Grandmaster Flash is one of the most popular and richest Rapper who was born on January 1, 1958 in Bridgetown, Barbados. Born Joseph Saddler, he is the leader of the influential hip hop group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and one of the pioneers of hip hop DJing. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame by Jay Z in 2007, becoming the first hip hop act to be inducted.
In 1990, he became the musical director for The Chris Rock show.
Grandmaster Flash played parties and collaborated with rappers such as Kurtis Blow and Lovebug Starski. In the late 1970s, he formed his own group. The original lineup consisted of Cowboy (Keef Cowboy), Melle Mel (Melvin Glover) and The Kidd Creole (AKA Kidd Creole/Nathaniel Glover), and the ensemble went by the name “Grandmaster Flash & the 3 MCs”. Cowboy created the term hip hop. He created the term while teasing a friend who had just joined the U.S. Army, by scat singing the words “hip/hop/hip/hop” in a way that mimicked the rhythmic cadence of soldiers marching. Cowboy later worked the “hip hop” cadence into a part of his stage performance.
Mel was the first rapper to call himself “MC” (Master of Ceremony). Two other rappers briefly joined, but they were replaced more permanently by Rahiem (Guy Todd Williams, previously in the Funky Four) and Scorpio (Eddie Morris, a.k.a. Mr. Ness) to make Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Quickly gaining recognition for their skillful raps, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five pioneered MCing and freestyle battles. Some of the staple phrases in MCing have their origins in the early shows and recordings of the group. In 1978, the new group began performing regularly at Disco Fever in the Bronx, one of the first times a hip-hop group was given a weekly gig at a well-known venue.
He resides in New York.
