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Grandmaster Flash brings hip-hop to hall of fame
03/09/2007 7:16 PM, Reuters
You could spend the better part of a
day listing the things Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five did
first: In the embryonic days of the New York rap scene, they
were among its first superstars, they helped pioneer the
freestyle battle and Grandmaster Flash was instrumental in
inventing the art of break-beat DJ'ing.
Legend also has it rapper Mele Mel was the first to dub
himself an "MC"; fellow rapper Cowboy is credited with coining
the term "hip-hop."
So it makes perfect sense to add another first to the list:
On March 12, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five will become
the first hip-hop act inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame. It was 25 years ago that their groundbreaking single "The
Message" helped hip-hop kick down the door into a world of
bigger audiences, and in their third year of eligibility, the
act -- comprising Grandmaster Flash, Kid Creole, Mele Mel,
Scorpio, Raheim and the late Cowboy -- will join a class that
includes R.E.M., Van Halen, Patti Smith and the Ronettes.
And though the Hall of Fame has traditionally played around
with the definition of "rock'n'roll" -- just last year, Miles
Davis became a member -- it's yet to embrace hip-hop. Part of
that is strictly timing: Artists become eligible 25 years after
their first recording, which, in the case of Flash & the Five,
was 1979's "Superrappin'." But there's a satisfying time
element to the 25-year anniversary of "The Message," the
group's seminal track, which, with its dark, ingratiating hook
-- "It's like a jungle sometimes/It makes me wonder how I keep
from going under" -- sold half a million copies in a month and
established hip-hop as a commercial and cultural force in the
mainstream.
Billboard spoke with Grandmaster Flash and rapper Mele Mel
on the eve of their induction.
BILLBOARD: HOW DID YOU HEAR ABOUT THE INDUCTION?
Mele Mel: I sleep with the TV on, so actually in my sleep I
heard the woman reporting it. She announced Van Halen and
R.E.M. while I was dreaming, and then I woke up to hear her
saying, "Rap group Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five also
made the cut."
Grandmaster Flash: There had been two false alarms on it,
so when somebody called my house, I didn't take it too serious,
to be honest. But when they told me, I just looked at the
phone, hung up and went on my merry way. The next morning I
started getting a lot of calls, so I just said, "Note to self:
This is it." But it's wonderful, wonderful, wonderful. Later
than sooner still beats never!
BILLBOARD: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE THE FIRST HIP-HOP
ARTISTS INDUCTED?
Mele Mel: It validates all we put in as far as pioneering
rap music and making it a global thing. We're overlooked
because we started so early in the game, before it got
corporate and commercial, but being inducted makes people take
a second look at who we are. People still know our music, but
for some reason these young rap cats and the industry don't
really think we're as important as we are. The Rock Hall
solidifies it.
The main thing that the induction would do for the industry
is force it to grow up. They're trying to make it a little too
juvenile, a lot too ghetto. Everybody understands the dope part
of it, the violent part of it, so now let's get back to the
music part. This forces everybody to put a different face on
hip-hop as a music-driven culture: It can be a teacher, a star
of the community, instead of just an act on the corner.
Grandmaster Flash: So many of the other prestigious
associations have embraced hip-hop, but this had been one that
sort of hadn't. And as a DJ, it's pretty important. I go in
with some of the greatest keyboard players, drummers,
guitarists, bass players, horn players, and I go in with my
instrument, which is the turntable. So although on one side
it's sort of a sore thumb, on the other I'm going in as a
special situation. This isn't just Flash & the Furious Five;
this is hip-hop going in, the breakdancers, the MCs, the
graffiti artists. So it's cool. It's kind of nifty.
BILLBOARD: DOES THIS LEND A VALIDATION OR ACCLAIM TO
HIP-HOP MUSIC THAT IT MAYBE DIDN'T HAVE BEFORE?
Mele Mel: It does, but I'm not going to say it's for
"hip-hop music." What we could call hip-hop and what it is now
is not actually the same music. I think it validates the fact
that pioneering groups, traditional groups are the most
important ones, the ones that to this day can move hip-hop
forward.
Today's music is more stagnant -- they've been doing the
same thing, saying the same thing, for years. It's not going
anywhere. 50 Cent may be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame one
day, but he won't deserve it. All he did was just make records,
and the records made money. He wasn't as influential as
Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five or Run-D.M.C., or Kurtis
Blow or Public Enemy. These are the influential groups in
hip-hop. That's the bigger movement and the bigger story about
what hip-hop is.
Grandmaster Flash: Let's just say that it's the cherry to
the validation. I can remember when you couldn't see a hip-hop
video anywhere, when other music organizations thought
(hip-hop) was just a ship passing through the night. It makes
me go back to my humble beginnings. As an inventor, sometimes
you invent something and the people say, "No." So thank God
they said, "OK, maybe this could be something."
BILLBOARD: WHAT LESSONS HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM YOUR YEARS IN
MUSIC?
Mele Mel: That the business is the major part of it. We
lost a lot of opportunities and chances because we weren't as
well-versed in the business side. We were just too busy being
the creators and living the life of stars. It never got in the
way of my talent, but it got in the way of moving forward as a
group.
Grandmaster Flash: That I continue to love this. In some
cases, I'm called an icon, but I look at myself as a servant.
It's allowed me to go from this little candy store that I made
to a huge Wal-Mart-type of candy store, where I've got so much
music to play and so many audiences to play in front of --
whites, blacks, people overseas, audiences half my age. The
lesson is that when you love what you do and you stick with it,
it will take care of you. Hip-hop has taken care of me all my
life.
BILLBOARD: WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON NOW?
Mele Mel: "We're doing promotion on ("Muscles," his first
solo record). (Wrestling's) always had that hip-hop twist to
it, and I'm a part of that.
Grandmaster Flash: I have an album deal I'm just about to
close on. And I'm writing the story of my life, with the guy
who wrote the Ray Charles biography, David Ritz. I'm really
into these digital DJ applications, these sounds that used to
be on the keyboard but are now on CDs. I'm a technology fiend.
Reuters/Billboard
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