Despite the tremendous respect he has garnered as a technological genius and Hip-Hop pioneer/icon, not much is known about the legendary Grandmaster Flash’s rise as a turntable instrumentalist turned Rock’n’ Roll Hall of Fame inductee (the first Hip-Hop artist to do so). In his recent memoir, My Life, My Beats: The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash, the man born Joseph Saddler sets the record straight on his childhood, meteoric rise to fame and his personal struggles with drug addiction and music industry politics.
Flash’s story is poignant as he recounts memories that range from the innocent (“My favorite thing to do as a young boy was to play the Ronettes’ “Be My Baby” and outrun my sisters as they chased me all over the house”) to gruesome accounts of the shame and deplorable conditions he lived in while battling drug addiction. Flash also gives an in-depth account of the lesser-known details regarding the Furious Five’s internal and creative issues as a group and their love-hate relationship with the legendary Sugar Hill Records.
A tale dripping with inspiration and wisdom, readers can’t deny being inspired by the man who rose above a bittersweet childhood and his adult demons, only to triumph as a strong father to his biological children and a forefather to all aspiring DJs. Flash’s memoir is more than just a history lesson; it’s a testament that Hip-Hop culture can never die, as long as it continues to inspire others. Respect the architect!
Mercedes Ladies (written by Sherri Sher/Vibe Street Lit) takes readers on a trip down memory lane to a time when B-Boys and B-Girls wore pressed Lee’s, fat laces and gold chains and when Hip-Hop was about dope crews, fresh dance moves and having fun. Pegged as a “street lit” novel, Mercedes Ladies deserves more credit, as it proves to be much more than a “Black Girl Lost-esque tale mired in Hip-Hop. Sherri Sher wittingly gives a first-hand, albeit fictional account of her teenage years growing up in the Boogie Down Bronx and helming one of the first well-respected all-female rap crews at a time when fledging Hip-Hop was still a man’s world. Inspiring and honest, Sherri gives raw descriptions of group members’ personal struggles (rape, drugs & alcohol, broken homes) as well as the internal strife the Mercedes Ladies endured within the group. Persevering through poverty as well as the shiesty ways of the music industry, the Mercedes Ladies are admired as they work tirelessly throughout the novel to get a piece of the American Dream, making this book a must-read for young female Hip-Hop fans.
Recommended to all supporters of Hip-Hop culture, Mercedes Ladies gives much-deserved props to the female architects of the rap game that existed before mainstream female rappers Salt ‘N’ Pepa and Queen Latifah. While shedding light on the growing pains of being young, black and female in the ghetto, Mercedes Ladies uplifts and more importantly, immortalizes a monumental part of Hip-Hop history.
Despite the tremendous respect he has garnered as a technological genius and Hip-Hop pioneer/icon, not much is known about the legendary Grandmaster Flash’s rise as a turntable instrumentalist turned Rock’n’ Roll Hall of Fame inductee (the first Hip-Hop artist to do so). In his recent memoir, My Life, My Beats: The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash, the man born Joseph Saddler sets the record straight on his childhood, meteoric rise to fame and his personal struggles with drug addiction and music industry politics.
