Fredro Starr…
Let’s stop here for a minute. A preface is needed:
I invite the reader to put aside what they think a rapper is. Gold chains, iced out watches, models, fast cars, fast lifestyle, etc. If you make the mistake of boxing Fredro in with a cookie cutter definition, you’ll miss the man completely.
Don’t think “rapper”. Think “griot”, the ancient class of storytellers and musicians from West Africa.
Fredro Starr, ¼ of critically acclaimed rap group, Onyx,(as well as an accomplished actor) tells perfectly crafted stories of the truth of hip hop; every angle and facet of hip hop as he watched it blossom in Queens.
It’s enough to get lost in.
5 minutes into the interview, and I was no longer living in my cozy nook of upstate new york with plenty of sun and Patagonia sweater weather in May. I was transported to the birthplace of hip hop with a tapestry of characters, art, music, scents, sensory, texture. Hip hop was not a way out of the hood for Fredro. That’s someone else’s cliche.
For Fredro, It was a full body experience.
The homes in Southside Queens were the bones; the streets were the veins, and Fredro along with his cousin Sticky Fingaz, Big DS, and Sonny Seeza were part of the very life’s blood being pumped by the healthy heart of the city: the culture. Stories, events, pivotal albums, clothes, hair, terminology, philosophy…
At one point, shortly into the interview, I snapped out of my stupor (floored by the behind-the-scenes glimpse I was getting into one of America’s most pivotal renaissance movements) and I asked him a flat journalistic question: “Who were your influences growing up?”
I expected a short list of everyone’s favorite legendary rappers and beat makers. Instead, he smacked me awake, back to my senses: “I just named them. That IS it.”
And if you let Fredro tell it, that “IT” is the entirety of the culture surrounding hip hop; and hip hop IS NOT just music. If hip hop is just music, then kung fu is just fighting; and in case you didn’t know: kung fu IS NOT just fighting. The term “Kung Fu” translates simply to “skill”. Whatever you work hard at; whatever you eat, sleep, and breathe…that’s skill. That’s the art. That’s hip hop. “It wasn’t just the rap, it was the culture. Hip hop was breathing. Going to see movies like Beat Street, Krush Groove… seeing Run DMC…Going to Park Jams and the DJs with the turntables. Everything was tangible. We could touch it. We saw hip hop when hip hop was born.”
All of this input made for a constantly inspired young Fredro Starr, always honing a skill that went right back to hip hop and the energy it created. From becoming known as one of the best barbers in Jamaica Queens, with his ability to craft highly technical designs into the hair of locals (I even read that he could give you the Tommy Hilfiger horse design); to catching the eye of the late great Jam Master Jay with his group, Onyx, and putting Jamaica Queens on his back.
And Jam Master Jay is far from a footnote in Fredro’s career. The late Jam Master Jay is the inception point. He was to Fredro what Quincy Jones was to Will Smith. Shortly after Onyx made the connection with Jam Master Jay, doors opened up, starting to signing with Def Jam and making connections in the industry that rocketed Onyx into the public consciousness seemingly overnight.
“Rolling with Jam Master Jay gave us the introduction for other artists to immediately accept us. When you rolling with somebody like Jay, guys give you love. A Lot of the guys coming up with us were either scared of us or rocking with us.”
However, during our interview, Fredro revealed that, unbeknownst to many, his acting career launched at the same time as his music career. Jam Master Jay connected Fredro with actor and newly minted director, Forest Whitaker. Whitaker was directing a crime drama, Strapped; and Jay saw in Fredro more than the talent in the studio. So, while Onyx was recording their debut with Def Jam in the studio; Fredro and Sticky Fingaz were shooting scenes for Strapped. Acting wasn’t a pivot. It was a parallel highway. In fact, actor Bokeem Woodbine was coming to the studio with Fredro from the set. The two worlds were intertwined.
During our interview, Fredro picked up on a memory that may have had something to do with the trust people put into him on the big screen.
“I played in a play one time. I played the lion from the Wizard of Oz when I was like 12 years old. I ain’t gonna lie I killed it. My mom got pictures. We got a mop from the store and dyed it yellow and got a yellow hoodie. So in the script there’s a part where the lion roars. And I did it and the crowd loved it. I never thought about it but that was my first time acting. I knew I had something. That one moment where I roared and everyone reacted…maybe I did have something and maybe Forest Whittaker could see that.”
Forest wasn’t the only one. Three years later, Fredro Starr would become a main character on the hit TV show, Moesha; and this opportunity would lead feature films like Save The Last Dance, Clockers and Ride.
With that being said, Fredro hasn’t lost a beat in his mission to proliferate hip hop culture. The live shows are just as explosive and passionate as they were in ‘93. That’s not lip service. He’s on tour right now. Find an Onyx show, wear your fitbit. I promise you you’ll clock a few miles. And Fredro? He’ll be right there with you. He is not resting on his resume. He’s still building it. Speaking of which, the way he talks about up and coming rappers is infused with the same love and energy he has in his voice when he speaks of legends like Tupac and Run DMC. He’s a devotee to hip hop in a way you only see exhibited in world religions and their monastic orders.
He’s even engaged in what could only be seen as something akin to evangelical work: he has an album in the works featuring rappers from all over the world. All of them movers and shakers in their own local scenes. All of them, passionate and talented. That seems like a theme for Fredro. If you’re going to work with him, you need to be on fire for whatever it is you bring to the table. You have to match his energy. That’s where the magic happens.
When I asked him where he sees himself in a decade, He mentioned a desire to become more behind the scenes but that certainly wasn’t an indication of a man who wanted to rest. Rather, he wanted to pass on the blessings and opportunities he received. “I want to just be enjoying life and traveling. Just…hopefully be alive in 10 years. A lot of guys passed on. I just want to be alive and breathing hip hop. That’s it. I want to pass it down to the new guys. Everything we worked for in the last 30 years, I want to pass it down so the new guys can have the same opportunity.”
Selfless. This isn’t about him. It’s about hip hop.
