NationStates Jolt Archive


The Message

Drunk commies deleted
16-05-2006, 21:57
Ok, this isn't about that previous spam thread, nor is this a copycat thread. It's about the Grandmaster Flash song "The Message". Might this be the first serious rap song about problems in the black community?

The message

(e.fletcher, s.robinson, c.chase, m.glover -
Sugarhill records 82)

Broken glass everywhere
People pissing on the stairs, you know they just
Dont care
I cant take the smell, I cant take the noise
Got no money to move out, I guess I got no choice
Rats in the front room, roaches in the back
Junkies in the alley with a baseball bat
I tried to get away, but I couldnt get far
Cause the man with the tow-truck repossessed my car
Chorus:
Dont push me, cause Im close to the edge
Im trying not to loose my head
Its like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under

Standing on the front stoop, hangin out the window
Watching all the cars go by, roaring as the breezes
Blow
Crazy lady, livin in a bag
Eating out of garbage piles, used to be a fag-hag
Search and test a tango, skips the life and then go
To search a prince to see the last of senses
Down at the peepshow, watching all the creeps
So she can tell the stories to the girls back home
She went to the city and got so so so ditty
She had to get a pimp, she couldnt make it on her
Own

Chorus:
Its like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How I keep from goin under

My brothers doing fast on my mothers t.v.
Says she watches to much, is just not healthy
All my children in the daytime, dallas at night
Cant even see the game or the sugar ray fight
Bill collectors they ring my phone
And scare my wife when Im not home
Got a bum education, double-digit inflation
Cant take the train to the job, theres a strike
At the station
Me on king kong standin on my back
Cant stop to turn around, broke my sacroiliac
Midrange, migraine, cancered membrane
Sometimes I think Im going insane, I swear I might
Hijack a plane!

Chorus:

My son said daddy I dont wanna go to school
Cause the teachers a jerk, he must think Im a
Fool
And all the kids smoke reefer, I think itd be
Cheaper
If I just got a job, learned to be a street sweeper
I dance to the beat, shuffle my feet
Wear a shirt and tie and run with the creeps
Cause its all about money, aint a damn thing
Funny
You got to have a con in this land of milk and
Honey
They push that girl in front of a train
Took her to a doctor, sowed the arm on again
Stabbed that man, right in his heart
Gave him a transplant before a brand new start
I cant walk through the park, cause its crazy
After the dark
Keep my hand on the gun, cause they got me on the
Run
I feel like an outlaw, broke my last fast jaw
Hear them say you want some more, livin on a
Seesaw

Chorus:

A child was born, with no state of mind
Blind to the ways of mankind
God is smiling on you but hes frowning too
Cause only God knows what you go through
You grow in the ghetto, living second rate
And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate
The places you play and where you stay
Looks like one great big alley way
Youll admire all the number book takers
Thugs, pimps, pushers and the big money makers
Driving big cars, spending twenties and tens
And you wanna grow up to be just like them
Smugglers, scrambles, burglars, gamblers
Pickpockets, peddlers and even pan-handlers
You say Im cool, Im no fool
But then you wind up dropping out of high school
Now youre unemployed, all null n void
Walking around like youre pretty boy floyd
Turned stickup kid, look what you done did
Got send up for a eight year bid
Now your man is took and youre a may tag
Spend the next two years as an undercover fag
Being used and abused, and served like hell
Till one day you was find hung dead in a cell
It was plain to see that your life was lost
You was cold and your body swung back and forth
But now your eyes sing the sad sad song
Of how you lived so fast and died so young

Chorus:
Hata-alla
16-05-2006, 22:03
So, when did it come out? Rappers have rapped about the ghetto for ages.
Santa Barbara
16-05-2006, 22:03
First one? no way man, not at all.

But the real reason I don't listen to rap much is cuz it's fucking depressing.
Drunk commies deleted
16-05-2006, 22:04
So, when did it come out? Rappers have rapped about the ghetto for ages.
1982
Drunk commies deleted
16-05-2006, 22:05
First one? no way man, not at all.

But the real reason I don't listen to rap much is cuz it's fucking depressing.
Well you can always cheer up with some White Lines.

Fun, baby
(Rich baby, interesting)
Freeze! Rock (Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock Rock)
Aaah, aaah, aaah, aaah)
Uhraah!
Bass!

Ooh White, White
Ooh White, White
Ooh White, White

(Ooh White Lines) Vision dreams of passion
(Blowin’ through my mind) and all the while I think of you
(High fry) a very strange reaction
(For us to unwind) the more I see, the more I do
(Something like a phenomenon) Baby!
(Tellin your body to come along, but white lines blow away)
(Blow! Rock it! Blow!)

Ticket to ride, white line highway
Tell all your friends, they can go my way
Pay your toll, sell your soul
Pound for pound costs more than gold
The longer you stay, the more you pay
My white lines go a long way
Either up your nose or through your vein
With nothin to gain except killin’ your brain

(Freeze! Rock! Freeze! Rock! Freeze! Rock! Freeze! Rock!)
(Blow!)

(Ahhh) Higher, baby
(Ahhh) Get higher, baby!
(Ahhh) Get higher, baby!
And don't ever come down! (Freebase!)

Rang dang diggedy dang di-dang
Rang dang diggedy dang di-dang
Rang dang diggedy dang di-dang
Diggedy dang di-dang diggedy dang di-dang

(Pipeline) pure as the driven snow
(Connected to my mind) and now I'm havin’ fun, baby!
(High fry) it's getting kinda low
(Cause it makes you feel so nice) I need some one-on-one, baby!
(Don't let it blow your mind away) Baby!
(And go into your little hideaway ‘cause white lines blow away)
(Blow! Rock it! Blow!)

A million magic crystals, painted pure and white
A multi-million dollars almost overnight
Twice as sweet as sugar, twice as bitter as salt
And if you get hooked, baby, it's nobody else's fault, so don't do it!

(Freeze! Rock! Freeze! Rock! Freeze! Rock! Freeze! Rock!)
Raah! (Blow!)

(Ahhh) Higher, baby
(Ahhh) Get higher, baby!
(Ahhh) Get higher, baby!
And don't ever come down! (Freebase!)

(Don’t you get too high) don’t you get too high baby!
(Turns you on) you really turn me on and on
(When you gonna come down) my temperature is risin’
(When the thrill is gone) no, I don’t want you to go

A street kid gets arrested, gonna do some time
He got out three years from now just to commit more crime
A businessman is caught with 24 kilos
He’s out on bail and out of jail
And that’s the way it goes
Raah!

(Kane! Sugar! Kane! Sugar! Kane!)

Athletes rejected, governors corrected
Gangsters, thugs and smugglers are thoroughly respected
The money gets divided
The women get excited
Now I’m broke and it’s no joke
It’s hard as hell to fight it, don’t buy it!

(Freeze! Haha ha ha! Rock! Freeze! Rock! Freeze! Rock! Freeze! Rock!)
Raah! (Blow!)

(Ahhh) Get higher, baby
(Ahhh) Get higher, girl!
(Ahhh) Get higher, baby!
C’mon!
Raah!

(White Lines) Vision dreams of passion
(Blowin’ through my mind) and all the while I think of you
(High Fry) a very strange reaction
(For us to unwind) the more I see, the more I do
(Something like a phenomenon) Baby!
(Tellin your body to come along, but white lines blow away)

Little Jack Horner sitting on the corner
With no shoes and clothes
This aint funny, but he took his money
And sniffed it up his nose

(Hey man, you wanna cop some blow?)
(Sure, what you got, dust, flakes or rocks?)
(I got China White, Mother of Pearl, Ivory Flake, What you need?)
(Well yeah, well let me check it out man, just let me get a freeze)
(Go ahead man, stuff I got should kill ya!)
(Yeah man th-that’s that’s raw, wuh)

(Freeze! Haha ha ha! Rock! Freeze! Rock! Freeze! Rock!
Freeze! Rock! Freeze! Rock! Freeze! Rock!)
Naturality
17-05-2006, 07:32
" Might this be the first serious rap song about problems in the black community? "

The song has always been known as that. Not the first ever song, but the first rap song.
Demented Hamsters
17-05-2006, 08:57
So what's with the old school DCD?
Find an old CD somewhere?

(btw, they're 2 of my favourite 80's songs)
Peisandros
17-05-2006, 09:15
Grandmaster Flash is the fucking man. Oh man. Brilliant. Loving the oldschool stuff man.

It's a great song reflecting a lot of the trouble black people faced back then and also relates to modern day 'ghettos' aswell.

Good shit.
Naturality
17-05-2006, 10:17
Was it this song that the beat was taken by Earth Wind and Fire, or was it George Clinton? Been a while , so I can't remember. But yeah, good rap song. I grew up a bit after that time, during the blood pressure of rap. Eric B. & Rakim, PE, BDP, Marly Marl, Biz Markie, Doug E Fresh, Salt N Pepe, Slick Rick, RUN DMC, Bid Daddy Kane, MC Lyte, Kool G Rap, (Jew - white boys 3rd Base, Beastie Boys, Everlast- (forgot his name then, but it was him.), Special Ed, X Clan, Jungle Brothers, Pete Rock, De La Sol, Brand Nubian, Red Man, Tribe Called Quest, Diamond D, Main Source, NWA, Compton's Most Wanted, Geto Boys, Telephone Tracks(Reggae) & Shabba Ranks(Reggae) .. Too Short, Yo-Yo, . I've went blank .. DJ tapes were the shit to have back then too. I've got a few, but the only one that sticks out at me is DJ Clue. All my hiphop/rap are in boxes.. put away. When Leaders of the New School, Wu Tang, Fugees etc came out, it was a new era..
Kanabia
17-05-2006, 10:38
Was it this song that the beat was taken by Earth Wind and Fire, or was it George Clinton? Been a while , so I can't remember. But yeah, good rap song. I grew up a bit after that time, during the blood pressure of rap. Eric B. & Rakim, PE, BDP, Marly Marl, Biz Markie, Doug E Fresh, Salt N Pepe, Slick Rick, RUN DMC, Bid Daddy Kane, MC Lyte, Kool G Rap, (Jew - white boys 3rd Base, Beastie Boys, Everlast- (forgot his name then, but it was him.), Special Ed, X Clan, Jungle Brothers, Pete Rock, De La Sol, Brand Nubian, Red Man, Tribe Called Quest, Diamond D, Main Source, NWA, Compton's Most Wanted, Geto Boys, Telephone Tracks(Reggae) & Shabba Ranks(Reggae) .. Too Short, Yo-Yo, . I've went blank .. DJ tapes were the shit to have back then too. I've got a few, but the only one that sticks out at me is DJ Clue. All my hiphop/rap are in boxes.. put away. When Leaders of the New School, Wu Tang, Fugees etc came out, it was a new era..

No mention of Public Enemy? You fail. :p
Naturality
17-05-2006, 10:50
No mention of Public Enemy? You fail. :p

PE = Public Enemy
Kanabia
17-05-2006, 10:52
PE = Public Enemy

Oh, my bad. :) In that case, you win this thread.
Naturality
17-05-2006, 10:55
First thread win ever! Woot! :p

Someone will come along and burst my bubble :sad:
Naturality
17-05-2006, 10:58
I did just realize I spelt Pepa .. Pepe hehe. What the hell do they expect! Being named after freakin' seasonings. Or maybe I was thinking of that french loverboy skunk ...
Drunk commies deleted
17-05-2006, 15:33
So what's with the old school DCD?
Find an old CD somewhere?

(btw, they're 2 of my favourite 80's songs)
No, someone just posted a thread yesterday titled "The message" and it got me thinking.