Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five - The Message

"The Message" is an old school hip hop song released in 1982, performed by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. The song's lyrics were some of the first in the genre of rap to talk about the struggles and the frustrations of living in the ghetto. The song (including most of the lyrics) was written by Sugar Hill songwriter Ed "Duke Bootee" Fletcher, and Flash was originally uninterested in recording it. Furious Five rapper Melle Mel was the only group member that contributed any lyrics to the final version of the song.