Grandmaster Flash's biography
LokoOne
1,823 Posts
A bit of a late pass but I just copped "THE ADVENTURES OF GRANDMASTER FLASH - My Life, My Beat" on sale at a discount book store. (Sydney heads theres till some copies left at the Book Discount joint located in the Central Station tunnel shops...$10).
Its a cool book, not too detailed or in depth but I like the way its written and you get a basic round down of Flash's life, success and struggles. I wish it dropped a bit more science on the DJ side of things from a technical POV but overall its a great tale that he tells.
Anyone else read it? Thoughts?
Bonus Beats....
I also found this article in relation to the book. Crazy story if its 100% legit, although Flash doesnt talk about any heavy thug shit in the book.
"Grandmaster Flash was furious
By Vick Mickunas | Tuesday, June 10, 2008, 05:54 PM
Back in the late 1970???s I had some very interesting jobs. I worked for a free form radio station. At the same time I worked at a record store. Disco was dying and a strange new music was being born: we called it rap but now it is known as hip hop. I remember when we got our first crate of 12-inch singles on Sugar Hill Records. It was a song by the Sugar Hill Gang. If you were around in those days then you know the song. It was every rapper???s delight.
The next big one from Sugar Hill was by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. That single sold and sold. It was quite a thing to behold. The store was in an urban area and these kids who were buying this music were early adopters; hipsters if you will.
This was urban music - sounds from the city, from the east coast. Music was changing and so were listeners.
A couple of years later Grandmaster Flash came to Des Moines to perform. The concert was being held at an unusual venue, the downtown Marriott Hotel. The promoter was a guy we all knew as Sugar Bear. He owned Soul Fire Records, Sugar Bear???s Activity Center, and a Lincoln Continental with a TV set and carpeting on the hood. Sugar Bear was a bad dude. Really bad.
As the crowd waited for the doors to open Sugar Bear was moving through the area. He looked stressed. I knew Earl AKA Sugar Bear and I could see that there was some kind of problem developing.
A few minutes later it became clear that Sugar had fled the scene. The crowd was getting restive. Enter Grandmaster Flash. He walked into the crowd with angry determination. He had a baseball bat and he started swinging it at random members of the crowd. I turned to my date and said; let???s get outta here.
We fought our way through the people as Grandmaster Flash and his Furious Five waded into the crowd, baseball bats flailing. As we approached the door to the stairwell and our escape from the carnage two columns of Iowa Highway Patrol officers surged into the crowd. They were followed by a swarm of Des Moines Police officers. All the cops had clubs and they began whaling on the crowd as we fled down the fire escape. We got THE MESSAGE.
That was my encounter with Grandmaster Flash. He was furious. Now he???s a legend. He has just published his memoir: THE ADVENTURES OF GRANDMASTER FLASH - My Life, My Beats (Broadway Books).
I suppose I had better read it. When he refers to ???My Beats??? I???m assuming that is not a reference to his baseball bat or that thumping time he had back in Des Moines??
Vick Mickunas"
Its a cool book, not too detailed or in depth but I like the way its written and you get a basic round down of Flash's life, success and struggles. I wish it dropped a bit more science on the DJ side of things from a technical POV but overall its a great tale that he tells.
Anyone else read it? Thoughts?
Bonus Beats....
I also found this article in relation to the book. Crazy story if its 100% legit, although Flash doesnt talk about any heavy thug shit in the book.
"Grandmaster Flash was furious
By Vick Mickunas | Tuesday, June 10, 2008, 05:54 PM
Back in the late 1970???s I had some very interesting jobs. I worked for a free form radio station. At the same time I worked at a record store. Disco was dying and a strange new music was being born: we called it rap but now it is known as hip hop. I remember when we got our first crate of 12-inch singles on Sugar Hill Records. It was a song by the Sugar Hill Gang. If you were around in those days then you know the song. It was every rapper???s delight.
The next big one from Sugar Hill was by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. That single sold and sold. It was quite a thing to behold. The store was in an urban area and these kids who were buying this music were early adopters; hipsters if you will.
This was urban music - sounds from the city, from the east coast. Music was changing and so were listeners.
A couple of years later Grandmaster Flash came to Des Moines to perform. The concert was being held at an unusual venue, the downtown Marriott Hotel. The promoter was a guy we all knew as Sugar Bear. He owned Soul Fire Records, Sugar Bear???s Activity Center, and a Lincoln Continental with a TV set and carpeting on the hood. Sugar Bear was a bad dude. Really bad.
As the crowd waited for the doors to open Sugar Bear was moving through the area. He looked stressed. I knew Earl AKA Sugar Bear and I could see that there was some kind of problem developing.
A few minutes later it became clear that Sugar had fled the scene. The crowd was getting restive. Enter Grandmaster Flash. He walked into the crowd with angry determination. He had a baseball bat and he started swinging it at random members of the crowd. I turned to my date and said; let???s get outta here.
We fought our way through the people as Grandmaster Flash and his Furious Five waded into the crowd, baseball bats flailing. As we approached the door to the stairwell and our escape from the carnage two columns of Iowa Highway Patrol officers surged into the crowd. They were followed by a swarm of Des Moines Police officers. All the cops had clubs and they began whaling on the crowd as we fled down the fire escape. We got THE MESSAGE.
That was my encounter with Grandmaster Flash. He was furious. Now he???s a legend. He has just published his memoir: THE ADVENTURES OF GRANDMASTER FLASH - My Life, My Beats (Broadway Books).
I suppose I had better read it. When he refers to ???My Beats??? I???m assuming that is not a reference to his baseball bat or that thumping time he had back in Des Moines??
Vick Mickunas"
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