Grandmaster Flash 'The Bridge Concept of a Culture' album

On March 3rd 2009, legendary hip hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash releases The Bridge on Adrenaline Entertainment via Strut, his first high profile studio album since his final recordings for Elektra in 1987. “As a DJ, I’ve been blessed to see many different people, places and styles. The album title represents all the bridges I’ve crossed worldwide,” explains Flash. “The bridges of time, cultures and colour, the bridges of hip hop, funk, pop, rock, jazz, punk, disco and R&B.”

Recorded at Flash’s own Adrenaline Lab studio in New York during 2008, the over-riding theme of the album is the global language of hip hop. “Wherever I travel as a DJ, I see the incredible power of this artform,” Flash explains. “I am constantly amazed by it. That’s the line that runs through the album – we speak many languages and come from many cultures but, wherever I go in the world, there is one universal culture of hip hop.”

Based on this theme, Flash features the track ‘We Speak Hip Hop’ as a centrepiece, bringing hip hop legend KRS-One together with a multi-national tag team consisting of four MCs rapping in their own languages. KASE-O (from Spanish crew Violadores Del Verso), MACCHO (from Ozrosaurus, Japan), ABASS (Senegal) and AFASI (from Afasi & Filthy, Sweden) trade verses for the first track of its kind. “I used the Mandingo ‘Sacrifice’ horn line on this, which was a huge battle break for me back in the day. I chose MCs who had the right flow,” continues Flash. “It wasn’t about finding the biggest names – some of the guys are known widely in their own country, some are more underground. It was more about the right chemistry.”

Throughout the album, Flash mixes up the flow and features some intriguing collaborations. More familiar faces appearing on the album include SNOOP DOGG appearing with RED CAFÉ and LYNN CARTER on ‘Swagger;’ A Tribe Called Quest frontman Q-TIP, alongside Will Smith collaborator KEL SPENCER on ‘Shine All Day;’ BIG DADDY KANE gets funky with Philadelphia MC HEDONIS DA AMAZON on the steamy mid-tempo jam ‘When I Get There;’ MR. CHEEKS of the lost boys unites with originators TITO and GRANDMASTER CAZ on ‘Can I Take You Higher’ and KRS-ONE depicts a doomsday world without hip hop on ‘What If’ – “I’d be rapping over country music!”

Flash features an all-female booty jam, bringing together MTV favourite BYATA, HEDONIS DA AMAZON and electro queen PRINCESS SUPERSTAR for ‘Those Chix’ his son, J-FLO on his debut recording alongside LORDIKIM ALLAH and ALMIGHTY THOR on the raucous ‘I Got Sumtin’ To Say’ and, for all fans of his turntable work, he features two DJ tracks: “I have one called ‘HERE COMES MY DJ’ featuring my turntable partner DJ DEMO and DJ KOOL (of ‘Let Me Clear My Throat’ fame) who shouts out commands to us,” explains Flash. “I also have a track with SUPERNAT called ‘Tribute To The Breakdancer’ which is a party break. It’s one for the floor.”

“As well as making an album for hip hop fans, I want this release to set the record straight,” says Flash. “There’s still confusion about who I am and what I do. A lot of people still think that I’m an MC - I am a DJ and a producer. This album contains a lot of the elements from the many countries and cultures I have experienced from pop to underground, from alternative to mainstream.”

Grandmaster Flash is one of the undisputed pioneers of hip hop. He is recognised worldwide as the first DJ to make the turntables an instrument, famously developing his ‘Quick Mix Theory’ mix techniques during the ‘70s which are now used by DJs the world over. Through his fabled block parties and, later, live shows and releases with The Furious Five, Flash was responsible for recording the first live DJ mix to be committed to wax and for masterminding groundbreaking live sets that lifted the bar for hip hop. Through his work, hip hop was first taken seriously as a sustainable artform that could both pack a lyrical punch and pull audiences on a par with traditional mainstream rock and pop acts.

Grandmaster Flash The Bridge is released on March 3rd. In June 2008, the autobiography ‘The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash: My Life, My Beats’ was published by Random House, written by Flash himself with top author David Ritz. The book provides a valuable insight into Flash’s early years growing up in the Bronx and his personal experience at the advent of hip hop culture. Flash was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame during 2007. He endorses and uses the Tractor Scratch digital vinyl system – “the analogue inventor has gone digital.”

Grandmaster Flash biography
There are lots of stories about the birth of jazz and the beginning of rock n’ roll, but hip-hop has founding fathers: one of them is DJ Grandmaster Flash.

In the early 70’s Joseph Saddler was living in the South Bronx and studying electrical engineering. However, Saddler, a native of the Bronx, had a much deeper passion for music; he had been experimenting with his father’s vinyl since he was an adolescent. His knowledge of audio equipment led him to an idea that would revolutionize music: the turntable would become his instrument.

The career of DJ Grandmaster Flash began in the Bronx with neighborhood block parties that essentially were the start of hip-hop—the dawn of a musical genre. He was the first DJ to physically lay his hands on the vinyl and manipulate it in a backward, forward or counterclockwise motion, when most DJs simply handled the record by the edges, put down the tone arm, and let it play. Those DJs let the tone arm guide their music, but Flash marked up the body of the vinyl with crayon, fluorescent pen, and grease pencil—and those markings became his compass.

He invented the Quick Mix Theory, which included techniques such as the double-back, back-door, back-spin, and phasing. This allowed a DJ to make music by touching the record and gauging its revolutions to make his own beat and his own music. Flash’s template grew to include cuttin’, which, in turn, spawned scratching, transforming, the Clock Theory and the like. He laid the groundwork for everything a hip hop DJ can do with a record today, other than just letting it play. What we call a DJ today is a role that Flash invented.

By the end of the 70s, Flash had started another trend that became a hallmark of hip-hop: emcees asked to rap over his beats. Before long, he started his own group, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Their reputation grew up around the way the group traded off and blended their lyrics with Flash’s unrivaled skills as a DJ and his acrobatic performances—spinning and cutting vinyl with his fingers, toes, elbows, and any object at hand.

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five went Platinum with their single, “The Message.” Meanwhile, the single “The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel” introduced hip hop DJing to a larger listening audience than it had ever known before; it became the first DJ composition to be recorded by a DJ. The group’s fame only grew with “Superappin,” “Freedom,” “Larry’s Dance Theme,” and “You Know What Time It Is.” Punk and new wave fans were introduced to Flash through Blondie, who immortalized him in their hit, “Rapture.”

The rock n’ roll establishment also recognized Flash with an honor no one else in hip hop has received: Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five became the first hip hop group ever inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. Flash is also the only hip hop DJ to ever receive that honor.

By the time the 90s rolled around, Flash was hand picked by Chris Rock to spend five years as the music director for his groundbreaking HBO series, The Chris Rock Show. More recently, Flash has played for audiences as large as the Super Bowl and as elite as Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain.

Today, Flash has a weekly show on Sirius Radio, The Flash Mash on Hot Jams 50. The show is a kaleidoscopic mash-up of Flash’s tastes, spanning just about any genre from just about any corner of the world; it airs on Saturdays from 5-8pm.

On top of his induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Flash has been the recipient of many awards, including VH1 Hip Hop Honors; The Icon Award from BET in honor of his contribution to hip hop as a DJ; The Lifetime Achievement Award from the RIAA; and Bill Gates’ Vanguard Award.

Although Flash has been in the business for many years, he shows no sign of slowing down: this coming year promise, a new album, and he will began his descent from the analog vinyl world of DJing to enter the digital world of DJing. His DJ application of choice will be “Traktor Scratch” by Native Instruments.

Grandmaster Flash’s memoirs, The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash – My Life My Beats is slated to hit bookstores on June 10. The book is penned by David Ritz, author of both Marvin Gaye’s and Ray Charles’ biographies. In this extraordinary book, Grandmaster Flash sets down Hip Hop history,sharing for the first time his personal and difficult life story—along with no small amount of wisdom and experience.

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Grandmaster Flash - The Bridge Concept of a Culture