Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, The Message | Throwback Vibez

In the 41st edition of Throwback Vibez (2025), we recollect and reflect on “The Message ” by Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five.

The vibes, the vibes, those Throwback Vibez ! Throwback Vibez is a column that celebrates awesome songs from the past.  The records that grace this column are older, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re ancient – no fossils ! All genres of music are welcome. In the 41^st edition of Throwback Vibez ️ (2025), we recollect and reflect on “The Message” performed by Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five.

“Don’t push me ‘cause I’m close to the edge / I’m trying not to lose my head,” Melle Mel (1961 – ) raps in the memorable chorus of “The Message”. He adds, “It’s like a jungle sometimes / It makes me wonder how I keep from going under.” Word. The cadence and flow during the chorus, also performed by Duke Bootee (1951 – 2001), is epic. “The Message” is the seventh and penultimate track from The Message, released in 1982 by Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five. Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five was formed in the Bronx, New York 1978. Leading the charge on “The Message” were Barbadian American musician/DJ Grandmaster Flash (1958 – ), Melle Mel, and Duke Bootee. “The Message” modestly impacted the pop charts, peaking at number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100.   

“The Message” features colorful music production that fuels Melle and Bootee.  The groove is awesome. The synths are sleek and characteristic of 1980s music.  Both Melle Mel and Duke Bootee ‘came to rap,’ delivering superb rhymes. These rhymes are socially conscious, encompassing the hard-knock life in New York. “Rats in the front room, roaches in the back / Junkies in the alley with a baseball bat,” Melle spits in the first verse, continuing, “I tried to get away, but I couldn’t get far / ‘Cause a man with a tow truck repossessed my car.”  In the second verse, he mentions “A crazy lady livin’ in a bag / Eating out of garbage pails, used to be a fag hag.” Sad.  Duke Bootee takes the reins in the third verse, continuing the turbulent times: “Got a bum education, double-digit inflation / Can’t take the train to the job, there’s a strike at the station.” In the fourth verse, he memorably references musician Renee Katz: “They pushed that girl in front of the train / Took her to the doctor, sewed her arm on again.” Melle Mel drops the fifth and final verse on the seven-minute-plus number, concluding the powerful verse with the lyrics, “But now your eyes sing the sad, sad song / Of how you lived so fast and died so young, so.”  One of the most important songs in rap history, the message of “The Message” never grows old. It is still relevant today. 

Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five // The Message // Sugar Hill // 1982

Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five, The Message: Throwback Vibez ️ No. 41 (2025) [: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Sugar Hill; AcatXlo, OpenClipart-Vectors, Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Speedy McVroom from Pixabay]