Interview with B-Boy Freddy G aka Ant Man (The Shaka Zulus)

                                            Interview with Freddy G aka Ant Man (The Shaka Zulus)

         

B-Boy Freddy G aka Ant Man (The Shaka Zulus)

                                  conducted by Sir Norin Rad (The Intruders / Germany)

SIR NORIN RAD: "Where were you born and raised?"

FREDDY G:"I was born and raised in New York City....in Harlem, Sugar Hill. 151st Street & Riverside Drive."

SIR NORIN RAD:"When were you born?"

FREDDY G:"1962."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What kind of music were you exposed to as a kid?"

FREDDY G:"It was R&B. Earth, Wind & Fire...stuff like that."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe how you got in contact with Hiphop Culture!"

FREDDY G:"My man....the Puppetmaster he introduced me to the Bronx and when I saw the B-Boys there doing their thing it was exhilarating, you know? He took me to Bronx River. After that I was like,"Oh!!!" I was shocked to see the music and the dance moves and everything. I came home and I was like, "Yo, I gotta do this!" It was exciting, you know? I never felt so much soul in music and I had never seen people dancing like that before."

SIR NORIN RAD:" How old were you when the Puppetmaster took you with him to Bronx River?"

FREDDY G:"I was 14."

SIR NORIN RAD:"How did you get there?"

FREDDY G:"We used to take the train, the 6 train." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"How long is the train ride from Sugar Hill to Bronx River?"

FREDDY G:"Oh, about an hour."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please elaborate on what you saw and felt during your first vist to Bronx River!"

FREDDY G:"It was an outside party at the Bronx River Center. Afrika Bambaataa was DJing. So the first time I got there I was like, "Oh, my God!!" The music was like so different! I never heard music like that on the radio before. He would play The Jimmy Castor Bunch and James Brown. It was just so different from everything I had seen and heard in Harlem. When I saw the B-Boys dancing I was so excited! When I came home I said to myself, "I have to go back to Bronx River with the Puppetmaster to capture that experience again!" That day my inner soul came out of me. After that I started going back with him everytime he went. Later on we would also go to Bronxdale with DJ Mario. We used to go to Kool DJ Herc & The Herculords parties at the Webster P.A.L. back in the day, too. We would go to The Renaissance Ballroom, The Audubon.........it was great."

SIR NORIN RAD:"From where did you know the Puppetmaster?"

FREDDY G:"Well, he was from the Bronx but he had moved up on Sugar Hill. So one day he said to me,"Let's go to the Bronx and have a party!" Like I said it was an outside party and it was free."

SIR NORIN RAD:"So I guess you must have also known Voodoomaster Herb (another Harlem Shaka Zulu B-Boy)?"

FREDDY G:"Yeah, I know Herb. I met him through the Puppetmaster. He was from Sugar Hill, too." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"You were also known as  B-Boy Ant Man, right?"

FREDDY G:"Yes, the Puppetmaster gave me that name when we was young and we was developing our fighting skills by slap boxing."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please break down to me how you developed your Breaking skills and your own style of B-Boying!"

FREDDY G:"I started by watching the Puppetmaster and the Zulu Kings. Then I would come up with my own moves 'cause everybody had their own moves that made them stand out. I would practice at home in front of the mirror. My thing was the Helicopter! It was great! The music would just hit you and made you wanna move!! It just felt natural."

SIR NORIN RAD:"You were also a member of The Shaka Zulus, right?"

FREDDY G:"Yes, the Puppetmaster had introduced me to Wade (the president of the Shaka Zulu B-Boys). He asked me if I could B-Boy nicely  and so I did a little something on the floor and that's how I got down with them. I was also a member of the Zulu Nation. I was in Chapter 11. We had the yellow B-Boy cards. They were given to us by Bambaataa. We would show the cards to get into the parties for free and everything."  

                                                           

B-Boy Puppetmaster (The Shaka Zulus)

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe what you would wear to the parties back then!"

FREDDY G:"I would wear a Kangol hat or a leather chauffeur hat. I would also wear Overlap Pants, a Mockneck and a leather jacket. I'd wear Pro-Keds or Puma sneakers. Later on we wore Cazal glasses, Adidas tracksuits, Sergio Valentes."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Bronx River cats were notorius for chasing B-Boys who weren't from Bronx River back to the subway station. Did you ever experience something similar when you were there?"   

FREDDY G:"Nah, I was always safe because Puppetmaster knew everybody there. I never felt uncomfortable going up there. I felt wecolmed everytime I went there."

SIR NORIN RAD:"How long did it take until you felt comfortable enough to jump into the circle at a party and do your thing?"

FREDDY G:"Well, it was like the second or third time I went. The music was sooo good I just came out of my natural self. I got on the floor and I just started dancing. "

SIR NORIN RAD:"Do you recall the song that caused that reaction?"

FREDDY G:"I think it was the Isley Brothers...."Get Into Something".

SIR NORIN RAD:"So how did feel after your first appearance in a B-Boy circle?"

FREDDY G:"I felt strong. I felt good, I felt good like, "I did my thing!" I couldn't complain. Peabody of the Shaka Zulus jumped in the circle after me and he wanted to battle me."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Peabody with the thick glasses!"

FREDDY G:"Yes, with the glasses. He was nice!!!"

SIR NORIN RAD:"So did you go against him?"

FREDDY G."No, he was too nice. When I'd seen him  I was like, "Oh!!!! Right now I can't do it." But the Puppetmaster took him out. After that I just started dancing."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What did it take back then to be an exceptional B-Boy?"

FREDDY G:"You had to have certain unique moves. Like we would be demonstrating stuff....you know, like driving a car or taking a person's hat off and throw it in the air. We would do certain characters. It was like transforming, you know? We would transform into different things like characters or movements. When I was on the floor everything just came to me. It came natural. I would just do whatever I wanted to do. I just felt the music......My main thing was the Helicopter and the Freeze. I would spin around and spin around and then I would freeze. You know, I would stop on the floor and I would have my hand on my hat and I would look at my opponent. I couldn't do the Helicopter backwards though, I did it forwards."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Which parties did you like better? Those of DJ Afrika Bambaataa or those of DJ Mario?"

FREDDY G:"Well, DJ Mario was good but it seemed like Bronx River was much better than Mario. Mario was good but he was just a little bit quieter than Bronx River. Afrika Bambaataa had way more beats than Mario. He was the Master of Records. Him and Kool Herc..."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What are your top 3 breakbeats?"

FREDDY G:"I would say my first one is "Apache" by The Incredible Bongo Band and then....."Give It Up Or Turn It Aloose" by James Brown. My number three is "Get Into Something" by the Isley Brothers. The first time I heard "Apache" it was exhilarating. I never heard music like that before. That was in Bronx River. And then the next time I went I heard "Apache" come on that was it!!! You would do moves to the whole record!" 

James Brown - Give It Up Or Turn It Aloose 1970

   

SIR NORIN RAD:"What do you remember about other music besides breakbeats being played at the jams back then?"

FREDDY G:"The DJs played breakbeats for the B-Boys and then they would slow it down. They would end the party with the slow dancing joints." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Were there any other B-Boys or B-Boy Crews in the Sugar Hill section of Harlem during  the mid 1970ies?"

FREDDY G:"No."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Around 1978 many B-Boys quit Breaking and got into DJing or MCing...."

FREDDY G:"Yes, that's when we formed the Mighty Gestapo Crew."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What was the stomping ground of that crew?"

FREDDY G:"We used to play at the Battleground in Harlem. We played at Trinity Church. We used to play against The People's Choice on 174th Street and Broadway/ Amsterdam.  We took them out. Then we played at Martin Luther King High School. We had a battle with The Fearless Four. We beat them. We were the number one in Sugar Hill. Our equipment was good. Our DJs and MCees were good. They used to get jealous. Our MC squad was called The Funky Phase Four. It was Prince Whipper Whip, Dot-A-Rock, Count D and Speedy Speed. I would say that we brought DJing & MCing from the Bronx to Harlem, back when we had the Mighty Gestapo Crew and the Funky Phase Four MCees. After that it seemed like a lot of other groups started coming out in Harlem."

December 14th, 1979: The Mighty Gestapo Crew is rocking at the Intercession Trinity Church in Harlem 

SIR NORIN RAD:"So your saying that your crew was playing that BX breakbeat music in Harlem even before The Sapphire Crew did their thing at the Renaissance Ballroom?"

FREDDY G:"Yeah, we used to go to the Renaissance Ballroom but I knew about breakbeats before I went there. We used to go to the Audubon Ballroom. The L-Brothers and DJ Casanova Fly used to be there. It was really good. My brother and Kenny B. used to DJ on 149th Street & Riverside Drive and then after they started hearing our music all of a sudden we started hearing about DJ B-Fats and DJ Donald D (Sapphire Crew), The People's Choice and all these other groups. I guess they got hip to it but I think we were the first ones who started doing all that. "  

SIR NORIN RAD:"How did you manage to make Prince Whipper Whip and Dot-A-Rock join the Mighty Gestapo  Crew?"

FREDDY G:"Well, Prince Whipper Whip used to live in the same building when the Puppetmaster was living in the Bronx and Prince Whipper knew Dot-A-Rock so that's how that happened. After we had our group going on and they had seen how good our DJs were they joined our crew. It was DJ Kenny B and my older brother DJ Chris Chris. We had one room together and my brother used to have at least 20 crates of records. My sister used to work for CVS and she would get him a lot of free records. My brother also wrote Graffiti. He wrote CHOKE 2. Did the Puppetmaster tell you about that?"

DJ Chris Chris (The Mighty Gestapo Crew)

SIR NORIN RAD:"Yes, he did. Were you also a Writer?"

FREDDY G:"I only bombed the insides. I never went into the tunnels with the black light. I used to have a little opaque marker or a magic marker on me.... stuff like that."

SIR NORIN RAD:"What did you write?"

FREDDY G:"I wrote PU 2. That abbreviation stood for PUMA 2."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Which line did you hit?"

FREDDY G:"It was just the 1 train. Graffiti was a part of our culture. Once you started seeing pieces on the trains everybody wanted to have a little name. Long before Beat Street came out that's what everybody was doing." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"How important was it to you back then to gain fame as a B-Boy?"

FREDDY G:"I wasn't thinking about fame or anything like that. It just felt good to be part of something so beautiful. I wasn't looking for fame. It was just something natural that was happening. When I jumped into the circle I did not think about fame. I also never really battled that much. I danced because I loved the music and the artform."

SIR NORIN RAD:"How do you feel about the current state of B-Boying?"

FREDDY G:"Right now it's not original. Everybody is copying the spins and stuff like that. That's what they call Breakdancing. We wasn't Breakdancers, we was B-Boyin'!!!! We were doing real moves to the music, you know what I'm saying?? We were incorporating the music.  Not just spinning on your head and stuff like that. Now they're Breakdancing, they're not B-Boying. They're just doing moves now."

SIR NORIN RAD:"Who are your top 3 B-Boys of all times?"

FREDDY G:"I would say Cholly Rock of the Zulu Kings, Peabody (The Shaka Zulus) and my mentor the Puppetmaster. I used to just watch him. He didn't have to tell me how to do a move or nothing like that. When I would see him dance I would always say to myself, "Yo, that shit was nice!""

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please explain the importance of the Breakbeats for Hiphop from a B-Boy's perspective!"

FREDDY G:"The breakbeats was like very important because when the breakbeat came on with the drummer and everything like that that's what we would love to dance to. That was the main part that moved us." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Would you like to give shout outs at the end of this interview?"

FREDDY G:"I would like to give a shoutout to my maaaaaaaaaaaan Mark Muhammad aka The Puppetmaster! To my man Cholly Rock! To my man Kenny B! Gestapo Crew! To Prince Whipper Whip! To my brother Chris Chris! To my men...Rest in Peace...Speedy Speed and Count D! To Dot-A-Rock! RIP!"   

SIR NORIN RAD:"Shoutouts to my Intruders Crew: Scarce One, Akira, A.G., Krwizard. To Troy L. Smith, Pluto Seven. To my man Sureshot La Rock, Input MZK, Kenny IB... UKUBAMBISANA!!! To all the original Kings and Queens of Hiphop! Special thanks to the Puppetmaster for making this interview possible!"