Grandmaster Flash

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Grandmaster Flash

Grandmaster Flash helped invent both an art form, the hip-hop sound, and a type of artist, the turntablist DJ. When the 16-year-old Flash (born Joseph Saddler) got into Bronx street parties in 1973, he discovered he had no skills as a break dancer, but he did have a passion for music and tinkering with electronic equipment in his bedroom. Adored, party-throwing DJs such as Kool Herc, Pete DJ Jones, and Grandmaster Flowers inspired Flash to combine the sharpest parts of their acts into something better and strong. During 1974-75, Flash perfected a way to incoporate and extend break beats on the beat, so that dancers could just keep rolling on with the funky bits he selected. He could also assemble pieces of records into complete new workouts, something everybody takes for granted today. This was so innovative back then that it called for a new style of MC, or rapper, to put it across to an audience The Furious Five, who were up to the challenge, consisted of exporter Cowboy (Keith Wiggins), wordslinger Kid Creole (Nathaniel Glover), and Kid's more politically minded brother Melle Mel (Melvin Glover), who brought in Scorpio (Eddie Morris) and love-man Raheim (Guy Williams). The Five began to finish one another' lines and toss around raps rhythmically in time to Flash's turntable work. Together they became the mightiest originators in hip-hop history. Message from the Beat Street contains key underground singles, such as "Freedom"; numbers that made Flash and the Five favorites of the new-wave rock set, such as "It's Nasty (Genius of Love)"; and Melle Mel's most ferocious, relentless performance ever, on "The Message," the gunshot that singled the rise of gangsta rap. Also very desirable is the British import of The Message, the only LP issued while the original group was intact. The clincher is "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel," the only prime-Period example of Flash's ability to set and shatter moods, with his turntables and faders running through a collage of at least 10 record that sound like hundreds. Those who want to spend more and get a full picture of the group should go for Adventures on the Wheels of Steel, with choice rarities. When the new generation of DJs revived the art of tuntablism back in the early 2000's, Flash finally began to get his due respect as a pioneer scientist of sound. Grandmaster Flash is definitive history of rap & hip-hop- being there from the start. He has pioneered techniques that are still used today. He's achieved more than any could dream of, or as Flash himself put it when looking back on his career, "First is forever." True 'dat.

It's Grandmaster Flash

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