Tag Archives: Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five

I don’t like to make a big deal of "hip-hop firsts." After all hip-hop culture is such an international phenomenon that even your grandmoms knows about it.

Today, however, Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five became the first hip-hop act elected to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. (And no, hipster dummies, Blondie doesn’t count.) The Bronx sextet — Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel, Scorpio/Mr. Ness, Kid Creole, (the late) Cowboy and Raheim — joined a 2007 slate that also includes R.E.M., Patti Smith, Van Halen and the Ronettes. That, my friends, is pretty cool.

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