Message From Beat Street: The Best Of (CD)

Quite possibly the most influential and innovative figure in rap music, Grandmaster Flash pioneered the turntable techniques that eventually became standard in the rapidly growing genre. Born Joseph Saddler, Flash grew up in the Bronx and, along with Kool Herc and Afrika Bambaataa, became an integral part of the late-1970s/early-'80s New York City rap community. His deft turntable stylings were so entrancing to his club audiences that he had to enlist the help of others to shift the focus away from him, and this group formed the Furious Five, one of the first MC crews. He also helped pioneer the socially conscious aspect of rap with 1981's pop crossover hit "The Message."

• Category:  Music  »  Rap & Hip Hop  »  Old Skool
• Format: CD   Learn more about the CD format using Tower WIKI.
• Release Date: April 19, 1994
• Label: Rhino Records (USA)
• UPC: 081227160623
• WAPI (Tower ID): 106727771
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• Tower.com Sales Rank: #11952 in Music (See Top 100 Music Bestsellers)
• #298 in Rap & Hip Hop (See Top 100 Rap & Hip Hop Bestsellers)
• #6 in Old Skool (See Top 100 Old Skool Bestsellers)

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Personnel includes: Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel, Scorpio, Cowboy, Kidd Creole, Raheem (vocals).

Producers include: Joey Robinson, Jr., Sylvia Inc. Productions, Jiggs Chase, E. Fletcher, Melle Mel.

Compilation producers: Joey Robinson, Jr., David McLees.

Includes liner notes by Shannita Williams.

Wherever the origin of hip-hop is discussed, three names are invoked: Herc, Flash and Bam; the trinity of Bronx DJs who pioneered the style. Kool Herc unquestionably came first (he coined the term "b-boy"), followed closely by Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash. It was Flash who developed the hip-hop DJ's arsenal of techniques; sometime around 1974 he crazy-glued a light switch on to his mixing board, thereby creating the first cross-fader. The mixing techniques this innovation allowed so outdistanced the competition that Flash often caused crowds to form around the DJ booth and--to keep the party moving--had to employ mic controllers to shift the focus off himself and back to the dance-floor. This crew of emcees he assembled became the Furious Five.

MESSAGE collects 11 hip-hop anthems originally released as 12"s on the Sugar Hill label. Although "Step Off Megamix" is a poor substitute for the conspicuously absent "Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel," this is a nonetheless crucial CD collection of previously vinyl-only classics like "Freedom," "White Lines" and of course "The Message." The first rap to incorporate social consciousness, the latter also occasioned rap's MTV debut.

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