Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five – The Message

"The Message" is a song by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, released on July 1, 1982, as a single through Sugar Hill Records before becoming the title track of the group's debut studio album later that year. Written by Duke Bootee and Melle Mel in 1980 in response to that year's New York City transit strike, the track set Melle Mel's direct vocals against a spare rhythm track and synthesizer riff, departing from the party focused rap records that had defined hip hop up to that point. Several members of the group were initially reluctant to record something so different from their usual party raps, but the song became one of the first prominent examples of social commentary in hip hop, describing the pressures of inner city poverty. It later earned a spot in the Library of Congress National Recording Registry as a recording of lasting cultural significance.