Grandmaster Flash

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Image courtesy of Razzmatazz

Joseph Saddler, better known as Grandmaster Flash, is a living legend and hip hop pioneer who influenced several generations by inventing the rules of the game, mixing beats in the New York of the mid-seventies and early eighties. We owe him three revolutionary technical advances in the world of DJing: backspin, punch phrasing and scratching. Techniques that even today, almost 40 years later, are still the basis of this language.  

As a producer he is also considered a pioneer, thanks to his early project Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, with Kid Creole and Mc Melle Mel. In 1980 they signed to the legendary Sugarhill Gang label, where they released the legendary "The Message" in 1982, considered the first rap with a social message. That same year, Grandmaster Flash made a starring appearance in the cult film Wild Style, about the lifestyle of breakers and hip hop parties, where the master appears in several scenes of dance battles between breakers.

In 2006 he received the I AM HIP-HOP ICON AWARD at the BET Hip Hop Awards, in 2007 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and in 2009 he received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Urban Music Awards. Last June 2019 he received the Polar Music Prize, the "Nobel of music," becoming the first DJ to receive this award.

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