| The Message | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | October 3, 1982 | |||
| Studio | Sweet Mountain (Englewood, New Jersey) [1] | |||
| Genre | Old-school hip hop | |||
| Length | 36:58 | |||
| Label | Sugar Hill | |||
| Producer | ||||
| Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Singles from The Message | ||||
| ||||
The Message is the debut studio album by American hip hop group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, released on October 3, 1982 by Sugar Hill Records. It features the influential title track and hip hop single "The Message".
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
| Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s | A– [3] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music |  [4] |
| The New Rolling Stone Album Guide | [5] |
| Pitchfork | 6.4/10 [6] |
| Tom Hull – on the Web | A− [7] |
The Message was released in October 1982 by Sugar Hill Records. [8] The album charted at number 53 in the United States and at number 77 in the United Kingdom. [8]
Reviewing in December 1982 for The New York Times , Robert Palmer hailed The Message as the year's best album and explained that while the emerging rap genre had often been criticized for confining itself to "bragging and boasting ... The Message is different. It's a gritty, plain-spoken, vividly cinematic portrait of black street life...social realism has rarely worked well in a pop-music context, but The Message is an utterly convincing cry of frustration and despair that cannot be ignored." [9] Robert Christgau ranked it as the 21st best album of 1982 on his list for The Village Voice 's annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll. [10] In Christgau's Record Guide: The '80s (1990), he wrote that, although "She's Fresh" is the "only instant killer", each song's attempt to experiment and "touch a lot of bases with a broad demographic ... justifies itself". [3]
According to music journalist Tom Breihan, The Message was a "singles-plus filler cash-in" that proved "a fascinating time capsule of rap's early attempts with the album format" as well as "a full-length artistic breakthrough, a rap album that earned respect on its own terms". [11] In a retrospective review, AllMusic's Ron Wynn called it the "ultimate peak" for Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, naming the title track as its highlight. [2] Miles Marshall Lewis, reviewing the album's 2002 British reissue in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), cited "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" as the "clincher" and "the only prime-period example of Flash's ability to set and shatter moods, with his turntables and faders running through a collage of at least 10 records that sound like hundreds." [5] Mark Richardson from Pitchfork said that The Message featured "two absolutely essential songs"—the title track and "Scorpio," which he dubbed "the greatest early electro track." However, he felt the rest of the songs were inferior. [6] The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. [12]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "She's Fresh" | Milton Edwards | 4:57 |
| 2. | "It's Nasty" | 4:19 | |
| 3. | "Scorpio" |
| 4:55 |
| 4. | "It's a Shame (Mt. Airy Groove)" | 4:57 | |
| 5. | "Dreamin'" |
| 5:47 |
| 6. | "You Are" | Gary Henry | 4:51 |
| 7. | "The Message" |
| 7:12 |
| No. | Title | Composer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8. | "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" | Sylvia Robinson, Melvin Glover, Gabrielle Jackson, Jiggs Chase, Gwendolyn Chisolm, Cheryl Cook, Michael Wright, Guy O'Brien, John Richard Deacon, Joseph Saddler, Angela Brown | 7:06 |
| No. | Title | Composer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8. | "Message II (Survival)" | Sylvia Robinson, Melvin Glover | 6:46 |
| 9. | "New York, New York" | Sylvia Robinson, Edward G Fletcher, Reginald Lamar Griffin, Melvin Glover | 7:19 |
| 10. | "The Adventures of Grandmaster Himself" | Unknown - see '2010 Expanded Edition' notes | 5:45 |
| 11. | "The Message (Instrumental Version)" | Edward G Fletcher, Clifton Chase, Sylvia Robinson, Melvin Glover | 7:11 |
| No. | Title | Composer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 8. | "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" | Sylvia Robinson, Melvin Glover, Gabrielle Jackson, Clifton Chase, Gwendolyn Chisolm, Cheryl Cook, Michael Wright, Guy O'Brien, John Richard Deacon, Joseph Saddler, Angela Brown | 7:06 |
| 9. | "The Message (Instrumental Version)" | Edward G Fletcher, Clifton Chase, Sylvia Robinson, Melvin Glover | 7:08 |
| 10. | "New York, New York" | Sylvia Robinson, Edward G Fletcher, Reginald Lamar Griffin, Melvin Glover | 7:25 |
| 11. | "Message II (Survival)" | Sylvia Robinson, Melvin Glover | 6:46 |
| 12. | "The Birthday Party" | Sylvia Robinson, Melvin Glover | 8:19 |
| 13. | "Freedom (Instrumental Version)" | Sylvia Robinson | 8:13 |
| Chart (1982) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| New Zealand Albums (RIANZ) [14] | 14 |
| UK Albums Chart [8] | 77 |
| U.S. Billboard 200 [8] | 53 |
| U.S. Top Black Albums [15] | 8 |
| Chart (1983) | Peak position |
| Australian (Kent Music Report) | 78 [16] |
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Hot 100 [17] [18] | U.S. R&B [17] [18] | U.S. Club Play | NZ [14] | UK [19] [20] | ||
| 1981 | "It's Nasty (Genius of Love)" | — | 22 | — | — | — |
| "Scorpio" | — | 30 | — | — | 77 [20] | |
| 1982 | "The Message" | 62 | 4 | 12 | 2 | 8 |
3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of... is the debut album by American hip hop group Arrested Development, released on March 24, 1992. The album's chart success ignited the popularization of Southern hip hop. Named after the length of time it took the group to get a record contract, 3 Years, 5 Months and 2 Days in the Life Of... starkly contrasted the gangsta rap that ruled the hip hop charts in 1992, focusing on spirituality, peace and love.
Robert Thomas Christgau is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most well-known and influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became an early proponent of musical movements such as hip hop, riot grrrl, and the import of African popular music in the West. He was the chief music critic and senior editor for The Village Voice for 37 years, during which time he created and oversaw the annual Pazz & Jop critics poll. He has also covered popular music for Esquire, Creem, Newsday, Playboy, Rolling Stone, Billboard, NPR, Blender, and MSN Music; he was a visiting arts teacher at New York University. CNN senior writer Jamie Allen has called Christgau "the E. F. Hutton of the music world–when he talks, people listen."
Melvin Glover, better known by his stage name Grandmaster Melle Mel or simply Melle Mel, is an American rapper who was the lead vocalist and songwriter of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
Pazz & Jop was an annual poll of top musical releases, compiled by American newspaper The Village Voice and created by music critic Robert Christgau. It published lists of the year's top releases for 1971 and, after Christgau's two-year absence from the Voice, each year from 1974 onward. The polls are tabulated from the submitted year-end top 10 lists of hundreds of music critics. It was named in acknowledgement of the defunct magazine Jazz & Pop, and adopted the ratings system used in that publication's annual critics poll.
Yo! Bum Rush the Show is the debut studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released on February 10, 1987. It was recorded at Spectrum City Studios in Hempstead, New York, and became one of the fastest-selling hip hop records, but was controversial among radio stations and critics, in part due to lead rapper Chuck D's black nationalist politics. Despite this, the album has since been regarded as one of hip hop's greatest and most influential records.
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were an American hip hop group formed in the South Bronx of New York City in 1978. The group's members were Grandmaster Flash, Kidd Creole, Keef Cowboy, Melle Mel, Scorpio, and Rahiem. The group's use of turntablism, breakbeat DJing, and conscious lyricism were significant in the early development of hip hop music.
"The Message" is a song by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. It was released as a single by Sugar Hill Records on July 1, 1982, and was later featured on the group's debut studio album of the same name.
The Bliss Album...? is the second studio album by American hip hop duo P.M. Dawn. It was released on March 23, 1993, by Gee Street and Island Records. Although some critics considered it less successful than the duo's first record, The Bliss Album...? received positive reviews and produced two hit singles—"I'd Die Without You" and "Looking Through Patient Eyes". It was voted the 12th best album of 1993 in The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics poll.
"White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)" is a song by American hip hop recording artist Melle Mel, released as a 12" in 1983 on Sugar Hill Records. The song, which warns against the dangers of cocaine, addiction, and drug smuggling, is one of Mel's signature tracks. The bassline is taken from a performance of the Sugar Hill house band (featuring bassist Doug Wimbish) covering "Cavern", a single by New York City band Liquid Liquid.
They Said It Couldn't Be Done is an album by Grandmaster Flash, released in 1985. It is his second overall studio album, and his first album credited solely to him following the breakup of the Furious Five due to the departure of rappers Melle Mel, Scorpio, and Keith Cowboy. For They Said It Couldn't Be Done, Flash signed with Elektra Records and retained the services of Rahiem and The Kidd Creole. New rappers Lavon, Mr Broadway, and dancer Larry Love were added. The album was re-issued on CD in the US for the first time on April 26, 2005.
The Source is the fourth studio album by Grandmaster Flash, released in 1986. It was reissued in the US on CD for the first time in 2005.
On the Strength is the second and final studio album by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Released in 1988, it was the full line-up's last album together. Although contributing to the album itself, Cowboy was not present for the album or single photo shoots.
"The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" is a single released by American disc jockey Grandmaster Flash in 1981. It is a live DJ mix recording of Flash scratching and mixing records from various groups using three turntables. The musician employed several DJ techniques in the recording, including crossfading, cutting, rubbing and backspins.
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is the second studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released on June 28, 1988, by Def Jam Recordings and Columbia Records. It was recorded from 1987 to 1988 in sessions at Chung King Studios, Greene St. Recording, and Sabella Studios in New York.
"Chewing Gum" is a song by Norwegian singer Annie from her debut studio album, Anniemal (2004). Written by Richard X and Hannah Robinson, the song is based on a metaphor which likens men to chewing gum.
Tough is the third studio album by the American rapper Kurtis Blow, released in 1982 through Mercury Records. The recording sessions took place at Greene St. Recording in New York. The album was produced by James B. Moore and Robert Ford Jr.
Joseph Robert Saddler, known by his stage name Grandmaster Flash, is an American musician and DJ. He created a DJ technique called the Quick Mix Theory. This technique serviced the break-dancer and the rapper by elongating the drum breaks through the use of duplicate copies of vinyl. This technique gave birth to cutting and scratching. It also gave rappers better music with a seamless elongated bed of beats to speak on. He also invented the slipmat.
Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five was released in 1984 by Sugarhill Records after the split between Grandmaster Flash and Melle Mel. For this album, Melle Mel kept the group name 'the Furious Five' and used the title 'Grandmaster'. Rappers Cowboy and Scorpio left with Melle Mel although Mel's brother The Kidd Creole and Rahiem remained with Flash. New rappers King Lou, Kami Kaze, and Tommy Gunn joined, as did Flash's best friend E. Z. Mike as DJ.
Message from Beat Street: The Best of Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel & the Furious Five is a 1994 CD compilation album released on the Rhino Entertainment record label in the US. It consists of tracks recorded by the various versions of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and Grandmaster Melle Mel. No tracks from the three Grandmaster Flash albums on Elektra Records are included or anything from the 1988 comeback album On the Strength.
Scorpio is a 1981 song by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, released in 1982 as a single from their album The Message (1982). It reached #30 on the R&B Singles chart and #77 on the UK Singles Chart. It was dubbed the "greatest early electro track" by Mark Richardson in his album review for Pitchfork Media. The track was named after one of the members of the group, rapper Scorpio.
