MESSAGE FROM BEAT STREET: BEST OF

& The Furious Five/Melle Mel. Personnel includes: Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel, Scorpio, Cowboy, Kidd Creole, Raheem (vocals). Producers include: Joey Robinson, Jr., Sylvia Inc. Productions, Jiggs Chase, E. Fletcher, Melle Mel. Compilation producers: Joey Robinson, Jr., David McLees. Includes liner notes by Shannita Williams. Personnel: Grandmaster Flash (rap vocals); Cowboy, Melle Mel Plowden, Raheem, Kid Creole (rap vocals). Audio Mixer: Sanny X. Audio Remasterers: Chris Clarke; Daniel Hersch. Liner Note Author: Shannita Williams-Alleyne. Photographers: Michael Ochs; Raymond Boyd. Unknown Contributor Role: Bill Inglot. Arranger: Leland Robinson. Wherever the origin of hip-hop is discussed, three names are invoked: Herc, Flash and Bam; the trinity of Bronx DJs who pioneered the style. Kool Herc unquestionably came first (he coined the term "b-boy"), followed closely by Afrika Bambaataa and Grandmaster Flash. It was Flash who developed the hip-hop DJ's arsenal of techniques; sometime around 1974 he crazy-glued a light switch on to his mixing board, thereby creating the first cross-fader. The mixing techniques this innovation allowed so outdistanced the competition that Flash often caused crowds to form around the DJ booth and--to keep the party moving--had to employ mic controllers to shift the focus off himself and back to the dance-floor. This crew of emcees he assembled became the Furious Five. MESSAGE collects 11 hip-hop anthems originally released as 12"s on the Sugar Hill label. Although "Step Off Megamix" is a poor substitute for the conspicuously absent "Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel," this is a nonetheless crucial CD collection of previously vinyl-only classics like "Freedom," "White Lines" and of course "The Message." The first rap to incorporate social consciousness, the latter also occasioned rap's MTV debut.