Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five
Origin	South Bronx, USA
Country	{{{country}}}
Years active	1976 – 1988
Genre(s)	Hip-Hop
Label(s)	Sugar Hill Records
Members	Melvin Glover Nate Glover Joseph Saddler Guy Todd Williams Keith Wiggins
Past members	{{{past_members}}}
Website(s)	{{{website}}}

Grandmaster Flash (born Joseph Saddler on January 1, 1958 in Barbados) is a hip hop musician and DJ; one of the pioneers of hip-hop DJing, cutting, and mixing. Album cover for The Official Adventures of Grandmaster Flash by Grandmaster Flash This is an album cover. ... The Bronx is one of the five boroughs of New York City in the United States. ... 1976 (MCMLXXVI) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII in Roman) was a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A music genre is a category (or genre) of pieces of music that share a certain style or basic musical language (van der Merwe 1989, p. ... Hip hop is a cultural movement that began among urban African Americans and Latinos in New York City in the early 1970s, and has since spread around the world. ... A record label is a brand created by companies that specialize in producing, manufacturing, distributing and promoting audio and sometimes video recordings (especially music videos), on various formats including compact discs, LPs, DVD-Audio, SACDs, and cassettes. ... Sugar Hill Records was the name of a rap music label that was founded in 1974 by husband and wife Joe and Sylvia Robinson with financial funding of Morris Levy, the owner of Roulette Records. ... Melle Mel (born Melvin Glover on May 15, 1962 in New York City, New York) is a hip-hop musician, one of the pioneers of old school hip hop as a member of Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five with his brother Kid Creole. ... Kid Creole (also spelled Kidd Creole, born Nate Glover in New York City, New York) is a hip hop musician, one of the pioneers of old school hip hop as a member of the Sugar Hill group Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five with his brother Melle Mel. ... January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 1958 (MCMLVIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A hip-hop group performing live on stage. ... For other meanings of DJ, see DJ (disambiguation). ... Hip hop is a cultural movement that began among urban African Americans and Latinos in New York City in the early 1970s, and has since spread around the world. ... For other meanings of DJ, see DJ (disambiguation). ... In hip hop music, cutting is a disc jockey technique, originated by DJ Grandmaster Flash, which is manually queueing up duplicate copies of the same record in order to play the same passage, cutting back and forth between them. ... Audio mixing is used in sound recording, audio editing and sound systems to balance the relative volume and frequency content of a number of sound sources. ...

Saddler's family migrated to the United States, and he grew up in the Bronx. He became involved in the earliest New York DJ scene, attending parties set up by early luminaries. Learning from Pete Jones and Kool Herc, he used duplicate copies of a single record and two turntables but added a dextrous manual edit with a mixer to promote the break (a point of isolated drum rhythm) - the ordinary playing of the record would be interrupted to overlay the break, the break could be repeated by using the mixer to switch channels while the second record was spun back. The speed and dexterity needed showed why Saddler was called Flash, although he got the nickname in school due to the fact that he hung around with another guy named Gordon (from Flash Gordon). He also invented the technique initially called cutting, which was developed by Grand Wizard Theodore into scratching (AMG). The Bronx is one of the five boroughs of United States. ... Pete Jones was an original Disc Jockey in the 1960s that also helped the evolution of Hip-Hop. ... Categories: People stubs | Hip hop musicians | Hip hop DJs | 1955 births ... A DJ mixer is a type of audio mixer. ... A break is an instrumental or percussion section or interlude during a song derived from or related to stop-time – being a break from the main parts of the song or piece. ... Flash Gordon is a science fiction comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond, first published on January 7, 1934. ... Grand Wizard Theodore is an African American hip hop DJ, known for his innovations in scratching and needle drops, which he invented (AMG), and other techniques. ... Scratching is a DJ or turntablist technique originated by Grand Wizard Theodore, an early hip hop DJ from New York (AMG). ...

Flash played illegal parties and also worked with rappers such as Kurtis Blow and Lovebug Starski. He formed his own group in the late 1970s, after promptings from Ray Chandler. The initial members were Cowboy (Keith Wiggins), Melle Mel (Melvin Glover) and Kid(d) Creole (Nathaniel Glover) making Grandmaster Flash & the 3 MCs. Two other rappers briefly joined, but they were replaced more permanently by Rahiem (Guy Todd Williams, previously in the Funky Four) and Scorpio (Eddie Morris, also used the name Mr. Ness) to create Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five. Soon gaining recognition for their skillful raps, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five pioneered MCing, freestyle battles, and invented some of the staple phrases in MCing. They performed at Disco Fever in the Bronx beginning in 1978. Kurtis Blow (born Kurtis Walker August 9, 1959) is one of the pioneer rappers in the recording industry and hip hops first mainstream star. ... Lovebug Starski is an American hip hop artist and one of the pioneers of the form. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... Melle Mel (born Melvin Glover on May 15, 1962 in New York City, New York) is a hip-hop musician, one of the pioneers of old school hip hop as a member of Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five with his brother Kid Creole. ... Kid Creole (also spelled Kidd Creole, born Nate Glover in New York City, New York) is a hip hop musician, one of the pioneers of old school hip hop as a member of the Sugar Hill group Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five with his brother Melle Mel. ... A Master of Ceremonies or MC is the host of a staged event or other performance. ... Freestyle battles are usually contests (though they can occur spontaneously) where rappers compete or battle each other in the form of freestyle rap or cypher. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII in Roman) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ...

Signed to Sugar Hill Records in 1980 by Joe Robinson, they released numerous singles, gaining a gold disc for "Freedom," and also toured. The classic "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel," released in 1981 was the best display of their skills (combing elements of Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust", Chic's "Good Times" and samples from Blondie's Rapture), but it was their least successful single at the time. The group's most significant hit was "The Message" (1982), which was produced by in-house Sugar Hill producer Clifton "Jiggs" Chase and went platinum in less than a month. In 1983, Flash and Mel released a 12" single, "White Lines," which went on to become one of their signature songs. Flash sued Sugar Hill in 1983 over the non-payment of royalties, and in 1984 the group split between Flash and Mel before disintegrating entirely. Flash, Kid Creole and Rahiem signed to Elektra Records while the others continued as "Grandmaster Melle Mel & the Furious Five." (Mel notably appeared on Chaka Khan's I Feel for You). They reformed in 1987 for a charity concert, to release one album and then fall apart again. There was another reunion, of a kind, in 1994, although Cowboy died in 1989 from a drug overdose due to the effects of his crack cocaine addiction. Sugar Hill Records was the name of a rap music label that was founded in 1974 by husband and wife Joe and Sylvia Robinson with financial funding of Morris Levy, the owner of Roulette Records. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with RIAA Single certification. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI in Roman) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article may contain original research or unverified claims. ... Another One Bites the Dust is a 1980 rock song from the British rock band Queen. ... Chic is also an American band that was formed in 1975/1976 by guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards. ... Blondie is an American rock band that first gained fame in the 1970s and early 1980s. ... The Message is an old school rap song released in 1982, performed by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Clifton Jiggs Chase is a jazz-funk organ player and influential record producer from New Jersey, USA. One of the earliest known recordings is his organ playing on the 1967 Buddy Terry recording Natural Soul (Prestige), along side Woody Shaw. ... White Lines (Dont Dont Do It) is a song by Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel, released as a 12 in 1983 on Sugar Hill Records. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Elektra Records was a record label started in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickholt, who both invested $300. ... Album cover of What Cha Gonna Do For Me? Chaka Khan (born March 23, 1953) is the stage name of the American singer Yvette Marie Stevens. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... A benefit concert is a concert featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate humanitarian crisis. ... 1994 (MCMXCIV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International year of the Family. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX in Roman) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Cocaine is a crystalline alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. ...

Discography

• 1982: The Message
• 1983: Greatest Messages
• 1985: They Said It Couldn't Be Done
• 1985: Stepping Off
• 1985: Work Party
• 1986: The Source
• 1987: Ba-dop-boom-bang
• 1988: On The Strength (reunion album)
• 1997: Salsoul Jam 2000
• 1998: Flash is Back
• 2002: The Official Adventures of Grandmaster Flash
• 2002: Essential Mix: Classic Edition
• 2005: Mixing Bullets and Firing Joints
• 2006: (To be announced) "coming,,,,Jeffer Klassen and The Master Flash, hip hop reinvented"

External link

• Grandmaster Flash Official Page
• Grandmaster Flash at the All Music Guide
• Grandmaster Cuts Faster, a PDF article about Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, originally published in Goldmine magazine, written by columnist Chuck Miller [10 page PDF]
• Grandmaster Flash Lyrics

The All Music Guide (AMG) is a metadata database about music owned by All Media Guide. ...

Samples

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:

DJ Grandmaster Flash

• Download sample of "The Message"