Interview with Fredro Star by David Friedman

It seems like your schedule is pretty packed between promoting your new album, "Firestarr," and your movie, "Save The Last Dance."

By now, shit, it's real. What a good beginning of the year, straight up. It's like, just the "Save The Last Dance" shit alone ­ doing $80 million at the box office in three weeks made my face a strong character out here. People are finally recognizin' that I'm not just some nigga that's been in a couple movies and shit. And this is my fourth album. So people are recognizin' that I'm gonna be here for a minute. So it feels good.

How are you feeling about the "Firestarr" CD, which dropped on Feb. 13 on Koch Records?

My shit is ill. I just really like to write and I like conceptual records. And you hear most of the records on my album are conceptual records, like 'Perfect Bitch' and 'What If,' and I've got a song called 'I Don't Wanna Die' featuring Aaron Hall where, the second verse, I go into heaven and I speak to all the rappers that passed away, as far as I know. It's not a sad thing, but a 'they never left the hood' type of situation. So I like concepts, a little bit extra for the person. They play it a couple of times, they hear something they didn't hear the first time.

In the song "What If," you ask what it would be like if Tupac and Biggie Smalls were still alive. What do you think it would be like if they were still around?

If Biggie was here, as far as New York is concerned, I think he would be the king of New York still. But you've got great rappers. I'm not trying to discredit anybody when I say things like that. But this is 'what if?' I think if Pac was here, I think rappers ­ I'm not saying no names ­ I think they're careers would be a little bit different. I think people took pieces and bits of this guy and turned it into them own selves. I'm not saying they bit him completely, but if he was still here I don't think their record sales would be up to par like that.

Is Firestarr your alter-ego, kind of like Eminem has Slim Shady and Kool Keith has Black Elvis?

Well, I wouldn't say alter ego. But I think my name should have been Firestarr from the start. Fredro Starr was a name that was given to me in my hood when I was doing my thing back in the day, busting my guns and all of that. Firestarr is faster-paced and it's easier to say. I'm an Aries, and my sign is a fire sign. That's how you got the whole Firestarr shit. My son's name is Phya, his middle name ­ P-H-Y-A ­ I spelled it like that. I'm Firestarr. Firestarr's just that nigga crashing Ferraris and leavin' 'em. Getting picked up in big SUVs and shit, smokin' out, rappin' with a gun in his back. Firestarr is just that fast-paced nigga. He's me. It ain't no alter-ego. I say what I want to say in this rap shit. I think rap should be like that. You should be able to not bite your tongue for nobody and not catch any repercussions for it. But if repercussions come, we're gonna handle it the way Other People's Money handle it. I'm gonna say what I'm gonna say.

Have you been planning to release your solo debut for a while now?

I'm a born leader, and so is Sticky Fingaz ­ that's my cousin. We were in a group called Onyx. The Onyx record will be coming out in September, 'Bacdafucup Vol. 2.' But I think I should have been a solo artist from the start, just 'cause I'm a leader anyway. He's a leader, but God works in mysterious ways and we formed a group and that group was successful. But overall I think that this album was definitely destined to come because I'm my own person. I just finished my 10th movie, I got my own record label, I put this album together in three months. We got the deal at Koch and we finished the album in three months.

A lot of the longtime Onyx fans will be feeling the song "Soldierz," that you did with Sticky Fingaz. What's that song about?

Well, 'Soldierz' is basically lettin' niggaz know that we're still on the block, that we're still street niggas. Even though we went to Hollywood, we're still on the block till the sun comes up. Like my man said, 'I ain't move out the hood, I just got a new address.' Feel me? The block is still pumpin'. My niggas are still out there. I'm flyin' niggas out to L.A. for video shoots. So I'm still on the block, I'm still a soldier for life.

Between "Who Fuck Betta," "One Night" and "Perfect Bitch," you rap a lot about women on the "Firestarr" album.

'One Night' is about 'I don't really want to be involved with you like that; I just want to fuck you.' And overall, this is how it goes down. And 'Perfect Bitch,' I was just sittin' back smokin' some weed, and I was just thinking about like Weird Science. What if I took lips from Aaliyah, the ass from Jennifer Lopez, the titties from Janet Jackson, and made my own bitch? As far as 'Who Fuck Betta,' I think that's an uplifting record for females, because I think females should be getting' the best when they're in the bedroom. They should be gettin' fucked the right way. If they're stressed out with bills and they're fighting with their husband, call me up, hit me on the two-way and we can hang out tonight. No strings attached. I go my way. Your pussy don't talk, my dick don't speak. And you have your fun and I have my fun. I'm tryin' to let girls know 'You fuck with me, you're gonna get fucked all night.'

A lot of people would call that stuff sexist. You work with Brandy on her TV show, "Moesha." How does she feel about your music?

Yeah, I'm a sexist, definitely. Personally, I don't really give a fuck how she feels about my music. I think Brandy feels me as an actor, though. I don't care if Brandy pumps my CD in her Range Rover. It doesn't make any difference because she's paying me to be on her show to be an actor. If you ask me, how does Brandy feel about me as an actor, I feel like she's feelin' me. I was just sitting home playin' PlayStation, and the producer of Moesha called me and said she wanted me to be her boyfriend on her show after she saw 'Sunset Park.'

Could you talk about your new single, "Dat Be Dem" and what made you pick it.

It's just that we them niggas. We're just them niggas that niggas want to be. And 'Dat Be Dem.' It's just a calling about who we really are and what we do. I've been to Coconut Grove taking bitches shopping. I've been through all that. So all that shit I'm speaking is just shit we go through. For some reason that was the song that basically got me my record deal. We did it in the studio and it had an energy to it. I felt like my album was coming out in such short notice that we needed something for people to be playing. And we picked 'Dat Be Dem.' It was just a magic record. That was the record that got me signed, so I was like, 'Fuck it. Let's go with it.' And now we're up to 200 spins with that record.

You sound really focused on the song "Dyin' 4 Rap." What inspired you on that track?

That is a record of how I felt about the industry. I wasn't really inspired by rap music. Niggas were really takin' advantage of this shit, and I said what I felt. Now, the remix with Capone-N-Noreaga, the Outlawz and Cuban Link is some shit. When I say 'Dyin' 4 Rap,' Noble and the Outlawz, they know somethin' about dyin' for rap because Tupac died. I got Cuban Link. He knows somethin' about dyin' for rap because Big Pun died. And I got Capone-N-Noreaga because they know about dyin' for rap because Capone just came home from jail. So all them niggas on that record are just real niggas I know in hip-hop. There wasn't no 'I'm jumpin' on your dick because your record sales are climbing.' These are still underground artists and I wanted them niggas to be on with me. They lost somebody, so I thought they were appropriate for the record. I had Cheeks on the record, too, from Lost Boyz, because he lost Tah. But politics and shit couldn't let him be on the record, being that his record deal was gonna through some shit. But that was the direction I was going in.

Between your music, TV and movie careers, what's your favorite?

I mean, it's all the same. Like 'Save The Last Dance' ­ I got paid more for the fuckin' record that I did with Jill Scott than the whole movie. When I do a movie, I usually have it in my contract that I want to be on the soundtrack. I love movies and I love music. So one hand washes the other; two hands wash the face. People that see me on TV and in movies, they could be in the record store and be like, 'Oh, shit. There goes Q' or 'there goes Malakai' or 'There goes Shorty' and then say, 'Let me pick up that nigga's record.' Or the people who like Onyx or people who know me from my music will be like, 'Oh, I heard that nigga's in a movie. I'm gonna see that shit 'cause I like the way he rhymes.' It's all the same.

Are there a lot of similarities between you in real life and the character you play on "Moesha"?

On "Moesha," I play a character named Q. And I think Q represents a million niggas in the ghetto. He gets judged by how he dresses and how he talks by her father. I think Q is 50 percent me and 50 percent fiction. I think every movie I've done, I've been myself up to a certain level. I haven't been in a movie where I've been a stretch of character, of who I am. I'm the bad guy, I'm just that thug. And that's the roles I get. I'm doing a fuckin' national campaign with Levi, and I'm still playin' a thug. That's what people perceive me to be on an acting level, and I'm gonna run with it. Like Robert DeNiro ­ he ran with that for years, being the bad guy. So I'm gonna be the black Bobby DeNiro, the black James Dean of this rap shit, even though I've got more movies than James Dean. You know, James Dean only did two movies. I beat him. I outlived a lot of legends. I'm still out here doing my thing.

You mentioned a new Onyx album. I read somewhere that Onyx broke up. Is that true?

Well, we broke up because of Def Jam. That's the only reason we broke up. The deal with Def Jam, it wasn't sufficient for Onyx. Back in '92, we signed a production deal with Jam Master Jay. And at that time, when you come off the block and sign a record deal, you don't really give a fuck what it's gonna say. You're on Def Jam and you're on tour and you're feelin' like a star. And you don't give a fuck. But when you get older and you see what you're really losin' out on, then you understand the business. It didn't even make sense for me to go spit a rhyme in a booth and have my record come out on Def Jam, 'cause in the long run you ain't gonna see no money. So we had to get off that and we got new careers. We've got a new record label ­ Other People's Money. And now we're doing the next fuckin' Onyx record. I'm getting $8 off the back end. So now it's worth spittin' and lettin' niggas enjoy my music. We never broke up because, 'Oh, I'm hating you.' It was all good.

Will you being doing a solo tour anytime soon?

Yeah. We're doing spot dates and shit for Firestarr. We've got this record called 'Shining Through' with Jill Scott and it's doing really well. We're up to 500 spins with this record. It's from the 'Save The Last Dance' soundtrack. Right now, we're doing touring at fuckin' pop radio stations. It's insane because I never thought that I would be doin' some shit like that. This record is getting more spins than 'Slam' was getting. We're doing club dates in certain cities. We're reaching the underground clubs where it's 500 to 1,000 people, where we get to touch the crowd. We're in the streets with the niggas from the projects, and when we get reaction from those type of niggas that's when I really feel gratified. Of course I want the pop to pick up the record, but overall my gratification comes from when someone just came home from jail and is like, 'Yo, your record helped me out, man.' That makes me feel good.

Do you play the Onyx hit 'Slam' at your solo show?

Of course. At the live show, I perform four old records. I perform 'Throw Ya Gunz' ­ I always open with that. And I perform 'Last Dayz,' which was one of my deepest rhymes wrote at that time of my life. I was going through a lot, and last days was one of those rhymes I was cryin' blood for. And I do 'Slam,' of course. And of course, we do 'Shut 'Em Down' at my live show. So you get pieces from the first album, pieces from the second album and pieces from the third album ­ along with all my new shit. We're gonna put on an Onyx tour in September. It'll be Onyx featuring Sticky Fingaz and Firestarr. He'll do his own set, I'll do my own set and we'll come back as Onyx. And we'll bring people like Begetz on. We might bring someone on the road with us. So it's gonna be poppin'.

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