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Grandmaster Flash Promotional Portrait
Visual image
Grandmaster Flash
Datec.1985
Mediumpaper (fiber product)
DimensionsOverall (HWD): 10 × 8 in. (25.4 × 20.32 cm)
Credit LineMoPOP permanent collection
Object number1999.733.7
Text EntriesGrandmaster Flash (Joseph Saddler, b. 1958) is one of the founding fathers of Hip-Hop and is known as the originator of scratching and mixing. Born in Bridgetown, Barbados, and raised in the Bronx, NY, Grandmaster Flash has been experimenting with vinyl since he was a toddler. This grew into a serious passion for music and engineering. His knowledge of audio equipment and experimentation led him to revolutionize the way DJs played records where he started using his turntable as an instrument. Grandmaster Flash perfected manipulating vinyl records where he would put his hands on the vinyl and manipulate it in a backward, forward, or counterclockwise motion. Through this process, Grandmaster Flash perfected beat looping and discovered many of the most iconic beats still commonly sampled today. Inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame (2007) and the Grammy Hall of Fame (2012), Grandmaster Flash is acknowledged for pioneering a relationship between DJs and rappers with his innovative techniques of the turntable and mixing equipment.
Black and white promotional photo of Grandmaster Flash
CopyrightThis work is issued under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) License. For more information, go to https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
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Date: 1988
Medium: paper (fiber product)
Object number: 1997.522.32
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
Date: c. 1986
Medium: paper (fiber product)
Object number: 1997.522.67
Grandmaster Flash
Date: c. 1986
Medium: paper (fiber product)
Object number: 1999.793.1
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Date: 1981
Medium: ink; paper (fiber product)
Object number: 1999.757.40
![Grand Master Flash [i.e., Grandmaster Flash], E-Z Mike, Disco Bee, Furious 5 M.C.s, Allah Sounds, DJs Divine & Kendo, The Grand Wizard Theodore, Kool Kyle, Master Scott & R.G. Kid, at the Rochdale Village Community Center, New York, NY, July 12, 1980](/internal/media/dispatcher/222790/postagestamp)
Grandmaster Flash
Date: 1980
Medium: ink; paper (fiber product)
Object number: 1999.123.32
Grandmaster Flash and The Furious 5
Date: July 1, 1982
Medium: polyvinyl chloride; paper (fiber product); ink
Object number: 1998.441.10.A,.B
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Date: November, 1993
Medium: paper (fiber product)
Object number: 1998.827.144
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
Date: 1980
Medium: ink; paper (fiber product)
Object number: 1999.123.42
Grandmaster Flash and The Furious 5
Date: 1981
Medium: ink; paper (fiber product)
Object number: 1999.733.45
Grandmaster Flash
Date: 1982
Medium: ink; paper (fiber product)
Object number: 1999.733.177
Grandmaster Flash and The Furious 5
Date: 1981
Medium: polyvinyl chloride; paper (fiber product); ink
Object number: 2001.235.19.A,.B
Grandmaster Flash
Date: 1984
Medium: ink; paper (fiber product)
Object number: 2002.396.39