Fresh Fest brings backs memories for Whodini member

• The event: Fresh Fest Old School Reunion 2008 featuring Naughty By Nature, Big Daddy Kane, Doug E. Fresh, Slick Rick, Force M.D.’s and Whodini.

• The Atlanta connections: Ecstasy of hip-hop trio Whodini — also known as the guy who always wore the hat — has lived in the metro area since the mid-’90s.

• The latest on Whodini: “You know, Whodini is a great example of longevity in hip-hop,” Ecstasy, born John Fletcher, claims. “Twenty-five years after we started we’re still able to tour and make money in this business. Now when we started the money wasn’t in hip-hop that there is now. It’s not that kind of money. But we’re still able to survive and tour — every year. Selling out major venues. Five-thousand seat venues.

“We always talk about making another record, but it’s kind of scary,” continues Ecstasy, whose group’s last album was released in 1996. “The climate for making music is so different now. But if the right situation comes along, I can see us doing like a double-sided single or something. …We did a party at the [2008 Democratic National Convention], and we talked to will.i.am and LL [Cool J] about doing something. Again, if the right situation comes along, why not?”

• The story behind the name: “We didn’t call ourselves Whodini, the record company did,” Ecstasy says. “We thought we were just going to be a studio group or whatever — where people wouldn’t really know who the people in the group were; just the song. But I guess because our first record was ‘Magic’s Wand,’ somebody thought the name Whodini would be cool. If it were up to us we probably would have called ourselves the Chosen Few or the Devastating Two; because people had names like that then. The Funky Four. Treacherous Three. In the end it worked out though because Whodini was different than everything that was going on at the time. It helped us stand out. And our whole image was counterpart to Run-DMC’s and other guys. They were b-boys in tennis shoes and track suits. We were catering to the women — dressing fly, in silk and leather and boots and crocodile shoes.”

• The Jermaine Dupri they know: “Oh, man, as I think everybody knows now, Jermaine opened up the original Fresh Festival. The first hip-hop tour in arenas. He was about 10, 11 or 12, and he could really dance. So we asked if we could feature him in our part of the show — you know, give him some more experience. And the next thing we know he is one of the most successful producers in the world. And we’re in the studio with him, producing us [on their last studio album, “Six”]. He’s always been a hard worker, though. And he’s learned from some of everybody in the business — Run-DMC, Russell Simmons — and just taking bits and pieces from them and done his thing his own way.”

• What may surprise you about Ecstasy: “During some of the leaner years we’ve had to get like real jobs to maintain. … Like me personally, I’ve been an EMT paramedic and an ultrasound tech. But we always seem to come back to this — getting on the road and performing. After you’ve been able to do something like this, for this long, you can’t really hold down a real job.”