The message

Ed Fletcher, who was a full-time author on Sugarhill Records , wrote this song on the piano in the basement of his parents house in 1980. He made a demo, adding his recitative, and showed the result to label boss Sylvia Robinson , who asked Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five to record the track. Later, Joseph Saddler spoke of this song as a turning point in the development of rap, but that first time - when the musicians heard a demo, they did not want to take on this material, and even made fun of it. “The song was about some kind of negativity. She was not suitable for party performance. She didn't even look like real street history. We just laughed at her, ”recalled the rapper ^[5] .

Since the group showed no interest in the material, Robinson suggested recording this song to rapper Melle Mel, whose vocals were supposed to alternate with Ed Fletcher's voice in the refrain. After that, Sadler asked Robinson to let the whole group record the track, but she refused. Taking up the work, Melle Mel added additional lyrics to the song ^[5] .

Although the group starred in the music video, the rest of its members are present only for the crowd, in the background. The text is performed by Melle Mel and Fletcher, the rest of the participants are heard only at the very end of the video - when they are arguing among themselves on the corner of the street before they are arrested by the riders ^[5] .

Rolling Stone magazine put the song in 51st place on its list of “ 500 Greatest Songs of All Time ” (the highest place among songs released in the 80s, and the highest rating among hip-hop songs). In 2012, she was named the greatest hip hop song of all time ^[4] . The song took 3rd place in the About.com poll of the “100 Best Rap Songs of All Time” , behind only I Used to Love HER from Common and Rapper's Delight from The Sugarhill Gang ^[6] . The Message took fifth place in the rating of the VH1 television channel “100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs” ^[7] .

In 2002, in the first year of voting, the song was among the fifty entries selected by the Library of Congress , which were added to the National Sound Recording Register . The Message was the first hip-hop song to be honored with such an honorable privilege ^[8] .

The British government used The Message in a road safety information film ^[9] .

Criticism Reviews

Besides the fact that the song is rightfully considered one of the greatest rap hymns, The Message was noted by many music experts as the song that pushed MS to the forefront in the hip-hop structure. Thus, the shift in emphasis from the tune of the DJ to the vocalist, influenced the fact that the meaning of the lyrics began to play a dominant role in the songs. In 2004, David Hickley wrote: “The Message was a turning point in rap music. The success of the song stated that MC began to stand out against the background of DJs, and come to the fore in this music ” ^[10] . “This was the first song with one hundred percent hip-hop rhythm and vocal pressure,” noted an article in Rolling Stone magazine, “she spoke without embellishment about life forbidden by the official television and radio of America,” the echo of “The Message” effect can be felt on the tracks of NWA , J-Z , Lil Wayne , Biggie Smalls and even Rage Against The Machine ” ^[4] .

The Message was used in several computer games in order to emphasize the surroundings of the eighties: it sounds on a “ pirate ” radio station in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and in the soundtrack Scarface: The World Is Yours ^[5] .

Several covers were created for this composition. American rock band Katsu recorded an abridged cover version of The Message for MTV Lit Riffs: The Soundtrack ^[11] . American singer Willy Mason recorded a cover version for the compilation Live Lounge of BBC Radio 1 ^[12] . Musicians from the metal band Mushroomhead used the second and final couplets of The Message in their song Born of Desire from the album XX ^[13] . Singer Timbuktu after riots in Husby and other suburbs of Stockholm recorded the Swedish adaptation of the song - Budskapet ^{[14] [15] [16]} .

The composition became a source of inspiration for many musicians, among them were not only colleagues in the rap workshop. So in a 2001 book, The Genesis Songbook, Genesis vocalist Phil Collins and band producer Hugh Padham said that The Message helped create a hook for their hit Mama. Padham noted that: “At that time, The Message was one of my favorite records.” Collins continued: “This idea with laughter was just fantastic ... such a great sound”, the vocalist experimented with similar moments, one of which ended up in the song. During the concert performance of Mama at the time of laughter, they used Vari-Lite lighting technology, and this visual technique was the highlight of the show. Collins ironically remarked: “Rap really influenced Genesis” ^[5] .

In 2007, on the 25th anniversary of The Message, Melle Mel recorded the song M3 - The New Message for his debut solo album - Muscles ^[17] . In the same year, Grandmaster Flash and Furious Five were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame , becoming the first hip-hop team to receive such an honor ^[18] .

In 2010, Melle Mel and Scorpio ( Scorpio ) starred in an Australian Kia Sportage car advertisement in which they sang The Message ^[19] .

On November 30, 2011, Melle Mel, Scorpio and Grandmaster Flash, along with Common , Lupe Fiasco and LL Cool J, performed a joint tribute to The Message at the 54th Grammy Awards ^[5] .

Literature

• Chang, Jeff. (2005) Can't Stop Won't Stop: A History of the Hip-Hop Generation. New York: St. Martin's Press.
• Loder, Kurt . The Message: Grandmaster Flash: Review // Rolling Stone : magazine. - New York, 1982. - 16 September. Archived on June 16, 2009.

• Lyrics for MetroLyrics
• Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five: The Message on Discogs
• How we did it: Clifton Chase and Ed Fletcher on the creation of “The Message”