Grandmaster Flash for Galway gig

Date Published: 05-Jan-2012

A SEMINAL figure in hiphop, Grandmaster Flash plays the Róisín Dubh on Saturday, January 28.

DJ Grandmaster Flash and his group the Furious Five, are recognised in the music business as hip-hop’s greatest innovators.

Formed in 1978 in the Bronx, they transcended the genre’s party-music origins to explore the full scope of its lyrical and sonic horizons.

Grandmaster Flash is one of the most iconic names in hiphop. His role, along with his band, in developing the genre was recognised in 2007 when Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five became the first hip hop act inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Grandmaster Flash’s innovations to production and sound contribute to the definition of what hip hop is. No history of the genre could exclude his place in it.

The outfit went platinum with their 1982 single, “The Message.” Meanwhile, the single The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel introduced hip hop DJing to a larger listening audience than it had ever known before. The group’s fame only grew with Superappin, Freedom, Larry’s Dance Theme, and You Know What Time It Is. Punk and new wave fans were introduced to Flash through Blondie, who immortalised him in their hit, Rapture.

The hip-hop genre is so popular now that is it’s easy to forget that before Grandmaster Flash started DJing over 30 years ago, it didn’t even exist.

His Galway visit is a chance to see this founding father do his thing.

Grandmaster Flash. Doors 9pm, tickets €18/€16.