Grandmaster Flash

Few names have become as well known to music lovers across the globe as that of Grandmaster Flash. Not only is he one of the originators of the musical genre called Hip-Hop and a worldwide musical cultural phenomenon, but his pioneering use of the turntables make him the first DJ to play the turntables as a musical instrument thus helping to elevate the status of the DJ to a masterful, artistic position. He was scientifically inventing and demonstrating such methods and concepts he collectively called “The Quick Mix Theory” which encompassed the innovative technique of “Cutting”, eventually laying the foundations for what became known as “Scratching”, “Transforming” and the first to use his fingertips for vinyl techniques.  His career has extended from the Bronx in the early 1970s to all corners of the globe to the present date.

The career of DJ Grandmaster Flash began in the Bronx with neighborhood block parties that essentially were the start of what would become a global sensation — the dawn of a musical genre. He was the first DJ to physically lay his fingertips on the body of the vinyl and manipulate it in a backward, forward or counterclockwise motion, when most DJs simply handled the record by the edges and put down the tone arm, then let it play. Those DJs let the tone arm guide their music, but Flash marked up the body of the vinyl with crayon, fluorescent pen, and grease pencil—and those markings became his compass.