Search - Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five :: The Message

Who needs Dr. Dre when we have the old school rappers?

finulanu | Here, there, and everywhere | 10/26/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"With the title track, rap was single-handedly established as a legitimate genre, combining brutally honest slice-of-life lyrics about the ghetto; a haunting synthesizer part; wonderful delivery; and the best chorus in rap history - this is my favorite song of the genre. Of course, I would be doing the rest of the album a disservice by saying it's the only good song on the album - another one is the propulsive, funky "She's Fresh", with a great slap bass line and hilarious vocals. It's more funk than rap, really, which makes sense because it was recorded before the rules for rap were laid down - as such, this is rap for people who don't think they like rap. Like me! Anyway, "It's Nasty" is also a brilliant early hip-hop gem, based on "Genius of Love", with a hilarious kazoo break and sweet synths. The overly processed "Scorpio", however, was a misstep, but it's redeemed by "It's a Shame (Mt. Airy Groove)", more social commentary, this time sampling the Spinners' "It's a Shame". The chorus lyrics are rather obvious, but the verse lyrics are awesome, as are the turntable scratches. But the slow ballad "Dreamin'" isn't really all that great and is in fact rather dull. But they're right about one thing: Stevie Wonder really is the greatest. Or one of 'em, at least. "Dreamin'", by the way, sounds more like the O'Jays than rap. This isn't a bad thing - I like the O'Jays - I'm just giving everyone a basis to work off of, you know? The other ballad, "You Are", is just vocals and piano - not very good, and not very furious either. I mean, this guy calls his group the Furious Five! You'd think they'd be furious, right? Anyway, after that comes "The Message", which I already praised to death. And if you want to hear some classic turntable work, just give yourself a listen to "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel", a marvelous deconstruction of Chic's hit "Good Times" to rival "Rapper's Delight". You're probably tired of hearing it, but old-school hip-hop is much better than the modern stuff. I mean, who's gonna be remembered in 40 years? Grandmaster Flash or Souljah Boy? Run-D.M.C. or G-Unit? Public Enemy or Snoop Dogg? Afrika Bambataa or Jay-Z? The Sugarhill Gang or Eminem? Kurtis Blowe or Nelly? Yeah, that's what I thought. I'm actually not that into a lot of rap, but I love the old-school stuff, since it's more funk-rock (or just plain funk - it helps that, unlike modern rap, this stuff actually has melody...), and I love both funk and rock. Perhaps that explains why I like Prince and Funkadelic so much, no?"

Now this is what hip hop was really all about.

Eric Robinson | DETROIT, MI | 06/19/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This was indeed the pioneer days of hip hop music. It might not have been as profitable then as it is now, but these brothers really had something to say that made since and that was really relevant to the times right now. "The Message" is indeed a true classic song for all ages. Kudos to Grand Master Flash and my main man Melle Mel."

Mixed Bag from rap pioneers

Andre M. | Mt. Pleasant, SC United States | 06/11/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"This Cd is actually of a complete early rap album from about 1982. At this point, rap albums were more or less collections of an artist's recent work and not recorded as concept albums per se (I think it was either Run DMC's self-titled debut or Whodini's Escape that broke this trend).



In either case, this was released to capitalize off of GMF's Summer 1982 hit "The Message." Every rap fan knows about this tale of the ills of ghetto life and one of the first serious rap tunes. One other tune that comes close to this is their remake of "Its a Shame." The joyous, party feel belies the serious and stark lyrics.



"It's Nasty" has the guys doing what they do best, good time party rapping in an ensemble style. However, this Cd also contains the hideous technojunk "Scorpio" which consists of sickening synthesizer banging and incoherent rapping through a computerized voice box (with none of the charm of Roger Troutman, I might add). The guys also make the mistake of trying to sing on "You Are." For some reason, early rap albums on the Sugarhill label tended to feature rappers trying to sing on at least one song. This trend thankfully ended as rap albums became more popular.



Overall, a mixed bag. Good stuff coexists with the junk, but there is enough good stuff here to make it worthwhile to buy used."