Grandmaster Flash

On Tour

See all 37 pictures

Play Radio

Listen to Grandmaster Flash Radio, featuring artists like Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, The Sugarhill Gang, Kurtis Blow, Afrika Bambaataa and more…

• 
  Search on Spotify

  Yes, it scrobbles! Learn more

916,886 plays (171,190 listeners)
In your library (0 plays)

Shop now at Amazon | Send Grandmaster Flash Ringtones to Cell

More options

• Download
• Amazon
• Send Ringtones to Cell
• Tonefuse Search

Add to my Library

Queensbridge, New York (1958 – present)

Grandmaster Flash (born Joseph Saddler on January 1, 1958 in Barbados) is a hip hop musician and DJ; one of the pioneers of hip-hop DJing, cutting, and mixing.

Saddler’s family migrated to the United States, and he grew up in the Bronx. He became involved in the earliest Queensbridge, New York DJ scene, attending parties set up by early luminaries. Learning from Pete Jones and Kool Herc, he used duplicate copies of a single record and two turntables but added a dextrous manual edit with a mixer to promote the break (a point of isolated drum rhythm) - the ordinary playing of the record would be interrupted to overlay the break, the break could be repeated by using the mixer to switch channels while the second record was spun back. The speed and dexterity needed showed why Saddler was called Flash, although he got the nickname in school due to the fact that he hung around with another guy named Gordon (from Flash Gordon). He also invented the technique initially called cutting, which was developed by Grand Wizard Theodore into scratching (AMG).

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.

Read more… Edit

Popular tags: hip-hop, old school, rap, hip hop, 80s  See more

Shouts: 133 shouts

Share this artist:

• Send
• Tweet

Top Albums

• The Message
  Grandmaster Flash

  Buy

  • Download Album
  • Amazon MP3 Search
  • 7digital Search
  • iTunes Search
  • Buy Album
  • Amazon $12.47
  • eBay Search

  New

• Message from Beat Street: The Best of Grandmaster…
  Grandmaster Flash

  Buy

  • Download Album
  • Amazon MP3 Search
  • 7digital $8.99
  • iTunes Search
  • Buy Album
  • Amazon Search
  • eBay Search
• White Lines
  Grandmaster Flash

  Buy

  • Download Album
  • Amazon MP3 $2.97
  • 7digital $2.49
  • Juno $3.99
  • iTunes $2.97
  • Buy Album
  • Amazon $48.94
  • eBay Search
• Message
  Grandmaster Flash

  Buy

  • Download Album
  • Amazon MP3 Search
  • 7digital Search
  • iTunes Search
  • Buy Album
  • Amazon $12.47
  • eBay Search

Top Tracks

• Last Week
• Last 6 months

1		The Message			463
2		White Lines			164
3		The Message (Re-Recorded / Remastered)			65
4		Scorpio			46
4		White Lines (Don't Do It)			46
4		The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel			46
7		The Message (1982)			39
8		Message II (Survival)			33
9		White Lines (Long Version) (Re-Recorded / Remastered)			29
10		We Speak Hip Hop feat. Afasi, Kase. O, Maccho, Abass & KRS One			24
11		She's Fresh			20
12		Intro			19
13		Boom vs. Tap			15
14		You Are			14
14		It's a Shame (Mt. Airy Groove)			14

Buy all tracks at Amazon MP3

See more