Rap Moves On: The making of The Message by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five (An oral history)

“Don’t push me, ’cause I’m close to the edge…”  It’s well known that 'The Message,' with its slow, spare, ominous groove and downbeat slice-of-life lyric, opened new directions for hip-hop. Released in July 1982, it pointed away from the good-times boasting and partying of the genre’s early milestones, toward harsher territories that would be explored…

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The Message, song by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five

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Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five

Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The message HQ

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