Taipei Times: Since you were there when it happened, how did this hip hop phenomenon get started?
Grandmaster Flash: Well yeah I'm part of it being born.
But first let's get a few things straight. Hip hop all started with the DJ. Then came the break dancing. Then the break-beat artist. And then the MC came later. You gotta get that sequence right, because you have to realize it all started with the DJ. My job is to get this DJ art form recognized.
It's painful when I hear people saying hip hop started in like 1982 with The Message or something. I'm always like, wait, that's from the middle. That's like 12 years after the start of hip hop, which was in 1971.
If anyone talks about rock, they know who the Stones are, who Bo Didley is. But with hip hop it's so sad that people don't know what it was about or where and how it started. It's just sad that people aren't properly informed.
So, why don't we start from the beginning? That's where I'm going to start in the show. The beginning.
TT: OK, so what triggered the process to make that first hip hop sound?
Flash: I think it started out of frustration. I just wasn't hearing what I wanted to hear. I would go through bins of records in the pop, rock, jazz, blues, R&B, funk, punk sections and on these records we had to find the parts of the record where the least musicians were performing, like maybe the drummer, and find those great breaks that were maybe only 10 seconds long. I found that very frustrating.
I didn't say to myself, "I'm gonna start this art form." I just thought to myself that there's gotta be a way to take that piece of music there and rearrange it and take that joy and extend it by manipulating the records back and forth. That was my quest.
At first, people would be like, "Man, why are you playing that break for five minutes!"
They didn't like it.
TT: But it eventually caught on, obviously. And since then, what have been some of the turning points or milestones in hip hop's history that you've been witness to?
Flash: Man, there are too many to name 'cause I've seen them all. I've seen Kurtis Blow at his best. And I've seen LL Cool J and Run DMC at their best. Then Eric B and Rakim. I've seen DMX at his best. I've sorta seen all the dynasties come to their pinnacle. I think that's going to be part of my story that I tell at the show.
TT: And when you look at how hip hop is now, how do you feel about how far it's come from the days it was invented in bedrooms and block parties in the Bronx?
Flash: It's big business now. You look at everything, from electronics to cars, to clothes and they're trying to use the essence of hip hop to sell things. It's gotten really corporate.
But I look at hip hop now, and I don't necessarily like every record that comes out, but I'm happy for the way it has exploded. If it hadn't, who knows where I'd be?
TT: So what's it like to tour the world now as a DJ and play in Asia for the first time?
Flash: Actually, people would say, "Yo Flash, you gotta get out on tour. Old school is hot man!" And I said the only way that I will perform is if I can do this shit from the very beginning. The same way that I sit down with my four-year-old daughter and read her a story before she goes to bed, I say, "Once upon a time, page one." That's where I start! I wanna instill this history in this generation of hip-hoppers. If I can do that then my mission is complete.
So yeah, it's great. I just love what I do. I think it's amazing that after over 30 years I'm still this popular. It's a blessing to be able to do this out there.
TT: How did it feel to have a plaque with your name installed in the Bronx Walk of Fame at 161st and Grand Concourse?
Flash: Oh man. When the mayor came with that proposal I was like, "Wow." It is such an honor! It's even in a popular part of town. After pounding that pavement for so long, to get honored in your own neighborhood, that's a really a great thing.
TT: Was it better than being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame?
Flash: Yes.
TT: Do they still have block parties in that
neighborhood?
Flash: No they don't. But when I perform, that is what I try to emulate. I try to tell people that we used to do these wonderful things. We'd bring out these makeshift sound systems and then we'd beg the person who lived on the first floor to put our extension cord in there, or we would break the lamppost of the nearest streetlight. And then we would just jam till whenever.
TT: What are some of your other ongoing projects?
Flash: Right now I'm putting together a record label called Adrenaline City Entertainment. So once I slow down the touring I wanna go into the recording studio that I just built in my new house. I'm doing my satellite radio hosting gig. I'm getting ready to write this book as well, you know, on the story of my life. I just closed a deal with Doubleday (Publishers) for that.
TT: And what can we expect to hear you play in Taipei?
Flash: I think the theme for the night is going to be pandemonium in a joyful sort of way. I'm going to start, chronologically speaking, playing jams from I think 1973 all the way up to 2005. I've got all my "dusties" from like 20 years ago all scratched to hell. I'll be playing those. I'm gonna be basically dropping science and teaching the people.
And mid-way through the show I'll stop every now and again and be like "Ok, are you all with me? You follow me here? Any questions?"
TT: You sound like a teacher when you say that.
Flash: Well, I look at myself as a prophet of hip hop. The show is going to be a philoso-jam. I'm gonna talk some philosophy and then we're gonna jam!
Performance notes:
What: Grandmaster Flash
When: Tonight, 10pm
Where: Luxy, 5F, 201 Zhongxiao E Rd, Sec 4, Taipei (
Tickets: NT$600 before 11pm, NT$900 after 11pm
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