Onyx’s Fredro Says JMJ Asked Him ‘Do You Sell Drugs?’ Before His Rap Career

In a recent interview with BagFuel, actor, and Onyx front man Fredro Starr said that the late Jama Master Jay was so astonished at the amount of money he was making pre-Onyx, that he asked him if he was slinging drugs to make his ends.

“When Jay met me, you know what he asked me? ‘You sell drugs?!’” he recalled. “You know why? Because I was getting money. You know how I was getting money? I was cutting hair.”

Fredro says he made so much money as a renowned barber in his Jamaica, Queens neighborhood because he counted the local hustlers and known rap legends as his loyal customers.

“[I was the] illest barber in New York, for real. I was cutting Rakim‘s hair, [Kool] G Rap‘s hair. Everybody was coming through the barbershop. All the drug dealers in ’86, ’87,” he said. “I had a line of n-ggas. ‘Who you waiting for?’ ‘Dro.’ ‘Who you waiting for?’ ‘Dro.’ I had [to tell] n-ggas, ‘Yo, you come back at 4.30. You come back at 5.30.’

“All these n-ggas pulling up in Benzes. All my clientele was drug dealers. So when I met Jay, he was like, ‘You selling drugs?!’ I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘Nah, I don’t believe you.’ I said, ‘Bro, I cut hair!’ I had to figure out a way to get money and stay fly.”

Jam Master Jay signed Onyx to his JMJ imprint in the early 90s, prompting the release of their debut album, Bacdafucup. The RIAA certified the album platinum in 1993, just seven months after its release.