Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five

Induction Year: 2007

Induction Category: Performer

Grandmaster Flash (turntables; born January 1, 1958), Cowboy (vocals; born September 20, 1960, died September 8, 1989), Kidd Creole (vocals; born February 19, 1960), Melle Mel (vocals; born May 15, 1961), Raheim (vocals; born February 13, 1963), Mr. Ness/Scorpio (vocals; born October 12, 1960)

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five fomented the musical revolution known as hip-hop. Theirs was a pioneering union between one DJ and five rapping MCs. Grandmaster Flash (born Joseph Saddler) not only devised various techniques but also designed turntable and mixing equipment. Formed in the South Bronx, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were one of the first rap posses, responsible for such masterpieces as “The Message,” “Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel” and “White Lines.” The combination of Grandmaster Flash’s turntable mastery and the Furious Five’s raps, which ranged from socially conscious to frivolously fun, made for a series of 12-inch records that forever altered the musical landscape.

Flash, along with DJ Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa, pioneered the art of break-beat deejaying—the process of remixing and thereby creating a new piece of music by playing vinyl records and turntables as if they were musical instruments. Disco-era deejays like Pete “DJ” Jones, an early influence on Grandmaster Flash, spun records so that people could dance. Turntablists took it a step further by scratching and cutting records, 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 days as a deejay date back to 1974, when he and other deejays who were too young to get into discos began playing at house parties and block parties in their South Bronx neighborhoods. Flash worked briefly with Kurtis Blow, but Cowboy became the first MC to officially join Grandmaster Flash in what would become the Furious Five. Cowboy’s rousing exhortations—including now-familiar calls to party, like “Throw your hands in the air and wave ‘em like you just don’t care!”—became essential ingredients of the hip-hop experience.

Grandmaster’s squadron of MCs expanded to include Kidd Creole, Melle Mel, Mr. Ness (a.k.a. Scorpio) and Raheim, in that order. Melle Mel, one of the most phonetically and rhythmically precise rappers in the genre—and the authoritatively deep voice who delivered the anti-cocaine rap “White Lines”—recalled the early days of hip-hop: “Disco was for adults, and they wouldn’t let the kids in. That forced us to go out on the streets and make our own entertainment.”

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five issued their first record, “Superrappin’,” on the Enjoy label in 1979. They then signed to Sylvia Robinson’s New Jersey-based Sugarhill label, where they made the R&B charts with a 12-inch single called “Freedom,” which ran for more than eight minutes. Various combinations of Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel and the Furious Five placed 10 records in the charts during a three-year span from 1980 to 1983. These included Grandmaster Flash’s dizzying turntable showcase, “Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel,” and the group’s acknowledged masterpiece, “The Message.” The latter offered a series of unflinchingly honest and discomfiting observations about life in the ghetto, with lead rapper Melle Mel returning to the same weary conclusion: “It’s like a jungle sometime, it makes me wonder how I keep from going under.”

As Rolling Stone observed, “’The Message’ was [the first record] to prove that rap could become the inner city’s voice, as well as its choice.” This slice of unvarnished social realism sold half a million copies in a month, topped numerous critics’ and magazines’ lists of best singles for 1982, and cemented Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s place in hip-hop’s vanguard. “I ask myself to this day, ‘Why do people want to hear this?’” Grandmaster Flash wondered of “The Message” in 1988. “But it’s the only lyric-pictorial record that could be called ‘How Urban America Lived.’”

In 1984, disagreements over business matters, including a lawsuit with Sugarhill, caused the group to split into two factions, and their commercial momentum was lost. However, they reunited in 1987 for an album (On the Strength) and tour. On the Strength contained another example of Grandmaster Flash’s turntable genius (“This Is Where You Got It From”) and a history lesson for those who didn’t understand hip-hop’s roots and longevity (“Back in the Old Days of Hip-Hop”). In the ensuing years, Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel have made records under their own names, and numerous anthologies have been released, including Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel and the Furious Five: The Definitive Groove Collection.

TIMELINE

January 1, 1958: Joseph Saddler – a.k.a. Grandmaster Flash – is born in Barbados, West Indies. His family will migrate to The Bronx, New York, where he grows up.

September 20, 1960: Keith Wiggins – a.k.a. Cowboy, of the Furious Five – is born in New York City.

November 12, 1960: Eddie Morris – a.k.a. Mr. Ness and Scorpio, of the Furious Five – is born in New York City.

February 19, 1960: Nathaniel Glover – a.k.a. Kidd Creole, of the Furious Five – is born in New York City.

May 15, 1961: Melvin Glover – a.k.a. Melle Mel, of the Furious Five – is born in New York City.

February 16, 1963: Guy Todd Williams – a.k.a. Raheim, of the Furious Five – is born in New York City.

1974: Grandmaster Flash begins deejaying at house and block parties in the South Bronx.

September 2, 1976: Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five break out beyond The Bronx with a milestone performance at Harlem’s Audubon Ballroom.

1979: “Superrappin’,” the first 12-inch single by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, is released on Enjoy Records.

September 13, 1980: “Freedom,” Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s debut release for SugarHill Records, enters the R&B chart, where it will peak at #19.

May 23, 1981: “Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel,” a groundbreaking 12-inch record that introduced Flash’s dizzying cutting and scratching techniques to much of the world beyond New York City’s five boroughs, enters the R&B chart, where it will peak at #55.

July 24, 1982: “The Message,” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, enters the singles charts, where it will peak at #4 R&B and #62 pop.

October 29, 1983: “White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It),” credited to Grandmaster and Melle Mel, enters the R&B chart, where it will peak at #47.

June 2, 1984: “Beat Street Breakdown,” by Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five – taken from the soundtrack to the film Beat Street – enters the R&B chart, where it will reach #8.

1987: Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five reunite to record On the Strength, their first album in five years, which is released in April 1988.

September 1988: Grandmaster Flash begins a four-year run as musical director for HBO’s The Chris Rock Show.

September 8, 1989: Cowboy (Keith Wiggins), of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, dies of drug-related causes at age twenty-eight.

January 2004: Grandmaster Flash receives the DJ Vanguard Award from Bill Gates for being the first to use turntables as musical instruments.

June 9, 2005: Grandmaster Flash receives the RIAA’s Lifetime Achievement Award at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland.

September 26, 2005: Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five are among the honorees at the second annual VH1 Hip-Hop Honors ceremony.

August 8, 2006: Rhino Records releases Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel and the Furious Five: The Definitive Groove Collection, a double-disc anthology

March 12, 2007: Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the 22nd annual induction dinner. Jay Z is their presenter.

2007: The Message: The Grandmaster Flash Story, cowritten by Grandmaster Flash and David Ritz, is set for publication by Harlem Moon Books.

Essential Songs

The Message
White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It)
Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel
Freedom
New York, New York
It’s Nasty (Genius of Love)
Showdown (with the SugarHill Gang)
Beat Street Breakdown – Part 1
Birthday Party
Superrappin’

Recommended Reading

Yes Yes Y’all: The Experience Music Project Oral History of Hip-Hop’s First Decade
Jim Fricke and Charlie Ahearn. New York: Da Capo Press, 2002.

“Time Enough for the Old School: The Hip-Hop Revolution, 1970-1990.”
Ralph Heibutzki. Goldmine (May 24, 1996): 20-69+.

“Two Turntables and a Microphone: The Story of Grandmaster Flash.”
Chuck Miller. Goldmine (December 6, 1996): 72-74+.

Hip-Hop Culture
Emmett G. Price. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, Inc., 2006.