Freddy Fresh, the acclaimed Hip-Hop DJ and Producer who has worked with some of the biggest names in rap music since the ’80s and enjoyed international success with his own records, has been named to the faculty of the McNally Smith College of Music’s Hip-Hop Diploma Program, the first accredited Hip-Hop degree program of its kind in the country. Fresh will join Toki Wright (the program coordinator, Hip-Hop artist and community organizer), Dessa Darling (Doomtree) Joe Mabbott (engineer for Atmosphere) and Sean McPherson (Heiruspecs) when the program launches this fall. Enrollment for the Hip-Hop degree for the Fall Semester beginning September 3, 2009, continues this summer at the contemporary music school.
“We are very excited to have Freddy Fresh join our ground-breaking Hip-Hop Diploma Program and Faculty,” says Wright. “He is an enormous talent and successful DJ and Producer who has been producing Hip-Hop and Electronic Music professionally since 1992 and DJing since 1983, collaborating with the legendary artists of the genre like Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaattaa to more contemporary acts such as Fat Boy Slim, Eminem and hundreds of others.”
The rap artist has released 11 albums and over 150 singles worldwide for labels such as Sony Music (where he had two hit singles in 1998 in the UK ). He has also published two authoritative book editions about the history of rap phonograph records: Freddy Fresh Presents The Rap Records (Nerby Publishing LLC) — cataloguing every conceivable rap label from 1979 to 1989 — that have been featured in The Source, Vibe, The New York Times, Village Voice and other publications.
“Those works have gone on to win journalism awards in the United States, while his own music has been featured in film and commercial spots and on a series of independent records labels here in the region and around the world,” Wright adds. Freddy Fresh’s music has been featured in the Austin Powers’ film, Goldmember, Jackie Chan’s Tuxedo and in TV programs such as Pimp’ My Ride, Punk’d, The Real World and others for MTV, including commercials for American Express, Adidas, Coors Lite, Michelob Lite, Renault, among others.
“The opportunity to share my skills and knowledge with students who will make up the next generation of Hip-Hop is bound to be rewarding,” says Fresh. “I know the art form inside and out, having done nothing else in my career professionally and yet I continue to have my home base in St. Paul because of the cities’ vital Hip-Hop culture and its progressive educational resources like the first-ever Hip-Hop Diploma Program in the country at McNally Smith. I’m looking forward to the teaching experience!”
Fresh’s highly prolific work combines all the best elements of American underground dance music, from techno and house to trance, electronic and experimental. It is often characterized, Fresh explains, as “an affectation for electro and breaks, using buzzing modular analog noises and resolutely dirty production techniques, resulting in a distinct, instantly recognizable brand of funky, minimal, somewhat experimental dance music.” Fresh has travelled to more than 35 countries performing at worldwide events, clubs and other venues. Read more about him online at: http://www.freddyfresh.com
