Culture & Community | Hamden | Music | Arts & Culture | Musicians | Hamden Department of Arts & Culture
Top: Attendees at the festival. Bottom: Rebecca LeQuire painting a live mural during the event.
Microphone in hand, Paul Henderson Hollywood took in a sea of twinkling lights from hundreds of cell phones, the beams bright and bouncing over through Hamden Town Center Park. Audience members, all adorned in white, stood ready to honor the life and legacy of Fatman Scoop. A few had already spent hours dancing, and were prepared to dance the night away for house.
“On the count of three, I want y’all to make some noise for Fatman Scoop,” he said. “One, two three!”
“Fatman Scoop!” the audience yelled in response, their cries of remembrance reverberating across the park and drifting up toward the heavens and clouds above.
Friday night, DJ Knuckles and rapper Chubb Rock led a crowd of over 500 through throwback hits, shuffles, and grooves at Hamden’s Town Center Park in a memorial tribute to the late Fatman Scoop (a.k.a. Isaac Freeman III), who suffered a medical emergency and died while performing at the town’s concert series last year.
Embodying the never-ending, boundless energy that Scoop radiated during his lifetime, the performance closed out the summer series, which this year also welcomed bands Stix Jones, Winslow, and beloved Hamden- and New Haven-based institutions Ricky Alan Draughn and Manny James.
By the end of the night, Hamden Mayor Lauren Garrett had declared it “Fatman Scoop Day,” so that the impresario’s mark on the town will never be forgotten.
Paul Henderson Hollywood, DJ Knuckles, and Chubb Rock.
For Hollywood, host and MC of the event, the festival was “a real moment” for community solidarity. Hollywood’s friendship with Scoop grew and matured over two decades. Last year, he was instrumental in organizing Scoop’s visit, and helping members of the Hamden Arts Commission set up the concert.
He was also with him on stage when he collapsed, one of the first to call for emergency medical personnel. Friday, he recalled changing up the lineup on the evening he performed, to give him more time to rest after a long journey to Hamden. When he took the stage, Scoop had shaken off that exhaustion and seemed to be in good spirits, the ambassador of hype that he always was.
“I want young people to see this, that we can come together and we’re in the dark and we ain’t got one problem going on,” Hollywood said.
Tiana and Torrance Freeman.
Friday, those loving vibes extended to friends and family members of Scoop, including his children Torrance and Tiana Freeman. Both expressed their gratitude to the city for hosting this event.
“I feel blessed, I feel grateful that the city is gracious enough to honor my father,” Torrance said. “It’s a pretty cool day.”
While the world knew Fatman Scoop as a musical legend, the two knew him first in another role—as a loving dad. Friday, they looked back fondly on their trips to Six Flags and remembered watching movies together as a family.
The two also appreciated the music: both had firsthand experience watching their dad capture the hearts of thousands of fans. Torrance remembered seeing his dad effortlessly charm and control a crowd, for instance, during an event in Dubai.
“When he walks into the room, it does something to the room, you know what I’m saying? And I always admire that about my dad,” he said.
Tiana described Scoop as a man “for the people,” a phenomenon she got to experience firsthand when he brought her on stage during a 2017 performance in Blackpool, England. In front of her, a sea of fans stretched out as far as the eye could see. To this day, it remains one of her favorite memories of her dad.
“I’m very very pleased to see my father being honored in such a beautiful way,” she added.
Top: Hamden Arts Commission Chair Edward “Doc” Martin. Bottom: The memorial bench for Scoop created by Hamden High School student Daven Kaphar. The bench will be installed in Town Central Park.
For Edward “Doc” Martin, chair of the Hamden Arts Commission, this tribute was personal and the result of a longstanding “mission to put this thing together.” Just like last year’s contemplative but joyful memorial, Martin didn’t want this year’s anniversary tribute to feel solemn. He knew that it needed to be a celebration.
Working with Karen Bivens, who serves as the town’s director of cultural affairs and human services, Martin and fellow arts commissioners launched a community-wide art contest, inviting Hamden’s young people to submit designs for a memorial bench that will be installed in Town Central Park .
Arts commissioners selected 16-year-old Daven Kaphar as the winner (watch a video of the full unveiling here). The back of the bench follows a monochrome pattern of black in white. In the center of the wooden bench are five different iterations of Fatman Scoop throughout his lifetime, popping out from against the black background.
In one image, he’s beatboxing with a microphone with a determined look on his face. In another, he’s rocking a pair of shades, resting his arm behind his head. Martin shouted out Joe DiRisi, an employee of the town’s Department of Public Works, for building the bench out of 19th century wood reclaimed from a local building.
Martin and Scoop go back to the 90s, when they met during their radio careers. At the time, Scoop was at New York City’s HOT 97 and Martin at the sister station, WBLS. The two frequently passed each other in the halls, and a small acquaintance quickly bloomed to a brotherhood and deep friendship. Later on, they began to tour together alongside WBLS DJ Bent Rok, with Scoop serving as the voice of the mix show.
When Scoop arrived at the park last year, it was a welcome and surprise reunion for the two old friends. A year ago, it was Lushonda Howard, the former chair of the Arts Commission and a current Hamden mayoral candidate, with whom Scoop had been in touch. The two were thrilled to reconnect.
“He didn’t know I lived here and he didn’t know I was in the commission, so it was very nice,” Martin said.
“Scoop himself could’ve been a rapper, but he decided he wanted to be a hype man for everybody. That’s one of the things. You know, Scoop’s known the world over, and like I said, I think it’s very important to know... not so much that he ended his life here, but he ended his life here doing what he did best and that was performing for the people, you know what I’m saying?” he said. “His last words were ‘Hamden make some noise. If you love to party, make some noise’ and that was it.”
After attending the concert last year, Felecia Grimes was determined to return for this year’s tribute, coming all the way from Massachusetts. Grimes had first-hand experience with Scoop’s infectious energy, attending day parties where he DJ’d at Club Vandome, to even interacting with him on social media.
“He used to do Instagram live during the COVID season, so I was able to tune in and he invited me in, and we had like a 10-minute conversation,” she said.
That interaction, while brief, is a memory that Grimes said she continues to treasure and has a screenshot of it, along with it still being up on his Instagram page.
“I’m like, [at a] loss for words because of the fact that I was able to grow up to his music, very upbeat, always kept the parties going,” she said. “Still till today, once you hear it — no matter how long the song’s been out — long as you hear it, it just always gets you up on your feet.”
Friends and family members gather around the completed mural.
As the show closed around 9 p.m., LeQuire stepped away from her finished piece. Immediately a crowd of onlookers formed around the canvas, taking pictures and marveling at the painting.
“I’m really honored. It’s really cool,” LeQuire said, reflecting on her experience. “This is the music I grew up with, you know? I’m an 80s baby.”
While she originally planned to go with a black and white theme, as she usually does for memorial portraits, she ultimately decided to opt for bright color. She said it captures the full memory of him, just like the vibrant way he colored the world around him.
LeQuire added that the motivation behind this piece was “making people happy, making people smile, remembering this man for who he was: just a great person all around.”