Fab Five Freddy
American artist · United States · On the map · Artists · Born 1959 · age 67
Fred Brathwaite, more popularly known as Fab 5 Freddy, is an American visual artist, filmmaker, TV personality, and hip hop pioneer. He is considered one of the architects of the street art movement. Brathwaite emerged in New York's downtown underground creative scene in the late 1970s as a graffiti artist.
Fab Five Freddy is read about 173 times a day, in 8 languages.
A typical day, 30 days to 18 September 2026
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 60 days, one point a day.
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Close ties
Jonathan Demme Produced The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Ted Demme Directed Yo! MTV Raps
Denzel Washington Also in The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Spike Lee Produced She's Gotta Have It (1986)
Bill Irwin Also in The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Roger Corman Also in The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Ted Levine Also in The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Scott Rudin Produced The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Marin Ireland Also in The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Anna Deavere Smith Also in The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Dorian Missick Also in The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Robyn Hitchcock Also in The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
John Aprea Also in New Jack City (1991)
Tina Sinatra Produced The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Darrell Larson Also in The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Erik Dellums Also in Good to Go and She's Gotta Have It
Lee Quiñones Also in Wild Style and Downtown '81
Tracy Camilla Johns Also in She's Gotta Have It and New Jack City
Glenn O'Brien Also in Wild Style (1982)
Paul Lazar Also in The Manchurian Candidate (2004)
Media & music
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SpotifyAbout this person
He was the bridge between the burgeoning uptown rap scene and the downtown No Wave art scene. He gained wider recognition in 1981 when Debbie Harry rapped "Fab 5 Freddy told me everybody's fly" on the Blondie song "Rapture". In the late 1980s, Brathwaite became the first host of the groundbreaking hip-hop music video show Yo! MTV Raps. In 2026, Brathwaite released his memoir, Everybody's Fly: A Life of Art, Music and Changing the Culture, cowritten with Vanity Fair contributor Mark Rozzo.
