Grandmaster Flash

Grandmaster Flash Biography
Rapper (1958–)
Rap DJ pioneer, Grandmaster Flash, was a member of groundbreaking hip hop group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.

Synopsis
Born in Barbados in 1958, Joseph Saddler, aka Grandmaster Flash, was raised in the Bronx, New York. He started DJing as a teen and earned the nickname "Flash" for his quick hands. In the early 1980s his band, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, released several groundbreaking rap records which included songs such as "The Message." In 2007, it became the first rap group inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Early Years
Early hip-hop pioneer, Grandmaster Flash, was born Joseph Saddler on January 1, 1958, in Barbados, West Indies. Early in life he moved with his family to the Bronx, New York, where he was raised on the sounds that would later form the foundation for the rap revolution.

His childhood was tough. His mother was in and out of mental hospitals; his father was violent with him but gave him his first introduction to music in which Flash would find an escape. He attended DJ parties and soon began experimenting himself with turntable mixing. Flash later pioneered important DJ turntable techniques such as "cutting," "scratching," and "phasing." He also introduced the art of transitioning between records without skipping a beat.