An Introduction to America’s Music

512 PART 4 | SINCE WORLD WAR II

“The Message,” with its combination of studio-generated beats and socially

conscious rapping, set the pattern for later 1980s rap groups. Public Enemy

explored the use of samplers—digital devices that manipulate recorded sounds

in synthesizer-like ways—to create rhythmic loops of prerecorded sound, rep-

licating a DJ’s beat juggling to build up dense beats for the politically charged

rapping of leader Chuck D. At the same time, the eclectic tastes of DJ Afrika Bam-

baataa, who combined Afrocentric imagery with European and Japanese elec-

tronic dance music, inspired other rap artists to extend the range of musical

infl uences in hip-hop. In 1986 Run-DMC’s cover of Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way”

blended boastful rapping with hard-rock guitars, creating a crossover hit that

spurred white interest in rap and revitalized the popularity of Aerosmith (who

participated in the record and the amusing video that promoted it). “Walk This

Way” is also an early example of what would eventually become a hip-hop staple,

the song with rapped verses and a sung chorus.

By the end of the 1980s hip-hop had come to be a national phenomenon,

with emergent local scenes in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and other

cities. As new styles arose from those scenes, and as the audience for hip-hop

the sampler

timing section text comments

3:25 interlude 8 bars of the introduction.

3:44 verse 4 My son said, “Daddy.. .” Bad schools foster bad attitudes and gang

violence.

4:23 chorus Don’t push me... “Say what?” replaces the dry laugh.

4:32 It’s like a jungle... Four statements.

4:51 verse 5 A child is born... Melle Mel’s high-energy rapping tells the short

life story of a would-be gangsta.

5:58 chorus Don’t push me...

6:08 It’s like a jungle... The fi nal two statements are the most emphatic,

punctuated by rhythmic laughs.

6:18 coda Yo, Mel... A miniature play in which the Furious Five are

questioned by the police and apparently arrested

for the crime of hanging out on the street.

Listen & Refl ect

1. What similarities and differences can you note between “The Message” and Curtis
   Mayfi eld’s “Superfl y” (LG 19.3)?

Listening Guide 20.2

“The Message” GRANDMASTER FLASH AND

CD 4.7 THE FURIOUS FIVE

172028_20_495-513_r3_sd.indd 512 23/01/13 11:16 AM