Grandmaster Flash

Grandmaster Flash was one of the pioneers of rap, hip-hop and scratching and mixing.

Born Joseph Saddler on January 1, 1958 in Barbados he grew up in the Bronx. He became involved in the earliest New York DJ scene. Learning from Paul Jones and Kool Herc he used duplicate copies of a single record but added a dextrous manual edit with a mixer to promote the break. He also invented the technique intially called cutting, which was later renamed scratching.

He worked with rappers including Kurtis Blow and Lovebug Starski before forming his own group in 1978-79. The initial members were Cowboy, Kidd Creole and Melle Mel making Grandmaster Flash and the 3 MCs, before the addition of Rahiem and Scorpio slightly later created The Furious Five. They pioneered MCing and invented some of the staple phrases as well as skillful raps.

Signed to Sugar Hill Records in 1980. They released numerous singles, the classic "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel," released in 1981 being their least successful at the time. The group's most significant hit was "The Message" (1982). Flash sued Sugar Hill in 1983 and in 1984 the group split between Flash and Mel before disintergrating entirely. They reformed in 1987 to release one album and then fall apart again.

Discography (Albums only)
The Message (1982), Greatest Messages (1983), They said it couldn't be done (1985), Stepping Off (1985), The Source (1986), Ba-dop-boom-bang (1987), On The Strength (1988), Flash is Back (1998)