Grandmaster Flash is hip-hop. The double-back, back-door, back-spin, phasing, cuttin, scratching – back in the early 70s, Flash literally penned the hip hop DJs dictionary, transforming the role from that of mere musical docent into an art form all its own. Flash wasnt content with merely playing records; he wanted to make music. He began marking his records with grease pencils, giving himself the visual cues necessary for implementing his signature manipulations, doing things with records that no one had ever even considered before. Half mad scientist tinkerer and half musical evangelist, Flashs creativity knew no boundaries, finding its inspiration in sources that spanned the entire musical spectrum, and offering that everything goes attitude as the foundation for the early days of hip-hop. Everything that has come since finds its origins in Flash, and none of it can top that original creative spirit and those first heady adventures on the wheels of steel. With the Dowlz, Mixed Up Mike, Darrius, Sasse, ADHDJ. NICHOLAS HALL
Fri., Feb. 12, 9 p.m., 2010
