The Dj King Assassin & GrandMaster Flashes Furious 5 Scorpio Interview 2008!

The Dj King Assassin & GrandMaster Flashes Furious 5 Scorpio Interview 2008!

 

 

Flash played illegal parties and also worked with rappers such as Kurtis Blow and Lovebug Starski. He formed his own group in the late 1970s, after promptings from Ray Chandler. The initial members were Cowboy (Keith Wiggins), Melle Mel (Melvin Glover) and Kidd Creole (Nathaniel Glover) making Grandmaster Flash & the 3 MCs (with Melle Mel being the first rapper ever to call himself an "MC"). Two other rappers briefly joined, but they were replaced more permanently by Rahiem (Guy Todd Williams, previously in the Funky Four) and Scorpio (Eddie Morris, also used the name Mr. Ness) to create Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Soon gaining recognition for their skillful raps, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five pioneered MCing, freestyle battles, and invented some of the staple phrases in MCing. The group performed at Disco Fever in the Bronx beginning in 1978. Cowboy created the term "Hip Hop" while teasing a friend who had just joined the US Army, by scat singing the words "hip/hop/hip/hop" in a way that mimicked the rhythmic cadence of marching soldiers.Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five were signed to Bobby Robinson's Enjoy Records and in 1979 released the classic "Superrappin'". They later signed to Sugar Hill Records and released numerous singles, gaining a gold disc for "Freedom," and also toured. The classic "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel," released in 1981, was the best display of Flash's skills (combining elements of Blondie's "Rapture," Michael Viner's Incredible Bongo Band's "Apache," Queen's "Another One Bites the Dust" and Chic's "Good Times." It also marked the first time that record scratching had been actually recorded on a record. The group's most significant hit was "The Message" (1982), which was produced by in-house Sugar Hill producer Clifton "Jiggs" Chase and featured session musician Duke Bootee. Other than Melle Mel, no members of the group actually appear on the record. It went platinum in less than a month. In 1983, Flash appeared in the movie Wild Style and sued Sugar Hill over the non-payment of royalties. The group split between Flash and Mel before disintegrating entirely. Flash, Kid Creole and Rahiem signed to Elektra Records and continued on as simply "Grandmaster Flash" while Mel and the others continued on as "Grandmaster Melle Mel & the Furious Five." Grandmaster Flash's version of the group had a minor hit with "Sign Of The Times". Melle Mel's version of the group produced "Step Off", "Pump Me Up", "King of the Streets", "Vice" and the mega-hit "White Lines (Don't Do It)" (falsely credited to Grandmaster + Melle Mel by Sugarhill Records in order to fool the public into thinking Grandmaster Flash had participated on the record). During this period, Melle Mel appeared in the film "Beat Street", performing the title song in the movie's grand finaly, and became the first rapper ever to win a Grammy Award for Record of the Year for his deut with Chaka Khan on "I Feel For You".