Among the multitude of celebrities in our myriad People of the Year lists—in InTown, Rockland Mag, Suburbarazzi, and The Journal News—nobody generated quite as much controversy as a certain New City rapper. Yes, we’re talking about Stephen Redmond—henceforth to be know, at his request, as only Lucky Me.

We received a deluge of letters from Clarkstown parents complaining about Rockland Magazine’s decision to feature the artist, best known for his YouTube hit “I Love New City,” as No. 20 in our countdown. One wrote, “Why would you highlight to dregs of the county???” Another alleged, “Your magazine added to the hype of a drug dealer and an adult male who is known to frequent school events and exchange phone numbers with 14 year old girls, perhaps to add to his customer base.” And yet another said, “Does he [the author of said article] realize that he featured a drug dealer next to people who have tried to bring threater and movies back to Riverspace? What a disgrace!!”

Of course, all of the letters arrived unsigned and on the same paper—looking an awful lot like they came off an identical printer. Still, the Clarkstown parent(s) wasn’t the only Lucky Me hater out there. Another person, posting as Tiffany Spencer, had this to say on the blog back on December 5: “i have heard another rapper by the name of Fire who’s music is way more realistic and perfected he is also from Nyack juast as Lucky me.”

Naturally, when Lucky Me himself caught wind of this, it set off a heated comment war. And when we interviewed Fire shortly before Christmas—if only to give give equal time to all Nyack (or former Nyack) rappers—Lucky Me was one of the first people to sound off on the post: “ARE SERIOUS YALL GIVE THIS BUM SOME LIGHT / NO ONE KNOWS THIS GUY / HELL WILL NEVA BE AS GOOD AS ME / I WAS STAYED QUIET UNTIL I SAW THIS.” Lucky was also good enough to share his AIM handle in that comment, and—well, we couldn’t help but take the bait.

An extensive interview soon followed. The full text is after the break, in its full instant-messenger glory …

Sent at 11:11 AM on Thursday

Suburbarazzi: Lucky Me, you there?
Lucky Me: yes sir
Suburbarazzi: ok, ready for some questions?
Lucky Me: NO PROBLEM LETS DO IT!!! LOL

Suburbarazzi: first question: What was the inspiration for “I Love New City�?
Lucky Me: MY FRIENDS FROM NEWCITY . THEY PRETTY MUCH TOLD ME WHAT TO TALK ABOUT FROM THE SCHOOLS TO THE BOWLING ALLEY
Suburbarazzi: Some of your fans have called the song an “anthem� to their hometown. Of course, other residents haven’t been such big fans. Who did you get the most complaints from?
Lucky Me: NYACK HATERS….
OTHER LOCAL RAPPERS
Suburbarazzi: People from New City who hate Nyack?
Lucky Me: NAH
ITS OTHER RAPPERS WHO HATE
NEWCITY LOVES THE SONG
Suburbarazzi: What about parents and school administrators? Have any of them asked you to take the video down off YouTube?
Lucky Me: EVEN THE NEWCITY PRINCIPALS TOLD ME THEY LOVE THE SONG WHILE ATTENDING THE SOUTH VS. NORTH GAME
THEY SAID THE LANGUAGE WAS KINDA RAW BUT THE THEY LOVED IT
SO THATS ALL THAT MATTER TO ME IS MY FANS
THAT MADE MRNEWCITY
Suburbarazzi: Do you mind if we embed the video on Suburbarazzi?
Lucky Me: NO PROBLEM SIR

Here’s the original “I Love New City” video:

Suburbarazzi: Who are the random kids that flash throughout the “I Love New City� video?
Lucky Me: MY FRIENDS
NONE OF THEM DO COKE
THERE MY FRIENDS I WOULDNT HAVE MY FRIENDS,DO SOMETHING I WOULDNT DO
Suburbarazzi: How many videos do you have online now?
Lucky Me: IVE DONE OVER 90
BUT 66 REMAIN
I WORKED REAL HARD IN 07**
Suburbarazzi: It shows
How do you feel about dog fighting?
Lucky Me: I MEAN I LOVE ANIMALS AND I WOULD NEVA HARM ONE
BUT.. I FEEL MICK VICK WAS DONE WRONG
YOU CANT DOG FIGHT IN YA BACK YARD BUT U CAN KILL INNOCENT PEOPLE IN IRAQ FOR OIL
Suburbarazzi: As you know, you were listed as on of the “People of the Year� in Rockland Magazine. Would you have preferred that we listed you as Lucky Me, and not Stephen Redmond?
Lucky Me: LUCKY ME
I WANNA THANK YOU GUYS FOR THE LOVE ON THAT
I WAS TOTALLY CAUGHT OFF GUARD WITH THAT ON E[smile]
Suburbarazzi: Since the story came out, a group of Clarkstown parents started a letter writing campaign, attacking the magazine and the newspaper that publishes it, The Journal News. Why do you think your music has caused such a strong reaction from the community?
Lucky Me: BECAUSE I CAME DIFFRENT
HERE U SEE THIS BLACK KID FROM THE GROUP
WITH WHITE KID ON HIS PAGE AND THERE LOVING ME
THE PARENTS CANT UNDERSTAND THAT
AND ALL THESE NEWCITY PARENTS USED TO BE KIDS ONCE YA KNOW
SO WHEN THEY HEARD THE SONG IT RUNG A BELL!!!
Suburbarazzi: Some of the parents who wrote to us claimed that you are a drug dealer. Have you ever dealt drugs?
Lucky Me: NO SIR
Suburbarazzi: Have you ever been arrested?
Lucky Me: IM 25
CLEAN RECORD
IMM GOOD KID
Suburbarazzi: Do you have a day job?
Lucky Me: YES I DO STOCK AT TARGET
AND IM THE CEO OF TURN ME UP ENT
I HAVE 3 ARTIST

Suburbarazzi: We loved the “Rockland Magazine Freestyle� rap that you posted to MySpace. Especially the Beach Boys sample. What happened to that?
Lucky Me: I TOOK IT DOWN SO I CAN GIFT WRAP IT FOR YALL@T ROCKLAND MAG ON XMAS BUT I GUESS SANTA WAS SLACKING THIS YEAR BUT ILL SEND IT TO U EMAIL CAN U CAN PUT IT UP
NO PROBLEM IT FOR YALL

Here’s Lucky Me’s “Rockland Magazine Freestyle” rap:

Download:

Suburbarazzi: In an interview with The Journal News, you said, “On the outside, I may be modest, but there’s a little man inside me dancing.� Paint us a picture of this little man.
Lucky Me: HE HAS A SMILY FACE ON
HAT TO THE BACK
AND A SHIRT THATS SAYS MRNEWCITY.COM ON IT
HES LAUGHING BECAUSE WHO WOULD OF KNOWN ALL OF THIS FAME
SIGNING AUTOGRAPHS
Suburbarazzi: A feud of sorts has been brewing between you and fellow rapper Gregory Dubuisson, aka Fire. What’s you biggest beef with Fire?
Lucky Me: FIRE WHO?
NO ONE KNOW THIS GUY
AND I WANNA KEEP IT LIKE THATS
HES A BUM
HES BEEN RAPPING FOR YEARS
AND THIS WAS MY ROOOKIE YEAR
AND EVERYBODY KNOW MY NAME
Suburbarazzi: Well, he’s been coming after you like a Mack truck. lots of trash talking
Lucky Me: I KNOW
HES TRASH
HE USE TO THAT
HE TALK ABOUT GUNS AND STUFFF
ROCKLAND KIDS CANT RELATE TO THATS
AND THATS REAL TALK
Suburbarazzi: Doesn’t the whole rap war thing sort of depends on having a geographical distance from your adversary? If both you and Fire are from Nyack, shouldn’t you be teaming up and, say, picking a fight with rapper from Scarsdale, over the Hudson in Westchester county?
Lucky Me: NO
BECAUSE I DONT REAP NYACK HE DO
I REAP NEWCITY
WHEN IM ON TV I WILLL SAY IM FROM NEWCITY
NYACK GET NO LOVE FROM ME
LIVED THE PAST……
Suburbarazzi: So you don’t live in Nyack?
Lucky Me: BUT I MUST GIVE A SHOUT OUT TO MY NUMBER ONE FAN FROM NYACK
BROOKIE COOKIE
I WANNA GO ON THE RECORD BY SAYING NO
I GO THERE
Suburbarazzi: How important is street cred to becoming a rapper?
Lucky Me: WELL THE STREET CRED THAT I WANT IS DIFFRENT
I DONT WANNA BE KNOW AS THE TUFF GUY
I WANNA BE KNOW FOR MAKING GOOD MUSIC
Suburbarazzi: Not the kind of street cred that involved going to Rockland County Jail for armed robbery in 2004 and 50 days for assaulting a police officer? I mean, the Fire kind of street cred?
Lucky Me: I LOVE YOU MANNNNNN
UR THE BEST
GETTING IN TROUBLE AND TRYNA MAKE IT DONT MIXXXXX
YOU DONT WANNA SCARE THE PEOPLE AAWAY FROM U

Suburbarazzi: OK, last question: What’s the first thing you’ve got planned for 2008?
Lucky Me: IF THE PAPER WORK GET DONE I WILL BE GOING ON TOUR WITH *SHYHEIM THE RUGGED CHILD FROM WU TANG CLAN
ANDI HAVE THE PAPER WORK FOR THAT
TO SHOW THE PUBLIC
FIRE
IS JUST TALK
AND…..I WILL BE DOING 100 VIDEO THIS YEAR
AND WILL MAKE THE 2008 PEOPLE OF THE YEAR AGAIN
CAUS EROCKLAND IS MINES AS FAR AS MUSICK
Suburbarazzi: It’s on!
Lucky Me: NOT TO BE COCKY
BUT I BELIEVE IN ME
[smile]

Suburbarazzi: Thanks for doing this
Lucky Me: NO THANK YOU AND YA WHOLE TEAMMMMM OVER THERE AT SUBURBARAZZI
CAN I GIVE SOME SHOUT OUTS
Suburbarazzi: sure
Lucky Me: MY SON OMAREE HES THE REASON IM RAPPING MY SON JORDAN TURN ME UP ENT I WANNA THANK THE ROCKLAND REPORT 9 10 AM TUES AND I WANNA THANK THE GATLIN FAMILY IN NEWCITY AND OF COURSE NEWCITYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY AND ROCKLAND MAG AND YOU SIR LOL

Lucky Me was also good enough to email us a photo of the T-shirt he created using the page from Rockland Magazine that he was featured on. Here it is:

Lucky Me’s YouTube page

Lucky Me’s MySpace page

(top photo: Vincent DiSalvio / The Journal News; YouTube video, “Rockland Magazine Freestyle,” and additional photos courtesy Lucky Me)