Let’s Take It Back Old School…With Grandmaster Flash

The sound of hip hop as we know it today is much different than how it sounded in its early beginnings in the late 70’s. The metamorphosis from soul and funk music is a journey in time to when rappers, which then were referred to as MC’s, strictly wanted to have the flyest rhymes. Even the crowds of people were much different, they just wanted to dance and have a good time; there was no such thing as “bottle service”. The sounds that were emerging from the Bronx during that time were nothing like anyone had heard before. With that being said, it would soon be called “hip hop”, a term coined by a rapper of a group called Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.

As a DJ myself, I find it important to share the humble beginnings of how DJ’ing began. A DJ or “disc jockey” is an essential part of music and especially your nightlife. If there is any DJ to learn about, it must be Grandmaster Flash. Check this out, the guy invented scratching! No DJ before him ever touched records, in fact, when he first did it, people thought it was weird. More importantly, he is credited as the first to use turntables as a percussion instrument. He was able to create a new piece of music by focusing on “breaks”—what Flash described as “the short, climactic parts of the records that really grabbed me”—as a way of heightening musical excitement and creating something new.

Flash’s manipulation of records and creation of techniques such as the Quick Mix Theory has completely transformed the art of DJ’ing.

Joseph Saddler a.k.a. Grandmaster Flash has one of the most eye-opening life stories I have ever read about. His book entitled The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash: My Life, My Beats tells the story of how he made history in a turbulent time and family. As he states in his book “I helped create something that blew up bigger than anybody could ever have imagined” and there is no denying that.

At the age of six he would escape his room and dance at his parent’s house parties and try to play with his dad’s records only to be “whooped” by him. His father would leave the family for months at a time and his mother developed a mental illness. Eventually Child Welfare determined that he and his four sisters could no longer sustain without an adult and were shipped off to a foster home. He would scrap together music equipment that people threw out to make equipment of his own. Over the years of listening to DJ’s like Kool DJ Herc he was able to develop his craft and become the biggest act of his time. He later found MC’s to rap over his dope beats and a group was formed that could battle anyone. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious five turned out such hits as “The Message” and “Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel”.

It wasn’t all glorious for Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five though. As for Grandmaster Flash, the group had problems with the label, his love life was entangled as he had children with multiple wives, worst of all- he had fallen victim to the crack era. Crack had hit the Bronx so hard in early 80’s that you couldn’t abide by Nancy Regan’s campaign and “just say no”. Luckily one of his sister’s helped pull him out of it and he slowly got back to what he did best, spin records.

Today, Grandmaster Flash spins all over the world in countries such as England, Sweden, Hungary, Japan, Austria, Belgium, France, Indonesia, Thailand, and more. Now I know what you’re saying, “wow, this guys a rock star!” Well technically you would be correct. In 2007, Grandmaster Flash the Furious Five were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his tremendous contributions to hip hop and turntable techniques. Flash’s influence will forever be commemorated and celebrated anytime a DJ touches a record.

Download:

Grand Master Flash – The Message (register & login to view link) (160 KBPS, 100 BPM)