New Jack Swing: Theophilus London x Fab Five Freddy x Sucker Free

Words by Jesse Serwer

Fab Five Freddy and Theophilus London sat down with each other recently for an MTV Sucker Free web special. In what was the pair’s first-ever meeting, they discussed—what else—the ’80s, specifically new wave/hip-hop fusion, and expressed their mutual admiration for each other, with a painting of a huge ass (not to be confused with a huge ass painting) behind them. So what’s that got to do with the our Caribbean mission, you say? Well, while Theophilus’ Trini background has been well documented on this site, we may not have pointed out to you before that Fab Five Freddy is a Haitian. Scratch a major development in hip-hop—in Fred’s case, the merging of hip-hop culture and NYC’s downtown hipster as captured in the seminal flick Wild Style, plus Yo! MTV Raps—and you’ll find a Caribbean. Fred and Theo, whenever you want chat bout that, give us a ring.