Library Rock's Backpages

Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five

Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five

32 articles

Audio interviews

Grandmaster Flash (2009)

Interview by Andrew Purcell, Rock's Backpages audio, 2009

Flash talks about his latest album The Bridge, but then takes us back to the Bronx in the mid-'70s, his technical innovations, experiences with Sugar Hill records, and his addiction and the lost years.

File format: mp3; file size: 61.8mb, interview length: 1h 07' 31" sound quality: ****

List of articles in the library

By date | By writer | Most recently added

The Funky Four + 1: Rap, Rap, Rap

Report and Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 30 May 1981

Young South Bronx unwraps the rapping revolution ...

The Clash: The Foul-Up

Report and Interview by Julie Panebianco, Boston Rock, 25 June 1981

THE LIGHTS dimmed. Dramatic Spanish bolero music from Clint Eastwood's For a Few Dollars More came on over the speakers, and the spotlights roamed from ...

Grandmaster Flash: Flash is Fast, Flash is Cool

Profile and Interview by Richard Grabel, New Musical Express, 26 September 1981

THE SOUTH BRONX lies just across a thin stretch of the Harlem River from Manhattan, but it could be worlds away. ...

New albums from Sugarhill Records

Review by Lloyd Bradley, New Musical Express, 17 April 1982

The West Street Mob: The West Street Mob (Sugarhill) The Sequence: Sugarhill Presents (Sugarhill) The Sugarhill Gang: 8th Wonder (Sugarhill) Various Artists: Greatest Rap ...

Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: 'The Message' (Sugarhill import); Afrika Bambaataa & the Soul Sonic Force: 'Planet Rock' (Tommy Boy import)

Review by Edwin Pouncey, Sounds, 31 July 1982

ALREADY WRITTEN about in rival publications but well worth another mention here to remind you of their greatness. ...

What's The Word?: Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five: The Message (Sugarhill)

Review by Paolo Hewitt, Melody Maker, 9 October 1982

IN WHICH THE message from the apple-stretching New York would seem to read: don't get caught in a rap rut, move on and expand. Whether ...

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five: Live in Los Angeles

Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, Sounds, 13 November 1982

FLASH – AAAAH! Saviour of the Universe. Saviour of my sanity, anyway. "The Message" shines out from amongst the New Musik murk they play out ...

Grandmaster Flash & the Furious 5: Flashin' the Message

Interview by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 16 November 1982

ALTHOUGH 'THE Message' has been one of the dancefloor world's biggest smashes of 1982, that success does not minimise the actual lyrical content of what ...

Hip Hop: The Music Centre

Report by Dave Rimmer, Smash Hits, 14 April 1983

Ever wondered where Wham! and Malcolm McLaren got their ideas from? Or how rapping and scratching actually started? The answers lie in the Bronx — a borough ...

Grandmaster & Melle Mel: 'White Lines (Don't Do It)' (Sugar Hill 12-inch); Mutabaruka: 'Ode To Johnny Drughead' (Alligator 12-inch)

Review by J.D. Considine, Musician, January 1984

ALTHOUGH IT'S doubtful Nancy Reagan listens to either rap or reggae records (or anything more soulful than Ray Anthony, for that matter), she ought to ...

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five: The Venue, London

Live Review by Lynden Barber, Melody Maker, 14 April 1984

THE MOST simple consideration of live performance throws up two basic types; those shows that define musical experience, are the quintessential medium for the music ...

Whodini: Escape from New York

Report and Interview by Chris Roberts, Sounds, 14 April 1984

CHRIS ROBERTS UNRAVELS THE MAGIC OF WHODINI ...

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five: Greatest Messages (Sugarhill); Grandmaster Melle Mel: 'Jesse' (Sugarhill)

Review by J.D. Considine, Record, June 1984

RAP RECORDS had messages before 'The Message' exploded across the airwaves in 1982, but it remains extremely tempting to argue that it was Grandmaster Flash ...

Michael Jonzun's Space Shake

Interview by Julie Panebianco, Musician, July 1984

Hit Production from the Leaner Side of the Tracks ...

Grandmaster Flash: Flash Point

Interview by Paul Sexton, Record Mirror, 2 March 1985

The Grandmaster Flashes about Melle Mel, Sugar Hill, and his total entertainment concept. Paul Sexton gets the message ...

UK Fresh '86: Fresher's Ball

Profile and Interview by Frank Owen, Melody Maker, 19 July 1986

Out of the subway and into the charts, hip hop is stronger than it's ever been, with dazzling new talents like LL Cool J and ...

Various Artists: Genius Of Rap — The Sugar Hill Story

Review by Dave Rimmer, Q, August 1987

"I SAID A HIP, HOP..." starts the rap by The Sugar Hill Gang's Wonder Mike over a riff faithfully copied from (though only much later ...

Rap: Rock Is Dead

Special Feature by Mark Dery, Keyboard, November 1988

THE RAW POWER OF CHEAP TECH CRASHES HEAD-ON INTO INNER-CITY DEFIANCE AND DESPAIR ...

15 Years of Hip Hop: Back in the Days

Retrospective and Interview by Frank Owen, Vibe, December 1994

Most of what you know about the old school is wrong. ...

You Spin Me Round

Overview by Martin Aston, Q, November 1997

"Two turntables and a microphone," are, says Beck, "where it's at." For more than a decade Technics 1200 record decks have provided the backbone of ...

Hip Hop Don't Stop

Overview by David Bennun, Hot Air, 1999

A LITTLE over two minutes into The Fugees' 1996 hit 'Ready Or Not', the voice of Lauryn Hill is thrown into relief by a brief ...

Good Boys Of Rap

Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 30 April 1999

Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five And Melle Mel: 'Adventures On The Wheels Of Steel' (Sequel)The Sugarhill Gang: Rapper's Delights (Sequel)Various Artists: Sugarhill Club Classics ...

Various Artists: Sugarhill Club Classics (Sequel)

Review by Paul Mathur, Melody Maker, 1 May 1999

IMAGINE, IF you will, "The Bible" performed in rhyme by young men in baseball hats. Breakdancing. It would have gone something like this. ...

The True Life Adventures Of Flash

Sleeve notes by Bill Brewster, Frank Broughton, Nuphonic Records, 2002

Chapter 1 FLASH ISN’T THE type of guy to start talking about "How it feels...", but that’s just what you want to ask him. How does ...

Grandmaster Flash

Interview by Frank Broughton, The Guardian, 26 January 2002

A RECENT SURVEY suggests that up to 62% of the world's population is now a famous DJ. In hotspots like Shoreditch, it's easier to find ...

Grandmaster Flash (2009) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Andrew Purcell, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 2009

This is a transcript of Andrew's audio interview with Flash. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Grandmaster Flash: All Hands On Deck

Profile and Interview by Andrew Purcell, The Guardian, 27 February 2009

They thought he was mad, they spat him off stage, he hit the drugs... But Grandmaster Flash gave 'DJ' a whole new meaning. Andrew Purcell ...

Grand Wizard Theodore accidentally invents scratching in 1975 (or does he?)

Retrospective by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 13 June 2011

AMONG hip-hop's canonical creation myths, few are as perfectly formed as Grand Wizard Theodore's invention of scratching. ...

Grandmaster Flash: Dogstar, Brixton, London

Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 29 January 2013

IT FEELS oddly incongruous to witness one of the legendary founding fathers of a billion-dollar musical genre playing to 300 people in a modest pub-style ...

How we made: Jiggs Chase and Ed Fletcher on 'The Message'

Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 27 May 2013

The producer and MC of the hip-hop classic recall trying to persuade Grandmaster Flash to grow a social conscience.               ...

Grandmaster Flash breaks down Netflix's new series The Get Down

Interview by Alan Light, Mother Jones, July 2016

We caught up with the hip-hop legend behind Baz Luhrmann's latest creation ...

see also Melle Mel

see also Grandmaster Melle Mel & the Furious Five

see also Grandmaster Flash

RSS

back to LIBRARY

COPYRIGHT NOTICE