The Message

1982Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five Sugar Hill Records Old School The Bronx

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Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five, The Message, 1982 1st Sugar HillUsed · Buy It Now$19.99
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1984 - GRANDMASTER FLASH AND THE FURIOUS FIVE - GREATEST MESSAGES LP - SEALED OGNew · Buy It Now$30.00
Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five The Message Vinyl 1982 Sugar Hill TestedUsed · Buy It Now$27.94

The Message is the 1982 album by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five on Sugar Hill Records. Its title track changed what a rap song could be about.

The story

“The Message” was written mainly by Sugar Hill’s Ed “Duke Bootee” Fletcher with Melle Mel, and it described life in the inner city with a bleakness rap had never tried. Flash himself barely appears on it. In 2002 it became the first hip hop recording added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry.

Sound and production

The slow, synth-driven groove, built with Sylvia Robinson’s team, sounded nothing like the party records around it. The album also includes “Scorpio” and “It’s Nasty (Genius of Love).”

Legacy

Every socially conscious rap record since owes something to “The Message,” and Melle Mel’s verses are still quoted today.

Tracklist & credits

Produced by AQ Graphics, Inc., Jiggsaw Productions, Sylvia, Inc.

A1
She's Fresh
4:56
A2
It's Nasty
4:15
A3
Scorpio
5:10
A4
It's A Shame (Mt. Airy Groove)
4:58
B1
Dreamin'
5:45
B2
You Are
4:49
B3
The Message
7:11

Tracklist and producer credits: Discogs. Gear credits: Breakbeat Archive, sourced on each credit.

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