Grandmaster Flash
Grandmaster Flash
Joseph Saddler, better known as Grandmaster Flash, is a Barbadian-born American hip hop recording artist and DJ. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of hip-hop DJing, cutting, and mixing. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, becoming the first hip hop act to be so honored...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionRapper
Date of Birth1 January 1958
CityBridgetown, Barbados
CountryUnited States of America
My contribution to this whole thing is I was the first DJ to take an inanimate object called the turntable and play it like it was an instrument.
My contribution is: I was the first DJ to make the turntable an instrument.
I was the first DJ to make the turntable an instrument.
My father was my first inspiration. He had an incredible stereo and a turntable, and I was told not to touch it. But I'd go back and touch it anyway. I gained a respect for the turntables when I was a kid. When I was a teenager, I came up with a 'cueing system' to work the turntables because they didn't have it at that time.
What has happened is that to some degree they have taken an attitude where they don't listen to demos of diverse subject matters. They're looking for demos like the record the guy on the left just did.
I went to junkyards, abandoned car lots. I asked supermarkets for the big jugs they put pig guts in, to make cabinets for my bass speakers.
Unfortunately we are arguing amongst each other so much when the bottom line is we don't own anything. We are offspring to a record label owner.
I'm not big on snacks, but I if do, I like a few M&M's.
Exactly, especially when you're talking about a music where you can do just about anything. We can talk about just about anything lyrically.
For instance, if you're playing a record with drums - horns would sound nice to enhance it so you get a record with horns and slip it in at certain times.
A scratch is nothing but the back-cueing that you hear in your ear before you push it out to the crowd.
So what the owners see is that we are fighting amongst each other and causing controversy, but as long as it's selling records they don't care.
Hmmmm... It's fun being in front of people, playing shows and all. But hotels? Being away from home? That's different.
When I am performing live, I walk into a room, and I just try to get a feel for the vibe, and I am coming from different angles musically. I might come with a new song, I might come with some hip-hop, with some R&B. Once I find my way, then I am hitting you, and hitting you all night.