Broadway Books: The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five fomented the musical revolution known as hip hop. Theirs was a groundbreaking union between one DJ and five rapping MCs. One of the first hip hop posses, they were responsible for such masterpieces as "The Message" and "Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel." In the 1970s Grandmaster Flash pioneered the art of break-beat DJing-the process of remixing and thereby creating a new piece of music by playing vinyl records and turntables as musical instruments. Disco-era DJs spun records so that people could dance. The original turntablist, Flash took it a step further by cutting, rubbing, backspinning, and mixing 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.

Turnhere | May 1, 2008

Tags:. .rapping. .original. .creating. .breaks. .hop