Composed of one DJ (Grandmaster Flash) and five rappers (Melle Mel, The Kidd Creole, Keith Cowboy, Mr. Ness (aka Scorpio) and Rahiem, the groups use of turntablism, break-beat deejaying, choreographed stage routines and lyricism was a significant force in the. Scorpio Lyrics: Ah, Scorpio / Show no shame / Shake it baby / He is DJ Flash and he came here to give you a blast / And we are the Furious Five and we're rocking, shocking all the way live / ShowWithout a doubt one of hip-hop's most important and influential outfits, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five unleashed several classic singles during rap's developmental period of the early 1980s. Pioneering DJ Grandmaster Flash began his career spinning at Bronx block parties in the mid- to late 1970s.
Lyrics to 'Scorpio' by GRANDMASTER FLASH AND THE FURIOUS FIVE: Ah, Scorpio / Show no shame / Shake it baby / He is DJ Flash and he came here to give you a blast / And we are the Furious Five and were rocking, shocking all the way live / Show no shame / Shake it / Shake it baby / Ah, show no shame / Dont be shy gir.“Don’t push me, ’cause I’m close to the edge…” It’s well known that ‘The Message,’ with its slow, spare, ominous groove and downbeat slice-of-life lyric, opened new directions for hip-hop. The next year the group dropped "The Message," an intense tale of ghetto realities and social ills in Reagan-era America that coined the timeless phrase "It's like a jungle / sometimes it makes me wonder / how I keep from going under." Other classic hits followed, such as "It's Nasty" and the anti-cocaine anthem "White Lines (Don't Do It)," though tensions between Flash and Melle Mel soon disbanded the group. Flash continues to entertain and educate, releasing solo albums, judging DJ battles, and acting as an elder statesman of the hip-hop generation. Arguably the most important DJ in the genre, Grandmaster Flash's knack for innovation and experimentation helped launch a musical revolution that continues to evolve.
Flash himself, the pioneering turntablist who formed the group on the streets of the South Bronx in the mid-1970s, had no participation in either the writing or recording of the single. What’s slightly less appreciated about this, the most famous song by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, however, is that it wasn’t by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five at all. It’s Grandmaster Flash that has a problem with working with The Furious Five because he wants to keep all of the.
“It wasn’t necessarily an ‘urban’ song,” Melle Mel says today, musing on why ‘The Message’ remains urgent.“It wasn’t necessarily even a hip-hop song. But in the process, an undeniable classic was created. In some respects, it has more in common with The Monkees of ‘Pleasant Valley Sunday’ than The Last Poets.The resulting tensions helped precipitate the group’s break-up. The recording progressed under the direction of notoriously domineering label boss Sylvia Robinson, a canny music industry veteran who then chose Flash and The Five as the perfect faces to front the song for sale. It was conceived, written and largely performed by Ed “Duke Bootee” Fletcher, a studio percussionist who played alongside the Sugar Hill label’s legendary house band.
Looking back, we should have. When we started, DJs were the important thing, not rappers, so the group was called “Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five.” When we started making records, we had the option of changing to “The Furious Five featuring Grandmaster Flash.” But our attitude was, it would be Hollywood to change. Me, Scorpio and my brother, Kidd Creole, we were Flash’s little breakdance crew, then the first MCs. It was everybody’s song.”Ed “Duke Bootee” Fletcher: Co-writer, vocals, keyboards, percussionMELLE MEL: Flash became our neighbourhood DJ in the early days, when hip-hop was being formulated in the Bronx. It was bigger than hip-hop. It was bigger than Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five.
Around The Sugar Hill Gang’s ‘Rapper’s Delight’ we came back: myself, Doug Wimbish on bass, Keith Leblanc on drums. But we did a single, ‘Super Rappin,’’ at Enjoy, and I’d later use a rhyme from that on ‘The Message.’SKIP MCDONALD: I’d played at a company called All Platinum, which was owned by Sylvia, and later became Sugar Hill. His claim to fame was having people before they became famous. We originally signed with Enjoy Records, owned by Bobby Robinson, no relation to Sylvia at Sugar Hill. Personally, I think I was Gladys.
I went outside for a break, and I was beating this rhythm on an empty plastic bottle while I got water. That music was Ed Fletcher.FLETCHER: ‘The Message’ started when we were working on something else. But ‘The Message’ was different. ‘Rapper’s Delight’ is the classic example: a direct take from Chic’s ‘Good Times.’ It was like pre-sampling: we’d learn the groove and physically play it.
I’m trying not to lose my head.” Then: “It’s like a jungle sometimes, makes me wonder how I keep from going under.” I thought, “Uh-oh.” I rushed back to Sylvia. He was just laying on the couch, smoking, nonchalant, then, from the top of his head: “Don’t push me, ’cause I’m close to the edge. I came up with the lyrics then.CHASE: I said to Ed, “C’mon, come up with something.” Ed thinks out the box. It languished, until a period when Sylvia wasn’t hot on anything, and Jiggs said, “You should do something with that track.” He came down to my house, we worked on it. So, I recorded: just percussion, this water-bottle track.
Sugar Hill Gang didn’t want to do ‘The Message.’ We didn’t want to do it, either.CHASE: It wasn’t the usual boasting thing. When we did ‘Freedom,’ that was supposed to be Lovebug Starski, but Sylvia didn’t like him on it. I just wanted to hold a mirror up.MCDONALD: The Message was originally intended as a Sugar Hill Gang record.MEL: Sylvia always tried tracks on multiple groups.
And we knew: that’s it.FLETCHER: I did some tricky things – like slipping the track around and playing percussion backwards. Musically, ‘The Message’ is kind of a combination of those.CHASE: It was right to the point. That version was all right, but it wasn’t knocking us out.FLETCHER: I didn’t think it was commercial.CHASE: Then Ed came up with that simple thing.FLETCHER: Zapp had just done ‘More Bounce To The Ounce.’ I loved that, and Tom Tom Club’s ‘Genius Of Love.’ Also, we’d been listening a lot to Brian Eno and David Byrne’s My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts. That might be where the “jungle” lyric came from, trying to go in that direction. If you say so…”MCDONALD: We recorded a very different, very heavy, almost African-percussion version first.CHASE: This percussion groove, with the water bottles.
And she tried all The Furious Five. Then the vocals.MEL: Sylvia chose who’d get what verse: Duke on the intro, me on the first and second rhyme, Duke third and fourth, my rhyme last.FLETCHER: Initially, I just did a reference vocal, expecting someone else to do the finished song. It’s DMX drum machine, me on Prophet 5 synthesiser, my percussion, Skip’s guitar. It was the first Sugar Hill track where Skip, Doug and Keith didn’t play together. Skip was the only other player. I was into what I call “trance music,” I didn’t want any bass-line changes.
There was no “Throw Ya Hands In The Air!” It was just plain: here it is.MEL: We took the “a child is born…’” rhyme from ‘Super Rappin,’’ and tried it on the end. I’ve had Snoop Doggy Dog tell me how much my voice influenced him, because it was different from everybody else’s. But Sylvia heard something in my voice I didn’t hear.
Mel was truly a phenomenon.MCDONALD: Sugar Hill records were done very quickly. Mel is still the best rapper ever. The only piece I didn’t write.
We have to get this to the radio as soon as possible.” Sylvia was very into numerology, and 7 and 11 are considered the two luckiest numbers. When Sylvia saw that, she said, “Oh My God. We made ridiculously long records.
Fever was really a dance club. I didn’t think it was going to get much response. To hear my vocals, though, I had to stop and think.MEL: First time I heard the finished article, Sylvia came to Fever, where the early hip-hop crowd hung out. I’d heard things I’d played on before on radio, but to hear myself as percussionist was nothing.
It went gold in 11 days.MCDONALD: Does Sylvia deserve her credit as co-writer? That’s hard.
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