A crucial figure in hip-hop’s development recalls its (and his) evolution Brathwaite - aka Fab 5 Freddy - is best known for being name-checked in Blondie’s hit 1981 single “Rapture” and for hosting MTV’s first foray into hip-hop, Yo! MTV Raps. But as this memoir makes clear, those high-profile moments came on the heels of deep engagement with—and influence on—early hip-hop culture. He grew up a middle-class kid in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, steeped in his family’s love of jazz—drummer Max Roach was his godfather—and he developed an early love of highbrow art and music. But he was also drawn to street-level art, particularly graffiti and the mobile DJs inventing hip-hop. Smart and sociable, he developed relationships with scenesters like Glenn O’Brien—whose public access show Glenn O’Brien’s TV Party was a salon for punk rockers and visual artists—musicians like Blondie’s Debbie Harry, and graffiti-inspired artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat. Those connections helped serve his ambition to put street culture on high-art stages, helping to launch graffiti shows in Europe and starring in the pioneering hip-hop film Wild Style.