Fab Five Freddy

Fred Brathwaite (born August 31, 1959), 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. 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.