The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash: My Life, My Beats [Hardcover]

Grandmaster Flash (Author), David Ritz (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 10, 2008

A no-holds-barred memoir from the primary architect of hip hop and one of the culture's most revered music icons—both the tale of his life and legacy and a testament to dogged determination.

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five fomented the musical revolution known as hip hop. Theirs was a groundbreaking union between one DJ and five rapping MCs. One of the first hip hop posses, they were responsible for such masterpieces as “The Message” and “Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel.”

In the 1970s Grandmaster Flash pioneered the art of break-beat DJing—the process of remixing and thereby creating a new piece of music by playing vinyl records and turntables as musical instruments. Disco-era DJs spun records so that people could dance. The original turntablist, Flash took it a step further by cutting, rubbing, backspinning, and mixing records, focusing on “breaks”—what Flash described as “the short, climactic parts of the records that really grabbed me”—as a way of heightening musical excitement and creating something new.

Now the man who paved the way for such artists as Jay-Z, Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, and 50 Cent tells all—from his early days on the mean streets of the South Bronx, to the heights of hip hop stardom, losing millions at the hands of his record label, his downward spiral into cocaine addiction, and his ultimate redemption with the help and love of his family and friends. In this powerful memoir, Flash recounts how music from the streets, much like rock ’n’ roll a generation before, became the sound of an era and swept a nation with its funk, flavor, and beat.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

One of the founders of rap music, Grand Master Flash more than deserves a full-blown, critical biography. This as-told-to autobio ain’t it. It is, however, replete with GMF’s views of his travails, the start of the rap scene in New York, and the career of his Furious Five, a seminal act in rap history and the first rap group elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (OK, big whoop). Born Joseph Saddler in Barbados in 1958, GMF remembers hearing James Brown at one of his parents’ late-night house parties: “I wanted to scream, wanted to jump in the middle of the action.” Eventually, he did, as an early master of “scratching,” the art of creating the instrumental component of rap by manipulating vinyl records on turntables. Though more boastful than introspective, this first book on the life and career of a rap initiator should still be considered essential for pop-music and hip-hop collections. It may even give your library an immediate uptick in street cred! --Mike Tribby

Review

“Grandmaster Flash not only transformed and revolutionized the music industry with his innovative turntable genius, he also opened the doors to power, and influenced the hopes and dreams of generations . . . and he did it with class. That's the message.” —MC Hammer, Billboard Diamond Award winner, 3-time Grammy Award winner

“In the rich history of American music, Grandmaster Flash holds an important place. He helped birth a culture that, in many ways, changed the world of artistic expression.” -Jimmy Jam, Grammy Award Winning songwriter and producer of 25 No. 1 R& B hits and 16 No. 1 Pop hits, a record surpassed only by Sir George Martin (The Beatles)

“Hip hop is the blues music of my day and age. Like the blues, it has influenced every form of popular music today. Grandmaster Flash is a true pioneer of hip hop, and his skills as a DJ along with the classic records he made with the Furious Five have no doubt influenced me deeply. Scorpio is a timeless example of an early hip hop record that still plays today, and The Message is without a doubt a true classic in the same class as songs like Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Sweet Home Alabama or ACDC's Back in Black. Playing with Flash, spinning with Flash, and hanging with Flash has left an everlasting influence on me and my music. He is a true national treasure.” - Kid Rock, 3-time Billboard Music Award winner and Grammy Award nominee

“Grandmaster Flash is the first hip hop artist to stir my soul. I revel in the humanity found in his work and witness.” -Tavis Smiley, host of The Tavis Smiley Show and #1 New York Times bestselling author of What I Know for Sure: My Story of Growing Up in America, The Covenant with Black America, and The Covenant in Action

“Grandmaster Flash is a musical pioneer, and we all owe him a debt of gratitude for his creative originality.” - Janet Jackson, 6-time Grammy Award winner, Academy Award nominee and singer

“Grandmaster Flash is one of the great figures in hip hop. He is a courageous and visionary artist whose work has enriched so many of us!” — Dr. Cornel West, New York Times bestselling author of Democracy Matters


“By theorizing the turntable, the mixer, and the breakbeat into a brand new dance-floor science, Grandmaster Flash helped inject bonafide party-rocking into global pop. Every night a DJ saves your life, Flash deserves more than a little bit of your thanks.” - Jeff Chang, author Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of The Hip-Hop Generation and editor of Total Chaos: The Art and Aesthetics of Hip-Hop

“Hip hop wouldn’t be hip hop without the great Grandmaster Flash.” - Jermaine Dupri, producer and composer

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Crown Archetype; First Edition edition (June 10, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0767924754
• ISBN-13: 978-0767924757
• Product Dimensions: 6.1 x 1.1 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #966,684 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars ..... July 2, 2008

By Shbzz7

Format:Hardcover

It's a good book.

At times when I read this book it made me realize that it really isn't 100% about hip hop, but about a man's struggle. How everyone's life can go zig zag zig... forward, back and hopefully forward again.

It shed light on a few things for me: Like why Flash has such an articulate vernacular (read, nerdy sounding speech), whether all the rumors of him hitting rock bottom were true or not, & how he had an almost obsession w/ bettering Kool Herc, the originator of the Hip Hop style of dj-ing.

The book is made up of very concise chapters that are quick and easy to read. There are a couple of things that I liked about the writing style too. There is an ongoing theme of how Flash relates everything to two records spinning, from the wheels on his bike to watching clothes spin in a laundromat when he is flat out busted and broke. Also at times the end of one chapter would purposely blend into the next chapter. Pretty much like Flash quick mixing at a set. And from a visual perspective, sometimes when there is an ascension or de-escalation of ideas or thoughts in a paragraph, the placement of letters in this paragraph were made to mimic this theme to form a set of steps or the like.
..

In narrating his story Flash does skip or neglect to elaborate certain points quite often. I would have wanted to know a lil more of his dealings with Enjoy Records, how much he got from that "Flash Former" gadget, how successful he was after he split with Furious and then recorded w/ Electra, how he felt when he eventually went up against Kool Herc, etc., etc. etc.

I dunno, maybe this just didn't fit into the way the book was set up. Maybe it would have killed that rise-fall-rise human drama theme that the overall book is exhibiting. I dunno. Maybe the authors thought that the average Joe w/ no knowledge of the Boogie Down Bronx wouldn't care or know better anyway?

And yes there isn't really a significant amount of info about the early beginnings of hip hop. Perhaps the thinking is why retread that which can be found over and over again. The book "Yes, Yes, Yall" speaks encyclopedic volumes to that and is suitable for the layman and b-boy alike.

The good thing here is that we get the opportunity to learn about Flash's early early life. He candidly speaks on things I never heard mentioned in previous interviews w/ him, like his parents, sisters and schooling. Not to mention how, although a self admitted nerd, he spins thru females like they are records, sometimes quick cutting, sometimes back spinning, sometimes just riding the groove out. All these things go on to shape him later in life.

We learn about the young dj Flash before he was the Grand Master and how he always had to deal w/ the weight of being really skilled, but chained to a rag tag homemade sound system. One that the literal as well as musical "giant" of the time, Herc, would laugh at.
..

I too give Flash dap for admitting that he was flat out afraid of Sylvia Robinson, Queen of Sugar Hill Records. Flat out afraid of losing his crew, having the haunting feeling that he as a dj, and not the now all important mc, would be relegated to the back of the bus.

You feel for Flash when he comes to the realization that his place as a non-rhyming dj, at Sugar Hill Records, Sugar Hill Studios & the Sugar Hill mansion is no place. You feel for him when his very first mc, Cowboy, spits at him "It ain't about you no more Flash". And when childhood friend EZ Mike takes his place in a reinvented lineup, who can't help but see the correlation of Brutus thrusting the final dagger into the chest of Grand Master Caesar.
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Like I mentioned earlier there may have been issues with editing & also trying to cram things into such a concise format. I can see a couple of errors w/ records not correlating with dates. And on the technical side, in one passage he mentions a device he made for himself to aid in mixing records, the peek-a-boo system, as if he had mentioned it earlier in the book when he had not. There are also slight grammatical & spelling errors here & there.

Also, Flash goes a hell of a long way to mention how he developed his mixing technique. He deals at length w/ that and I can only think someone who has never gotten behind 1200's or a pair of Thorens :) might be lulled to sleep by it. But of course this is exactly what defined a "kid named Flash"!

Also I see a lot of books and movies that use devices or techniques to make the style, flow or storyline of the book more cohesive. You yourself can sometimes right off the bat tell hat it has been made up, sometimes not. (Take for instance in the Movie "Malcolm X", The guy that teaches Malcolm the knowledge of self while he is incarcerated. That character was made by Spike Lee to tell the story more smoothly and didn't actually exist in the book or reality.)

Flash relates of a friend who helped him see the light, helped him get on track when he needed it, helped him sort the b.s. out when it was tuff. I really hope that this wasn't just a contrived literary device and someone that was really on the real. Because that is someone or something that we all need in our lives now and then :)
True dat.

At times when I read this book it made me realize that it really isn't 100% about hip hop, but about a man's struggle. How everyone's life can go zig zag zig... forward, back and hopefully forward again.

It's a good book.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The Rise and Fall and Rebirth of Grandmaster Flash June 11, 2008

By A. Ross HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Over the last five years or so, as hip hop culture has moved into its third decade, there have been more and more books published about its early days. Books like Yes Yes Y'All and Can't Stop Won't Stop have sought to trace the development of b-boying, DJing, MCing, and graffiti from their disparate origins in the early 1970s into the unified "street" culture and big business hip hop has become. This autobiography by one hip hop's pioneers traces the early years of this evolution through the personal story of someone who was there from the start.

In many respects, Flash's story (at least as he presents it), is a classic American rise and fall story. We meet him as a child with an abusive father with a killer record collection, who ditches the family and a mentally ill mother. Then through a succession of foster homes, the calm of The Greer School in upstate New York, and then back to the Bronx and Gompers VoTech High School. During these teen years, the slightly nerdy kid with a love of music and electronics manages to marry the two and more or less invent turntablism. Through hard work, innovative techniques, and the help of friends, he rises to local fame as a street and then club DJ. Then the perfidious Sugar Hill Records scoops him up, uses him up, and dumps him. Oh yeah, along the way he succumbs to the classic "rock star" pitfalls of not keeping his business affairs in good order, getting wrapped up in partying, women, and drugs. By the mid '80s, he's become an out of control cokehead who is rescued from ODing in a crack house by his older sister. Years pass as he lives on his sister's couch, with no income, struggling to put his life back together. Eventually, he finds some manner of spiritual peace, find closure with his father, and rebuilds his music career and rescues his reputation.

In many ways, Flash's story is predictably sad: the broken home, the signing of a record contract without understanding it, the allure of cash and flashy cars, the betrayal by friends, the coke, the dog-like behavior with women (he has children by five different women). And yet, there's a lot to like: from his confession that he tried b-boying and tried graffiti and failed at both before hitting on DJing as his ticket into hip-hop, his scavenging dumps for parts to build his own sound system, the combination of trial and error and inspiration it took to figure out how to cut beats and breaks and mix on the fly, the hours spent digging through record crates looking for obscure material, how "Big Bank Hank" stole the rhymes for "Rapper's Delight" from a friend, how Flash had nothing to do with the hits "The Message" or "White Lines," the crooked dealings of Sugar Hill Records (not to mention their silent mob-connected financier).

The book is probably at its most engaging, however, when describing the early days of hip-hop in the Bronx. The days of sound systems in parks and playgrounds, with street gangs in charge, and everybody out to have a good time. Flash's memories bring that all to life quite effectively and colorfully (as do many of the interviews in Yes, Yes, Y'all). One quibble I have with his account about these early days, is a failure to explain how what was happening on the street of the Bronx in the early '70s was replicating what had gone down in Jamaica ten years earlier. DJ Kool Herc, who figures prominently in Flash's account of the early years, lived in Jamaica until 1967, and the scene was exactly the same: competing street sound systems, with competing DJs who would take the labels off records so spies couldn't find out what they were playing, gangs, violence--all the same. Even MCing was preceded in Jamaica by "toasters" like King Stitt, U-Roy, Alcapone, and others, who would do rhymes over backing rhythm tracks. The line from '60s Jamaica to '70s Bronx is a pretty clear one, and it's a shame that Flash either never realized it, or chose not to mention it. (I've heard that a decent account of that Jamaican ancestry can be found in the early chapters Can't Stop, Won't Stop, although I haven't read it myself).

In the end, Flash's life is a quick read broken down into lots of bite-sized chapters. The writing isn't the best, and some of the stylistic tics are kind of clunky and cheesy, but it's definitely worth checking out if you're interested in the history of hip-hop, and turntablism in particular. Possibly worth checking out if you're interested in how urban subcultures rise and thrive.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Missing in action June 15, 2008

By Michael Bonilla

Format:Hardcover

I too bought the book when it came out, and finished it in three days.
I consider Grandmaster Flash to be the best DJ ever. I was a bit taken by some of the incorrect text, Flash writes about one night in 1975 when Pete Jones was spinning "I will survive" and "Lets Start the Dance" - both songs were released in 1978!. Also, too much on the Sylvia Robinson scenarioes, and absolutely nothing on the Elektra years, thats the reason I bought the book, as some of his finest work was during that period.
We all know the Sugar Hill story from other books. I wish I could be kinder, but as a b-boy and a music historian, I was left with a void.