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Intro - The Turntable Scientist 02. Grandmaster Flash Turntable Mix - Flash Tears The Roof Off 03. Babe Ruth - The Mexican 04.Grandmaster Flash - Live At The T-Connection 05. Grandmaster Flash Turntable Mix - Flash Got More Bounce 06.
Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express 07. Grandmaster Flash Interview - Females 08.
Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel — White Lines (Don't Do It). Grandmaster Melle Mel — White Lines '89 Part II. Find album reviews, stream songs, credits and award information for The Greatest Hits - Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, Grandmaster Flash, Grandmaster Melle Mel on AllMusic - 2006 - Flash was the DJ and the Furious Five were the.
Eddie Drenon & The BBs Orchestra - Do What You Gotta Do 09. Grandmaster Flash - Turntable Mix (Freestyle Mix) 10. Grandmaster Flash Live At Disco Convention'82 11. Yellow Magic Orchestra - Computer Games 12. Grandmaster Flash Interview - Set It Off 13.
Grandmaster Flash Turntable Mix - Get Off Your Horse & Jam 14. Shine All Day feat. Q Tip, Jumz and Kel Spencer 03. We Speak Hip Hop feat. O, Maccho, Abass & KRS-One 04. Here Comes My DJ feat.
![The flash and the furious The flash and the furious](/uploads/1/2/5/5/125502127/634535142.jpg)
DJ Kool & DJ Demo 05. Bounce Back feat. Busta Rhymes 06. Swagger feat.
Red Cafe, Snoop Dogg & Lynda Carter 07. What If feat. Unanswered 09. Tribute To The Breakdancer feat. MC Supernatural 10.
Grown & Sexy feat. When I Get There feat. Big Daddy Kane & Hedonis Da Amazon 12. Connection 13. I Got Sumthin' To Say feat. Lordikim, Jay-Flo & Almighty Thor 14. Can I Take You Higher feat.
Cheeks, Grandmaster Caz & Tito 15. Unpredictable feat. Big Daddy Kane & Syndee 16.
Those Chix feat. Byata, Princess Superstar, Hedonis Da Amazon & Syndee 17. Bronx Bombers feat. Almighty Thor, Lordikim & Mann Child 18. Zuka The Sound 19. Syndee & Natacha Atlas.
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - Freedom 02. Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Birthday Party 03.
Grandmaster Flash - The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash. The Furious Five Meet Sugarhill Gang - Showdown 05. Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - It's Nasty (Genius Of Love) 06. Grandmaster Flash - Flash To The Beat (Parts 1 & 2) 07. Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message 08.
Grandmaster Flash - Scorpio 09. Melle Mel & Duke Bootee - Message II (Survival) 10. Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - New York New York.
Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel - White Lines (Don't Do It) 02. Grandmaster Melle Mel - Jesse 03.
Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five - Beat Street 04. Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five - We Don't Work For Free 05. The Furious Five - Step Off 06. Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five - Pump Me Up 07. Grandmaster Melle Mel - Mega-Melle Mix 08.
Grandmaster Melle Mel - King Of The Streets 09. Grandmaster Melle Mel - Vice 10. Mass Production - Street Walker 11.
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - Super Rappin' No. Ice-T & Chuck D Introduction Pre Game Show 02. Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight 03.
Grandmaster flash & The Furious Five - The Message 04. Round One Wrap-Up 05. Sugarhill Gang - 8th Wonder 06. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five - Scorpio 07.
Round Two Wrap-Up 08. Sugarhill Gang - Kick It Live From 9 To 5 09.
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - New York New York 10. Round Three Wrap-Up 11. Livin' In The Fast Lane 12. Grandmaster Melle Mel - Jesse 13. Round Four Wrap-Up 14. Sugarhill Gang - Apache 15. Grandmaster Flash & Melle Mel - White Lines (Don't Don't Do It) 16.
Round Five Wrap-Up 17. The Furious Five Meets The Sugarhill Gang - Showdown 18. Sugarhill Gang & Grandmaster Melle Mel - One For The $ 19.
Post-Game Show. Grandmaster Flash - Party Intro 02. The Salsoul Orchestra - Runaway 03. Loleatta Holloway Featuring Loleatta Holloway - Hit & Run 04. Skyy - High 05. First Choice - Love Thang 06. Silvetti - Spring Rain 07.
First Choice - Doctor Love 08. Aurra - Checkin You Out 09. Aurra - Make Up Your Mind 10.
Instant Funk - I Got My Mind Made Up 11. The Salsoul Orchestra - You're Just The Right Size 12. Double Exposure - My Love Is Free 13. The Salsoul Orchestra - Ooh I Love It (Love Break) 14. Skyy - Let's Celebrate 15. Skyy - Call Me 16.
Instant Funk - Slap Slap Lickedy Lap 17. First Choice - Let No Man Put Usunder 18. Loleatta Holloway - Love Sensation 19. Skyy - Here's To You 20. Double Exposure - Ten Percent.
Adventures On The Wheels Of Steel 02. Freedom (feat. The Furious Five) 03.
The Message (feat. The Furious Five) 04. It's Nasty (Genius Of Love Version) 05.
New York, New York (feat. The Furious Five) 06. Scorpio (feat. The Furious Five) 07. White Lines (Don't Do It) (feat. Melle Mel) 08.
Dreamin' (feat. The Furious Five) 09. The Birthday Party (feat.
The Furious Five) 10. She's Fresh (feat. The Furious Five) 11. It's A Shame (Mt Airy Groove) (feat. The Furious Five) 12. Flash To The Beat (feat. The Furious Five) 13.
You Are (feat. The Furious Five). Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message 02. The Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight 03.
Aerosmith - Walk This Way 04. Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock - It Takes Two Explicit 05. A Tribe Called Quest - Can I Kick It (Contains Intro Of 'Can I Kick It') 06. & Rakim - Paid in Full (Mini Madness - The Coldcut Remix) 07. LL Cool J - Mama Said Knock You Out 08.
Express Yourself (Remix) Explicit 09. Chubb Rock - Treat 'Em Right (Cribb Mix) 10. Digital Underground - The Humpty Dance (Mini-Hump Radio Mix) 11. Slick Rick - Children's Story 12. EPMD - Strictly Business 13. Big Daddy Kane - Ain't No Half-Steppin' Explicit 14. Boogie Down Productions - My Philosophy 15.
Audio Two - Top Billin' 16. Nice And Smooth - Hip Hop Junkies 17.
The Beastie Boys - Brass Monkey 18. Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force - Don't Stop. Planet Rock (LP Version). The Notorious B.I.G. Hypnotize Explicit 02. Mase - Feel so Good Explicit 03.
Luniz - I Got 5 on It Explicit 04. Cypress Hill - Insane in the Brain Explicit 05. House Of Pain - Jump Around Explicit 06. ONYX - Slam 07. Naughty By Nature - Hip Hop Hooray (LP Version) 08.
Nas - The World Is Yours Explicit 09. Mobb Deep - Shook Ones, Pt. II (Remastered - LP Version) 10. Wu-Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M. Explicit 11.
Das EFX - Mic Checka (Remix) 12. The Lords Of The Underground - Funky Child Explicit 13. The Black Sheep - The Choice Is Yours (Revisited) 14. Brand Nubian - Slow Down Explicit 15. Queen Latifah - U.N.I.T.Y. Explicit 16.
Pete Rock feat. Smooth - They Reminisce over You 17. Kool G Rap & DJ Polo - Streets of New York 18. Craig Mack feat. Busta Rhymes, LL Cool J, Notorious B.I.G.
& Rampage - Flava In Ya Ear (Remix) Explicit.
![The The](/uploads/1/2/5/5/125502127/931722860.jpg)
Joseph Saddler was born in Bridgetown, Barbados in the West Indies and grew up in the Bronx. Like DJ Kool Herc, he was a West Indian who found himself in a world that was foreign and sometimes threatening. Where Clive Campbell's family lived in the West Bronx in a relatively quiet neighborhood, Joseph Saddler's family lived on Fox and 163rd Street, four blocks from the 41st Precinct Station that was better known as 'Fort Apache.' However, Saddler was a quiet, introspective youth who spent most of his time in his bedroom fixing broken radios and appliances. 'I was a scientist looking for something.
Going inside hair dryers, and going inside washing machines, and stereos and radios, whatever you plugged into the wall.' When Joseph Saddler first saw DJ Kool Herc in the summer of 1974, he was taken by the thrill of Herc's show, his presentation, and, most of all, by the technology of making of music from music. Like a scientist beginning to explore the mysteries of a newly discovered world.
He studied Herc's technique and was fascinated by the idea of isolating and extending the beat breaks on records and turning them into those extended breakbeats that Herc created on his two turntables. However, he also found Herc's technique to be rough and lacking in precision. He wanted to do what Herc did and do it better.
Saddler worked out his technique with his friend Gene Livingston (later DJ Mean Gene) whose 13-year-old younger brother, Theodore (later Grand Wizzard Theodore), inadvertently invented 'scratching.' According to Theodore, 'I used to come home from school everyday and play records. This one particular day, my mother banged on the door yelling at me because the music was too loud. When she walked in, I still had my hand on the record that was playing and I kind of moved it back and forth. When she left, I was like 'Yo! That sounded kind of cool. I better experiment with that.'
Ultimately, it was the MCs who attracted the attention of Bobby Robinson of Enjoy Records in 1979. Bobby Robinson was a famous and astute judge of musical talent in Harlem. He recorded Wilbert Harrison's 'Kansas City' in 1959; Gladys Knight and the Pips first hit, 'Every Beat of My Heart,' in 1961; and King Curtis's 'Soul Twist' in 1962. However, Robinson didn't see the potential in recorded hip-hop until the summer of 1979 when 'Rapper's Delight' became the biggest record above 110th Street in New York City.
Unlike Sylvia and Joe Robinson at Sugar Hill Records, Robinson sought out 'authentic' DJs and MCs to record and signed the two most popular groups in the Bronx, the Funky Four Plus One More and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. 'Superappin' was recorded by legendary producer Bobby Robinson on Enjoy Records in 1979. 'Superappin' was a solid hit for Bobby Robinson, although it failed to even approach the success of 'Rapper's Delight.' However, Grandmaster Flash saw that major success was possible in hip-hop and moved to Sugar Hill Records the following year. The first two releases on Sugar Hill, 'Freedom' (1980) and 'The Birthday Party' (1981), sold well, but the third release, 'The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel' (1981), was a major hit and, for the first time, gave the public a sense of Flash's remarkable skills as a DJ. 'The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel' was released in 1981 by Sugar Hill Records and credited to 'Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five,' although it is strictly a live turntable mix by Grandmaster Flash without the participation of the Furious Five, except on samples taken from earlier recordings.
It was also the first - and only - time that Grandmaster Flash actually mixed the tracks on any of the recordings made by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five at Sugar Hill Records. Despite the fact that Grandmaster Flash was likely the greatest DJ of his time, studio musicians recorded the backing tracks for all Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five records at Sugar Hill Records.
Finally, Flash asked Sylvia Robinson to allow him to 'make a record with records.' During a four-day break in their touring schedule, Grandmaster Flash went into the studio and cut 'The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel.' Flash remembered: 'It took three turntables, two mixers, and between 10 and 15 takes to get it right. It took me three hours. I had to do it live.
And whenever I'd mess up I would just refuse to punch. I would just go back to the beginning.' Grandmaster Flash live mixed tracks from more than a dozen recordings including 'Good Times' by Chic, 'Rapture' by Blondie, 'Another One Bites the Dust' by Queen, the Sugarhill Gang's '8th Wonder' and 'Rappers Delight,' The Incredible Bongo Band's 'Apache,' the Furious Five's 'Birthday Party' and 'Freedom,' and Spoonie Gee's 'Monster Jam.' 'The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel' was a hit and captured the Number 55 spot on the Billboard Black Singles chart. Opened for the clash but were booed by punk fans. The Clash had become interested in hip-hop in 1980 after visiting Bobby Robinson's famous record shop - Bobby's Happy House - on 125th Street and Frederick Douglas Boulevard and specifically requested Grandmaster Flash to open their first show.
Unfortunately, the hope of introducing the 'downtown' audience to the new music that had been born in the Bronx proved to be premature. The predominately white punk audience that came to the Clash's first show was unprepared for the sound of DJs and MCs and a near riot ensued. Grandmaster Flash was greeted with boos and a virtual torrent of hurled beer bottles and soda cups. Finally, the Bronx's preeminent hip-hop act fled the stage.
'The Message' was originally written as 'It's like jungle sometimes.' And later titled simply 'The Jungle' by percussionist Ed 'Duke Bootee' Fletcher, who made a demo of the song in 1980 with Fletcher rapping over a mix of African log drums.
Fletcher was a studio musician, songwriter, and arranger at Sugar Hill Records and Sylvia Robinson brought the demo to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Flash argued that the song was 'too slow' and the MCs actually ridiculed the demo. In an interview, Melle Mel told NPR's Terry Gross, 'We didn't actually want to do 'The Message' because we was used to doing party raps and boasting how good we are and all that.' Sylvia Robinson was adamant that the song be recorded and, finally, Melle Mel laid down the vocals with Fletcher over a backing track by the Sugar Hill house band that included one of the earliest uses of a bass synthesizer in hip-hop. Melle Mel also added some rhymes from 'Superappin' to the final verse, which led to a copyright dispute with Bobby Robinson's Enjoy!
Records that was eventually settled out-of-court. Despite the fact that 'The Message' was essentially a recording made by Melle Mel and Fletcher, Sylvia Robinson wanted to release it as a Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five record. Consequently, a hastily put together overdub featuring Flash and the remaining members of the Furious Five was added at the end and the record was credited to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. 'The Message' was a Number 4 hit on the Billboard Black Singles chart and rose to Number 62 on the Hot 100. Rolling Stone named it the 'Greatest Hip-Hop Song of All-Time' in 2012 and it was one of the first 50 recordings chosen by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry in 2002, the first hip-hop recording to be so honored.
Although 'The Message' wasn't the first time that hip-hop had addressed serious themes about life in the ghetto, it was the first serious rap record to gain attention in the mainstream. It rose to Number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100, captured Number 4 on the Hot Black Singles chart, and broke into the Top Ten of the UK Singles chart. Critics in both the US and the UK began to take hip-hop seriously because of 'The Message' and Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five received praise not only for the content of 'The Message,' but its execution and the slower beat that focused attention on the words over the music. Unfortunately, 'The Message' proved not only to be the breakthrough song that carried Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five into the mainstream, but the record that would ultimately tear the group apart. The central problem was that it wasn't actually made by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
The song was written and performed by Ed 'Duke Bootee' Fletcher, a session man at Sugar Hill Records, and Melle Mel without the participation of Grandmaster Flash or the other four members of the Furious Five in any meaningful way. Fletcher had written the chorus - 'It's like a jungle sometimes/It makes me wonder how I keep from going under' - and most of the verse. He called the song 'The Jungle.' Fletcher took the song to Sylvia Robinson who brought it to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, who showed no interest in recording it. They didn't believe they could adapt it to their style, thought it was too great a departure from what their fans came to expect of them, and they didn't think it had any commercial possibilities. However, after a time, Melle Mel returned and thought that some of the 'reality rhymes' that he had written for 'Superappin' might work in Fletcher's song and he agreed to work with him.
In the end, the song was recorded by Fletcher and Melle Mel with Flash and the four remaining MCs adding some improvised chatter at the end as an overdub. It was credited as 'Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, Featuring: Melle Mel & Duke Bootee.'
One of the first albums released by a hip-hop group. For Grandmaster Flash, 'The Message' only served to add insult to injury during his time with Sugar Hill Records. Despite the fact that he was not only a DJ, but likely the most talented DJ in all of hip-hop at that time, the backing tracks on all of the Sugar Hill recordings made by the group with the notable exception of 'The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five on the Wheels of Steel' were made by studio musicians and not by Flash. 'The Message' also made it clear that the star of hip-hop was never to be the DJ at Sugar Hill, but the MC.
Although 'Grandmaster Flash' was to be used as a brand name to help promote the sale of the records. For the Furious Five, 'The Message' elevated Melle Mel's status at Sugar Hill above that of the other four MCs and led to internal friction and arguments that ultimately tore the group apart. In 1983, Grandmaster Flash sued Sugar Hill Records for $5 million in royalties on the grounds that the label used his name on recordings that he didn't appear on and didn't pay him royalties for those recordings, which included 'The Message,' 'The Message II,' and 'New York, New York.' Also cited in the lawsuit was Sylvia Robinson's conflict of interest in her co-ownership of Sugar Hill Records and her contractual obligations as manager of the group. The judgment in the suit awarded Grandmaster Flash ownership and control of his name, but made no financial settlement. As a consequence, Grandmaster Flash left Sugar Hill Records with Kidd Creole and Raheim, while Melle Mel, Scorpio, and Cowboy stayed with the label. 'White Lines (Don't Do It)' was written by Melle Mel and Sylvia Robinson with a backing track sampled from the Sugar Hill house band covering 'Cavern' by the post-punk band Liquid Liquid.
Ed Bahlman of 99 Records, who recorded Liquid Liquid, successfully sued Sugar Hill Records for copyright infringement and was awarded a $600,000 settlement. Sugar Hill Records declared bankruptcy rather than pay the settlement and subsequently went out of business. 'White Lines (Don't Do It)' was originally written as a celebration of cocaine as a party drug, but was re-written as an anti-drug song with the 'don't do it!' Message tacked on for commercial considerations. 'White Lines (Don't Do It)' was initially credited to 'Grandmaster and Melle Mel' to mislead the public into believing that Grandmaster Flash had played a part in creating the song.
Later releases changed the attribution to 'Grandmaster Melle Mel.' After leaving Sugar Hill, Grandmaster Flash signed with Electra Records with Raheim and Kidd Creole and added new MCs: - 'Mr.
Broadway' (Russell Wheeler), 'Lord LaVon' (Kevin Lavon Dukes), 'Shame' (Jesse Dukes) - and dancer 'Larry Love' (Larry Parker). Flash released three modestly successful studio albums at Electra - They Said It Couldn't Be Done, The Source, and Ba-Dop-Boom-Bang - with his new crew. Melle Mel also had modest success at Sugar Hill as 'Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five' with MCs Cowboy, Scorpio, King Lou, Kami Kaze, Tommy Gunn, and DJ EZ Mike. However, Sugar Hill fell on hard times financially after 'White Lines (Don't Do It)' and went out of business in 1986. In 1988, the original Furious Five and Grandmaster Flash reunited to produce an eleven-track album, On the Strength at Electra Records. Although he worked on the album during the spring recording sessions, Keith 'Cowboy' Wiggins had contracted the AIDS virus and died in September. In an interview, Grandmaster Flash said, 'When Cowboy died, some of my fire just wasn't there any more.
Although he wasn't a primary writer in the group, he had the best voice. He had such commanding stage presence. We couldn't think of replacing him.' On the Strength would prove to be the final collaboration between Grandmaster Flash and all of the original members of the Furious Five. After 1988, Grandmaster Flash devoted most of his efforts to producing for other artists, although he would later release three albums - The Official Adventures of Grandmaster Flash (2002), Essential Mix: Classic Edition (2002), and The Bridge - A Concept of Culture (2009).
He also served as the musical director and DJ for The Chris Rock Show on HBO from 1997 to 2000. His autobiography, The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash: My Life, My Beats was published in 2007. Grandmaster Flash currently hosts a weekly radio show, Friday Night Fire with Grandmaster Flash, on Sirius Satellite Radio.