the bottom of the steps gog down to the street. Freddy posed at the top and l a cigarette. He was wearg his sunglass and a big tan hat. Backl by the Plaza chanliers, he formed an imposg silhouette. “This black pop-life sh n get hectic sometim,” he said after a moment. “It’s ol most of the time, but n be hectic. Every now and aga, to be hont wh you, I’m, like, <em>damn</em>.” ♦</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssS ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="k0hnuu"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 PaywallInleBarrierWhWrapperGrid-fyrGfS kLQIUk grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__le-barrier article__body"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"><asi class="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper-iBnuqk lfXXa-D" data-ttid="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper"><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--paywall-le-barrier" role="prentatn" aria-live="pole" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--paywall-le-barrier"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></asi></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ContentWrapperGrid-fvkmBv brYtrA grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__ntaer"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"></div></div></div></div></div></div></article><div class="ContentFooterWrapper-jVNdRG dTJkpP ArticlePageContentFooterGrid-ccsXYy eMZRHU article-body__footer"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><footer class="ContentFooterMagazeDisclaimer-gzKAqo iZIuUU" data-ttid="MagazeDisclaimerWrapper">Published the prt edn of the <a href="/magaze/1991/06/17" data-reactroot="">June 17, 1991</a>, issue.</footer></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="ContributorsWrapper-eNpWFu GWFsc ntributors" data-ttid="Contributors"><div class="ContributorBWrapper-bnVHbt gMon"><div class="ContributorBAvatar-bIGTqf eMWbvj"><a href="/ntributors/san-orlean"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW jvZaPI rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa rponsive-image"><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></picture></span></a></div><div class="ContributorBContent-ubQdr jZTSSi"><div class="ContributorBHear-ledood XOIEx"></div><div class="ContributorBB-fBolsO giFhKz"><a href="/ntributors/san-orlean">San Orlean</a> began ntributg to The New Yorker 1987 and beme a staff wrer 1992. Her most recent book is “<a href=">On Animals</a>.”</div><div class="ContributorBFooter-brqDlv ezUmSv"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"></div></div></div><div data-ttid="ContentFooterBottom" class="ContentFooterBottom-jwWZfC kcbyiW"><div class="ContentFooterNewsletterContentWrapper-bmjtna kixtae"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormWrapper-fCqqkN jKSBhE newsletter-subscribe-form ContentFooterNewsletterForm-hKeYwa liPqcf"><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormHedDekWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormHedDekWrapper-fpMElW eglIBL"><h3 class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDangeroHed-kRwWjt kbxOa-D newsletter-subscribe-form__hed ContentFooterNewsletterForm-hKeYwa liPqcf">Weekly</h3><div class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDek-kXonvc cKOhTM newsletter-subscribe-form__k">Your gui to the latt magaze and our biggt stori of the week, pl highlights om podsts, humor, and more.</div></div><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormInputsWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormInputsWrapper-keARJE hVWbzr"><form class="form-wh-validatn NewsletterSubscribeFormValidatn-iCYa-Dt dweEln" id="newsletter" name="newsletter" novalidate="" method="POST"><span class="TextFieldWrapper-Pzdqp hNhevp text-field" data-ttid="TextFieldWrapper__email"><label class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TextFieldLabel-klrYvg iUEiRd stdEm fvoOvz text-field__label text-field__label--sgle-le" for="newsletter-text-field-email" data-ttid="TextFieldLabel__email"><div class="TextFieldLabelText-cvvxBl eeDYTb">E-mail addrs</div><div class="TextFieldInputContaer-jcMPhb oFrOs"><put type="email" aria-scribedby="privacy-text" aria-valid="false" id="newsletter-text-field-email" required="" name="email" placeholr="E-mail addrs" class="BaseInput-fAzTdK TextFieldControlInput-eFUxkf eGzzTT laFPCK text-field__ntrol text-field__ntrol--put" data-ttid="TextFieldInput__email"/></div></label><button class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv dwpimO button button--utily TextFieldButton-csBrgY edxbrw" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="subm"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN hzwRuG button__label">Sign up</span></button></span><div id="privacy-text" tabx="-1" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDisclaimer-bTVtiV bsgLJZ"><span><p>By signg up, you agree to our <a href=" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">User Agreement</a> and <a href=" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement</a>. 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summary-llectn-grid--DenseDktopStack"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="SummaryCollectnGridContent-eVUpRm jTGbEO"><div class="SectnTleRoot-dBGvdq kjAxEG SummaryCollectnGridSectnTle-fCmYwG izjbVn" data-ttid="SectnTle"><hear class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SectnTleHed-dKqZet dxqEAa dqtvfu jttyjJ">Read More</hear></div><div class="SummaryCollectnGridItems-DZShR eOCboB hi-read-more-ad" data-ttid="SummaryCollectnGridItems"><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--article summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm eamwqR" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/1952/06/28/the-ve-joseph-mchell" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Cave" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Profil</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/magaze/1952/06/28/the-ve-joseph-mchell" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">The Cave</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/1952/06/28/the-ve-joseph-mchell" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Cave" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">How Louis Moro, the wise man of seafood, ns his rtrant.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Joseph Mchell</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--article summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm eamwqR" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/1950/05/13/how-do-you-like--now-gentlemen" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="How Do You Like It Now, Gentlemen?" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Profil</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/magaze/1950/05/13/how-do-you-like--now-gentlemen" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">How Do You Like It Now, Gentlemen?</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/1950/05/13/how-do-you-like--now-gentlemen" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="How Do You Like It Now, Gentlemen?" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">The moods of Ernt Hemgway.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Lillian Ross</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--article summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm eamwqR" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/1940/12/21/mazie" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Mazie" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Profil</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/magaze/1940/12/21/mazie" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Mazie</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/1940/12/21/mazie" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Mazie" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">Mazie Gordon, queen of the Bowery.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Joseph Mchell</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--article 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rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="When the Mic Is You" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Downtown Chronicl</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/magaze/1996/08/26/spng-tal" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">When the Mic Is You</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/1996/08/26/spng-tal" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="When the Mic Is You" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm 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iRsSlw"><a class="RubricLk-gRWSOU fgWnkQ bric__lk" href="/magaze/profil"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Profil</span></a></div></div></div><h1 data-ttid="ContentHearHed" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ContentHearHed-NCyCC iUEiRd NbxED hpJvIc">Livg Large</h1></div><div class="ContentHearAccredatn-lfctVB enhwXT ntent-hear__accredatn" data-ttid="ContentHearAccredatn"><div class="ContentHearDek-bIqFFZ Mtme">The world of Fab Five Freddy.</div><div class="ContentHearByle-kmPyCa gvUmxJ"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW jvZaPI rponsive-asset ContentHearContributorImage-cvjZXn jKACOU"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa ContentHearContributorImage-cvjZXn jKACOU rponsive-image"><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w" siz="66px"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w" siz="66px"/><img alt="" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></picture></span><div class="ContentHearByleContent-dpPmNn DRFq"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl ContentHearByl-cZqgyJ bqbBYQ"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH ivtvgj byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span><a class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BaseLk-eNWuiM ByleLk-gEnFiw iUEiRd ggMZaT cXqSTL eErqIx byle__name-lk button" href="/ntributors/san-orlean">San Orlean</a></span></span></p></div><time data-ttid="ContentHearPublishDate" dateTime="1991-06-10T05:00:00-04:00" class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ContentHearPublishDate-eIBicG iUEiRd kYZrFA kEBrdf">June 10, 1991</time></div></div></div></div><div class="LightboxWrapper-dxsWBV hhylRt"><div class="ContentHearLeadAsset-hGbumP iWPCcH lead-asset ContentHearLeadAssetWrapper-hfXHEc fTrSlG lead-asset--width-smallle" data-ttid="ContentHearLeadAsset"><figure class="ContentHearLeadAssetContent-kOfYSG dRGWbI"><div class="ContentHearLeadAssetContentMedia-bLEIpi jjhWdS lead-asset__ntent__photo"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW jvZaPI rponsive-asset ContentHearRponsiveAsset-bREgIb khLUzS"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz hxPBkq"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO KhjZz ContentHearRponsiveAsset-bREgIb khLUzS rponsive-image rponsive-image--expandable"><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w, 960w, 1280w, 1600w, 1920w, 2240w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Blackandwhe photograph of Fred Brathwae and JeanMichel Basquiat Brathwae wh an arm over Basquiats shoulr" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></picture></div></div></span><div class="CaptnWrapper-jSZdqE iTuhkZ ptn ContentHearLeadAssetCaptn-hPWmSN kuCzGS"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnText-bHjzlu iUEiRd hWyo iXWezO ptn__text">Fred Brathwae and Jean-Michel Basquiat.</span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ CaptnCred-ejegDm iUEiRd iicloT jbIJNS ptn__cred">Photograph by Patrick McMullan / Getty</span></div></div></figure><div data-ttid="ContentHearLeadRailAnchor" class="ContentHearLeadRailAnchor-jYVcDc djtEof"></div></div></div></div></hear></div><div data-attribute-verso-pattern="article-body" class="ArticlePageContentBackGround-cNiFNN kbAoLA article-body__ntent"><div class="ActnBarWrapperContent-lasBkU cAHp"><div class="ActnBarWrapperComponent-cjwxLS bEeSLb"><div data-attr-viewport-monor="" class="ActnBarWrapper-dhxmQh kNjTbQ viewport-monor-anchor"><button id="bookmark" aria-label="Save this story" class="ActnBarButton-dyFOZU hQrwCF bookmark large-screen"><span class="ActnBarSendaryButtonPrimaryIn-isbvyN cAwccV bookmark-button-in"><svg class="in in-bookmark" 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22.1845V8.83866H20V23.9508Z"></path><path class="in-bookmark-fill" d="M23 3H20V0H19V3H16V4H19V7H20V4H23V3Z"></path></svg></span><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ ActnBarButtonText-bYXYuh iUEiRd bkefvo gkccfO">Save this story</span></button></div></div></div><div class="LightboxWrapper-dxsWBV hhylRt"><div class="ArticlePageChunksContent-etcMtP bwyLBj"><div data-ttid="ArticlePageChunks" class="ArticlePageChunks-fLyCVG Uozmo"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg">The olt person New York at the moment is a man named Fred Brathwae, who is known most of the time to most of his iends as Fab Five Freddy, Fab, Five, or jt Freddy. Freddy has a lot of jobs. He has been, at one time or another, a graffi artist, a rapper, an ternatnally exhibed pater, a vio and TV-mercial director, a screenwrer, a film srer, an actor, a lecturer, and a televisn personaly. Currently, he is also known to lns of viewers as the host of MTV’s popular Saturday-night rap-mic show, “Yo! MTV Raps.” Freddy also knows a lot of people. He unts among his iends the late Andy Warhol, a mic promoter who go by the name Great Adventure, the pater Julian Schnabel, and the afternoon manager of a McDonald’s on 125th Street Harlem. Freddy’s tast range all over the place. In the urse of any given day, he might exprs enthiasm for Italian postmorn paters, a new rap song by Public Enemy, the oxtail soup served at a dumpy ltle Haian rtrant on Tenth Avenue, the actor who played Grandpa Munster on “The Munsters,” Mallm X, high-end stereo ponents, medieval armor, dogs, women, and nicely signed long-hl tcks. Hangg around wh Freddy is a multimedia experience.</p><p class="paywall">Freddy has perfect grammar, but, keepg wh his non-standard tast, he prefers to e a fely discrimated array of non-standard English exprsns to characterize his regular outbreaks of good feelg. The clu:</p><p class="paywall"><em>Fly</em>—impli exceptnal stylishns or unually high achievement. How Freddy scribed the food at a dner he attend wh reprentativ of the Ebel watch pany at Le Cirque.</p><p class="paywall"><em>Excellent</em>—often refers to a succsful bs transactn. How Freddy said he felt when he found out he was beg hired to play himself an upg movie.</p><p class="paywall"><em>Dope</em>—exprs all-purpose posivens, pecially about somethg tense or challengg. How Freddy rated a new album by the Jamain sger Shabba Ranks.</p><p class="paywall"><em>Extra happy</em>—refers to a big, expansive swell of feelg. How Freddy scribed his emotns upon hearg that his televisn show would be broadst the Soviet Unn.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-1 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall"><em>Yo!</em>—the ultimate, all-purpose exclamatn, which, pendg on flectn, n imply marvellons or wonrment. How Freddy begs a discsn of what ’s like for him to nsir that at this fairly early pot his life he is already the host of a hip ternatnally televised mic show, has a al wh Warner Brothers to direct two movi, travels eely among a dozen different worlds, knows famo people, and is famo himself.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">People regnize Freddy on the street all the time the days, but you get the feelg that even if he weren’t televised weekly he would still not be the sort of person to go unnoticed. On mera he n look wiry, but person he is over six feet tall and more than solidly built. He is thirty-one years old, looks about thirty, and will ocsnally assign himself a few years ls than that the tellg. He has proment, round cheekbon, a bow-shaped, wily se, and a small, nearly fettable mtache. His hands are large and long-fgered and mobile. He is very apt at the classic B-boy gtur of rap—stiff thumbs, forefgers, and pki moved liberate, threateng sweeps, endg wh arms crossed high, shoulrs hunched, and head tilted sassily—but his real body language is more subtle. He walks nted forward, as if he were about to lean over and whisper. His voice is slightly nasal and ually amg. I n scribe neher his ey nor his hair, bee he always wears a hat and sunglass—doors and out, night and day. He favors felt fedoras and Jean-Pl Gltier shas. The rt of his outfs have an equally arrtg qualy—he always looks mera-ready. One time I was wh him, he was wearg a srlet mp shirt wh flap pockets, baggy black gabarde pants, red suè oxfords, and a tpe felt fedora. Another time, he was wearg a pumpk-lored rayon shirt buttoned to the neck, no tie, a strg of large amber beads, baggy st-lored pants, green suè oxfords wh thick black sol, and a black silk trenchat. All all, his style is pretty sui generis.</p><p class="paywall">Summg up what he do for a livg, Freddy said recently, “I’m the kg of synthis.” There is no such job listed wh the Uned Stat Bure of Labor Statistics. Freddy nohels synthiz full time. An ial Fab Five Freddy project volv several media and several dividuals who reprent the high and low ends of artistic enavor or social standg and whose associatn would be disrdant if they were not harmonized by Freddy. His favore versn of such projects at the moment is the cross-pollatn of black street culture wh highbrow art. Some months ago, scribg a trip he took to Italy, he told me, “I wanted to walk by Felli’s hoe, bee I really admire his filmmakg. So I took a huge ghetto blaster, put a Run-D.M.C. tape, and walked up and down Felli’s street, right ont of his hoe, blastg rap mic. I liked the ia of bg the two experienc.”</p><p class="paywall">Freddy scribg the rt of his stay Italy: “Then I went to dner at the home of the man who ns the Galleria la Msa Rome. We were gettg together to talk about the graffi scene, and all that. His hoe was filled wh all the geo Caravaggs and Chiris and Italian Futurist patgs. It was, like, <em>yo</em>.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">One morng this sprg, I ught a b and head over to pick Freddy up at his apartment. Freddy liv a morn high rise on the wtern edge of midtown Manhattan. Before that, he lived a tenement on the Lower East Si. When he first achieved notoriety as a graffi artist, he was livg at home wh his parents, Bedford-Stuyvant. His prent apartment has sensatnal views three directns, que a few mirrors, a vacuum-sealed ambience, and, to my eye, a sort of Wall Street yuppie gleam, which mak exactly not the place I would have expected Freddy to live . As happens, though, Freddy appreciat good views and slick buildgs. He also has a lot of iends circulatg the neighborhood; one eveng when he and I were g back om a “Yo!” tapg, we ran to a rapper named Queen Latifah and her manager, both iends of his, the entranceway.</p><div class="Contaer-bkChBi byNLHx"></div><p class="paywall">The thgs Freddy do and the pace at which he do them make him seem to be all over the place all the time. This is te of many people New York—and, particular, of the kds of people who populate Freddy’s var bs—but Freddy tak beg on the move, like everythg else he do, to s hight form of exprsn. A typil day for him might clu shootg an episo of “Yo!” on lotn the Bronx, then edg one of his mic vios at a productn facily midtown, then shoppg SoHo, then meetg people for dner at the Oon, then visg iends at midnight Bed-Stuy. One afternoon this wter, Freddy lled me om Los Angel. I was actually expectg him to be llg om Japan, where he and rap have lately bee hot modi, both separately and as they are teamed up on “Yo!” Freddy is ually more than happy to travel wherever he has bee a hot mody, and a few weeks earlier he had cid he ought to vis Japan while he was still vogue, but apparently the trip had fallen through, and stead he had gone to California. In Los Angel, he was stayg at the Mondrian Hotel, a glossy place on Sunset Boulevard whose owners also happen to nsir him a hot mody: several years ago, they let him live the hotel for three months exchange for some of his patgs. Toward the end of the nversatn, I asked Freddy what he’d be dog for the next few days. He rattled off a list that clud movie, televisn, advertisg, and mic projects that would entail travellg to three natns on three ntents. When I said that he’d be hard to fd, he said, “Oh, not really. I don’t know how to drive, so the whole time I’m L.A. I’ll kd of be stuck my hotel room.”</p><p class="paywall">This particular morng New York, Freddy was first gog to a meetg about an upg mic-vio project, then shootg the episo of “Yo! MTV Raps” that would n the followg Saturday night, then workg on his Warner screenplay, and then havg a meetg about another mic vio he might be directg. I was late, but Freddy didn’t seem to notice: when my b pulled up, he was stg the lobby, absorbed a magaze about expensive stereo equipment. The lobby was by wh people smart bs sus. Freddy was wearg a silky shirt wh a pattern of brightly lored us and vegetabl, zoot-su-style brown twill pants, tan socks, his green suè oxfords, a sat baseball jacket wh the slogan “45 K<em class="small">g</em>” on the back, a small leather map of Ai hangg om a rawhi thong around his neck, a newsboy p of Irish tweed, and steel-rimmed Gltier shas wh ltle round lens. He looked stylish. He appeared to be a good mood. Upon seeg me, he hollered “Yo!” and then lghed—a loud, articulated lgh that sounds like the air brak on an eighteen-wheeler seizg. On our way out, he acsted his doorman, his ncierge, and var people enterg the buildg by ckg his head and llg out “Yo! My <em>man!</em> ”</p><p class="paywall">“How’s gog, Freddy?” his doorman asked.</p><p class="paywall">“Livg large, man,” Freddy answered, snterg through the doorway. “Livg <em>very</em> large.”</p><p class="paywall">As we crossed the urtyard, Freddy stopped to greet a neighbor who was walkg tw black pugs. “Great dogs,” he said, leang over to pet them. “I love that—matched dogs.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-2 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">“Brother and sister,” the neighbor said. “They’re not exactly matched.”</p><p class="paywall">“I love the way they look,” Freddy went on, disregardg the rrectn. “That’s so <em>dope!</em> I should get a dog. It would look fly to walk down the street wh tw dogs.”</p><p class="paywall">The morng’s first meetg was beg held at the SoHo offic of the film director Jonathan Demme. Ted Demme, the executive producer of “Yo! MTV Raps,” is Jonathan’s nephew, and Jonathan himself is a mic enthiast, who ocsnally directs vios for rap groups. This particular meetg had been lled by the rapper KRS-One, who recently found an tn project lled Human Edutn Agast Li and was proposg to make a llaborative rap rerd and vio to raise money for . A group of rappers—L. L. Cool J, Kid Capri, Freddie Foxx, Big Daddy Kane, M. C. Lyte, Queen Latifah, Run-D.M.C., and Ms. Melodie—had already been drafted to rap on the rerd. The two Demm, Freddy, and a young director named Pam Jenks had been ved to direct sectns of the vio.</p><p class="paywall">Freddy, stretchg out the b, was sg to himself. “I’m thkg, Yo, this is pretty <em>ol</em>,” he said. “Here is, right after Osrs night, and here I am gog to a meetg to direct somethg wh Jonathan Demme. That’s some ol fuckg sh! Jonathan Demme, you know—director of ‘Silence of the Lambs,’ and everythg.” He dmmed his fgers on the seat. The bdriver turned his rad up. A toxic smell om New Jersey wafted one wdow, mixed wh the air hener on the dashboard, and blew out the other si. It was a bright morng wh a wd that me startlg chilly puffs. No ra was imment. Somewhere across town, a “Yo! MTV Raps” productn assistant was notg wh relief that the day’s tapg uld take place outsi, as planned. “It’s funny, me and Jonathan were No. 1 and No. 2 for a while,” Freddy went on. “What I mean is that Jonathan’s film ‘Lambs’ is out now, and so is the movie I’d been workg on as associate producer, ‘New Jack Cy,’ and we were No. 1 and No. 2 box-office <em>Variety</em> for weeks. We’d still be No. 1 and No. 2, except that the new Teenage Mutant Nja Turtl movie is out and bumped . I’m not dissg , but do hurt to be bumped by turtl.”</p><p class="paywall">Demme’s office is a narrow, cluttered loft on the eighth floor of a buildg on lower Broadway. It is filled wh mismatched chairs and sks, and has the enomil look of a stunt-newspaper office, except that hangg on the walls are a huge “Silence of the Lambs” poster and a photograph of a theatre marquee announcg a double feature of that film and another Demme productn, “Miami Blu.” When we arrived, the meetg was already progrs. The Demm, KRS-One and his associat, and var technil advisers had pulled their chairs to a circle the middle of the loft and were discsg the logistil challeng of shootg a vio Harlem wh four directors, untls terted onlookers, and a three-thoand-dollar-a-day Steadim. The nversatn stopped when we walked .</p><p class="paywall">“Fab,” Ted Demme said, greetg.</p><p class="paywall">“Yo,” Freddy said.</p><p class="paywall">“Fred,” KRS-One said.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-3 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">“Yo, man,” Freddy said. Freddy and KRS have some history. The first vio Freddy ever directed was “My Philosophy,” a h for KRS-One and Boogie Down Productns 1988. When Freddy troduc the vio on “Yo! MTV Raps,” he variably says, wh no trace of bashfulns, “Yo, now here’s a great vio, one of my <em>favor</em>.” When Freddy refers to KRS nversatn, he que often intifi him as “the heart and soul and nscience and bras and philosophy of rap” and sometim adds that he is “my ma man.”</p><p class="paywall">“We’ll tch you up,” Ted said. “KRS was jt talkg about his project to advance human nscns.”</p><p class="paywall">“Excellent,” Freddy said. He nodd to KRS and sat down, reached for a pen, and nodd genially at the others the room.</p><p class="paywall">Everyone turned back to the bs at hand. I had never prevly seen Freddy any suatn where he wasn’t the prcipal object of attentn. In this circle, he seemed uncharacteristilly unanimated. KRS, a bulky, soft-faced man wh a rollg bass voice and a soothg, profsorial manner, did most of the talkg, scribg a plan to distribute four ln pi of a book he had wrten challengg the basic assumptns of Wtern tn. “I’m gog to drop the book onto the school system,” KRS said. “Our goal is to get people thkg. For stance, we put out the statement ‘Aristotle was a thief.’ The first reactn will be ‘What are you talkg about?’ The next is that will start people thkg.”</p><p class="paywall">“I’ll tell you what I’ve been thkg,” Ted Demme rpond. “I’m thkg that when kids hear that there are ten major rappers the neighborhood they’re gog to go crazy.”</p><p class="paywall">A discsn of lamated secury pass followed. It was close to noon. Jonathan Demme stood up, exced himself to go to another meetg, and head for the door. Then Ted Demme stood up, thanked everyone, and said that he and Freddy had to leave for the “Yo!” tapg, and that he was available to meet aga as the plans proceed. He then shot Freddy an urgent look.</p><p class="paywall">Freddy stood up and strolled over to the “Silence of the Lambs” poster and psed ont of . The large face of Jodie Foster amed the back of Freddy’s head. “Yo,” he said to me after a moment. “Dog somethg wh Jonathan is excellent. I’m <em>extra</em> happy I got asked to do this vio.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Many thgs make Freddy extra happy. Workg wh someone well tablished and succsful, like Jonathan Demme, is one of his extra-happit experienc. He is unabashed about . In fact, he aspir to . He started his movie reer, 1980, by telephong Charlie Ahearn, whose movie “The Deadly Art of Survival” was then beg celebrated on the unrground-film circu, and askg Ahearn to clu him whatever he was dog next. When he got terted patg, he cultivated iendships wh Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keh Harg. When he did graffi, he did alongsi the graffi star Lee Quon. He sred a movie, when movie srg ught his attentn, wh Chris Ste, of the band Blondie. People like Freddy; almost everyone he has sought to attach himself to has said y. The tra-off is that Freddy has a gift for gettg himself and his unrtakgs, and therefore his llaborators, noticed. He manag, seemgly whout effort, to create an ra of noteworths. His philosophy of reer advancement is not a matter of beg a succsful hanger-on. It’s a philosophy that appreciat mastery and technil proficiency but priz the knack for urtg acplished, proficient people, the knack for noticg which directn popular culture is headg, the knack for graftg one art form or pop form onto another, the knack for attractg a lot of attentn to whatever you do, and the knack for unrstandg that attractg attentn is, ultimately, the real art form of this era. Freddy has all the knacks. There are tim when I am of the opn that Fab Five Freddy is the hip-hop Andy Warhol. And, fact, Freddy’s extra-happit profsnal associatn was wh Warhol, whom he refers to as his hero.</p><p class="paywall">This is the path om Bedford-Stuyvant to Andy Warhol: “My mother is a nurse, and my dad is an acuntant. There was always a very heavy mic thg our hoe. Max Roach is my godfather, and Max and my dad are like brothers. They were beboppers together—black tellectuals. My dad lived Brooklyn, and he had a posse of micians like Bud Powell, Cecil Payne, Thelon Monk, Clifford Brown. They’d hang at his hoe—everybody lled the Chs Club. My dad’s not a mician, but he’d always hang wh all the dus. Bed-Stuy is ol—’s anchored by all the church the muny. My parents jt got ble about a month ago. Before that, I’d send them tap of ‘Yo!’ so they uld see . I grew up about three blocks om where Spike ma ‘Do the Right Thg.’ I kd of slipped out of high school and fished up this program lled Cy as School, which is for people who are smart but don’t want to listen to other people. I was gog to Medgar Evers College and I got the ia to be a pater. I’d been taggg my name up, dog graffi, when I was an adolcent, so that I uld start gettg known, to popularize myself the cy. That was when all the dus would tag up their nam. My tags were Bull 99 and Showdown 177 and Fred Fab Five. I’d play hooky a lot and go to the Met to look at armor, look at patgs, look at jewelry, and I would thk, Yo, <em>I</em> want to do this. I didn’t want to be a folk artist, I wanted to be a fe artist. I wanted to be a <em>famo</em> artist. Somewhere there, I started readg about Pop art. I was readg a lot of books about art—and some of them were really hard to read and borg and didn’t say anythg to me, and others sound ol, and they were about Pop art. I started readg <em>Interview</em> and makg my plans. I knew you had to have some kd of plan to move to the media.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-4 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Freddy’s plans to be a famo artist cid wh the Pop-art movement’s champng of enlightened amatrism every field. It was then the mid-seventi. By Pop standards, anyone was eligible to make art. Anyone uld have a punk band. Anyone uld silk-screen Campbell’s-soup ns. Anythg anyone clared to be sculpture was sculpture. Anyone uld have his own ble-televisn show and ve his iends to appear on and jt <em>act like themselv</em>, and the show would be nceptually plete. This did ed happen. Glenn O’Brien, a wrer and Warhol alyte, produced a televisn show on Manhattan’s public-accs channel which was lled “Glenn O’Brien’s TV Party”; entailed nothg much more than his vg his iends to hold a cktail hour on the air. His iends—among them Deborah Harry, Chris Ste, David Byrne, and Arto Ldsay—were members of the social set that Freddy ually scrib as “groovy downtown hipsters.” Freddy, who was a fan of Glenn’s lumn <em>Interview</em>, arranged to have Glenn as a gut on a llege rad show he was m.c.’ g. Not long afterward, Freddy was seized wh the sire to bee a meraman for “Glenn O’Brien’s TV Party.” For two years, he was a meraman for the show, and also, soon after startg, one of s on-mera personnel, and also, time, a regular member of the groovy downtown hipsters and a Warhol votee. He saw, first hand, the power of beg a smart spectator and a llector, and the satisfactn of makg yourself and your tast well known. “Andy was the biggt fluence on me,” Freddy now says. “I hung around wh him as much as I uld. For me and Jean-Michel, g om where we were g om, beg young black mal this happeng downtown scene, we were jt operatg on another pla, and Andy was .”</p><p class="paywall">Uptown, and Brooklyn and the Bronx, the notn of populist street art was nothg new, but the forms was takg—rappg, break dancg, and graffi patg—were. Freddy would often ri the subway to the cy parks the South Bronx where rappers and break dancers set up and performed. He was, he says now, jt a fan, but a fan wh tertg nnectns. “I was, like, this person who unrstood the fe-art thg,” Freddy says. “I was hip enough to hang downtown at plac like Danceteria wh all the art people, gallery owners, all the groovy people, but I had the pure hip-hop roots as well. So this was my synthis. I was creded wh brgg rap downtown. I went onstage and rapped at the Mudd Club, which was a new-wave hangout. I knew I wasn’t much of a rapper, but I wanted to fe the two worlds, and I figured the dience downtown wouldn’t know the difference if I was or wasn’t much of a rapper. I knew whatever I did down there would look tertg. I wanted people to see this whole hip-hop street-culture thg bubblg up unr their nos.”</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><asi class="PersistentAsiWrapper-VGrR daRVRt persistent-asi" style="posn:absolute;top:to;height:to" data-ttid="PersistentAsiWrapper"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssS ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="g9ziw"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></asi></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssS ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="y7vrkrf"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">Freddy’s next big synthis was proposg that graffi and break dancg and rappg were related forms of street art which, taken as a whole, fed the new athetic of black hip-hop culture. This might seem obv now, but at the time the three were nsired separate, transory impuls at bt and discrete forms of public nuisance at worst. Freddy, beg Freddy, me up wh the ia, and then followed wh this proposal: “Damn, put this all a <em>movie</em>, would be <em>dope</em>.” Charlie Ahearn, after beg approached by Freddy, agreed that would be very dope to make a movie about hip-hop. Freddy’s relatnship wh the rultg project, “Wild Style,” is a Freddy classic. As Ahearn now rells , Freddy ially planned to -wre the screenplay wh him but didn’t have the patience to niggle over the fe pots of screenwrg, and ially planned to -direct but didn’t have the patience to labor over the tails of film directn. In the end, Freddy helped Chris Ste produce the soundtrack. He also wound up wh a major role, even though actg happened to be one of the few job posns the film he had not been terted fillg.</p><p class="paywall">Ahearn is extremely plimentary when to Freddy’s ntributns. “First of all, he’s the bt actor the film,” he says. “He didn’t want to be . That was my ia. As far as the other stuff, Freddy didn’t have the foc at that particular time to wre or direct, although he was very terted dog both. His credible talents lay more his charisma, his abily to form relatnships wh a huge number of people, and to have this unique visn of street culture, and to have the sire to brg the ghetto scene downtown. In a way, he was the one who brought all together.”</p><p class="paywall">“Wild Style” is the story of a South Bronx graffi artist who has to ci whether he should rema an anonymo outlaw vandal makg street art for nothg or sh and start sellg his graffi patgs to effete, upsle llectors. Freddy plays a fast-talkg, cynil smoothy named Pha, who has no particular job but lots of important posns: he appears to be, at var tim, a club manager, a ncert promoter, a bsman, a tour gui, a master of ceremoni, a negotiator, and a general all-around operator. When word gets out that a reporter om a downtown newspaper is g to the South Bronx to wre about the graffi artist and his iends—rappers and break dancers—most of them are wary. Pha, on the other hand, posns himself to rt the reporter and act as her agent. He lghs at the notn that would be better to keep hip-hop unexposed. “You ser?” Pha says at one pot, soundg crlo. “Hey, man, ’s about time we got some publicy for this goddam rap sh.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Forty-eighth Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenu is the profsnal micians’ block midtown Manhattan. It is a jammed, jumbled, slightly seedy street, which seems to generate s own nstant buzz. The siwalks are skny and sooty. Flyers advertisg band jobs and guarists for hire flutter the gutters. Hand tcks stacked wh Bose speakers and Fenr guars le the siwalks. The buildgs are low and pla-faced, and have unglamoro storeonts, wh amplifiers, mixg boards, guar strgs, and puter nsol piled haphazardly their wdows. It is one place where the aterny of micianship prevails over the diffns of mil genre. As our b worked s way down the street, I noticed untry-and-Wtern guarists and heavy-metallists and soul sgers si by si, wdow-shoppg for equipment.</p><p class="paywall">Today’s “Yo! MTV Raps” was gog to be taped outsi Sam Ash Mic, one of the biggt stor on the block. “Yo!” is always shot on lotn. Recent episos have been filmed unr the Brooklyn Bridge, the Roosevelt Island tram, on 125th Street, and an airplane flyg down to a rap nventn New Orleans. It was Freddy’s ia to place the show—that is, the segments nsistg of him and his guts, which are terspersed wh the vios—somewhere on the street rather than a stud, to emphasize s immediacy. It is keepg wh Freddy’s nature that he enjoys havg a crowd watch him work. And ’s keepg wh his abily to regnize someone anywhere he go that on a shoot he often se someone he knows—eher a iend or a famo person. At the “Yo!” shoot on 125th Street, he ran to Aika Bambaataa, a iend and a famo person. Durg a shoot on the Roosevelt Island tram, he spotted Grandpa Munster, a famo person but not a iend.</p><div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--article-mid-ntent" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--article-mid-ntent nsumer-marketg-un__slot---ntent"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><p class="paywall">“Yo!” was the first MTV show to be entirely “remote,” and Freddy is irked that other shows on the channel are now imatg him by shootg their host segments outsi a stud. “Man, I <em>thought</em> of this, I me up wh this,” he says when he’s discsg his imators. “I hate beg pied, man—I ma on my own ias this bs. I don’t got no uncl the bs, if you know what I mean. I’m not dissg that hard, but my ias are my <em>bs</em>.”</p><p class="paywall">Other thgs were on his md when the b was on s way to Sam Ash. “You know what movie’s really dope?” he asked Ted Demme, who was ridg wh .</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-5 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">“Speak,” Ted said.</p><p class="paywall">“ ‘La Femme Nika,’ ” Freddy said, chucklg. “I saw that sh <em>twice</em>, ma me so extra happy. I’ll go peep aga wh you, du, ’s so f.”</p><p class="paywall">“Yo,” Ted said.</p><p class="paywall">The nversatn then turned to the Osrs. Freddy exprsed admiratn for Joe Pci, the “GoodFellas” star. “You know what I’m wonrg, though?” he said, droppg his voice. “I’m wonrg this. I was at that rtrant Columb one night. You know that place, a lot of actors and a lot of hip people go there for burgers, that’s the flavor—’s an actg hangout. And I’m there wh Veroni, my old girliend, and Joe Pci over to our table to say hello, and I’m tellg you, for real, he had no hair. So I’m lookg at the Osrs last night, and I see him wh all that hair, and I’m thkg, Yo! My man! Joe Pci! Is that a g, or what?”</p><p class="paywall">“That is too ill,” Ted exclaimed. “Joe Pci is wearg a lid?”</p><p class="paywall">“Yo, I <em>swear</em>,” Freddy answered. “I swear! I’m right there at Columb, and there he is, at my table, the sight of everyone, not a hair on his bald head.”</p><p class="paywall">The two of them lghed wildly and then, after a moment, sat and med. Then Ted abptly said, “Yo, Freddy, you have a r, don’t you? So this weekend we uld peep some lotns uptown for the KRS vio?”</p><p class="paywall">Freddy shgged. “I do have a r, but, serly, I’m not too to nng around ,” he said. “It is a lovely vehicle, though—lovely, lovely, love-<em>ly</em>. A ’57 Chevy, turquoise. It’s the lor of a Tiffany box.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-6 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">We were now ont of Sam Ash. So were Mos Edborough, the show’s associate producer and s director; the mera crew; three members of a rap group lled Stetsasonic; a scrawny guy wh long, tattooed arms who was furly loadg box marked “P<em class="small">eavey</em> A<em class="small">mplifiers”</em> to a panel tck; two adolcent boys wh the avid, sktish air of tants; a man dark glass rotatg a ssette tape over and over one hand; and three Asian tourists, standg at attentn. Freddy emerged om the b and surveyed the gatherg crowd wh liberate aloofns. His mood had turned distctly Garboque. This was a sea change om the Joey Bishop he had been dog the b on the way over and om his Sally Field turn at the morng meetg. We regrouped on the siwalk. In ont of , Mos was pacg back and forth, waggg a fger at Daddy-O, Stetsasonic’s ma rapper, and sayg wh mock serns, “Now, I don’t want you all to be buggg out here, got that?” Seeg Freddy, he terpted himself, grned, and said, “Yo, Fab.”</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssS ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="8iya"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">“What’s the flavor, Mos?” Freddy said greetg. “We’re missg half of Stetsasonic, but we’re gog to start anyway,” Mos said. “It’s gog to be totally f.”</p><p class="paywall">Show No. 117A of “Yo! MTV Raps” would eventually nsist, like Show No. 1, of an openg (a antic vio montage of rap artists and graphics) and five one-and-a-half-to-two-mute segments of Freddy terviewg his guts (a rapper or a rap group, ually enjoyg a current h), dropped between ten rap vios, which Ted Demme and his staff had selected. The formula has worked well for three years. It is one of MTV’s hight-rated blocks of programmg. Its viewers span a broad range of age and race. It has spawned a spoff (a daily late-afternoon stud versn, wh a former rapper named Ed Lover and the former Beastie Boys d.j. Doctor Dré as hosts). So domant is s posn the rap world the days that s choic of vios and guts prefigure and, fact, preorda rap hs.</p><p class="paywall">The genis of the show is unplited: Ted Demme, who grew up on Long Island admirg black street mic, and who apprenticed his way through the entry levels at MTV, persuad the pany 1988 to let him produce a rap-vio special, wh Run-D.M.C. as host. Two facts nspired to make this a logil enterprise: MTV had had great succs playg Run-D.M.C.’s “Walk This Way,” the first real rap rerd to be popular wh a mastream whe dience, and had recently troduced, also succsfully, s first programs offerg somethg other than wall-to-wall vios—a game show and a dance show. A third fact, though, was ls enuragg. At that time, spe Run-D.M.C.’s breakthrough, rap was still seen as margal mic: ghetto noise that was ltle more than monotonal chantg rhyme—sometim lewd, sometim ant—to rhythm tracks, ually lifted whout ceremony or license om another rerd. That rap had been around for que a few years whout movg much beyond s small, young black male dience was equally unenuragg. (The one exceptn was the whe rock band Blondie’s 1981 h “Rapture,” a novelty rap that happened to clu a reference to Fab Five Freddy.) Nohels, MTV’s programmg partment let Demme produce the special, on the strength of Run-D.M.C.’s populary, and sat up surprise when drew a huge dience. In short orr, a weekly show was planned. Searchg for a host, Demme asked for a remendatn om Peter Dougherty, who is now the director of on-air promotn for MTV Europe but was then a producer wh the work. “All the time we were puttg the show together, I was imagg Freddy as the host,” Dougherty says. The two had met ten years earlier at one of the many groovy-downtown-hipster functns that both equented—somethg at the Fun Gallery, or maybe the Roxy, or maybe a party for Keh Harg or Futura 2000 or Warhol. In any se, Freddy had imprsed Dougherty as beg a legimate Renaissance character and also a b of a ham. “There ed to be the guys fifty years ago or so who knew everyone, did everythg, uld move around the cy wh ease. They’d even meet dignari at the airport,” Dougherty says. “They lled themselv Ambassadors of New York. That’s what Freddy’s like. I mean that a very posive way.” No one else was even dned for the job.</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Wt Forty-eighth Street, a gatherg crowd. “Wele to ‘Yo! MTV Raps,’ the olt hour on televisn,” Freddy announced when the mera started nng. “Gettg ready to hip-hop you right out of your livg-room seat right about now.” After this troductory segment, Freddy turned to his guts. “I’m here wh the <em>bad</em> Stetsasonic. My man Daddy-O, what’s up?”</p><p class="paywall">“What up, what up, what up, what up! How you been man?” Daddy-O said.</p><p class="paywall">“What’s been gog on wh Stetsasonic?” Freddy poted the microphone at Daddy-O.</p><p class="paywall">They bantered about the band’s new album, about Stetsasonic’s upg trip to Ai (“That’s real spiratnal,” Freddy mented. “Gog back to the motherland”), about the vio that would be played next. They spent a few mut discsg the burgeong bootleg-tape tra. Each week, Freddy lik to touch on a ser subject, and bootleggg has been one of his favor. Otherwise, the terviews are iendly volleys, a ltle posturg, a lot of promotn, some gossip. Freddy tak re of bs, too. Durg the Stetsasonic tapg, he dropped mentns of havg attend Nelson Manla’s first Amerin appearance, of havg worked on “New Jack Cy,” and of havg directed Stetsasonic’s first vio, which he asssed th: “Yo, ’s <em>ol</em>.”</p><p class="paywall">The three members of the group—the missg Stets never appeared—bounced around ont of the mera and livered sharp answers to Freddy’s wi outsi pch. Nearly every segment was shot one try. Word is that the early shows were rather raw, Freddy beg hyper and jivey, a talogue of distractg mannerisms. The days, he is mostly unself-nsc and funny, displayg good-natured bravado and manicured ol. The days, too, most of his guts are one-take, media-savvy, well travelled, and fe-tuned. Rap has e a long way. It is still a mil genre that requir ltle the way of ial palizatn and has an unrefed immediacy that suggts songs wrten between subway stops, but now is also a big, profable, important bs. The btsellg album of 1990 (over ten ln pi) was M. C. Hammer’s “Please Hammer Don’t Hurt ’Em”; one of the top four bt-sellg sgl was the whe rapper Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby”; and a recent survey showed that twenty-four per cent of all active mic nsumers this untry had bought a rap rerdg the last six months. More signifint is that over half of those ctomers were whe. Most signifint, by pop-culture standards, is that this year the soap opera “One Life to Live” add a rap group to s st of regulars.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-7 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">Still, Freddy’s social skills are often lled upon the show. One afternoon, I acpanied Freddy to a “Yo!” tapg Washgton Square Park. His gut was a young rapper lled Special Ed, who had an Eraserhead-style fa hairdo, a h rerd, and a dreamy, distracted aspect that warned of ad air. Freddy was a particularly chipper mood that day. The terview went somethg like this:</p><p class="paywall">F<em class="small">REDDY:</em> So, Special Ed, I want to ask you, you’ve been able to get your msage across to a particular dience—that is, the teen-age femal. What do you thk is about you or your mic that’s gettg through to them?</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssS ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="nydpnr"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan full-bleed-ad row-mid-ntent-ad"><div class="StickyMidContentAdWrapper-fSBzwl drzyIa ad-stickymidntent"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssS ad ad--mid-ntent should-hold-space"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--mid-ntent" data-no-id="7q1lf"></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ArticlePageChunksGrid-hfxa bjczjj grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="BodyWrapper-kufPGa bDyAMU body body__ntaer article__body" data-journey-hook="client-ntent" data-ttid="BodyWrapper"><div class="body__ner-ntaer"><p class="paywall">S<em class="small">PECIAL</em> E<em class="small">D</em>: I don’t know.</p><p class="paywall">F<em class="small">REDDY:</em> Any ia of what is about what you’re dog that’s htg that particular mographic?</p><p class="paywall">S<em class="small">PECIAL</em> E<em class="small">D:</em> Nope. (<em>A pse, durg which Freddy lghs loudly.</em>)</p><p class="paywall">F<em class="small">REDDY:</em> Yo, Ed, what’s the bt thg about MTV?</p><p class="paywall">S<em class="small">PECIAL</em> E<em class="small">D:</em> I don’t know. I don’t have ble.</p><p class="paywall">Stetsasonic is of a different orr. At the Sam Ash tapg, the ments of the three who were prent tumbled on top of one another; at one pot, they burst to a spontaneo wild rap. They were articulate and funny, and they never stopped talkg. Durg one of the breaks, they and the mera crew gathered the back of the Sam Ash store.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-8 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">“I was jt thkg about this dope kung-fu movie,” Daddy-O was sayg. “It was about this baby who has swords for fists— was lled somethg like ‘The Avengg Fists.’ ”</p><p class="paywall">D.B.C., the group’s keyboardist, said, “Uh-uh, that’s the one when the baby’s got the super-powerful fists. The sword one, that was so ill— had a different name.”</p><p class="paywall">“It was ill! He was his baby rriage, and ’s <em>whip</em>, <em>whip</em>, <em>whip</em> wh those swords!”</p><p class="paywall">Freddy, standg nearby, was ignorg the discsn. He said to Mos Edborough, “You signed on to direct a vio? That’s <em>excellent</em>. What kd of bread they payg you?”</p><p class="paywall">“Very nice bread,” Mos said.</p><p class="paywall">“Do you have a fancial adviser?” Freddy asked. The kung-fu nversatn ntued noisily behd him. “Bee, man, you start gettg nice bread, you ought to have someone dog somethg dope wh .”</p><p class="paywall">“I’m planng on , man.”</p><p class="paywall">From behd: “I thk was ‘The Fists of the Avenger,’ maybe.”</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-9 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">“No, man, that was the <em>other</em> one, not the baby but the ltle boy who was so bad, he was so powerful, he uld chop through the door of a safe.”</p><p class="paywall">The man who had been standg on the siwalk fgerg a ssette walked to the store and head toward Freddy, sayg, “Man, I <em>know</em> what you’re dog, I <em>like</em> what you’re dog. I want you to listen to this tape.”</p><p class="paywall">“Chill, brother,” Freddy said to him, and he turned back to Mos. “Fancial planng. Yo, I remend .”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">Walkg through Tim Square on our way back to Freddy’s apartment, we were greeted by all sorts of people: teen-agers, who whistled and preened to ver up their admiratn; a secury guard, who looked way too old to be a “Yo!” dience member; a young, buxom, unrdrsed woman, walkg wh her uncle or so; more kids. Freddy rpond to each of them wh a wave or a “Yo!” or a genue-soundg “How’s gog, man?” He was sg, a ltle preoccupied, as he walked along. The tapg had gone well. It would be a good show. It would make up for last week, when a boxg match on another channel the “Yo!” time slot—Saturday night om ten to eleven—admistered a nasty uppercut to his ratgs. Freddy keeps track of the ratgs, of the mographics, of the petn, of the number of people who regnize him on the street. Crossg Broadway, he noticed a gigantic Kodak billboard featurg a gigantic likens of Bill Cosby. The Cos beamed down on the thicket of traffic and jostlg crowds. “See that?” Freddy said. “He uldn’t walk through here. He’s too <em>big</em>. He n’t live his life. What I have now, as far as fame, is excellent. I’m <em>known</em>, but I’m not too known. I n still walk around, I n still eat dner out. It’s not too much. Not yet.” Another clump of kids, passg, lled out to him. He answered them, and add, “I like havg some of this, beg able to flex my mcl, but n be <em>paful</em>. Fame n be paful sometim.”</p><p class="paywall">It was four-thirty when we arrived at Freddy’s buildg. As we passed through the lobby, one of the porters, a heavyset man wh a grizzled beard, stopped and told Freddy he had somethg for him. He led back to the mailroom and, after some negotiatns wh a pile of crat, shoved a huge, saggg rdboard box marked “MTV” Freddy’s directn.</p><p class="paywall">Gettg the box upstairs took some dog. Once si his apartment, Freddy put on a Frank Satra pact disk and started diggg through the ntents of the box. It was full of mail addrsed to him re of the show. We were seated at an antique secretary his livg room. The livg room also ntaed a large-screen televisn; a black leather uch; a low, wi, bmorphic ffee table; some amg ksch llectibl; a photograph of Freddy muggg wh Andy Warhol; a photograph of Freddy on the set of “New Jack Cy”; an issue of <em>Paper</em> wh a photograph of Freddy and his former girliend, the mol Veroni Webb, on the ver; an issue of <em>Details</em> fold open to a full-page photograph of Freddy; and several telephon. Hangg across om the secretary was a large, lively patg of a Marti glass and a goblet. The style was late-seventi graffi. The artist was Fab Five Freddy. It is one of many patgs he turned out, wh alacry, durg his patg phase. “I focsed on patg for a while,” he says now. “That’s when Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keh Harg and I were really tight. I was patg a lot, but when I saw Jean-Michel’s reer really take off and explo I started wonrg when was gog to happen for me.” It did happen, sort of. In 1979, he and Lee Quon had a show at the Galleria la Msa, Rome, and 1985, after cludg him several group shows, Holly Solomon gave him a one-man show at her gallery. He had his moment, but he never really threatened to explo. Anyway, by that time he was gettg bored wh patg. “I got to a pot where I was good, but I got tired of the art world,” he says. “I was also tired of not beg able to reach a wi dience. I wanted to see thgs I’d thought of filterg out to the whole culture.” He says he will pat aga, but the patg will be Freddy style: “I won’t prent jt as patg. Patg now seems small, a ltle tre, you know? I will e back to the next year, and will be multimedia. I’ll have backg om some major rporatns, and will be shown someplace other than a gallery or where you’d ordarily see patg.”</p><p class="paywall">In the box were letters, tap, rerds, much-layed Christmas prents, a box of cholate tffl om a rerd pany, more letters, more tap. First, Freddy opened the tffl. Then he started on the letters. “Here’s a guy wrg to me om Nigeria, this is <em>excellent</em>. . . . Here’s a kid wrg om jail. . . . Here’s more people wrg om Nigeria—yo, what’s gog <em>on</em> there Nigeria? I gus ’s time for me to go to Nigeria.” He started sgg along wh “Autumn New York,” and then the phone rang.</p><p class="paywall">“Yo, girl, how you <em>been</em>?” he shouted to the phone. As I listened, beme clear to me that the young woman on the le was an employee of a striptease tablishment Tim Square lled Show World, and that while she was workg there the day before, one of her lleagu happened to get hacked to ath the back of the club. Freddy qutned the woman wh enthiasm. At one pot, he put his hand over the mouthpiece and whispered to me, “She says the guy who did was the ad girl’s boyiend. I gus the relatnship wasn’t gog so well, so he cid to murr her.” He went back to the ll. He cradled the phone unr his ch, ntued to open the mail, lowered the volume on Satra, and turned the televisn on to “Vio Mic Box,” an afternoon rap-vio show on a lol ble channel. “Autumn New York” now appeared to be g out of the mouths of De La Soul. After a few mut, Freddy got a ll on his other le, so he put the Show World employee on hold and started yellg to the phone: “Yo, I said I’d nsir beg the movie for the <em>marquee</em> value, but no one’s tellg me where anythg is at!” The negotiatns—for Freddy to play himself an upg movie lled “Juice”—went on loudly for many mut. Freddy hung up. Then he took a ll om Ted Demme about Mar Van Peebl, who had appeared that afternoon on the daytime “Yo!,” sayg thgs about “New Jack Cy” that Freddy didn’t like. Then he dialled an executive at a rerd pany wh whom he was negotiatg to direct a vio of a rerd by Shabba Ranks. He put the executive on his speaker phone and ntued to open mail. The executive’s hiccupy exclamatns about the brilliance of the proposed vio boomed through the apartment. Freddy hung up, lled a iend about dner plans, sayg, “Yo, I jt got back om Europe, where I was shootg a Colt 45 ad wh Billy Dee Williams. I gus Billy Dee wasn’t reachg the younger beer drker anymore, so they brought me .” His iend put him on hold. While he was wag, Freddy hand me a book that was stg unr a prs k for Digal Unrground and said, “I jt got this great book on semtics—’s very tertg sh. You should read .” Salt ’N Pepa appeared on “Vio Mic Box.” Satra off, Salt ’N Pepa on, extra loud. After fishg his ll to his iend, Freddy hung up, slouched his chair for a few moments, then abptly sat up, grabbed the phone, and tried to retrieve his ll om the Show World employee, who by this time would have been on hold for thirty-five mut. At some pot durg those thirty-five mut, she had apparently had feelgs of abandonment and hung up. “Damn, <em>damn</em>, that’s wack,” Freddy said, soundg sad. “I lost her.”</p><p class="has-dropp has-dropp__lead-standard-headg paywall">The Plaza Hotel’s Edwardian Room is one of those hhed, dim chambers where everythg is so padd and plhy that seems as if the rpets had rpets. Heavy swag curtas fall across the wdows. Heavy lens drape the tabl. Everywhere there are ltle ndl, large men, fancy-lookg women, trim waers, gltg platters, mother los of silver, and an air of genteel excs. Freddy eats here often, but not the dg room. He eats the middle of the kchen, where Kerry Simon, the young chef who ns the place, keeps a table for a few iends. This is some plited form of verted reverse snobbery. The Edwardian Room is not a groovy-downtown-hipster kd of place by any stretch of the imagatn, but the chef’s table the kchen has bee a hot ticket the days. When Freddy has dner here, he is rted by a lite, doe-eyed, sweet-natured woman named Paige Powell, who is the advertisg director of <em>Interview</em> and was formerly a equent rt of Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The days, Freddy refers to her as “my social ach.” Paige refers to Freddy as “a forward-thkg talyst who should have broad-reach ternatnal exposure.” They are clearly fond of each other. Over the last month or so, Paige got Freddy vatns to a dner for Grg Armani and the one for the people om Ebel watch. “I’d like to see him cross-nnect,” she said to me recently. “He should get to know the people, so they n take his great energy and e somehow. I n almost image him as an anchor on an ternatnal news program on CNN, or somethg.”</p><p class="paywall">Our dner group was to be Paige, Freddy, and Freddy’s iend Great Adventure, whose real name is Roy. Great Adventure—handsome, immaculately tailored, broad-shoulred—had jt returned om Brazil, where he had been promotg rap ncerts. He is Freddy’s current bt iend and the man Freddy scrib as his fashn ach, for graduatg him om his prev B-boy style to his prent amalgam of street and chic. Freddy knows exactly what good turn each of his iends and associat has done for him. It is as if he saw his life as a project to which a number of people have generoly ntributed. Consirg that three of his bt iends—Warhol, Harg, and Basquiat—are now ad, such acuntg seems the days to have particular meang.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-10 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">“Yo, Kerry,” Freddy said as we walked to the kchen. “I know this is <em>fely</em> about to be somethg beyond food, and totally artistic.”</p><p class="paywall">Paige and Great Adventure joed , and we sat down at a large, round table set a few feet away om the grill. The kchen was clattery, warm, buttery-smellg, dtrial-lookg. The table was set pure whe, wh pale flowers and heavy silverware. Stg at , I felt as if I’d been ensed a clean, quiet psule and dropped to the middle of a stew. Freddy, Paige, and Great Adventure were discsg an upg ncert R when the first urse arrived—a nstctn of squid and fat pellets of Arbor rice, piled together a way that lled to md a Japane pagoda.</p><p class="paywall">Freddy whistled, and said, “This is lovely, lovely, love-<em>ly</em>. We are fely livg large tonight! Tell me the name of this dish aga. I have to remember to scribe to my mother.”</p><p class="paywall">“Squid-k risotto,” Kerry said.</p><p class="paywall">“Excellent,” Freddy said. “My mother would bug out if she saw this.”</p><p class="paywall">Great Adventure started to chuckle.</p><p class="paywall">“Yo, man,” Freddy said to him. “Picture a fe squid-k risotto Bed-Stuy.”</p><p class="paywall">Three hours later, we were still at the table, havg eaten risotto, grilled monkfish, roast lobster wh rn sce, and cholate ke, and havg discsed rap Brazil, the latt Public Enemy rerd, Andy Warhol, okg, Freddy’s populary Japan, Freddy’s tert shootg an episo of “Yo!” a prison, the print of Fiat, the sisters who own Fendi, the march of the Rglg elephants through Manhattan, Paige’s home town, Oregon, a pajama party some rappers had had Los Angel, the Osrs, the Plaza, Leona Helmsley, Andy Warhol aga, the Show World murr, and the var gredients of the var dish we’d eaten. It ma for lively nversatn. Toward the end of the eveng, Freddy’s attentn started to drift, as if he’d flipped to the next page his datebook. He explaed after a mute that he was startg to thk of everythg he had g up the next few days. It was, by his unt, about a ln thgs.</p><div data-attr-viewport-monor="le-recirc" class="le-recirc-wrapper le-recirc-observer-target-11 viewport-monor-anchor"></div><p class="paywall">“I’ve got that movie I’m gog to be , and I have to work on the screenplay of this movie I’ll be directg, and there’s always ‘Yo!,’ and I got to get this vio gog,” he said when we had fally left the Edwardian Room and were standg outsi the revolvg doors. It was now dark. A group of women swaddled mk stol bshed past , murmurg as they head to the hotel. A horse rriage and a b were double-parked at the bottom of the steps gog down to the street. Freddy posed at the top and l a cigarette. He was wearg his sunglass and a big tan hat. Backl by the Plaza chanliers, he formed an imposg silhouette. “This black pop-life sh n get hectic sometim,” he said after a moment. “It’s ol most of the time, but n be hectic. Every now and aga, to be hont wh you, I’m, like, <em>damn</em>.” ♦</p></div></div></div><div class="GridItem-buujkM fVLMby grid--em grid-layout__asi"><div class="StickyBoxWrapper-jfYB jxBcTH sticky-box"><div class="StickyBoxPrimary-dzWDWL cdhYoN sticky-box__primary"><div class="AdWrapper-dQtivb fZrssS ad ad--rail"><div class="ad__slot ad__slot--rail" data-no-id="k0hnuu"></div></div><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--display-rail" role="prentatn" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--display-rail"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></div><div class="StickyBoxPlaceholr-grPmrg dxAvXx"></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 PaywallInleBarrierWhWrapperGrid-fyrGfS kLQIUk grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__le-barrier article__body"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"><asi class="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper-iBnuqk lfXXa-D" data-ttid="PaywallInleBarrierWrapper"><div class="ConsumerMarketgUnThemedWrapper-iUTMTf jssHut nsumer-marketg-un nsumer-marketg-un--paywall-le-barrier" role="prentatn" aria-live="pole" aria-hidn="te"><div class="nsumer-marketg-un__slot nsumer-marketg-un__slot--paywall-le-barrier"></div><div class="journey-un"></div></div></asi></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 ContentWrapperGrid-fvkmBv brYtrA grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="body body__ntaer"><div class="ntaer ntaer--body"><div class="ntaer--body-ner"></div></div></div></div></div></div></article><div class="ContentFooterWrapper-jVNdRG dTJkpP ArticlePageContentFooterGrid-ccsXYy eMZRHU article-body__footer"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><footer class="ContentFooterMagazeDisclaimer-gzKAqo iZIuUU" data-ttid="MagazeDisclaimerWrapper">Published the prt edn of the <a href="/magaze/1991/06/17" data-reactroot="">June 17, 1991</a>, issue.</footer></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div class="ContributorsWrapper-eNpWFu GWFsc ntributors" data-ttid="Contributors"><div class="ContributorBWrapper-bnVHbt gMon"><div class="ContributorBAvatar-bIGTqf eMWbvj"><a href="/ntributors/san-orlean"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW jvZaPI rponsive-asset"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa rponsive-image"><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></picture></span></a></div><div class="ContributorBContent-ubQdr jZTSSi"><div class="ContributorBHear-ledood XOIEx"></div><div class="ContributorBB-fBolsO giFhKz"><a href="/ntributors/san-orlean">San Orlean</a> began ntributg to The New Yorker 1987 and beme a staff wrer 1992. Her most recent book is “<a href=">On Animals</a>.”</div><div class="ContributorBFooter-brqDlv ezUmSv"></div></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="RowWrapper-UmqTg HEhan"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"></div></div></div><div data-ttid="ContentFooterBottom" class="ContentFooterBottom-jwWZfC kcbyiW"><div class="ContentFooterNewsletterContentWrapper-bmjtna kixtae"><div class="GridWrapper-cAzTTK kHBDeH grid grid-margs grid-ems-2 grid-layout--adrail narrow wi-adrail"><div class="GridItem-buujkM stRKV grid--em grid-layout__ntent"><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormWrapper-fCqqkN jKSBhE newsletter-subscribe-form ContentFooterNewsletterForm-hKeYwa liPqcf"><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormHedDekWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormHedDekWrapper-fpMElW eglIBL"><h3 class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDangeroHed-kRwWjt kbxOa-D newsletter-subscribe-form__hed ContentFooterNewsletterForm-hKeYwa liPqcf">Weekly</h3><div class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDek-kXonvc cKOhTM newsletter-subscribe-form__k">Your gui to the latt magaze and our biggt stori of the week, pl highlights om podsts, humor, and more.</div></div><div data-ttid="NewsletterSubscribeFormInputsWrapper" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormInputsWrapper-keARJE hVWbzr"><form class="form-wh-validatn NewsletterSubscribeFormValidatn-iCYa-Dt dweEln" id="newsletter" name="newsletter" novalidate="" method="POST"><span class="TextFieldWrapper-Pzdqp hNhevp text-field" data-ttid="TextFieldWrapper__email"><label class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ TextFieldLabel-klrYvg iUEiRd stdEm fvoOvz text-field__label text-field__label--sgle-le" for="newsletter-text-field-email" data-ttid="TextFieldLabel__email"><div class="TextFieldLabelText-cvvxBl eeDYTb">E-mail addrs</div><div class="TextFieldInputContaer-jcMPhb oFrOs"><put type="email" aria-scribedby="privacy-text" aria-valid="false" id="newsletter-text-field-email" required="" name="email" placeholr="E-mail addrs" class="BaseInput-fAzTdK TextFieldControlInput-eFUxkf eGzzTT laFPCK text-field__ntrol text-field__ntrol--put" data-ttid="TextFieldInput__email"/></div></label><button class="BaseButton-bLlsy ButtonWrapper-xCepQ bqVKKv dwpimO button button--utily TextFieldButton-csBrgY edxbrw" data-event-click="{"element":"Button"}" data-ttid="Button" type="subm"><span class="ButtonLabel-cjAuJN hzwRuG button__label">Sign up</span></button></span><div id="privacy-text" tabx="-1" class="NewsletterSubscribeFormDisclaimer-bTVtiV bsgLJZ"><span><p>By signg up, you agree to our <a href=" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">User Agreement</a> and <a href=" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Privacy Policy & Cookie Statement</a>. 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summary-llectn-grid--DenseDktopStack"><div class="GridItem-buujkM kHPPIF grid--em"><div class="SummaryCollectnGridContent-eVUpRm jTGbEO"><div class="SectnTleRoot-dBGvdq kjAxEG SummaryCollectnGridSectnTle-fCmYwG izjbVn" data-ttid="SectnTle"><hear class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SectnTleHed-dKqZet dxqEAa dqtvfu jttyjJ">Read More</hear></div><div class="SummaryCollectnGridItems-DZShR eOCboB hi-read-more-ad" data-ttid="SummaryCollectnGridItems"><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--article summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm eamwqR" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/1952/06/28/the-ve-joseph-mchell" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Cave" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Profil</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/magaze/1952/06/28/the-ve-joseph-mchell" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">The Cave</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/1952/06/28/the-ve-joseph-mchell" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-1" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="The Cave" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">How Louis Moro, the wise man of seafood, ns his rtrant.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Joseph Mchell</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--article summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm eamwqR" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/1950/05/13/how-do-you-like--now-gentlemen" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="How Do You Like It Now, Gentlemen?" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Profil</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/magaze/1950/05/13/how-do-you-like--now-gentlemen" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">How Do You Like It Now, Gentlemen?</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/1950/05/13/how-do-you-like--now-gentlemen" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-2" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="How Do You Like It Now, Gentlemen?" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">The moods of Ernt Hemgway.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Lillian Ross</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--article summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm eamwqR" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/1940/12/21/mazie" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Mazie" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="SummaryItemContent-eiDYMl ldWYvC summary-em__ntent"><div class="RubricWrapper-dKmCNX kImuKS bric bric--disvery SummaryItemRubric-dguGKN fYiFyD summary-em__bric"><span class="RubricName-fVtemz cLxcNi">Profil</span></div><a class="SummaryItemHedLk-civM cZPaWG summary-em-trackg__hed-lk summary-em__hed-lk" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-hed-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" href="/magaze/1940/12/21/mazie" target="_self"><div class="SummaryItemHedBase-hiFYpQ iIjKeM summary-em__hed" data-ttid="SummaryItemHed">Mazie</div></a><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/1940/12/21/mazie" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-3" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="Mazie" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm cPtisA summary-em__k">Mazie Gordon, queen of the Bowery.</div><div class="SummaryItemByleWrapper-boCfbi hYsZi summary-em__byle-date-in"><div class="SummaryItemBaseByle-fFbXkY cgDBtc summary-em__byle"><div class="summary-em__byle__ntent"><div data-ttid="BylWrapper" class="BylWrapper-KIudk irTIfE byl"><p class="ByleWrapper-jWHrLH dSEWiO byle byl__byle" data-ttid="ByleWrapper" emProp="thor" emType="><span emProp="name" class="ByleNamWrapper-jbHncj fuDQVo"><span data-ttid="ByleName" class="ByleName-kwmrLn cYaBaU byle__name"><span class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ BylePreamble-iJolpQ iUEiRd jslZfG gnILss byle__preamble">By </span>Joseph Mchell</span></span></p></div></div></div></div></div></div><div class="SummaryItemWrapper-iwvBff hlYhBH summary-em summary-em--article summary-em--no-in summary-em--text-align-left summary-em--layout-placement-text-below-sktop-only summary-em--layout-posn-image-right summary-em--layout-proportns-33-66 summary-em--si-by-si-align-center summary-em--si-by-si-image-right-mobile-false summary-em--standard SummaryCollectnGridSummaryItem-WColm eamwqR" role="button" tabx="0"><div class="SummaryItemAssetContaer-gwhFFH VOyg summary-em__asset-ntaer"><a class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/1996/08/26/spng-tal" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image 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class="SummaryItemImageLk-dshqxb USLvL summary-em__image-lk summary-em-trackg__image-lk" href="/magaze/1996/08/26/spng-tal" aria-hidn="te" tabx="-1" data-ponent-type="recirc-river" data-recirc-id="em-image-4" data-recirc-pattern="summary-em" target="_self"><span class="SpanWrapper-umhxW kGxnNB rponsive-asset SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image"><div data-tt="aspect-rat-ntaer" class="AspectRatContaer-bJHpJz jMoLpX"><div class="aspect-rat--overlay-ntaer"><picture class="RponsiveImagePicture-cWuUZO dUOtEa SummaryItemRponsiveAsset-hjGIGg egpoQR summary-em__image rponsive-image"><noscript><source media="(max-width: 767px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w, 640w" siz="100vw"/><source media="(m-width: 768px)" srcSet=" 120w, 240w, 320w" siz="100vw"/><img alt="When the Mic Is You" class="RponsiveImageContaer-eybHBd fptoWY rponsive-image__image" src="></noscript></picture></div></div></span></a></div><div class="BaseWrap-sc-gjQpdd BaseText-ewhhUZ SummaryItemDek-CRfsi iUEiRd jxOIpm 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