“I gain the sympathy weight. It’s daddy fat. It comes and goes.” - Kevin Federline gained weight while Britney Spears was pregnant. 2006 Cap and jeans
What I’m fascinated by: Kevin Federline’s lifestyle. The kid’s life is a holiday. No wonder he never gets dressed properly. (Tank top, red belt and blue jeans)
Pop Star Must Have: Dunks! The retro sneaker that says “hey, I’m street” without having to actually walk one. (Tank top, beige long shorts, Nike quarter socks, Nike Air Force 1 white on white)
Kevin’s a kid at heart. There can be a childlike quality, also a headstrong determination and self-centredness. He wants his own success. (White beanie, brown jacket, brown trackpants, white tank top, Nike Air Force 1 mid White on White)
KFed (Red NY Yankees hat, White T-shirt, Blue jeans, White Nike Air Force 1 Mid White on White)
Wit and wisdom K-Fed (White NY Yankees hat with black lettering, bomber jacket, T-shirt, jeans, Nike Air Force 1 brown low)
He’s shaping up to be a star
To prepare his big break in music, Kevin’s started dieting and exercising. “He is tired of being perceived as a lazy, fat sponge. Kevin is actually quite muscular, he just needs to get rid of the potbelly,” says the trainer.
He wants a bachelor pad just a stone’s throw from the hopping nightlife scene on Sunset Strip
Lazy Kev tells Brit: Get in shape! Since marrying, Kev has also piled on the weight.
Blue NY Yankees hat, red Nike polo, khaki shorts, white Nike Air Force 1s with black swoosh and trim
Yet, while her hubby also filled out in recent times, it appears he has no interest in exercising himself. Kevin couldn’t even muster the energy to get behind the wheel - only exerting himself to tap Britney on the bum and tell her to speed up, or to have a sip in his super-sized Frappuchino. Friends say Kevin has found himself a little flabby too. Not that you could tell from his “sit back and drink coffee” approach to exercise. He’s already lost five pounds.
My trainer. He’s gone right now. He’s in Virginia. That’s another fool’s been stealing my cigarettes. He comes right into the house. You know, I leave my cigarettes in the bathroom. He always knows, and he’ll look through the drawers, and he’ll find the packs that aren’t even opened. He puts them all in his pockets. I always know when he takes them, because he’ll leave me one cigarette. He does it on purpose.
He needs the money - he buys a lot of gas! Despite all the clubbing, shopping and bumming around with buddies, it seems Kevin shows up most frequently at local LA gas stations to fill up the tank of his Dodge Ram pickup truck. At least now he can afford super unleaded!
(White A Atlanta Braves hat with black underbrim)
(Black A Atlanta Braves hat, white long-sleeved shirt, tank top, khaki shorts, white Nike quarter socks, Nike Air Force 1 yellow swoosh)
(Black long-sleeved shirt, blue jeans, grey Nike Air Force 1s low top)
(White long-sleeved shirt, blue jeans,black Nike Air Force 1s low top)
(Black cap, Blue T-shirt, Khaki shorts, white Nike ankle socks, Nike Air Force 1s white on white low top)
Federline’s late-night club-hopping. Detected the unmistakable aroma on Kevin’s clothing. Caught him smoking pot in the music studio. He’s either in the studio working on his album, trolling nightclubs or hanging with his friends.
(White NY Yankees hat with black lettering, black long sleeved T-shirt)
Baseball cap, white singlet, baggy jeans and unlaced trainers
Details: Have you always been into fashion?
KF: Into it, yes. But not dressed in it, you know? I’m sure it’s gonna be fucking great, though. I want to do some cool casual stuff, like jeans and T-shirts and sweat suits.
Details: Britney, you’re not picking out his clothes in the morning, are you?
BS: Sometimes I do. Well, not pick out his clothes in the morning, but sometimes it’s like, “Baby, wear this”. Like, he has his own thing going on, definitely, but I come in and I’m like, “This is cute.”
Details: So why stop dancing.
KF: Um, I’ve done - I’ve done it. I’ve been dancing my ass off since Fresno. I love to dance. I’ll always dance for fun, but for work? I’ve done it, dude.
No, hell no. It’s time for a change.
Details: Why did you need a change?
KF: I was fucking going out and partying all the time. You know, when I came to L.A. it was like, nonstop. When you’re on tour as a dancer it’s a fucking nonstop party.
Details: Well, people think Kevin is with you for your money.
KF: Oh yeah. People can write whatever they want. What you hear about in all of those bullshit-ass magazines is bullshit.
Section 1: The Inner You: Your Real Motivation
You are a person who thrives on challenge, and you often feel that you must battle your way through life, depending upon no one and nothing but your own strength, intelligence, and courage. You believe in being totally honest, true to oneself and one’s own vision and convictions, even if that means standing alone. Honesty, integrity, personal honor, and authenticity are your gods, and you have no sympathy for weakness of character in others.
Section 2: Mental Interests and Abilities
Outspoken and direct, you are always eager to express your ideas and opinions and don’t mind opposing the consensus and stirring up a little controversy. You have fresh, original ideas and much enthusiasm for anything new and untried, but once the novelty has worn off, you are interested in another new idea or project. You never seem to have enough time to do all you want to. You are very honest, speak decisively and convincingly about things you believe in, and are unable to pretend to agree with someone if you honestly don’t. You may be somewhat deficient in tact.
K-Fed’s Top 5 weaknesses
1. Coldplay
“Their music is incredible, how it’s completely put together and it’s different and it all works.”
2. Sneakers
“I love the shoes, I love the jeans, I love the jewelry, all that stuff. I’d find myself, whenever I was on tour and making a lot of money, my closets would just fill up with shoes.”
3. His Sidekick
“I write all the time; I have a whole book in my Sidekick of different things, sayings. I’ll be walking, and all of a sudden two bars of something will hit me, and I’ll write it down in my Sidekick.”
4. Phil Collins
“You know my dad was a big Phil Collins fan so I grew up on that. All of that.”
5. Writer’s block
“I don’t understand [why it happens to me]. I’ll just stop and back away from everything, go play golf, go out with the boys, get out of the house. Or play with the kids.”
The Top 5 things K-Fed recently got
1. New F-logo tattoo (for Federline Records)
2. Limited-edition Nike Air Force Ones
3. F-logo chain (also for Federline Records)
4. Some cool 5 Star Vintage clothing (gets for free as spokesmodel)
5. And last but definitely not least - a healthy new baby!
Federline recorded many tracks in the in-house studio, so he can take care of his baby during the breaks. “I put almost all my money I earned with Chaotic into this studio. I do not want to depend on my wife’s own money. I do not get any money from my wife because I do not want it. In my role as a husband and father, I would not be content to live at their expense. I want to be able to provide my family with my own money, and that’s a point that Britney first had to learn. That has also led to one or the other dispute, "admits Kevin.
He has received $ 2 million for the series, plus money for appearances in clubs. He first spent $ 200,000 on his wife’s engagement ring and put $ 350,000 into Malibu’s in-house recording studio. The cost of “his” Ferrari, as the press often called it, they shared because they needed a new car because the paparazzi already knew the old cars from Britney.
Kevin über seine Finanzen
Federline nahm viele Tracks im hauseigenen Studio auf, damit er sich in den Pausen mit um sein Baby kümmern kann. “Ich habe fast mein ganzes Geld, das ich mit Chaotic verdient habe, in dieses Studio gesteckt. Ich möchte nicht auf das eigene Geld meiner Frau angewiesen sein. Ich bekomme kein Geld von meiner Frau, weil ich es nicht möchte. In meiner Rolle als Ehemann und Vater, wäre ich nicht zufrieden damit, auf ihre Kosten zu leben. Ich möchte meine Familie mit meinem eigenen Geld versorgen können und das ist ein Punkt, den Britney erst zu lernen hatte. Das hat auch zum ein oder anderen Streit geführt”, gesteht Kevin.
$2 Mio. hat er für die Serie bekommen, hinzu kommen zurzeit noch Gelder für Auftritte in Clubs. Zuerst gab er davon $200,000 für den Verlobungsring seiner Frau aus und steckte $350,000 in das hauseigene Tonstudio von Malibu. Die Kosten “seines” Ferrari, wie die Presse es oft nannte, haben sie sich geteilt, da sie ein neues Auto brauchten, weil die Paparazzi die alten Wagen von Britney schon kannten.
MuchMusic.com: You’ve got a lot of sneakers, so how many times do you actually wear a pair?
Kevin: There’s some that I don’t wear at all. There’s some that I thought I’d only wear once but then I’d end up wearing them all week. It varies. Sometimes I’ll grab a shoe and I could base 20 outfits off of it, well then I’ll wear that shoe all the time.
Salon: The watch you’re wearing is worth more money than I’ve made in the last five years.
Kevin: That’s my baby. Whenever I made some money that’s the first thing I went and bought.
Salon: So there are certain aspects of the lifestyle you probably enjoy.
Kevin: Of course, of course. I have my fetishes like everybody else does. My shoes – my kick game is ridiculous.
Salon: How many shoes do you have?
Kevin: Probably like 80 to 100 pairs. My watch game is ridiculous – just jewelry in general. It’s an investment. I bought this [points to his watch], and it’s already gone up in value. All the jewelry I’m wearing has already gone up in value.
Salon: You’re not planning on selling it anytime soon are you?
Kevin: Hell no. I ain’t getting rid of it. I’m going to go out and get some more.
EW: So what would you buy if you ever did go on eBay?
Kevin: Maybe a nice piece of jewelry or some shoes. I’m a Nike collector.
EW: How many pairs do you have?
- You wear wife-beaters a lot, though.
It’s hot out here on the West Coast. I’m a wife-beater-and-shorts kind of dude. Why should I change that? Why can’t I go to grocery store in sweats? Everybody else does. I just get shit-talked for it.
- Note: I love the look of loose jeans (even tattered ones), Nike Dunks or Air Force Ones with open tongues, and caps
As he sits down behind the mixing board at the Malibu, California, studio where he’s recording his upcoming hip-hop album, Kevin Federline takes a swig of Coke and ponders placing the can in our camera’s frame.
“You know I’ve been f—ing publicizing their f—ing asses for f—ing years now. I think it’s time for them to f—ing give me some loot,” he says. “It could be great too, ‘cause she was repping Pepsi, and I could be repping Coke.” (She, of course, being wife Britney Spears.)
Federline flashes a mischievous smile and laughs.
Despite having a mouth like a truck driver’s, K-Fed has an instant charm to him. He’s the definition of laid back, but there is an eager energy in his voice and sincerity in what he says. He’s pretty funny, too.
Kevin’s the first to admit that he inherited a vital career advantage when he married Britney, but he doesn’t call attention to her celebrity as he casually tells a story from his honeymoon about struggling without modern technology.
He chain smokes, and his style, at least today, is more beach bum than Malibu money. But besides that, it seems the tabloids’ portrayal of Britney’s man is unmerited.
“The biggest misconception about Kevin is that he’s lazy,” says Disco D, one of the producers of Federline’s album. “Kevin really busts his ass and is a hard worker. I made him put in 12-hour days in the studio, and he really delivered. The other big misconception is that he’s a bad father and husband. This couldn’t be farther from the truth.”
In the studio, after he turns the Coke label away from the camera, Federline puts on his new single, “PopoZao,” and raps along to the first few lines. He moves his hands as if he’s conducting the track and eventually pulls out whatever dance moves one can do while sitting.
“Disco went to Brazil and came back and had this beat,” he says, still bobbing along. “We were sitting there listening to a bunch of Brazilian tracks, a lot of dance stuff from out there, real repetitious stuff. I caught on to the lingo and started asking him, ‘How do you say this? How do you say that?’ We made this song in one day, and it was brilliant.”
After recording “PopoZao” — apparently Portuguese slang for “nice ass” — Kevin played the song for his wife, and she loved it. That’s about as far as she lends her experienced ears.
“We talk about [my music], but not in that [critical] way,” says Federline, whose husky voice has a bit of Southern drawl that must have rubbed off from his wife. “She’s there and she supports my decision on what I’ve done. She’ll sit there and brainstorm ideas of the outer things around the music, what people are gonna do and how this is gonna happen. She’s given me insight in that.
"But I’ve seen it, too,” he adds. “Being out here and dancing for all these artists, I’ve seen what goes on behind the scenes. I’ve been able to learn so much from it. And now I’m able to use that just to gain [experience in] what I’m about to do. It’s great because I know the ins and outs of all this. I’ve been a rookie for like seven years, and I’ve worked my way up from apprenticeship to journeyman. And it’s inevitable, man.”
Kevin believes that joining Britney in the music business benefits their marriage — which, by the way, he says is not in any trouble.
“I’m with somebody who understands, and that’s the best way to look at it,” he says. “She knows exactly what I’m about to go through. She’s been through it. All that can do is help. She knows what to do, what to tell me, how to comfort me if I’m upset. That’s how we work. We’re so there for each other all the time.”
Federline recently had a studio built in the mansion where he and Britney are raising their infant son, Sean Preston. (“You couldn’t ask for a better mom,” he says of Spears.) Right now he’s learning the equipment, and ideally the couple will share it down the road. “We have fun when we get into the studio together,” he says.
So far, the couple has recorded a few tracks together, which Kevin described as the most personal music he’s ever made. The plan, however, is to “save ‘em for later” and first introduce the world to Federline the rapper sans his famous wife — if that’s possible. Most of the world, of course, already feels like they know K-Fed, thanks to constant paparazzi-fed coverage of his life in the tabloids, which have painted him as a hard-partying, freeloading, irresponsible parent.
“I don’t pick up the magazines and read 'em,” he says. “It doesn’t matter.”
“This is my favorite joint right here,” Federline says as cranks the volume on “Down South,” a crunk tune with the opening lyric, “Put your middle fingers up if you really don’t give a f—.”
Kevin Earl Federline was born on March 21, 1978 in Fresno, California, and raised on a steady diet of hip-hop, from Run-DMC on.
Through his love of rap he learned to dance, which occasionally helped keep him out of trouble. In his Tenaya Middle School yearbook he was named “Most Likely to Be Seen on 'America’s Most Wanted’,” and he was heading in that direction until he packed his bags and moved to Los Angeles to pursue dancing.
“When I got out of my situation in my hometown … I found a whole new way of life,” he says, recalling his initial years in L.A. working with everyone from Michael Jackson to Pink to Justin Timberlake. “I actually was doing something that I loved to do. I wasn’t doing some job where I hated going to work every day. I was tickled when I got to travel all around the world. I called my mom crying. You know, I’d never really been outside of California too much before then. And that’s what it’s about for me, doing what your heart desires and your soul desires. And if you just listen to it, you’ll figure it out.”
After settling down with Britney, Kevin knew he had an opportunity to finally pursue music as an artist first and dancer second, so he booked some time at nearby Document Room Recording Studios, where he is today.
“I didn’t know what route, what direction I would go until I got in the studio and then everything happened naturally, everything turned into this real hip-hoppy stuff,” he says. “I have other stuff I tried that actually sounds pretty good, alternative stuff, rock stuff, but I’m gonna go this route 'cause this is what I grew up with. This is what’s in my blood. I don’t know no different.”
Within hip-hop, Kevin wants to go all in sorts of directions, musically and lyrically, which is what attracted him to Disco D and his other producer, newcomer Notes.
“Everything they’ve thrown at me is so diverse,” he exclaims. “My favorite is when you walk into the studio and hear something you didn’t expect to hear. … That’s the element of surprise. You just get hit with the beat upside your head and it’s like, 'Put me in the booth right now. I don’t even need to write nothing down. Let’s do it.’ That’s it for me. It’s like a rush, man.”
Disco D, who worked on 50 Cent’s The Massacre, says he wanted to take Federline as left field as he would go while still reflecting his personality. “Kevin has a lot of guts for doing what he did on 'PopoZao,’ taking a stab at a new developing style from a totally different country and culture,” he says.
Lyrically, Federline has a few tunes that address the media and “pavarottis,” as he calls the paparazzi. Others recall his troubled teenage years, including “Untold Stories,” which samples a Journey track. “Using your life situations and talking about 'em, that’s what hip-hop is,” he says. “I’m just a real person, man. That’s it.”
Most of his songs, however, are straight-up club tracks.
“I want to be able to go out there and dance,” he explains. “I don’t want to give that up. That’s a big piece of my life. So in order to do that, I need to get everyone else out there to shake their ass.”
Although his album’s not due until spring, Kevin’s already putting together his live show, relying on knowledge he took in as a touring dancer.
“That’s going to be the best part of my album is watching me perform it,” he says. “I’ve seen so many stage performances and so many shows, the ideas I have for this tour are ridiculous. It’s gonna be something totally different. You don’t see rappers dancing, and I’m dancing for sure. And it ain’t gonna be no poppy dancing. The people I got with me are a bunch of street cats who are ridiculous.”
Perhaps because of the perception that he’s a slacker, Federline takes a great deal of pride in doing his work himself.
“I put this whole project together,” he boasts. “I’ve done it from scratch. I’ve had little help at all from people, no labels, no nothing like that. From doing that to what it is, it’s incredible.”
Document Room owner and producer J.T. Meskiel testifies to Kevin’s determination. “We start in the studio at 8:30 in the morning,” he says. “Kev writes all his own material, and I don’t mean on paper. He just goes into the booth and works it out. … And I’ve never met anyone who takes negative press in stride, but he’s always positive.”
Right now, Federline’s without a record label — he released “PopoZao” earlier this month via the Internet — and he might stay that way.
“I haven’t decided yet,” he says. “I’m building my machine that’s getting ready to set sail and I don’t know, man. I’m gonna use the Internet a lot. You have to use the Internet now, so I figure I’ll start my stuff by launching it on the Internet. All I have is time, and without a label, I can do whatever I want. … All it is is strategizing. You try to find that solution and run with it.”
Back in the studio, Federline tosses in “Pot Roastin’,” a “booty joint” with sexed-up lyrics over a simplistic beat. After the line “Between the cheeks/ Turn your little girls from sweet to freaks,” he lets out a laugh and halts the track.
He takes in the silence and gathers his thoughts.
“It’s crazy how it’s coming together, just like a puzzle that keeps falling and falling into place,” he says of the album. “When you get knocked down, some other piece falls to help you get back up there. It’s been a rollercoaster, blood, sweat and tears on this one.”
Federline knows he’s got a long road ahead of him, but he’s clearly optimistic. And whatever happens, he won’t give up easily.
“I’m doing this because it’s something that I love to do,” he says. “People spend their whole lives in jobs and situations they don’t like. So for me, I feel like I’m the luckiest man alive to be able to do what I love to do.”
KEVIN’S DIRTY LITTLE SECRET
When Kevin Federline took his place at the craps table at the Beau Rivage Resort & Casino in Biloxi, Miss., on Feb. 20, he made a lasting impression on his neighbor. She said Kevin, who was dripping with diamonds, stood over the table with $2,000 to $3,000 worth of chips, betting $200 to $250 at a time. But she wasn’t impressed with the baubles, his high-roller status, or his dapper good looks! “He stinks,” says the woman who stood next to him. “His body odor was really terrible. He smelled like he hadn’t showered in a week!”
The eyewitness noted that Kevin, 26, wasn’t with Britney, 23, but it’s unlikely the foulsmelling Federline would worry about his odor even if she were there. Star talked to one of his exes about Kevin’s, um, scent. “I can totally understand why he smelled so bad at the casino,” his ex-girlfriend, Amy Woody, 25, tells Star. “When he used to go to Vegas, he would gamble two days without sleeping, then he’d catch some sleep for a few hours and go straight back to the casino. He wouldn’t shower or brush his teeth at all so he’d stink. He didn’t care.”
While Britney’s rep terms the allegations that Kevin is stinky as “ridiculous,” his ex Amy, who dated Federline in late 1999 in their hometown of Fresno, Calif., disagrees. “It wasn’t only his armpits,” she says, “his feet were awful too.” Amy goes on to claim that Kevin never used deodorant. “I’m holding my nose just thinking about how bad he smelled,” she says. And a friend of Kevin’s ex-girlfriend Shar Jackson, 28 – mother of his two children, Kori, 2, and seven-monthold Kaleb – seconds that noxious notion. “Kevin would often go several days without taking a shower or bath,” says the friend. “It was gross.”
Another eyewitness who says he had the misfortune of sitting next to Federline on a 10- hour non-stop flight from Los Angeles to London tells Star that Kevin was indeed a pungent partier. “Kevin stripped down to a T-shirt on the plane,” says the Federline flight mate. “Not only did he look like a bum, but he was smelling like one too.”
And Kevin’s not the only one who seems to occasionally have an odor problem. Britney was reportedly asked by a stewardess to put on her shoes back during one cross-country flight last December when a passenger complained about her stinky feet. Maybe they should charter their own plane next time.
On the eve of his album launch, Kevin Federline would like to know that he’s more than a baby-daddying, venturing, Britney Spears-mooching goofball.
It’s 7:30 AM on a Friday in late April, and Kevin Federline sits in the Burbank studio of Power 106 - “Where Hip-Hop Lives.“ He’s a guest on Big Boy’s Neighborhood, the drive-time morning show hosted by Big Boy and his sidekicks, Tattoo (who’s messing with his forehead announcing I SLEPT WITH SHAQ) and Luscious Liz. Nike Air Force 1’s and a T-shirt that reads HOLLA @ Big Boy sits in front of a large touch-screen monitor. YO DAMN SELF, samples liberally from a tub of red licorice.
Federline’s manager, Dan Dymtrow, whom Federline affectionately refers to as Dumb Dan and "that little leprechaun,” crouches in the background alongside Jimmy, who is videotaping the proceedings. Jimmy’s been recording for months, in the studio and on trips to Vegas (when Spring made a promotional appearance at the Vegas nightclub Pure, Jimmy tells me, and there’s a line of bitches two football fields long), and Federline’s planning to use the footage in a making-of-dvd that will be packed with his debut rap album, Playing With Fire. Another friend, Eddie, sits in the hallway with Federline’s bodyguard, Big Mike. K-Fed, Federline says, “Hell no. They know I’d slap the shit out of them if they ever called me that.” Quiet, ”
Federline had been invited to Power 106 months ago, when his first single, “PopoZao,” a very misguided big of Brazilian radio, released on the internet. He wisely declined. “They have an agenda to bash on the air,“ he says, "today we’re just talking about the music.”
This morning is the premiere of Springline’s single “America’s Most Hated.” He’s been posting his song on his MySpace page a week ago, and he’s been on the job as his legit debut. “I came across your MySpace page last night,” Luscious Liz says on-air. "The music was actually pretty good.“ It’s not just a compliment, but Federline smiles proudly. During a break, Tat asks Federline about his shoes. The most he has ever spent on a pair of sneakers, Federline says, is $ 1,500, though he’s never worn them - they hang on the wall in his closet "like a piece of art.”
After twenty more minutes of not talking about music, Big Boy is finally ready to play “America’s Most Hated.” Big Boy turns it off after a few seconds. Federline sits up in his chair and looks worriedly at his manager. “Do you know what the Hat of Forbidden Questions is?” Big boy asks, pulling a green felt has from below his desk. “If you’re fifteen questions, we’ll go ahead and play the song in its entirety.” Federline smirks and leans way back in his chair again. Question number one: “If Britney Spears gave you a pass for a threesome, who would you bring into the bedroom?” Federline hesitates before blurting out, “Old girl in Sin City.” (Jessica Alba.) The next two questions require less thought.
“If you and Justin Timberlake were in a fight, who would win?” “I would.” “When you smoke, do you use a pipe or papers?” “Both.”
Now Big Boy takes a deep breath and slides his chair in toward the soundboard. “Kevin Federline,” he says, “if I make a business card for you right now, what should I put as your job title?”
Federline puts down the licorice he’s been gnawing on, and his smile - suspended between his two diamond earrings - goes serious. “I’m an artist,” he says.
6-month-old baby, Sean Preston, was treated for a skull fracture. Federline’s manager calls me that morning and tells me to stand by. "There’s a tabloid problem.“
Later that evening, Federline meets me in the lobby of the Fairmont Miramar Hotel in Santa Monica, shaking his head and saying, "There’s always a tabloid problem.” He makes us go for a drive before dinner so he can lay his new tracks, and as he pulls out the porch, he says, “When we first got together, they lived across the street to throw off the paparazzi. ” (“She,” “her,” “my wife,” “my old lady” - he almost never uses her name.) He pops in a cd and fiddles with the stereo. "I do not know how to do these works,“ he says. "The car’s a rental.” We’ve just got a new one tomorrow. “ He cracks the window and lights up a Marlboro Light.
Over the thumping base Federline tells me, "I know people call me Vanilla Ice.” He’s stopped reading the tabloids, he says, but he does not live in a bubble. He saw the Conan O'Brien sketch in which James Lipton recited the lyrics to “PopoZao” in a dramatic monologue. Ashton Kutcher did on Saturday Night Live, a commercial for “Federline briefs: man panties for wiggers.” (Federline loved it, though he does not know who James Lipton is.) "If you’re gonna come to me with some comedy shit, boy, you better come with it,“ he says. "Hopefully, one day I’ll get to do a skit about it on Saturday Night Live. (Yes, he wants to act. Federline told his agents at ICM that he was concentrating on the music. "I’d be a gangster-drug-dealer-type dude,” he says. But then he got sick on the day of the audition.)
As for the album, he has been working on it for nearly a year. He recorded some early tracks with Disco D, a 25-year-old wunderkind producer from Michigan. And he’s now hooked up with a guy called Bosco, who’s worked with Kanye West, and a young artist named Ya Boy, out of the Bay Area. (“Ya Boy,” he says) “It’s a perfect name.” I’m like, “Ya Boy.” They’re like, ‘I know he’s your boy, but what’s his name? 'I’m like,’ Ya Boy. ’“)
He does not have a record deal, but he says he’s turned down offers. He’s looking for a fifty-fifty split, he has me, one that would make him his own label (which he calls call Federation Records), plus the marketing push of one of the majors. Dre might get. "I just want to make it up front,” he says, “I’ll make it back to you.” 'It’s gonna be ridiculous.’
His manager - who takes pains to tell me! So Federline sat in the studio and went through tracks he’d recorded, trying to narrow them down to the top or twelve that would make the album. "There’s a lot of stuff I want to recut,“ he says. "I just cut a record last night.” I listened to it this morning, and it sounds like I’m reading a piece of paper. Still, he’s confident that he’s breaking new ground. "I’m the first white boy bringing the West Coast sound,“ he says. "It’s gonna be huge.” Eminem does. “
Federline laid down many tracks in his home recording studio. That way he could pop in and say hello to the baby. "I spend almost all of my money on Chaotic building the studio,” he says. (Chaotic was a five-episode reality show on UPN, Frankensteined together with home videos that he and Britney shot on her onyx hotel tour.) “I do not rely on my wife’s money,” he says. "I do not get any money from my wife.“ He tells me he made $ 2 million on the show, most of which he’s spending. The first thing he bought was a $ 200,000 engagement ring for his wife. Then he spent $ 350,000 building the home studio. And bought his truck. "I’m almost broke,” he says. FEDERLINE in place of Ferrari), he and his wife split the cost. "As a man, as a male figure and a father, I would not be happy sitting back and living off my wife’s fortune,“ he goes on. That’s what she’s got to learn about me. ” This sounds honorable enough, and while the IRS knows for sure whether it’s the truth, I’m inclined to believe him. It’s not exactly hard-core for aspiring rap star to admit he and his wife went Dutch on the Ferrari.
We pass the jewelry store where he recently bought the gold watch he’s wearing. “It’s a one-of-a-kind piece,” he says. There’s no such thing as diamonds or gold, there’s no such thing as a diamond or gold, there’s no such thing as a diamond in it that hit a bell The first one is for the hour - it hits twice, it’s two o'clock, I love playing chess. I do not know why. “
Federline stops at a yellow light, cracks the window, and lights another cigarette. Jimmy and Eddie and Big Mike get on his case about how much he’s smoking. "To me, it’s probably the equivalent of being addicted to heroin.” When he tells me that he did not, he said, “I’m gonna try that,” he says. “Matt Damon did not.”) He’s not allowed to smoke in the house, and he says, “I won ’t smoke around my kids. I never have.’ When I’m out of the woods, he says, "If I’m outside, I always make sure I watch where the smoke travels in the wind.”
Over lobster, Federline tells me his life story. He was born in Fresno in 1978. His parents divorced when he was 8 years old, and he spent some time living in Carson City, Nevada, with his mom age 10 or 11 to be with his dad. "I just got into trouble in Nevada,“ he says, fiddling with a Jack and Coke. "I think I had a little bit of a problem with the divorce.” I guess I’m rebelling against my mom, blaming her for it, and wanting to be with my father figure. “
He dropped out of high school in the ninth grade. "I had too much beef with people there,” he says. It’s not like I was dancing, I was dancing, I was dancing, I was dancing, I was dancing, I was dancing, I was dancing I was 13, and the music was just - “he snaps his fingers -” there. “ (When he turned 18, Federline got his GED. "I’ve got amazing-ass test scores on it,” he says. “It’s the hardest thing in the world the state of California. ”)
At 17, Federline moved into a bedroom apartment in Fresno with a girlfriend. "That’s when I went through the struggles of poverty,“ he says. "No power, no gas.” He talks about his main source of income - what he calls “the bad shit” - openly, but he asks "Just write criminal mischief,“ he says, and that’s what the money made from "the bad shit” was supplemented by delivering pizzas.
If not for Jimmy, who’s a dancer, he might never have left Fresno. But after Jimmy found work in a Christina Aguilera video, making more money in four days than Kevin made in a month, Federline packed his bags for Los Angeles. He made $ 1,200 a week touring as a backup dancer with Pink, plus his by diem, which is often lost betting on video games. It’s one of the happiest times in his life, he says, recalling a night in Buffalo, when they are toilet-papered the 98 Degrees tour bus, and a flight to Australia, when he sat up drinking Jack and Cokes for fifteen hours straight to deal with the fear of flying. At the airport, Aussie grabbed him, alone, out of the crowd, “because I was so fucked-up.” Then he vomited. There were just four dancers on tour, and they were a family, he says. Pink was “one of the homeys.
Sharpie Jackson, got pregnant with her first child, Federline booked a gig dancing in Michael Jackson’s "You Rock My World” video. He leans in as he says, one day, after rehearsal. "You felt him coming into the room before he even opened the door,“ he says. "Everybody got quiet.” He sits down, crosses his legs, looks at everybody, and I like to, he wants to see it. He can hear you’re off by your steps. “He’s the master of that shit.” He named his and Shar’s second baby Caleb Michael Jackson Federline.
Not long after that, he was out of work for a year, and “It’s like, you just gotta be there for each other,” he says. "You gotta have the same commitment to each other.“ I think a lot of people’s problems in Hollywood is ego. ” Share to Twitter Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Facebook “I’ve had a kid every time I’ve had a child,” he says. "I always wanted to be a young dad.“
"No matter what anybody says about me being a father,” he adds, “that’s my number one priority - my children.” He is reluctant to discuss the details of that family services visit. I have faith in myself.I have faith in my wife, and in my other kids’ mother, They’re still gonna have to go through the trials in life - they’ve got to. “And that is not happenin ’.”
The Federlines were without full-time help for a while and afterwards hired a manny, Perry Taylor, whom have tabloids rumored to be involved with Britney. Federline just wants to find that, but they are just like other first-time parents.
“I’d say she plays mum real well, dude.” It’s like one of those things that comes naturally. “ What you magazines do not tell you is: "You do not know what it’s like to be chased by a motorcade of paparazzi the Starbucks is a minute from the house. If she feels like she’s gotta take the baby and put him on her lap and get out there, so be it. ”
Alpaca, a glass box-cum-recording studio that overlooks the ocean. This is where Federline has been holed up in the few weeks since his power 106 visit. On the day I visit him, a song just recorded, called “Dance with a Pimp,” plays in the background. (“I recorded that so I could dance in the video,” he says. “That’s my return to dancing.”) Federline tells me about the stormy early days in his relationship with Britney. "She thought she could play me,“ he says, and goes on what I think is an unintentional little rap. "She was playing games, testing me to see where my head is at, see if she could get away with this or that.”
He lights up a cigarette and walks towards the window. "Everyone is moving to Malibu now,“ he says.
For one thing, Jay-Z has heard "America’s Most Hated.” “I think he likes it,” Federline says, adding, “I’m trying to get to Atlanta to meet Jermaine Dupri.” He’s waiting for a call from dr. Dre - “You do not call Dre; he’ll reach out to you” - and he’s Snoop to make a cameo. Sony BMG “lost their shit” when they heard what he’s got so far. Federline figures that appearing on his album would be a good career move for any urban artist looking to cross over. My album
One of the studio’s engineers comes in, puts two fingers on his lips, and makes the international symbol for “Wanna get high?” Federline brushes him off. “I’m not talking about that shit.” Instead of saying I have been traveling. They were in Hawaii after visiting Katrina on a trip to New Orleans. In Hawaii, Federline cut the cornrows. “My old lady was begging me too,” he says. "I’ve got my whole back tattooed up.“ It was pretty fucking painful. ” The tattoo is of a Polynesian tribal belt. “It’s like the creation of life,” he says. A baby sitting in silhouette - “he in the middle, he has a fetus and it’s got the suns and the ocean and then the stars on my shoulders, right here. It follows my wife-beater line. You can not see it when I’m wearing a wife-beater. ”
The music ends, and springline walks toward the stereo, or rather rolls toward it, dragging one leg. “I saved the best shit for last,” he tells me. "I just recorded this shit with my wife. It’s bangin 'No one’s heard this shit yet.“ Federline wrote the lyrics, and Britney sings the hook: I’m crazy / I’m loving you / for feeling you.
They recorded the day they went to New York to announce their pregnancy on Letterman, which sort of discredits the rumors that she wants out. "People gotta understand I’m working, too,” he says. "She’s not the only one who has to go do things.“
Federline turns the music way up. He bobs his head. He raps along, looking pleased, giving the double middles to no one and, presumably, to everyone. "That’s the fourth quarter cleanup right there,” he says. "After she gets skinny, we’re gonna hit 'em with this shit.“
Mr. Britney Spears has gone on a diet and made a goal of becoming a model and doing celebrity endorsements. "It looks like he is losing some weight. He is playing golf, like, every day and taking better care of himself. ” may 2005
No word yet on whether he has lost his belly, which looked like a sympathy bump to match Spears’ real one.
It’s late afternoon and it’s 20 degrees. At the far end of Djurgården lies a in love couple and kisses each other. On a solar heat cut with dandelions around them, they embrace each other and laugh. The woman is the world’s biggest and best-selling artist Britney Spears, 23. He Kevin Federline is a dancer and a Justin Timberlake copy. He is cohabiting with American television star Shar Jackson as if two months will feed the couple’s twins. They also have two-year-old daughter Corrie. Nobody passing by on Djurgården discovers that it is the world star Britney Spears, who lies there with the man whom she called “just a friend”. But Expressen’s exclusive pictures will Britney Spears get hard to explain. For over 15 minutes, she and her family father Kevin Federline are kissing and smiles at each other. They look happy. Sometimes they sit up and drink from a common Coca-Cola bottle. For Britney, it can only be a financial disaster. She has a multimillion contract with Coca-Cola’s worst competitor Pepsi. In the sunshine they look relaxed. They look happy. The ongoing tour has been scandalized. For example, Britney has visited the hash cafe, vomited on a public toilet and visited a gay club. And media around the world have wondered about her new “friend”. Expressen’s photos, taken in Stockholm yesterday, are the answer. After a while Britney and Kevin get up and get ready for their clothes. They go back to their Mercedes limousine. Taking each other in hand They take each other in their hands and look deep in each other’s eyes. When the Express goes to Britney, does she sparkle when she gets the question of how it feels to be in love? "I do not know,“ she says, bending down to pick up a dandelion. Kevin takes her back and says: "Sweden is fine, very nice. Everyone, however, does not learn to appreciate the couple’s Stockholm visit as much.
Det är sen eftermiddag och det är 20 grader. Längst ute på Djurgården ligger ett förälskat par och kysser varandra. På en solvarm klippa med maskrosor omkring sig omfamnar de varandra och skrattar. Kvinnan är världens nu största och bäst säljande artist Britney Spears, 23. Han Kevin Federline är dansare och en Justin Timberlake-kopia. Han är sambo med amerikanska tv-stjärnan Shar Jackson som om två månader ska föda parets tvillingar. De har dessutom sedan tidigare tvååriga dottern Kori. Ingen som passerar förbi ute på Djurgården upptäcker att det är världsstjärnan Britney Spears, som ligger där och kelar med mannen, som hon kallat för "bara en vän”. Men Expressens exklusiva bilder kommer Britney Spears få svårt att förklara bort. I över 15 minuter ligger hon och familjefadern Kevin Federline och kysser och smeker varandra. De ser lyckliga ut Ibland sätter de sig upp och dricker ur en gemensam Coca-Cola-flaska. För Britney kan bara det bli en ekonomisk katastrof. Hon har ett multimiljonkontrakt med Coca-Colas värsta konkurrent Pepsi. I solskenet ser de avspända ut. De ser lyckliga ut. Den pågående turnén har kantats av skandaler Britney har exempelvis besökt haschcafé, kräkts på en offentlig toalett och besökt en gayklubb. Och medier över hela världen har undrat om hennes nye “vän”. Expressens bilder, som togs i Stockholm i går, är svaret. Efter ett tag reser sig Britney och Kevin upp och börjar ordna till sina kläder. De går tillbaka till sin Mercedes limousin. Tar varandra i hand De tar varandra i handen och tittar djupt i varandras ögon. När Expressen går fram till Britney fnissar hon generat när hon får frågan om hur det känns att vara nyförälskad? - Jag vet inte, säger hon och böjer sig ner för att plocka upp en maskros. Kevin tar henne om ryggen och säger: - Sverige är fint, väldigt fint. Alla lär dock inte uppskatta parets Stockholmsbesök lika mycket.
She gets up, looks in the mirror at her smeared makeup, looks at your baggy pants wearing hip-hop self with your unshaven face, and smiles. Every time you are seen out you are wearing baggy pants that fall to your knees and shoes that have no laces.
