Fredro Starr has recalled Jam Grasp Jay‘s shock on the amount of cash he was making earlier than rap fame.
In an interview with BagFuel, the Onyx legend mirrored on his profitable hustle as a barber in Queens, New York and mentioned his earnings was so nice that the Run-DMC DJ, who mentored the group early of their profession, assumed he was within the drug commerce.
“When Jay met me, you recognize what he requested me? ‘You promote medicine?!’” he remembered. “You already know why? As a result of I used to be getting cash. You understand how I used to be getting cash? I used to be chopping hair.”
Fredro defined that he maintained a “first one in, final one out” mentality on the barbershop and have become so famend for his craft that he counted well-known rappers and native hustlers as loyal clients.
“[I was the] illest barber in New York, for actual. I used to be chopping Rakim‘s hair, [Kool] G Rap‘s hair. All people was coming by means of the barbershop. All of the drug sellers in ’86, ’87,” he mentioned. “I had a line of n-ggas. ‘Who you ready for?’ ‘Dro.’ ‘Who you ready for?’ ‘Dro.’ I had [to tell] n-ggas, ‘Yo, you come again at 4.30. You come again at 5.30.’
“All these n-ggas pulling up in Benzes. All my clientele was drug sellers. So after I met Jay, he was like, ‘You promoting medicine?!’ I mentioned, ‘No.’ He mentioned, ‘Nah, I don’t consider you.’ I mentioned, ‘Bro, I minimize hair!’ I had to determine a technique to get cash and keep fly.”
In a 2023 interview with Rock The Bells, Fredro Starr expanded on his relationship with Jam Grasp Jay, who signed Onyx to his label JMJ Information within the early ’90s.
“Jay was the architect of Hip Hop,” he mentioned. “He was the godfather of Run-DMC, and positively the godfather of Onyx. The issues he did for our profession — as a result of Run-DMC on the time, these guys are Rock & Roll Corridor of Fame. So to be down with these guys and within the presence of those guys on our first album 30 years in the past, it was simply loopy.”
Although Fredro was getting cash lengthy earlier than he grew to become a full-time rapper, he just lately revealed that he as soon as misplaced out on a seven-figure payday because of Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg.
Chatting with The Artwork of Dialogue, the Onyx rapper detailed the wild circumstances that allegedly led to him shedding a $1 million deal whereas on Dre’s short-lived The Continual Tour in 1993.
The trek, which additionally featured the likes of Run-DMC and the late Bo$$, was canceled after only a handful of dates after a driver was kidnapped allegedly by members of Snoop’s entourage.
Starr defined that he was already aggravated at having to show down a job within the Michelle Pfeiffer film Harmful Minds to be on the tour, and his frustration solely grew when the plug was pulled on the tour.
“Tour was over. Canceled. We had a complete tour. We have been imagined to make mad cash, n-gga,” he mentioned. “I finished doing Harmful Minds, all that shit. Harmful Minds blew up. If the tour went nicely I wouldn’t be upset about that shit, however the tour didn’t go nicely.”
The rap veteran then revealed that Onyx misplaced out on a profitable merch deal after the tour was canceled and, worse but, have been sued by their companions.
“We had mad merch. We had simply signed a merch deal for $1 million. We couldn’t promote the merch. So guess what? The merch n-ggas need their cash. We acquired sued by the merch firm,” he mentioned.
“See, what we should always have did was sue Dr. Dre and Snoop and them n-ggas as a result of they was responsible for the tour to get canceled. Any individual needed to pay and it was us.”
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