Celebrity Boxing Showdown

Melle Mel (Melvin Glover, b.1961) was one of the original MCs in Grandmaster Flash (Joseph Saddler) and the Furious Five, alongside his brother, The Kidd Creole (Nathaniel Glover), Scorpio aka Mr. Ness (Eddie Morris), Rahiem (Guy Todd Williams), and Cowboy aka Keith Keith (Keith Wiggins). The group was one of the first hip-hop crews to gain national attention with songs like “The Message” (1982) and “White Lines” (1983) featuring Melle Mel.

Kurtis Blow (Kurtis Walker, b. 1959) became the first rapper to be signed by a major record label, Mercury Records in 1979. His first single “Christmas Rappin’” sold more than 400,000 copies and became a holiday staple. With his second release, “The Breaks”, in 1980, Blow earned the first gold record ever for a Rap artist and launched the careers of The Fat Boys and Run-DMC. He went on to accomplish many other firsts including being the first Rap artist to star in a national television commercial (Sprite, 1986), making the first Rap video (“Basketball,” 1984), and acting in a soap opera (One Life to Live, 1991). He is also the founder of the International Hip-Hop Museum.