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Interviews

LMFAO’s Redfoo on Going Solo, Being Despised, and Britney Sex Jokes

Redfoo / Photo by Fred Tanneau/AFP/Getty

For six years, the colossally coiffed and brightly clothed human Muppet known as Redfoo stood side-by-side with his flashy foil SkyBlu as dance-pop memes LMFAO. Then last September, the “Party Rock Anthem” and “Sexy and I Know It” stars went on hiatus. Now Redfoo, born Stefan Gordy (he’s the son of Motown Records founder Berry), is working on a solo album, due later this year, which he’s heralded with the typically hedonistic single “Bring Out the Bottles.” He sounded clear-headed though, when we rang him at his hotel in Melbourne, the city where his rumored girlfriend, top-ranked tennis star Victoria Azarenka, was slugging her way towards an Australian Open title. Even at 8:30 a.m. local time, Redfoo, 37, gamely returned our conversational volleys.

A lot of people seemed pretty excited when it looked like LMFAO might be breaking up. One tweeter even said, “I feel like an FDNY member on the day bin Laden was killed.” Deserving?
The real negative, ridiculous comments make me laugh so much. The over-the-top, “I hope they die” ones. That stuff tickles me. I really got a handle on it. Most of the stuff is the fans who aren’t happy. It’s like when you’re in a relationship with a girl and you know it may not be working out but you got the kids, the fans are like our kids. We knew we had some different ideas for a little while. It was hard to deal with. I do this to entertain people. [Ed.’s note: check out our list of the most hated bands of all time here.]

Your official Facebook page links to your Wikipedia page, which said your solo album is going to be called, I’m Getting Drunk! Really?
That reminds me, I have a meeting with my Facebook people. But no, that title would be dumb. The working title now is I Look Good Naked. That’s the reason you go to the gym. That’s the reason you’re on your diet. That’s the reason you’re living — just to look good naked.

Are we talking concept record?
I’m at least going to make a song about looking good naked; or a lyric in some kind of workout song.

While we’re on the subject of lyrics, one of the lines in “Bring Out the Bottles” goes, “I drank so much that I hit the floor / She dropped it low / I slapped it, yo.” True story?
Usually I’ll go on the dance floor and I might slap a girl on the booty and they’ll look at me like, “Who’s that?” I’ll say, “It’s Redfoo with the big ass fro!” They’ll go, “Oh okay. If it’s you, it’s okay.” Every now and then, a girl will move my hand away. It’s a little awkward sometimes.

How well does LMFAO’s cardboard-box-wearing dance-crew member, the Shuffle Bot, do with the fans? Does he have groupies?
Oh, yeah! All the time, but he don’t know what to do. I’m trying to coach him. He’s trying to take his head off and I say, “Nah man, leave it on! They like the head, man.”

You’ve been hanging out with Victoria Azarenka lately, and she said you recorded the sound of her grunting on the court. Why?
I recorded one of her matches at the U.S. Open. I was working on a sports song about winning, doing your best, and I needed a documentary element, something from a real event. I took the sample and isolated her grunt, because she was playing against another grunter, and I put it in the song with stuff like me saying, “Yeah, baby, let’s go!” She grunts in A440, perfect resonance with the universe. I didn’t even have to change the key.

Long before LMFAO, you were trying to make it as stand-up comedian. What was your best joke?
I used to do a bit where I’d say, “Would you guys sleep with Britney Spears if you couldn’t tell anybody?” The audience would laugh a little and then I’d say, “That’s the whole reason why I’m having sex with Britney Spears, so I can tell my friend Jamal.” I’d be acting like I was hitting it from the back, having sex, and I’d be like, “Ooh, I can’t wait to tell Jamal about this!” And that was the end of the set. One time, though, I remember the host [at the club] said, “If you’re having sex with Britney Spears and you’re thinking about a dude, maybe you shouldn’t be having sex with girls.” I didn’t take offense, but I didn’t realize the joke could be taken that way. I never did it again.

Your dad is Berry Gordy, who founded the record label responsible for some of the best pop music ever recorded. What’s the meanest thing he’s said about your music?
He second-guesses me all the time. He heard [2008 LMFAO single] “I’m in Miami Bitch,” and said, “I like that beat, but I don’t get it.” I said, “Well, you have to be from Miami.” The first LMFAO song he thought was amazing was “I’m Not a Whore.” He didn’t really like the “Sexy and I Know It” video. He said, “You wiggling around — you’re going to get in a trouble for that.” And our parents didn’t really like the name LMFAO. They were really upset by it. That’s how we knew it was kickass.

And now it’s going away for a while. Ultimately, did one of you guys party-rock too hard?
If you asked both of us, we’d both say we party rocked too hard. I can’t answer that fairly with out [Skyblu] here but we’ve had our share of party rocking really hard. If you look at the YouTube video “The Drunkest Man Ever” it shows what happens after four shots of Bacardi 151. I lost a bet and I had to drink four shots. It was funny, but I’ve never drank it since.