1 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/grandmaster-flash-the-furious-five-the-message-e1360364126779_4023.jpg]] |
2 | [[caption-width-right:350: ''FRESH!'']] |
3 | |
4 | ''The Message'' is the 1982 debut studio album by the American hip hop band Music/GrandmasterFlashAndTheFuriousFive, best known for the title track which became an international hit song. Generally considered to be a CultClassic in hiphop history in 2002 it became the first rap song to be listed in the UsefulNotes/NationalRecordingRegistry. |
5 | |
6 | '''' |
7 | !! Tracklist |
8 | |
9 | [[AC:Side One]] |
10 | # "She's Fresh" (2:57) |
11 | # "It's Nasty" (4:19) |
12 | # "Scorpio" (4:55) |
13 | |
14 | [[AC:Side Two]] |
15 | # "It's a Shame (Mt. Airy Groove) (4:57) |
16 | # "Dreamin'" (5:47) |
17 | # "You Are" (4:51) |
18 | # "The Message" (7:12) |
19 | |
20 | The 1982 UK LP added "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" (7:06) as bonus track. The 2010 expanded edition adds "Message II (Survival)" (6:46), "New York, New York" (7:19), "The Adventures of Grandmaster Himself" (5:45) and an instrumental version of "The Message" (7:11). |
21 | '''' |
22 | |
23 | !! Don't push these tropes, 'cause they're close to the edge. They're trying not to lose their heads. |
24 | * AlliterativeName: "It's Nasty" |
25 | --> ''The '''D'''uke of '''D'''are''. |
26 | * TheBigRottenApple: "The Message" about the pressures of living in the inner city. |
27 | * BoardingSchoolOfHorrors: From "The Message": |
28 | --> ''My son said, Daddy, I don't wanna go to school''\ |
29 | ''Cause the teacher's a jerk, he must think I'm a fool''\ |
30 | ''And all the kids smoke reefer, I think it'd be cheaper''\ |
31 | ''If I just got a job, learned to be a street sweeper''\ |
32 | ''Or dance to the beat, shuffle my feet''\ |
33 | ''Wear a shirt and tie and run with the creeps''\ |
34 | ''Cause it's all about money, ain't a damn thing funny''\ |
35 | ''You got to have a con in this land of milk and honey'' |
36 | * ConsciousHipHop: "The Message" was an early hugely influential political and conscious hip hop track, decrying the poverty, violence, and dead-end lives of the black youth of the time. |
37 | * CrapsackWorld: "The Message" and "It's a Shame" both are an outcry about the state of the world is in, especially for the black man. |
38 | * {{Deconstruction}}: Of the ghetto life in "The Message", which tells a story about a hypothetical kid who drops out of school and becomes a criminal because of the way people idolize them. He unsuccessfully attempts an armed robbery, gets arrested, and is sentenced to several years in prison where he is raped and ultimately [[DrivenToSuicide hangs himself]]. |
39 | * DespairEventHorizon: "Don't push me 'cause I'm close to the edge" in "The Message". |
40 | * DownerEnding: Each tale told in "The Message" ends bad or without much hope for the future. |
41 | * ElectronicSpeechImpediment: "Scorpio". |
42 | * EpicRocking: "The Message" and "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" are longer than five minutes. |
43 | * FaceOnTheCover: A group shot of the band. |
44 | * GenreBusting: "Dreamin'" and "You Are" sound more like romantic soul ballads than hiphop. "Scorpio" sounds more like the popular dance electronica of the 80s than hip-hop. |
45 | * GenrePopularizer: This album and especially the title track help launch PoliticalRap into public popularity. |
46 | * GratuitousForeignLanguage: "It's Nasty" has a line in Italian: |
47 | --> ''Ayy, tu eta por llamaseta mi amor, Linda'' |
48 | * InstrumentalHiphop: "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the wheels of Steel" has vocals, but they are only samples, no new lyrics. |
49 | * LyricalDissonance: "The Message" has a very upbeat tune and lyrics like this: |
50 | --> ''It was plain to see that your life was lost''\ |
51 | ''You was cold and your body swung back and forth''\ |
52 | ''But now your eyes sing the sad, sad song''\ |
53 | ''Of how you lived so fast and died so young'' |
54 | ** The song itself talks about how horrendous New York and the ghetto is. |
55 | * MommasBoy: |
56 | --> ''Everybody raise your arms if you love your mother.'' |
57 | * OneWomanSong: "That girl is fresh!" in "She's Fresh". |
58 | * NonAppearingTitle: Nowhere in "The Message" is the word "message" actually used. |
59 | * {{Pacifism}}: "It's a Shame" addresses violence and warfare and makes a plea for peace. |
60 | * PoliceBrutality: The band is arrested by the police near the end of "The Message" for the crime of looking like gang members and hanging around a street corner. |
61 | * PoliticalRap: "The Message" and "It's a Shame" talk about ghetto poverty and crime. |
62 | * PrisonRape: From ''"The Message". |
63 | --> ''Turned stick-up kid, but look what you done did''\ |
64 | ''Got sent up for an eight-year bid''\ |
65 | ''Now your manhood is took and you're a Maytag''\ |
66 | ''Spend the next two years as an undercover fag''\ |
67 | ''Bein' used and abused to serve like hell'' |
68 | * ProductPlacement: "It's Nasty" |
69 | --> ''As DJ Flash, cuts so mean'' |
70 | --> ''That he wanna know your favorite jean'' |
71 | --> ''Is it Jordache? (NO!) Gloria Vanderbilt? (NO!)'' |
72 | --> ''Maybe it's Sassoon? (NO!) How about Sergio? (I DON'T CARE!)'' |
73 | --> ''Could it be Calvin Klein? (NO!) Then what is it? (?????)'' |
74 | * {{Sampling}} |
75 | ** "She's Fresh" contains samples from "It's Just Begun" by The Jimmy Castor Bunch and "Lovomaniacs (Sex)" by Bobbie Knight. |
76 | ** "It's Nasty" contains samples from "Genius of Love" by Music/TomTomClub. |
77 | ** "It's a Shame" contains samples from "Mt. Airy Groove" by Pieces Of A Dream. |
78 | ** "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" contains samples from "Good Times" by Music/{{Chic}}, "Apache" by The Incredible Bongo Band, "Rapture" by Music/{{Blondie|Band}}, "Another One Bites the Dust" by Music/{{Queen}}, "8th Wonder" by Music/TheSugarhillGang, "Monster Jam" by Sequence, "Glow of Love" by Change and "Life Story" by The Hellers. |
79 | ** "The official adventures of..." from "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" would be sampled in itself countless times, among which during "PSK- What The Hell Does That Mean?" by Music/SchoollyD from his album ''[[Music/SchoollyDAlbum Schoolly D]]''. The line itself comes from a ''ComicStrip/FlashGordon'' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCs1WHbN8NU spoken word recording.]] |
80 | * ShoutOut: |
81 | ** "Dreamin'" opens with a dedication to Music/StevieWonder, "'cause he's the greatest!" |
82 | ** In "You Are" God and Our Lord UsefulNotes/JesusChrist are mentioned. |
83 | ** From "The Message"'': |
84 | *** "Says she watches too much/ it's just not healthy/ ''Series/AllMyChildren'' in the daytime/ ''Series/{{Dallas}}'' at night/ Can't even see the game or the Sugar Ray fight". |
85 | *** ''Now you're unemployed/ all non-void/ walking 'round like you're Pretty Boy Floyd.'' |
86 | ** The line "there ain't a damn thing funny" in "Johnny Ryall" from Music/BeastieBoys' ''Music/PaulsBoutique'' is a shout-out to "The Message". |
87 | ** "It's Nasty" was sampled by Music/PublicEnemy during "Leave This Off Your Fuckin' Charts" from ''Music/FearOfABlackPlanet'' |
88 | * SingerNamedrop: Done several times, to all the band members. |
89 | * SpokenWord: "It's A Shame". |
90 | --> ''Yo Flash. This time cut it mellow!'' |
91 | * StockSoundEffects: The police car arriving, siren and all, near the end of "The Message". |
92 | * TitleTrack: "The Message", though these words [[NonAppearingTitle don't appear]] in the actual lyrics. |
93 | * YouWatchTooMuchX: |
94 | --> ''My brothers doin' bad /stole my mother's TV'' |
95 | --> ''Says she watches too much/ it's just not healthy'' |
96 | --> ''''Series/AllMyChildren'' in the daytime/ ''Series/{{Dallas}}'' at night'' |
97 | --> ''Can't even see the game or the Sugar Ray fight''. |
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