Grandmaster Flash

Born Joseph Saddler in the South Bronx, Grandmaster Flash is inarguably one of Hip Hop’s original innovators. He is recognized as one of Hip Hop’s architects and builder of the culture, the first DJ to make the turntable a musical instrument by the way of his Quik Mix Theory formula and homed devices. His technical innovations and artistic contributions have earned him numerous accolades. His impact on the music industry extends beyond his own successful career, as his innovative formula and sounds were translated to sound producing technologies and have inspired generations of DJs, producers and hip-hop artists to push the boundaries of creativity. In the earliest days of the genre, he manipulated music by placing his fingers on the vinyl, perfected beat looping, and discovered many of the most iconic beats still commonly sampled today. It’s no surprise that The New York Times calls him Hip Hop’s first virtuoso.

Today, Flash is the voice of an entire generation of 1970s Hip Hop pioneers. From his electric live shows to his production role on Netflix’s “The Get Down,” Flash is at once a historian, a storyteller, and a cultural force. Baz Lurhman’s “The Get Down” is a music-driven drama that documents the emergence of a new art form. Set in the late 1970s, the rise of hip-hop is told through the lives, art, music and dance of a group of young people in the South Bronx. The music of the 1970s fueled the rise of Hip Hop, but much of that decade’s influence has been lost to time. With access to archival master recordings, images, and videos from the vaults of the major record labels, Flash’s live show is a celebration of Hip Hop’s most formative decade.

Flash's groundbreaking contributions to music and culture have earned him some of the highest honors in the entertainment industry. In 2022, he received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from Buffalo State University, followed by an Honorary Doctorate in Music from Lehman College in 2023. The Recording Academy recognized his extraordinary impact on music with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021. In 2019, he was named a laureate of Sweden's prestigious Polar Music Prize, often regarded as the music world's equivalent of the Nobel Prize, and received the award from King Carl XVI Gustaf. His iconic recording "The Message" has received multiple Grammy honors, including induction into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2012, and he was featured in a special Grammy performance celebrating the song in 2014 alongside Common, LL Cool J, Lupe Fiasco, and Rick Ross. In 2007, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five made history as the first hip-hop group inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

In recognition of his enduring impact on New York City and global culture, Mayor Eric Adams proclaimed August 4, 2023 as Grandmaster Flash Day, while Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine declared February 20, 2024, Grandmaster Flash Appreciation Day. Among his many innovations, Flash developed a manually operated drum device he called the "beatbox," a creation that inspired generations of artists and helped shape the evolution of beatboxing as an art form.