VIDEO

"Blondie’s “Rapture”

Imagine telling the hottest, cutest, pop icon on the planet to make a record about you. I was kinda joking, but also dead serious. “Fab 5 Freddy told me everybody’s fly”, she sang. That name drop on “Rapture” became my international calling card and the s**t would soon hit the fan, and hard! Chris Stein and Debbie Harry from Blondie were among my first supporters and patrons. The cultural exchange we set up created bridges that we both used to venture into new creative worlds.

Classic music videos directed by Fab...

KRS-ONE “My Philosophy”

This was the first video I directed back in 1988, a pivotal year for Hip Hop culture. KRS ONE had become a rising force on the NY Hip Hop scene in 1987 and later that year his partner in Rap, Scott LaRock was tragically gunned down in the Bronx. Many felt they were so close KRS would not be able to continue. I’d been campaigning to get to direct a video for the then new group Public Enemy but it never happened. However, an A&R angel from Jive Records, Anne Carli, heard I was trying to direct a P.E. video and asked me to do one for KRS. A lot of the visual concepts and attitude I would have used for a Public Enemy video all went into this video for “My Philosophy”.

Queen Latifah "Ladies First"

Aside from being an artist I was instrumental in getting signed to Tommy boy records, I directed her first two music videos. “Dance For Me” and “Ladies first”. I love both of these videos but “Ladies First” was a film making triumph for me because although the song says nothing about the apartheid struggles at the time in South Africa, I was able to execute a concept that placed her as one of the leaders of that struggle and raise awareness among rap fans about those issues.

Check out behind the scene

Shabba Ranks – “Mr. Lover Man”

This was the 2nd video I directed for the Grammy winning Shabba Ranks after my first for him, “Trailer Load Of Girls”. Having grown up in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn around all types of West Indian people I was familiar with a lot of W.I. culture. This video was a first at the time where we saw a black artist from another culture and country doing it all in a totally different style then what was typically seen on MTV or BET by black acts. I saw an opportunity to make something special for Mr Loverman right in his back yard, Jamaica. This is the ‘mature’ version with a little nudity so if your under 18, don’t watch!

Gang Starr – “Just to get a Rep”

When Premiere from Gang Starr first played me this song, I just knew I had to do this video but the budget was mad low. By this point in the game, the early 90’s, the West Coast had a lock on the tough gritty cinematic depiction of ghetto street life and I saw this video as a chance for me to balance things out a little bit, from one coast to another. The content of this song was something I knew about having grown up rough and ready on the streets of Bed-Stuy Brooklyn where lots of guys then specialized in taking what wasn’t theirs. This song was the perfect script for what still is one of my favorite videos I directed. “He did it just to get a rep…”

NAS – “One Love”

When I first listened to the “Illmatic” album by the then rap prodigy NAS, I knew it was going into the pantheon of greatest rap albums of all time. So when Nas expressed interest in me directing the video for his song, “One Love”, I was ready to get busy! Along with the way he sampled a scene from my film, “Wild Style” for the albums intro skit, I felt he knew I understood what he wanted and needed at that time video wise. Up to that point I felt his first couple of video’s had lackluster performances as the first directors seemed so in awe of his talent, they were not able to direct him to perform to a level on par with his amazing songs. I fixed that problem as you’ll see with, “One Love”.

Snoop Dogg - "Who Am I (What's My Name)?"

N.W.A. made their national television debut on my show YO! MTV Raps and during other interviews I did with them as the group blew up I became friends with Dr Dre who also liked other music video’s I directed. Dre asked me to direct Snoops first music video for the 1st single from his debut album, “Whats My Name”. The 1st day of the shoot in Long Beach where Snoop performs on the roof of VIP Records went well. When the production moved to the next location later that day all the neighborhood gangbangers by now had come outside to see what was happening and several fights broke out, police cars and helicopters flew in and they shut the shoot down! I ended up spending the rest of that summer in LA crashing at Dre’s mansion in Calabasas as he finished Snoops album and piece by piece I finished shooting this video!

Gang Starr - Family and Loyalty

"Gang Starr Enlist J. Cole for First New Song in 16 Years ...
Directed by Fab 5 Freddy, the clip was mostly shot in the heart of Harlem. Preemo shows his family ties to the streets through the gift of diamonds. The video flips back to vintage shots of Guru, as his 19-year-old son, Keith Casim, is also shown throughout as an integral part of bringing the visual to life. Cole’s final feature finds him rhyming through a laptop in an open basketball gym after working on his lethal jumper."