Fabolous

Cruising through the streets of the tri-state New York area in his Moonbeam Silver, 2005 Bentley Continental GT Coupe, FA-BO-LO-US is a little disappointed these days. Despite accolades of success, wealth, fame and glory, this 25-year-old Brooklyn bred MC is still hungry for more.

“I really anticipated the album to do better than it did,” he said of his latest opus, “Real Talk”. “It came out the fourth quarter (2004), which I’m not used to, and during the fourth quarter you can find 2 or 3 hip-hop albums dropping every week, so an artist can sometimes get overshadowed by the amount of people coming out. I’m excited to be starting a new phase in my career with Atlantic Records, they’ve given me the support I need to develop into a better artist and businessman.”

Though SoundScan may not give Fabolous the numbers he was aiming for, his respect in the streets, the industry and the mainstream audience is perhaps at its highest. With a massive hit single this fall, “Breathe” and his latest call to the ladies, “Baby”, Fab has maintained the critical balance of appeal amongst both genders – a feat unattainable by most rappers.

“I remember the first hip-hop record I ever heard was Run DMC,” he said while testing the 552 horsepower engine of the GT. “I asked my mother to get me that record – cause at that time there were no cd’s – she did, then she got me Whodini and some others, and I really got into rap. I started listening to Eric B. and Rakim, Kool G Rap, LL, Big Daddy Kane and everybody.”

Growing up in the Brevoort Projects of BK with his younger brother, older sister and mother, John Jackson (as he was born) took his love for music and began rhyming for fun around the age of 14. Taking his name and inserting it in a song, Fab admits that after he began creating his own work, he wasn’t too keen on chasing after the game.