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December 07, 2004
Flash is Fast, Flash is Cool
This past Thursday afternoon, 48-year-old Joseph Saddler came to UNC-Chapel Hill as part of a lecture tour of 30 college campuses across the country. Who is Joseph Saddler, you ask? Well, he's one of the key early pioneers of hip-hop and inarguably one of the most innovative, influential, and important DJs of all time. Joseph Saddler, you still ask? At this point, music scholar Charles R. Martin might snobbishly clear things up by saying, "Oh, you know him as Grandmaster Flash". I can't front and try to play it cool, though...as soon as I heard about this event, there was no way I was going to miss a single beat!
Flash's afternoon lecture/workshop was supposed to begin at 3:30pm but a flight delay bumped everything back by about an hour. A bunch of us packed into the Cabaret in the basement of the Carolina Union and Flash finally came out around 4:30. He started off with a point that he would repeatedly emphasize throughout his UNC visit - that hip-hop truly began in 1971, way earlier than the release date of "Rapper's Delight" and other commonly cited beginnings of the hip-hop era. Over the next hour Flash gave us a verbal quick-mix of all sorts of historical facts, personal breakthroughs, and DJ-ing anecdotes by answering a series of pre-written questions posed to him by one of his deep-voiced associates. It was almost something of a reverse-Socratic-Method...and probably a great way to lecture without notes! Throughout we got to hear Flash talk about things like:
- "the get-down part" (i.e. the break) of records and how he wanted to make those parts longer
- his "peek-a-boo system" for cueing records via a mixer and external preamps hacked together with a single-pole double-throw switch
- his "Quick Mix Theory" for cutting short sections of records back and forth on time (something Kool Herc wasn't doing)
- his "Torque Theory" of turntable mechanics and the discovery of his first Technics turntable
- how the shape of needles impacted whether they stayed in the groove
- soaking records in the bathtub so he could exchange the labels between a "hot record" and a "wack record" and fool all the DJs who were trying to cop his material
- how he would keep dating girls whose parents had huge unwanted record collections
- his "Clock Theory" of how to calculate how far back he needed to spin a record
- details about the Bronx block party and club scene during the 1970s
...and ya don't stop. Except he did eventually have to stop due to time constraints. But not before demonstrating some of his innovations by cutting two copies of "Good Times" back and forth. Seeing Flash's legendary Chic quick mix recreated before my eyes was a pretty amazing experience, even if one of the turntable needles kept accidentally coming out of the groove during some rapid-fire cuts. Actually, the fact that Flash was not immune from DJ error was not only oddly reassuring, but it helped underscore a point that hip-hop fans and DJ historians have often made: that while other DJs went on to surpass Grandmaster Flash in terms of absolute skill and technical virtuosity, Flash was the true innovator that came up with so many of the ideas and concepts that are so fundamental to hip-hop music and the art of DJing. And he was the true scientist that was able to implement these ideas given extremely limited technical equipment and monetary resources. Hearing Grandmaster Flash talk about all of these things in person was inspiring....and even a bit humbling. I'm probably going to feel spoiled and unworthy the next time I use the seamless looping feature on my CD mixer, since except for the need for the DJ to still be able to feel the tempo/rhythm of a song and count beats, seamless looping is basically Grandmaster Flash's innovative brain and quick hands manifested in software.
After taking a few questions from the audience, Grandmaster Flash signed a few autographs and posed for some pictures with admiring fans. One of which was me:
I'm holding a copy of the excellent Rap Attack 2 by David Toop...I geeked out and got Flash to sign a full-page picture of him DJing at Bronx nightclub Disco Fever. I've been re-reading Rap Attack 2 of late and I highly recommend it (or I guess the new edition Rap Attack 3) to anyone interested in learning more about Grandmaster Flash and the early days of hip-hop. And for a rich history of all sorts of DJing (not just hip-hop), the extremely comprehensive Last Night a DJ Saved My Life is utterly indispensable. The authors of that book (Frank Broughton and Bill Brewster) also penned the extensive mini-book liner notes included in the soon-to-be-out-of-print CD The Official Adventures of Grandmaster Flash that came out on the now-defunct Strut label a couple years ago. Cop that one while you still can!
Anyway, back to Grandmaster Flash's UNC visit...he went on to perform later that night at "A Tribute to Hip-Hop" in the Great Hall. After a bit of a breakdancing battle between a Greensboro crew and a UNC crew, Flash came on and started with a "historical" set where he cut some of those ultimate breaks and beats back and forth as if it were back in the day. Then, as if to prove that he was still a living entity and not a museum piece, he hyped up the crowd and started spinning a lot of post-80s hip-hop classics, all of them veritable "get-down parts" for the students of today. I had an awesome time, though I learned how exhausting it can be to "jump around" when you're holding a messenger bag with a bike helmet attached. But hey, at least no one convinced me to do the worm...
Posted by Tim at December 7, 2004 01:32 AM
Comments
What a cute picture!
Posted by: robin at December 7, 2004 09:10 AM
I AM SO JEALOUS.
Posted by: Nate at December 7, 2004 10:00 AM
Awesome.
Grandmaster Flash and Biz Markie DJ-ed last night in Chi-town at this bar close to me. You had to be on the guestlist to attend (which I was). Unfortunately, I was not able to attend. I suck.
Posted by: J to the izz-O H to the izz-N at December 7, 2004 11:43 AM
Dammit, I didn't make this, despite seeing the flyers on campus. Glad you gave us such a full rundown. For your booklist, may I add "Yes Yes Y'all" an oral history of the first decade done by the Experience Music Project: http://www.emplive.com/images/yesyesyall/frCover.jpg
Great pics and flyers; kind of runs like a semi-gossipy hip-hop Please Kill Me.
ct
Posted by: Toenes at December 7, 2004 12:26 PM
damn, tim you SHOULD have done the worm. people would be talking.
I like how you're grinning happily and flash is looking all haaaard. man knows how to rock navy.
it's good they have decided to de-racify the great hall again. I wish I'd been there.
Posted by: claire at December 7, 2004 02:14 PM
tim, you are cheesing SO damn hard! while joseph saddler is getting his ice grill on.....
classic!
Posted by: cia at December 7, 2004 09:18 PM
But hey, at least no one convinced me to do the worm...
D'oh!
Posted by: toby wong at December 7, 2004 11:41 PM
Toenes, thanx much for the Yes Yes Y'all recommendation. I definitely need to get that sometime soon.
Senor Wong, no direct offense intended with the worm comment...I've been talked into doing the worm across a couple of different floors since that nasty one that you are thinking about...including my living room floor as recently as 2002. No more, though. Worming = out, cheesing and grinning = in.
Posted by: Tim at December 8, 2004 12:53 AM
Aaaaaaaaaahh!
(Green)
Posted by: Dav at December 8, 2004 02:55 PM