The Message (Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five song)

"The Message"
"The Message"
	Side A of the US 12-inch single
Single by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
from the album The Message
B-side	"The Message" (instrumental)
Released	July 1, 1982
Recorded	1982
Studio	Sweet Mountain (Englewood, New Jersey)
Genre	Old-school hip hop; conscious hip hop; electro; progressive rap;
Length	7:10
Label	Sugar Hill
Songwriter(s)	Edward G. Fletcher; Melle Mel; Clifton "Jiggs" Chase; Sylvia Robinson;
Producer(s)	Edward G. Fletcher; Sylvia Robinson;
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five singles chronology
Music video
	"The Message" on YouTube

"The Message" is a song by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. It was released as a single by Sugar Hill Records on July 1, 1982, and was later featured on the group's debut studio album of the same name.

"The Message" was an early prominent hip hop song to provide social commentary. The song's lyrics describe the stress of inner-city poverty. In the final verses a child born in the ghetto without prospects in life is lured away into a life of crime, for which he is jailed until he commits suicide in his cell.^[3] The song ends with a brief skit in which the band members are arrested by white cops for no clear reason.^[4]

"The Message" took rap music from the house parties of its origin to the social platforms later developed by groups like Public Enemy and KRS-One.^[5] Melle Mel said in an interview with NPR: "Our group, like Flash and the Furious Five, we didn't actually want to do 'The Message' because we was used to doing party raps and boasting how good we are and all that."^[6]

The song was first written in 1980 by Duke Bootee and Melle Mel, in response to the 1980 New York City transit strike, which is mentioned in the song's lyrics.^[4] Melle Mel's verse, starting with the line "A child is born with no state of mind, blind to the ways of mankind" was taken from the early Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five track "Superrappin'" from 1979 on the Enjoy label.

^ "Electro Music Genre Overview - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
^ Parker, Evelyn L. (2003). Trouble Don't Last Always: Emancipatory Hope Among African American Adolescents. Pilgrim Press. ISBN 9780829821031.
^ "50 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2012-12-05. Retrieved 2021-03-23.
^ ^a ^b Kreps, Daniel (2021-01-15). "Duke Bootee, Rapper and Co-Writer of Hip-Hop Classic 'The Message,' Dead at 69". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2021-03-23.
^ "Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs.com. July 1982. Retrieved 2012-04-09.
^ Gross, Terry. "The History of Hip-Hop". NPR.

[1] "Electro Music Genre Overview - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 August 2017.

[Parker-2] Parker, Evelyn L. (2003). Trouble Don't Last Always: Emancipatory Hope Among African American Adolescents. Pilgrim Press. ISBN 9780829821031.

[3] "50 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time". Rolling Stone. 2012-12-05. Retrieved 2021-03-23.

[:0-4] Kreps, Daniel (2021-01-15). "Duke Bootee, Rapper and Co-Writer of Hip-Hop Classic 'The Message,' Dead at 69". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2021-03-23.

[5] "Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message (Vinyl) at Discogs". Discogs.com. July 1982. Retrieved 2012-04-09.

[6] Gross, Terry. "The History of Hip-Hop". NPR.

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