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Fab 5 Freddy at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival.

Fred Brathwaite (born 1959), more popularly known as Fab 5 Freddy, is an American Hip hop historian, Hip hop pioneer and former graffiti artist. He was active in New York City in the 1970s and early 1980s, and later hosted the first hip-hop music video show on TV, Yo! MTV Raps.

Career[link]

Art/ Hip-Hop[link]

As a young teenager in the 1970s Fab 5 Freddy was a member of the Brooklyn based graffiti group "The Fabulous 5." He got his name for consistent graffiti "bombing" of the number 5 train on the IRT. Outside of the Fabulous 5 group, in 1980, he painted a subway train with cartoon style depictions of giant Campbell's Soup cans,^[1] after Andy Warhol. In the late 1970s and early 1980s he was an unofficial bridge between the uptown graffiti and early rap scene and the downtown art and punk music scenes. “I was bringing the whole music, hip-hop, art, break dancing and urban cultural thing to the downtown table” he said.^[2] At the end of 1980, Glenn O'Brien cast Freddy, along with fellow Lower East Side graffiti writer Lee Quinones, in the film New York Beat (later released as Downtown 81). That film showcased artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in his Lower Manhattan environment and the culture that surrounded it. Shortly after, Freddy began production along with filmmaker Charlie Ahearn on his film Wild Style (1982), which showcased artist Lee Quinones in the Uptown, Manhattan environment of the Bronx and the music that surrounded it. In April 1981, Freddy helped curate (with Futura 2000 and Keith Haring) the graffiti-related art show "Beyond Words" at the Mudd Club, which contained their own work along with Jean-Michel Basquiat, Rammellzee, Afrika Bambaataa, and others. This was the first time the many members of the Bronx hip-hop scene had appeared in a Downtown NYC art context. The following month, Freddy was booked on Henry Chalfant's "Graffiti Rock" performance with Rock Steady Crew at Common Ground gallery in SoHo (not to be confused with Holman's Graffiti Rock TV show pilot). That show was cancelled due to violence, but was rescheduled in October at another venue called The Kitchen. After the Rock Steady Crew and Afrika Bambaataa were booked as the opening act for Bow Wow Wow at The Ritz nightclub in September 1981, Ruza Blue decided to book them at Negril and begin a night called "Wheels of Steel". That became so popular that it was closed down by the fire department for over-capacity, and Freddy helped Blue (whom he dubbed "Kool Lady Blue") find another home for the party. Together they chose The Roxy roller rink in NYC, which gained national fame once used in the film Beat Street (1984).

Though Fab Five Freddy's contributions to hip-hop culture are numerous, perhaps the most historic comes from his 1982 single entitled Change the Beat. The A-Side of the 12" single featured Freddy rapping the song in both English and French, while the B-Side was a shorter version of the same song, this time performed entirely in French by female rapper Beside, who was credited on the initial pressings of the record as "Fab 5 Betty". Freddy utilized a vocoder with a white noise carrier during the chorus and at the end of the B-Side track. When the beat stops in Beside's version of the song, Freddy says "Ahhhhh, this stuff is really fresh", a line which is quite possibly the most scratched sample in the history of hip-hop music.^{[citation needed]} It was first utilized as a scratch sample on the 1983 Herbie Hancock single Rockit, featuring scratching by legendary DJ and turntablist GrandMixer D.ST, and has been used in countless hip-hop tracks ever since.

Media work[link]

Fab 5 Freddy was referenced in Blondie's 1981 hit song "Rapture". Fab Five Freddy was also mentioned by the Blue Scholars in their song Morning in America. As recounted in the 1999 TV documentary The Hip Hop Years, the "Rapture" video featured Freddy in a cameo role painting graffiti art in the background. (Grandmaster Flash, who was also name-checked in the song, did not show up on the day of the shoot, so artist Jean-Michel Basquiat took his place behind the turntables). "Rapture" was the first hip hop video to be shown on MTV. In 1983, Fab 5 Freddy produced a hip-hop version of "Eisgekühlter Bommerlunder" called "Hip Hop Bommi Bop" together with German punk rock band Die Toten Hosen which is said to be the very first co-production of Punk and Hip Hop. In 1988, Freddy became the first hip hop VJ by hosting the MTV music video show entitled Yo! MTV Raps. He later went on to be an associate producer on the 1991 film New Jack City in which he also made an appearance.^[3] In 1994 he directed the music video "One Love" by rapper Nas.^[4] Most recently credited in the movie Rachel Getting Married, he appears as a special wedding guest, along with other notable musicians, as conceived by producer Jonathan Demme to enhance the expansive and varied soundtrack and wedding members, in contrast with the normal duality of a traditional wedding.^[5] He also worked on the film American Gangster directed by Ridley Scott, in which he makes a small cameo.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Fab 5 Freddy on Twitter
• Safra Ducreay, "Fab 5 Freddy" Format, Jan 21, 2008 (interview, with pictures of Fab 5 Freddy's paintings)

Aaron Tyler (born on May 22, 1967 in Compton, California), better known by his stage name MC Eiht, is an American rapper. His stage name was partly inspired by the numeral in KRS-One's name. He chose Eiht for its links to "hood culture", including 8Ball and .38 caliber firearms.^[1] He is a member of the rap group Compton's Most Wanted.

Music career[link]

Tyler grew to fame on the West Coast as one of two MCs in the four-man crew, Compton's Most Wanted. After enjoying increasing success with the group, which peaked with 1992's Music to Driveby, Eiht took a role in the hit movie Menace II Society as well as a high-profile spot on the soundtrack. The song, "Streiht Up Menace," which chronicles the unfortunate downturn of the film's protagonist within the pathological conditions of American inner city life, is considered by many critics to be Eiht's magnum opus.^[2] The movie spurred him into a solo career, although his next two albums We Come Strapped and Death Threatz would be accredited as MC Eiht featuring Compton's Most Wanted. He was also part of the Tragniew Park Compton Crips.

He states that he did not wish to star in comedy films in order to maintain his public image. He later only appeared in the low-budget movies "Reasons," "Thicker Than Water" and "Who Made the Potato Salad?" as well as providing the voice for Lance 'Ryder' Wilson in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.^[3]

He put out Last Man Standing, the first album accredited only to MC Eiht, then broke from the label for Big Beat/Atlantic. Eiht never ended up putting out an album on the label, instead eventually signing to and releasing the album Section 8 on Priority in 1999.^[4] Eiht would hop between record labels and one-off releases in the next years, moving between independent labels Half-Ounce, D3 Entertainment, and Lookin' Up Entertainment from 2001 to 2003. He would put out records with Spice 1 and Brotha Lynch Hung in 2004 and 2006 on Real Talk Ent., releasing another solo album between them on West Inc./Native Records. His inability to settle at a label contributed to his joining The Warzone, a trio put together by Snoop Dogg and consisting of Goldie Loc, Kam and MC Eiht himself. In 2006, Eiht and the group appeared on the single "Candy (Drippin' Like Water)" on Snoop Dogg's album Tha Blue Carpet Treatment. MC Eiht also appeared with Young Maylay in Blaq Poet's new street single, Ain't Nuttin' Changed (Remix).

In June 2011, MC Eiht released his single "Fine By Me" accompanied by a music video directed by Director Hugo V. under his new label Year Round/Blue Stamp Records. Year Round Records is owned by New York based hip hop artist DJ Premier.

Discography[link]

Solo Albums[link]

• 1994: We Come Strapped (featuring Compton's Most Wanted)
• 1996: Death Threatz (featuring Compton's Most Wanted)
• 1997: Last Man Standing
• 1999: Section 8
• 2000: N' My Neighborhood
• 2001: Tha8t'z Gangsta
• 2002: Underground Hero
• 2003: Hood Arrest
• 2004: Smoke in tha City
• 2004: Veterans Day
• 2006: Affiliated
• 2006: Compton's O.G. (featuring Compton's Most Wanted)
• 2007: Representin'
• 2012: Which Way Iz West^[5]

Collaboration Albums[link]

• 1990: It's a Compton Thang (with Compton's Most Wanted)
• 1991: Straight Checkn 'Em (with Compton's Most Wanted)
• 1992: Music to Driveby (with Compton's Most Wanted)
• 1994: We Come Strapped (featuring Compton's Most Wanted)
• 1996: Death Threatz (featuring Compton's Most Wanted)
• 2000: Represent (with Compton's Most Wanted)
• 2004: The Pioneers (with Spice 1)
• 2006: The New Season (with Brotha Lynch Hung)
• 2006: Keep It Gangsta (with Spice 1)
• 2006: Music to Gang Bang (with Compton's Most Wanted)
• 2006: Compton's O.G. (featuring Compton's Most Wanted)

References[link]

External links[link]

• MC Eiht
• MC Eiht at Internet Movie Database
• MC Eiht on Myspace

Shawntae Harris (born April 14, 1974), better known as Da Brat, is an American rapper and actress. Her debut album, Funkdafied, sold one million copies, making her the first female rapper to have a platinum-selling album.

Early life[link]

Harris was born and raised in Joliet, Illinois. Her parents were never married and Harris was subsequently raised in two different households.^[1] She lived part of the time with her mother and grandmother, and had attended a strict Pentecostal church four times a week, where she played drums and sang in the choir. She also lived with her father and his mother, where she had fewer restrictions. Harris attended Kenwood Academy from 88–89, where she ran track and played basketball, and she graduated from Academy of Scholastic Achievement in 1992.

Regarding her soon-to-be rap name, Harris told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution that she got the name because she is "a spoiled only child."^[1] Harris is the younger half-sister of actress LisaRaye McCoy.^[2]

Career[link]

1992–1995: Early success[link]

In 1992, Harris got a big break when she won the grand prize in a local rap contest sponsored by Yo! MTV Raps. For the prize, she got to meet Kris Kross, and they in turn introduced her to their producer, Jermaine Dupri, who signed her to his So So Def label. Dupri cultivated Da Brat's image as a "female Snoop Doggy Dogg", and she became one of the first female "reality-based" rappers.^[1]

Da Brat's debut album Funkdafied was released in 1994 and entered the rap albums chart at Number #1. The album went platinum, which made her the first female solo rapper to sell one million units. The single also entitled "Funkdafied" reached #1 on the rap singles chart and #6 on the Billboard Hot 100. She had a follow-up hit from the same album, "Give It 2 You", which reached #26 on the Hot 100.

1996–1999: Collaborations and film projects[link]

In 1996, Da Brat released her second full-length album, Anuthatantrum, which included the single "Ghetto Love" featuring T-Boz of TLC.

During the rest of the '90s, Da Brat came to be known more for her "featured" appearances on other rappers' and R&B singers' albums rather than for her own solo work. She contributed a rhyme to the hip hop remix of Mariah Carey's hit, "Always Be My Baby". She also made her feature film debut that year in Kazaam with Shaquille O'Neal. During the summer of 1997, Da Brat appeared along with Dupri on a remix of Carey's "Honey (So So Def mix)" and recorded the hit remix of "Ladies' Night (Not Tonight)" with Lil' Kim, Left-Eye of TLC, Angie Martinez and Missy Elliott. Da Brat was also featured with Kris Kross on their track "Da Bomb" on the album Da Bomb, as well as on their third album Young, Rich and Dangerous.

In 1997, she was featured on "Sock It 2 Me", a track on Missy Elliott's debut album, Supa Dupa Fly. In 1999, she appeared, alongside Krayzie Bone, on the remix to Mariah Carey's cover of Brenda K. Starr's "I Still Believe". She also appeared as a guest artist with Elliott on Carey's remix of "Heartbreaker", and on the remix of Brandy's "U Don't Know Me (Like U Used To)". That year, she was also featured on a remix of the Destiny's Child single "Jumpin', Jumpin'".

2000–2003: Return to solo work[link]

In early 2000, Da Brat released her third full-length album Unrestricted, which produced the moderately successful singles "That's What I'm Looking For" (U.S. #56) and "What Chu Like" (U.S. #26), featuring soul singer, Tyrese. The album was not well received compared to Brat's earlier work. However, the new album and new millennium did inspire an image makeover for Da Brat. Abandoning her "gangsta" persona, she decided to follow the trend in popular music and attempted to add to her sex appeal.

In 2001, Brat continued her trend of being featured on other artist's remixes, reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip Hop Singles chart along with rapper Ludacris on the main remix of Mariah Carey's "Loverboy" and being featured artist on Destiny's Child's "Survivor" remix. Da Brat also appeared as Louise in Carey's 2001 movie Glitter. In 2003, Brat released her fourth album, titled Limelite, Luv & Niteclubz, and appeared on the 4th season of VH1's The Surreal Life.

2005–present: Current activities[link]

In 2005, she made a comeback of sorts when she was featured on the remix to the song "I Think They Like Me," by Dem Franchize Boyz, which also featured Bow Wow and Jermaine Dupri. The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip Hop Singles chart and #15 on the Billboard Hot 100.

In 2006, she was an onstage guest on Mariah Carey's The Adventures of Mimi Tour in Atlanta, New York City, Long Island, Washington DC, Chicago, and Los Angeles performing her rap verses on the "Heartbreaker" and "Honey" remixes. She was also featured on Kelly Rowland's "Gotsta Go", a bonus track from her 2007 album Ms. Kelly and is also featured on a bonus track from Carey's E=MC² on a track entitled "4real4real". She also co-wrote a song with Mariah Carey called "O.O.C." which appears on E=MC² and contributes backing vocals on the track.

In 2007, she participated in the fifth season of the VH1 reality series Celebrity Fit Club.

In 2011, she did a remix with Kelly Rowland called "Motivation" featuring Lil Wayne.

Legal troubles, prison sentence, and controversy[link]

In 2001, Harris pleaded guilty to misdemeanor reckless conduct after she had beaten a woman with a gun during a dispute over VIP seating in a Buckhead, Georgia, nightclub in 2000. The victim in that incident received six stitches for a head wound. Harris ended up serving a year's probation, performed 80 hours of community service and paid a $1,000 fine.^[3]

On October 31, 2007, she was involved in the altercation that ended in assault at a Halloween party at Studio 72 nightclub in Atlanta, Georgia. Harris sparred verbally with a hostess, and later, when the hostess proceeded to talk to her manager, Harris attacked her from behind, striking her in the face with a rum bottle. Harris entered a guilty plea to aggravated assault charges. She was sentenced to three years in prison, seven years of probation, and 200 hours of community service.^[3] In May 2010, she was temporarily released from prison as part of a work-release program ^[4] after serving 21 months.

On February 28, 2011, Jermaine Dupri announced that Da Brat was officially released from prison, completing her sentence.^[5]

Discography[link]

• Funkdafied (1994)
• Anuthatantrum (1996)
• Unrestricted (2000)
• Limelite, Luv & Niteclubz (2003)

Awards and nominations[link]

Grammy Awards

Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards

BET Awards

Billboard Awards

Film and television credits[link]

Film

References[link]

External links[link]

• Da Brat at Allmusic
• Da Brat at MTV
• Da Brat at the Internet Movie Database

Grandmaster Flash
Background information
Birth name	Joseph Saddler
Born	(1958-01-01) January 1, 1958 (age 54)
Origin	South Bronx, New York
Genres	Hip hop, old school hip hop, funk
Years active	1970–present
Labels	Sugar Hill Records, Enjoy Records, Elektra Records
Associated acts	Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five The Sugarhill Gang

Joseph Saddler (born January 1, 1958 in Bridgetown, Barbados), better known as King Grandmaster Flash, is an American hip hop musician and DJ—one of the pioneers of hip-hop DJing, cutting, and mixing.

He has been credited with the invention of the first crossfade by sourcing parts from a junkyard in the Bronx. It was initially an On/Off toggle switch from an old microphone that he transformed into a left/right switch which allowed him to switch from one turntable to another; switch from record one to record two.

Before this time DJs, like the first of them all, DJ Kool Herc, and then Afrika Bambaataa, would have to break up the party to pick up the needle and re-drop it on the record, or a new record; until Flash invented a new way to link one record to the other with the cross-fader. After this invention he went from being called Flash to Grandmaster Flash, having made a huge impact on the culture, he was repaid with this honorific name.

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, becoming the first hip hop/rap artists to be so honored.^[1]

Biography[link]

Joseph Saddler's family migrated to the United States from Barbados, in the Caribbean, and he grew up in The Bronx, New York. He attended Samuel Gompers High School, a public vocational school, where he learned how to repair electronic equipment.^[2] Saddler's parents played an important role in his interest in music. His parents came from Barbados and his father was a big fan of Caribbean and black American records. As a child, Saddler was fascinated by his father's record collection. In an interview, he reflected: "My father was a very heavy record collector. He still thinks that he has the stronger collection. I used to open his closets and just watch all the records he had. I used to get into trouble for touching his records, but I'd go right back and bother them."^[3] Saddler's early interest in DJing came from this fascination with his father's record collection as well as his mother's desire for him to educate himself in electronics.^[4] After high school, he became involved in the earliest New York DJ scene, attending parties set up by early luminaries.

He is also a nephew to the late Former Feather Weight Champion of the World Sandy Saddler.^[5]

Innovations[link]

Grandmaster Flash carefully studied the DJing styles and techniques of earlier DJs, particularly Pete Jones, Kool Herc, and Grandmaster Flowers.^[6] As a teenager, he began experimenting with DJ gear in his bedroom, eventually developing and mastering three innovations that are still considered standard DJing techniques today.

• Backspin Technique ("Quick-Mix Theory") a.k.a. Early New York party DJs came to understand that short drum breaks were popular with party audiences. Aiming to isolate these breaks and extend them for longer durations, Grandmaster Flash learned that by using duplicate copies of the same record, he could play the break on one record while searching for the same fragment of music on the other (using his headphones). When the break finished on one turntable, he used his mixer to switch quickly to the other turntable, where the same beat was queued up and ready to play. Using the backspin technique, the same short phrase of music could be looped indefinitely.
• Punch Phrasing ("Clock Theory"): This technique involved isolating very short segments of music, typically horn hits, and rhythmically punching them over the sustained beat using the mixer.
• Scratching: Although the invention of record scratching is generally credited to Grand Wizzard Theodore, Grandmaster Flash perfected the technique and brought it to new audiences. Scratching, along with punch phrasing, exhibited a unique performative aspect of party DJing: instead of passively spinning records, he manipulated them to create new music.^[7]

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five[link]

Grandmaster Flash played parties and collaborated with rappers such as Kurtis Blow and Lovebug Starski. In the mid 1970s, he formed his own group. The original lineup consisted of Cowboy (Keith Wiggins), Melle Mel (Melvin Glover) and Kid(d) Creole (Nathaniel Glover), and the ensemble went by the name "Grandmaster Flash & the 3 MCs". Two other rappers briefly joined, but they were replaced more permanently by Rahiem (Guy Todd Williams, previously in the Funky Four) and Scorpio (Eddie Morris, a.k.a. Mr. Ness) to make Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Quickly gaining recognition for their skillful raps, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five pioneered MCing and freestyle battles. Some of the staple phrases in MCing have their origins in the early shows and recordings of the group. In 1977, the new group began performing regularly at Disco Fever in the Bronx, one of the first times a hip-hop group was given a weekly gig at a well-known venue.^[8] In fact, it is claimed that Cowboy created the term "Hip hop" while teasing a friend who had just joined the U.S. Army by scat singing the words "hip/hop/hip/hop" in a way that mimicked the rhythmic cadence of marching soldiers.^[9]

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were signed to Bobby Robinson's Enjoy Records and in 1979 released their first single, "Superrappin'." The following year they signed to Sugar Hill Records and began touring and releasing numerous singles. The seminal "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel", released in 1981, is a 7-minute solo showcase of Grandmaster Flash's virtuosic turntable skills, combining elements of Blondie's "Rapture," Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache," Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust," Chic's "Good Times," and the group's own "Freedom." It is also the first documented appearance of record scratching on a record. That year, the group opened for The Clash and were poorly received by an audience unaccustomed to the new style.^[10] The group's most significant hit was "The Message" (1982), which was produced by in-house Sugar Hill producer Clifton "Jiggs" Chase and featured session musician Duke Bootee. Unlike earlier rap tunes, "The Message" featured a grim narrative about inner city violence, drugs, and poverty. In 2002, its first year of archival, it was one of 50 recordings chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry, the first hip hop recording ever to receive this honor. Critics praised the song's social awareness, calling the chorus "a slow chant seething with desperation and fury."^[11] Other than Melle Mel, however, no members of the group actually appear in the song. Rahiem lip-synced Duke Bootee's vocal in the music video. The same year, Grandmaster Flash appeared in the movie "Wild Style" and sued Sugar Hill over the non-payment of royalties. Tensions mounted as "The Message" gained in popularity, eventually leading to a rupture between Melle Mel and Grandmaster Flash. Soon the group disintegrated entirely. Grandmaster Flash, Kid Creole, and Rahiem left Sugar Hill, signed with Elektra Records, and continued on as simply "Grandmaster Flash", while Melle Mel and the others continued on as "Grandmaster Melle Mel & the Furious Five".

Although frequently credited on the records, Grandmaster Flash doesn't actually appear on "The Message," "Freedom," or many of the other Furious Five songs.^[7] Although Grandmaster Flash provided the central element of the group's sound when performing live (in addition to giving the group its name), there was little room for his turntablism in early singles driven by the grooves of live session musicians. Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five reformed in 1987 for a charity concert, and in 1988 they released a new album. The group reunited again in 1994, although Cowboy died in 1989.

Today, Grandmaster Flash is the owner of a clothing line, "G.Phyre."^[12] In 2008 he released a memoir, The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash: My Life, My Beats.^[13] He hosts a weekly show on Sirius Satellite Radio (Friday Night Fire with Grandmaster Flash)^[14] and was presented with the BET "I Am Hip Hop Icon" award in 2006.^[15]

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were the first hip-hop/rap group inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on March 12, 2007 by Jay-Z.^[16] In 2008, he remixed the single "Into the Galaxy" by the Australian group, Midnight Juggernauts.^[17]

It has been said that "his pioneering mixing skills transformed the turntable into a true 'instrument', and his ability to get a crowd moving has made his DJ sets legendary." ^[18]

Grandmaster Flash appears in the video game DJ Hero as a playable character along with original mixes created for the game.^[19]

On his last album, The Bridge, appears the Spanish hip hop group Violadores del Verso.

Grandmaster Flash is currently working on his 12th album, set for release this spring.^[20]

Awards[link]

Grammys

• 2012 Hall of Fame for Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five single “The Message.”

Urban Music Awards

• 2009, Lifetime Achievement Award

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

• 2007, Inductee

BET Hip Hop Awards

• 2006, I Am Hip Hop Icon Award

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

• 1979 - Superappin' (Enjoy 6001) Side A - Superappin'; Side B - Superappin' Theme
• 1980 - Freedom (Sugar Hill SH-549) Side A - vocal; Side B - instrumental
• 1981 - The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel (Sugar Hill SH-557)
• 1981 - Scorpio (Sugar Hill SH 118) Side A - vocal; Side B - instrumental
• 1982 - Flash To The Beat (Sugar Hill SH 574)
• 1984 - Jesse (Sugar Hill SH 133) Side A - vocal; Side B - instrumental
• 1984 - We Don't Work For Free (Sugar Hill SH 136) Side A - vocal; Side B - instrumental
• 1988 - Gold (edit) (Elektra EKR 70)
• 1996 - If U Wanna Party (feat. Carl Murray) (JAM 1002-8)

^{[21] [22]}

References[link]

External links[link]

This article's use of external links may not follow Wikipedia's policies or guidelines. Please improve this article by removing excessive or inappropriate external links, and converting useful links where appropriate into footnote references. (May 2012)

• Grandmaster Flash Official Page
• Official website of 2009 album The Bridge
• Grandmaster Flash on Myspace
• Grandmaster Flash Biography
• Grandmaster Cuts Faster
• Grandmaster Flash interview from Chaos Control Digizine
• Davey D of Hard Knock Radio Interviews Grandmaster Flash
• Grandmaster Flash interview on Fresh Air
• Grandmaster Flash interview April 2009
• Interview
• Article
• Pop Matters: interview
• Brian S Redd Interview
• DJ Tutor Interview

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2012)

Futura 2000 is an American graffiti artist. He started to paint illegally on New York's subway in the early seventies, working with other artists such as ALI. In the early eighties he showed with Patti Astor at the Fun Gallery, along with Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Richard Hambleton and Kenny Scharf. Futura began painting "legally" as the live on-stage backdrop painter for British punk rock band The Clash's 1981 European tour. More recently, he is a successful graphic designer and gallery artist. One of the most distinctive features of Futura's work is his abstract approach to graffiti art. While the primary focus, during the 1980s, of the majority of graffiti artists was lettering, Futura pioneered abstract street art, which has since become more popular. Conversely, his aerosol strokes are regarded as different from those of his peers, as they are as thin as the fine lines achieved only through the use of an airbrush.

While he is primarily known as a graffiti artist, much of his work is as an illustrator and graphic designer of record sleeves, first becoming involved with The Clash; producing a sleeve for their "This Is Radio Clash" 7" single and handwriting the sleeve notes and lyrics sheet for their album Combat Rock. He also toured extensively with The Clash during the Combat Rock tours, "performing" with them on stage by spray painting backdrops whilst the band performed.

Years later James Lavelle resurrected his career by getting him, alongside Ben Drury, to produce the artwork for several releases on Mo' Wax records; this also led to Futura producing the imagery which has largely defined Lavelle's Unkle project.

During the 1990s he was involved with clothing companies such as GFS, Subware and Project Dragon. More recently much of Futura's artwork has evolved into the production of highly collectible toys, Sneakers; and a diverse range of creative media, working with Recon, Nike, The North Face, Medicom Toy, Undercover, Supreme, Levi's, A Silent Flute and A Bathing Ape.

Futura also designs his own clothing under the label Futura Laboratories with a store located in Fukuoka, Japan.

His art has been exhibited at V1 Gallery, a contemporary art gallery in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Appearances in other media[link]

• On The Clash's Combat Rock, Futura delivers a spoken word part on the song "Overpowered by Funk". The Clash also appeared on his song "The Escapades of Futura."^[1]
• In Emile de Antonio's 1982 film In the King of Prussia Futura creates the film's opening title as a graffiti mural.
• On the album MiLight Futura's voice can be heard giving a shoutout to artist DJ Krush.
• In DJ Mehdi's 2002 music video "Breakaway", Futura covers an entire room with his signature tags in black marker and spray paint.
• In the 2005 film Just For Kicks, about sneaker culture in hip hop, as himself.
• John Mayer's 2006 music video "Waiting on the World to Change", alongside graffiti artists DAZE and the Tats Cru.
• The 2006 video game Marc Ecko's Getting Up: Contents Under Pressure as himself.

Notes[link]

External links[link]

• the OFFICIAL 2011 DAILY CALENDAR from the intrepid AUTHOR.
• Futura 2000 discography at Discogs