“The message”  by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYMkEMCHtJ4

Keith “Cowboy” Wiggins, one of the members of Furious Five, was famous for coining the term hip hop. While he was teasing one of his friends in the U.S. military, he started scat singing (a form improvisation that uses random syllables to make a melody) and made a melody that resembled the term hip hop. Along with Melle Mel, The Kidd Creole, Mr. Ness/Scorpio, and Rahiem, the Furious Five began singing hip hop throughout the Bronx in the mid 70s. In 1981, they met Joseph Saddler, who would later become the DJ of the group. He was later known as Grandmaster Flash.

One of their major hits, “The Message”, was more of a commentary on widespread poverty in New York City.

You’ll grow in the ghetto livin’ second-rate

And your eyes will sing a song called deep hate

The places you play and where you stay

Looks like one great big alleyway

You’ll admire all the number-book takers

Thugs, pimps and pushers and the big money-makers

Drivin’ big cars, spendin’ twenties and tens

And you’ll wanna grow up to be just like them, huh

Smugglers, scramblers, burglars, gamblers

Pickpocket peddlers, even panhandlers

You say I’m cool, huh, I’m no fool

But then you wind up droppin’ outta high school

Now you’re unemployed, all non-void

 

This segment of the song sheds light on the effects of poverty on New Yorkers, particularly the children and teenagers. Instead of condemning the criminals who drive around with fancy cars and stacks of cash, they admire them and tend to follow their footsteps. Consequently, they lose both their education and their job.

This song was a major contribution to the hip hop movement as it marked its very beginning. It embodied ideas of social justice of economic inequality, exposing their negative impacts and delivering “the message”. Over the years, hip hop has transformed into quite the opposite. Most rappers today often rap about money, sex, gun violence, and drugs. Yet, it is widely popular in our culture, especially in diverse places like NYC. Listening to this song reminds me of the original purpose of hip hop.