Fred Brathwaite more popularly known as Fab 5 Freddy, is an American visual artist, filmmaker, rapper and hip hop pioneer. He emerged in New York's downtown nderground creative scene in the late 1970s as a camera operator. In the late 1970s Freddy became a member fof the Brooklyn-based graffiti group the Fabulous 5 known for painting the entire side of New York subway cars. Along with other Fabulous 5 member, lee Quinones under his direction they began to shift from street graffiti into the art world and in 1979 they both exhibited in a prestigious galleryh in Rome Italy, Galleria La Medusa. In 19890s he painted a subway train with cartoon style depictions of giant Campbell's Souop cans after Andy Warhol. He was the bridge between the New York uptwon graffiti and early rap scene and the downtown art and punk music scenes. "I was bringing the whole music, hip hop . art. break dancing and urban cultural thing to the downtown table",, he sias