Release · 1982-07-01 · New York City [40.71, -74.01]

The Message (1982 single)

Released by Sugar Hill Records on 1 July 1982 and credited to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five featuring Melle Mel and Duke Bootee, "The Message" reoriented rap toward unflinching social realism. Over a sparse, ominous electronic groove, it described the pressures of life in the inner city. The single is frequently cited as the moment rap proved it could be serious journalism as well as party music.

Evidence2

Connections3

  • collaborates with → Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five

  • influenced by → The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel (1981 single)

    By committing pure turntable technique to vinyl in 1981 on "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel," Flash proved that a hip-hop record could be an authored studio construction rather than a captured party. That confidence in the record as a deliberate statement set the stage for the Furious Five's leap into social narrative on "The Message" the following year. One single expanded what the format could hold; the next filled it with meaning.

  • reacts against → Rapper's Delight (1979 single)

    "The Message" can be heard as a deliberate answer to the carefree party rhymes that "Rapper's Delight" had made the commercial standard, replacing celebration with social diagnosis. Where the earlier hit invited dancers to lose themselves, the later one insisted they look at the conditions around them. The two records bracket the movement's first decade, from party to protest.

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