Song Details
- Artist
- Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
- Album
- The Message
- Released
- 1982
- Genre
- Hip-Hop, Electro
- Length
- 7:11
¶ Deep Analysis
"The Message" changed hip-hop forever. Before this track, rap was mostly party music ("throw your hands in the air"). Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five turned the camera lens onto the grim realities of urban poverty in the Bronx.
Social Commentary
Lines like "Don't push me 'cause I'm close to the edge" and "It's like a jungle sometimes" captured the stress and paranoia of ghetto life with visceral power. It proved that rap could be a vehicle for serious social and political commentary.
Ironically, Grandmaster Flash and several members of the group barely feature on the track. It was primarily the work of Melle Mel and Duke Bootee, a session musician. Flash initially hated the beat, calling it too slow.
@ History & Impact
-
1
Library of Congress
It was the first hip-hop recording to be selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Recording Registry in 2002.
-
2
The Beat
The sparse, synthesizer-driven beat (using a Prophet-5 synth) was a departure from the funk breaks that dominated early hip-hop, pointing the way towards the electronic sound of the mid-80s.