Photo: Victor Frankowski / Southbank Centre / CC BY 2.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)

Grandmaster Flash

グランドマスター・フラッシュ　/　ぐらんどますたー・ふらっしゅ

Musician from Barbados

January 1, 1958 (age 68)　・　Bridgetown, Barbados

musician
rapper
disc jockey

My Take

Grandmaster Flash is, to me, foundational. Born in 1958 and raised in the Bronx with roots in Barbados, he basically reinvented the turntable as an instrument with his Quick Mix Theory, the technique that gave birth to cutting and scratching. Tracks like The Message turned street frustration into something monumental, and the 2019 Polar Music Prize is overdue recognition for that. What gets me is that he was essentially a technician, an inventor, yet the cultural scale of what he built is enormous. He took a neighborhood experiment and seeded a worldwide art form. That's history.

Overview

Joseph Robert Saddler (born January 1, 1958), known by his stage name Grandmaster Flash, is a Barbadian-American DJ. He created a DJ technique called the Quick Mix Theory. This technique serviced the break-dancer and the rapper by elongating the drum breaks through the use of duplicate copies of vinyl. This technique gave birth to cutting and scratching.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

1. Profile

Name (English): Grandmaster Flash
Name (Japanese): グランドマスター・フラッシュ
Reading: ぐらんどますたー・ふらっしゅ
Born: January 1, 1958 (age 68)
Zodiac / Chinese zodiac: Capricorn / Dog
Origin: Bridgetown, Barbados
Blood type: Private
Height: Private
Agency: Private
Occupation: musician / rapper / disc jockey / record producer / composer

2. Background

Elementary school: Private
Junior high: Private
High school: Samuel Gompers High School
University: Private

Awards & achievements

2019 Polar Music Prize

3. Relationships

Spouse: Private
Children: Private
Parents: Private
Siblings: Private

4. Personality

Motto

Private

6. Links

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