Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five

To download an editable PowerPoint, visit edu.rockhall.com and the Furious Five: Fast Facts

• Formed in 1976 in the , ; broke up by 1986 • Members: DJ Grandmaster Flash and rappers , Kidd Creole, Mr. Ness/Scorpio, Cowboy, and Rahiem • Recorded at Sugar Hill Records, the first hip-hop record label • Grandmaster Flash revolutionized the use of turntables in hip-hop by developing techniques such as “” and “punch phrasing.” • First hip-hop group to be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (2007) Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five: Important Bronx Locations New Jersey

▪ South Bronx (Bronx), New York Recognized birthplace of hip-hop music and culture; Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s home neighborhood

Queens

▪ Harlem (Manhattan), New York Recorded with Enjoy Records until 1980

▪ Englewood, New Jersey Brooklyn Recorded with Sugar Hill Records (the first hip-hop record label) from 1980 to 1984 Staten Island Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five: Two Essential Songs “Superappin’” “The Message” • Released in 1982 on Sugar Hill • Released in 1979 on Records Enjoy Records • Features Melle Mel and guest • One of the earliest rapper rap records ever sold • Conveys the difficulties of life in the • Mimics the “hip-hop South Bronx, with lyrics about jam,” a live performance poverty, violence, and with audience interaction drug use • Hip-hop was originally heard • Early example of at lengthy dance parties, so a “conscious rap,” where 12-minute song seemed very lyrics convey a serious, short! often political message Grandmaster Flash’s Turntable Innovations

• Grandmaster Flash developed turntable techniques and special effects that gave DJs more musical freedom. • Flash, like other DJs, “loops” music by switching between two or more records, allowing him to create effects with one record while the other keeps spinning. Click on the records below to hear what “scratching” and “punch phrasing” sound like! Scratching: spinning a record back and forth to create a rhythmic Punch Phrasing: effect short bursts of sound created by quickly spinning and stopping a record