FREE...AT LAST!
FREE SPIRIT!
School is letting out around 106th Street in Harlem. In front of the BET Studios, fans have already started lining up for the 6:00 taping of BET'
s top-rated show 106 and Park, hosted by Free and AJ. The show features music videos and live interviews with celebrities from a variety of fields. Free, a rapper at heart, had a couple of record deals in the past that didn't pan out ("I'm working on my third one, the one I call 'the real one' ") before getting the gig at BET. One evening while attending a Busta Rhymes album release party, she ran into Steven Hill, vice president of music programming at BET, who she knew from his days at a radio station in Boston. He told her about auditions at BET. "From what I hear, [Steven] never told anybody that he knew me. All of the people I auditioned in front of picked me and said they wanted me to do [the show], and then he told me, and that made me feel good." says Free. Inside a dressing room, Free, born Marie Wright in Boston, Massachusetts, is settling down for an interview sandwiched between production meetings, voice lessons, and work with the foundation she has started, Free4Life Foundation, which is run by her mother and will have programs to benefit the community and youth of Boston.
BM: What's a typical day like?
Free: A typical day for me is in the morning--- I just started working out, so a few days a week I go to the gym. We have production meetings for the show, we work out what we're going to wear with waredrob, makeup--- I stay in makeup for a couple of hours. I make phone calls because I'm starting a foundation in Boston, so I work on the show, we kick it with the guests a little bit or I go to the studio. I do a whole bunch of stuff in a typical day. I could have a vocal lesson of an interview, like now...
BM: Photo sessions.
Free: Yeah, photo sessions. Different days bring different things and there are a lot of squeezing in, but I don't mind doing all this work.
BM: You have a hip-hop backround and the show features hip-hop videos... do you feel that women are being objectified in videos?
Free: Sometimes, but I think that everyone's an adult and they make their own choices. So I don't look at it like anyone had a gun to their head saying, "You have to do this." It's amazing because sex in America sells. These videos sell. People have asked me, "How do you watch these videos and these young girls are in them..." It's really not our job to teach them; it's the parents' job to teach their children. And as far as being objects, men are objects sometimes too, now. There are a lot of videos with the guys walking around with their shirts off with girls saying, "I want that guy because he's fine..." So it goes both ways, and it's just what you allow yourself to do. I try not to pass judgement on anybody. It's a video, isn't it? If there wasn't a demand for videos and a demand for these CDs--- because they're expensive---no record company is going to pay that money for videos if nobody is going to buy the records. So there's a demand for it out there.
BM: Do you believe in love at first sight?
Free: Yes. I believe that that's possible. I believe you can love someone's exterior at first sight. You could say, "Oh my God, I love the way he looks," or you can like something in someone's eyes. You may just be attracted to somebody at first sight, but love, of course, takes a long time.
BM: I always call it lust at first sight.
Free: Yeah, okay. That makes sense. It could be lust or then it could just be you see someone and feel like, "Okay, I respect him." I respect how he's doing his business---or her--- that could be, but I don't think love is the right word. You're right. I don't know if it's lust. I don't know what it is. It could just be attraction. So I believe you can see somebody and be attracted and in your mind feel like, "Boy, oh boy, oh boy!"
BM: How long do you think a woman should wait before getting intimate with a man?
Free: Wow. What a question! I believe a woman should wait until she's comfortable. If you can't talk to him about sex, condoms, his experiences with sex and women, then you shouldn't be having sex. I think if you're adult enough to make that decision, you know to wrap it up, as we say, and you can handle the emotional [aspects] that comes with that. I think if you're comfortable enough to talk to somebody about the issue, if that's going to be your mate or your whatever, I don't think there's a specified rule, there's not a date.
BM: Do you think men, in general, have more respect for a women if she does wait?
Free: Most definitely.
BM: What a double standard.
Free: It is and it sucks...
AJ
Club Cheetah Style
AJ'S MOVE
How did you become a host on 106th & Park?
(BET's casting crew was in New York looking for a female host and AJ, being one of the most po
pular event promoters, was asked to show them around the city, get them to parties, and introduce them to various talent.) After spending a few days with me, they concluded that they were interested in hiring me for the show instead of the person that they had in mind. What did you do b-4 106th and Park?
I was the founder of Black Diamonds, with was comprised of a collaboration between premiere promoters in Atlanta in 1996, and I bought the idea to the New York market. Due to politics, and as I began to bust myself with other ventures, I backed away from Black Diamonds and let it take off on its own. (AJ was one of New York's premiere promoters, and is still very popular on the nightlife scene.)
Tell me about the store that you are opening.
I am opening a clothing store in the heart of Soho (South of Hudson Street) in New York named 480 at 480 West Broadway. It is a unisex store including custom clothing, shoes and jewelry. Some of the designeers include Ecko Red, Enyce, and Hugo Boss. I hope to get an account with Sean John. There will be a grand opening event this fall.
What is your vested interest in Club Cheetah?
We are in negotiations for me to join the club and becme partial owner. The owner of Cheetah and I will be opening a new restaurant also.
What are the best nights to attend?
We cater to a younger crowd on Fridays and a more mature crowd on Saturdays. You can meet all types of young professionals, Harvard grads to waitresses.
Can a brother from the hood meet a few "Queetahs" at Cheetahs?
(AJ Laughs) Yeah, some of the more responsible girls from next door attend the club.
Has there been any initial attraction toward anyone that you work with that you had to treat with a professional approach?
I look at the other hosts as my sisters.
Any flings with any celebrities?
I can't say that I'm that lucky.
So! No Janet?
The closest I got was my lap dance.
Janet gave you a lap dance?!!
No, I gave her a lap dance on the show.
That's close enough.
ALRIGHT...
106 & Park's Honey Wit' An Onion Is Ready To Switch Sides
Most people don't even know you were in XXL as a Show & Prove for your appearance on Canibus' first album before 106 & Park, right?
That's real. The XXL photo shoot is real key. It means a lot because I went to a Busta Rhymes party that night and I was kind of still dressed from the photo shoot, and that's the day
that I found Stephen Hill from BET. He's the one that had me come audition for [106 and Park]. But I rhyme and sing now, so I'm going to do both. I've been signed to [Elektra Records] for a year now. This is my third record deal. I was signed to 'Clef before, when we did the other article, and now I'm working on the album for a September release. Why didn't you deal work out with 'Clef?
I don't think it didn't work out, I think I learned a lot while I was there. I met a lot of people and I learned so much from just working with 'Clef--- all the time in the studio and doing shows, and traveling. At the time he was signed to Columbia, and then his label deal got dropped possibly a week after I did the XXL photo shoot.
Did you ever think it was going to be a conflict of interest, with trying to pursue your career and an artist and television host?
Of course it is. The thing now si that people look at me as a TV personality or a TV host, and it's hard to get them to look at me as a musician, but I'm just gonna do me adn release my album. Hopefully they'll feel it, they'll know I love music from it.
So what can we expect from your album?
Free, what you see on TV everyday. It's not named yet, but so far it's just gonna be Free. I'ma be working with Just Blaze, Missy, Rockwilder, Chucky Thompson, because he's definately hot, and Bink, Clark Kent. There are the people that I'm comfortable with, that understand me, believe in me, and those are the producers that I work with.
Everybody wants me to ask this: Have you ever dated AJ?
Noooo! But AJ's a great guy. We just have fun on the show all day, so it's never ever, ever anything like that. I'm very much [single], I don't have time for anything else. This job is serious. My personal life, I keep completely personal.
How old are you?
I never tell. I'm old enough to drink.
So why did Wendy Williams say you were 37?
I don't know. Ask her. That's not true. I haven't met her so I don't know, but I love her, she's great at what she does.
Well then how old were you in that Bell Biv Devoe video back in the day ["Word To The Mutha (Remix)"] where you were kissing Michael Bivins in that staircase?
I don't know. I don't know what year I did it. I'm not going to give you that so you wanna keep going? [Laughs]
