During the early 80’s, if you weren’t listening to Grandmaster Flashand The Furious 5, you weren’t listening to hip music. This group, formed inNew York’s South Bronx in 1978, ruled the airways with their use ofturntablism,break-beatdeejaying, and choreographed stage routines. They were considered a ‘force’ in the birth and early development of hip-hop music. Performing as "Grandmaster's Furious 5 feat. Mele Mel and Scorpio," the duo are currently touring across the U.S., and will soonhead to Canada and Europe to entertain fans who have enjoyed them for decades. Mele Mel and Scorpio are best known for the fameachieved as part of Grandmaster Flash and The Furious 5-- a hip-hop group that helped propel the genre in the early 1980s. Their1982 single, "The Message," is often cited as one of the best rap songs of all time, and was the first hip-hop song to be inducted into theGrammy Hall of Fame. The group was also the first hip-hop collective to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and werehonored in their hometown of the Bronx with a street sign on the Bronx Walk of Fame. While Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5 released only two studio albums, several compilation projects have been produced over the years. As the age of Disco drew to a close a new urban sound had found its feet on the East Coast of America. In New Jersey a three-piece called SugarHill Gang were soon to become the forefathers ofHip Hop, as the success of their hit single 'Rapper’s Delight’ was released. Meanwhile, in the projects of South Bronx, legendary turntablist Grandmaster Flash had assembled with The Furious 5, who were simultaneously spreading "The Message." Following Flash’sdeparture from the group The Furious 5 would go on to achieve smash singles including "White Lines”, "Step Off” and "Beat Street.” After years signed to the same label, both acts are reunited to form a Hip-Hop supergroup. Sugarhill Gang’s Hen Dog, Master Gee and Wonder Mike combine forces with Furious 5’s Mele Mel and Scorpio to deliver a daring double billing, that will have audiences shufflin’ ‘the freak’ all night long. 2019 marks the 40th Anniversary of “Rapper’s Delight” by the legendary SugarHill Gang who’s tour with Grandmaster Mele Mel & Scorpio Furious5 is not to be missed. Boy Scout talked to both Mele Mel and Scorpio in separate interview below about hip hop roots, greatest regrets, and what it means to be "Furious."
Boy Scout: If you arrived in New York City in 2019 filled with great ambition, how might you ascend to your artistic summit?
Scorpio: In 2019 with all my ambition that I have, one thing that I definitely do first is to set up the incredible team, because one thing to definitely understand: What we know now, what we didn't know then. It is not just about the talent, you know what I mean? Because we always have talent and never lost the talent, even today. But we never had the proper team around us. So, that's one thing that I would probably do first more than before I start to make a run, or a pitch, or anything like that. To assemble the ultimate team so that way we can just focus on, or I can just focus on, the talent. And the team can do the incredible things, what they need to do, to win.
Boy Scout: In a time of faltering news platforms, transient facts and generations who opt for digital currency over great literature, how will the stories of those that came before us survive?
Scorpio: Well, yes it's true there's a lot of platforms right now. You know, all type of digital currency and everything like that. And I'll say that, guys like us -- how we would survive -- it's like how we surviving now, in real life. In an earlier question I said it wasn't about the talent alone. But with this, it still would be this … this will be about the talent.
Boy Scout: With the eradication of many of New York City’s cultural landmarks through hyper-gentrification, an act that seems to be eroding the soul of many cultural capitals, will our artistic heritages henceforth be confined to yellowing newsprint and the libraries of the past?
Scorpio: We would say put real focus on our talent, and we know it's a lot of different platforms… and the blessing about us, versus a lot of other groups, is our story it's so genuine, it's so real. I know a lot of hip-hop artists say: “Is real Is real Is real,” but everything that we said we done, we did. You know what I mean? Coming from the group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
You know we had the first DJ, that cut on beat, and by him cutting on beat, made it so Mele Mel and his brother were able to create the first hip-hop rhymes to rhyme on beat, you know what I mean? We were the first group to do the switch overs and to make 5 MC’s sound like one … and this is not about being patted on the back, it's like saying “How can our story hold true” with all of the currencies and platforms and different things is just to stay true to our story because our story still reigns supreme. The only difference between us, and a lot of great artists that's out there doing things now (I know I’m using the word great loosely) but a lot of big-time artists, is -- I gotta be honest -- that we just don't have a top-notch PR agent to tell our true story. Because if our true story was out there, we'll be up there on the level of The Rolling Stones. All right? This is not ego, it's just fact.
Boy Scout: The late Harry Dean Stanton believed “Everything is predestined. Nothing is important. Life is an illusion. It’s all a movie. Nobody’s in charge” which is lovingly referred to as his Appreciation of Nothing. Do you have a guiding life philosophy that keeps you on the path?
Scorpio: Well, the easiest thing for me to keep me on the path is even though we are not at the top of our game, far as you know, having the biggest record out right now, or the biggest tours, but anytime that I look around, or drive down the street, I'll listen and see people playing hip-hop. Or travel the world, and keep watching everybody, in every language, play hip-hop, and sing hip hop in their own language. What easily helped keep me on the path was to know that this was a recipe that we created from our block on 166th Street in Prospect and Union Avenue that whole area, the 23 Park.
Boy Scout: “The Message”, “White Lines”, “New York, New York”, “Beat Street Breakdown” all come from a place of hard-worn observation. Can you describe what the commitment of artistic endurance means to you?
Scorpio: You know, so my question might not apply to everybody -- but for, yes, a direct, selfish answer -- is to know, I can't go nowhere, I can't turn on no TV, can't travel on no plane or go to no country, without seeing hip hop, and to know that we put the original ingredients in that, that is what keep me on the path. Even though, we ain’t doing economically the way we would love to be doing, but most people that come out first never reach the benefit. But time any cultural music or anything, catch up to corporate America or the corporate world. But that is the easiest thing to keep me going, you know what I mean? Because I'm still competitive.
So, that is the main thing that always will have me want to get up, want to make phone calls, want to do everything. Because I'm still in competition, you know? And it still might look like I'm losing -- but I'm actually not -- because I'm still doing the things I love, the tour traveling, the world tour and doing all of that from something that we created when I was sixteen.
Boy Scout: Abraham Lincoln said: “To summon up our better angels.” What are the words you live by?
Scorpio: The words I live by is “The only way to predict the future, is to invent it” and that goes like what we did for hip hop, that goes for a new record, or new movie, or anything that's incorporated with our music. It's to invent it, yes, to have that vision and go for it. Because what's in your mind is going to come out first before I hit the planet. So that's the words I live by. Just getting on the phone, calling a fortune 100-company -- that I never did nothing with hip-hop before -- and now, all of a sudden, they doing something with us or other hip-hop artists, that's what it is. The words to live by is “The only way to predict the future, is to invent it.”
Boy Scout: Anthony Bourdain’s wrenching “Parts Unknown” finale takes place in New York’s lower East Side where a good deal of your history resides. In that episode, Lydia Lunch says: “People were beautiful, doing things because they had to do it—not because of any other grand idea. Happiness was not the goal; satisfaction was the goal, as it still is. . . . We had to do something because we were burning; our blood was on fire.” Lunch made very clear that in the present day, she wastes no time pining for that bygone time—but Bourdain seemed a little more wistful. As a cultural catalyst, are you ever wistful for an older, grittier New York?
Scorpio: Pertaining to Anthony Bourdain; Well, I can't answer that question because I didn't see that episode, so on, that yeah, I hope he said it “Hip Hop is beautiful,” I hope they said that. I don't know. I got to be honest because I didn't see that episode.
Well, yeah, I mean it'd be incredible if we can really, like, go back to the old really in New York. I'm like can we experience that you know firsthand, even like when we was doing hip hop in the early 80s, but it was a part of New York that was downtown, like certain clubs Danceteria, and stuff like that. That was gritty. And we loved it. Because now, before we probably couldn't go down there, and we'd be looked at, or you might even call the cops on us --- what they doing in this neighborhood --- But seeing as we had little status we was able to really able to travel New York. And believe me, that prepared us for the world. Cause once we went down to the old grittier New York, and walking around 8th street, and walking amongst all of these different people with different color hairs, and stuff like that, you got to understand the Bronx is what's real cookie cutter.
Boy Scout: You are regarded as one of Hip-Hop’s first generation of MC Icons. Your groundbreaking work serves as an indelible impression of New York during the height of culture and you created a writing style now imbedded in narrative. Does desperation drive determination?
Scorpio: Well, the thing that we had to do, because our blood was burning and on fire, was to get our voice heard. Because at the time, us creating hip-hop… you got to understand what the Bronx looked like Beirut. It looked like the worst place in any third-world country that was burnt out or bombed.
We used to live with the rats and the roaches, and all of that, that was just part of where we came from, you know what I mean? Not necessarily in our apartments, or in the houses, but it was all around us. And every once in a while, mice did get in your house. So, we know going anywhere downtown: We wasn't accepted at all. And believe it or not, that was one of the reasons why hip-hop had its own language. Because, we just wanted to feel like -- we know they had something that we didn't have, which was a lot of money -- but we wanted to have something. Being able to talk and feel empowered. So, when we do go downtown, we could be in the elevator just talking amongst ourselves, and they don't know we're saying cause we talking with us so much slang. And that, that was the machine to hip-hop. It was really just trying to feel special, and feel unique amongst the world that turned a back on us. That really didn’t care about us. That most of us was poor. Most of our families was poor, and stuff like that. But we felt special because we was able to speak a language that nobody else know.
So, just to get our voice out to hip-hop, that was our fire and desire. That's why most artists, when we first started, we did get robbed and did get jerked, because it wasn't so much about the business side as it is today. I think, it was more passion, and just for the love of it. And for the love of it, it definitely hurt us. But it also put us in history with -- even cats like us -- if we never come out with another record in life, we can work the rest of our life.
So, that was the thing that was burning, I guess, in a lot of the black, young youth coming out of the Bronx is, just to be heard. And that we were just doing it basically for the Bronx. It definitely wasn't something that was intentionally designed for the world. That was just something for us to feel good. In the places, in environments where we've been living at.
Boy Scout: You have always positioned yourself as a kind of misfit outsider. A trait I most admire. Was there a defining moment in your artistic life where you took an out-of-character risk and it transformed you?
Scorpio: So, everybody was basically the same, you know? Not just pop color, but as going downtown to 8th Street, and moving all around, on the West Side, and on the Lower East Side. Yo, it was the first time that I ever really truly interacted with white people. And it prepared me for the world, you know what I mean? It really… one thing I definitely got to see, even though, visually, we look a lot different, but we had a lot more in common.
So, a gritty in New York is really not a bad thing. You know, I'm talking prettier with culture. Not pretty with crime. So, as for as far that part, I would love for it to come back. Because we did experience that, at the clubs like The Cat Club, and Danceteria, and, you know … there was so many then. The Limelight, that was the grittier New York, you know what I mean? Once you got up to Studio 54, that's what it became glamorous, but anything else down, it was considered gritty. It was like white people ghettos, to me.
Boy Scout: Where in the world can you find rough, raw, and revolutionary today? Can you share some artists or forms that currently beat your heart?
Scorpio: I'm sure there’s a lot of artists I probably could name, but one of my favorites now is definitely J Cole. So, one love to all other artists that's going to try to come behind and say some things, you can say some things to still make money I don't think Jay is hurt for no paper? He's doing sold-out shows and it can be done. But far as just hearing it on the radio, the agenda is more. It’s almost like they doing a serious genocide on our people. You know you just don't hear that crazy stuff out there for nothing. That shit is done by the design, you know what I mean? I'm quite sure there’s thousands of artists, that’s conscious artists, that a rapper says: “You preaching this and that” We hear it. You know what I mean? We try to get back in, you know, and they tell us “your preachy style” and what is a preachy style, but it what is that about? You know what I mean? It's like: If you’re saying something that make sense up on that beat, you’re saying something makes sense up on that beat!
Believe it or not, there’s still some incredible artists out there doing some incredible things that definitely comes from like our bloodline style. But you just don't hear them on the radio because, you know, they got their own agenda. They’re not here to make, you know what I mean, the young brothers or sisters more aware, more smart and just more worldly. Just by the way of teaching you how to think, that's why you only have, what you have on the radio. Yeah, there's some great artists out there. It's like one of my all-time favorites right now would definitely be a brother named J Cole. Because he represents, he represents that hip hop whereas you are definitely fly, you fly lyrically, and this and that, but he's dropping jewels or something, you know what I mean? That you can like go “hmm” and think about, you know what I mean? Not saying everything got to be about that but, if majority can be about that why not? What's wrong with that?
I think one of the greatest times of hip hop was when we had groups like Grandmaster Flash Furious 5, Public Enemy and you know, all of the other groups, is just dropping something to KRS1 and we all was coexisting at the same time. You know, on our façade, you had an upper caste that was just rocking whatever they want to rock. But what was wrong with that? You know, cats got more conscious, got more aware of things, more “how to treat a woman” and this and that through the music, you know what I mean?
Boy Scout: You have journeyed through the world with music. What has this travel taught you?
Scorpio: Well, yeah, it's true that we travel the world, we've been traveling the world since the 80s. I mean, like 1980 literally, going all around the world. One thing that it taught me is that racism stuff is really over blown. I mean, not saying it aint here, you could turn on TV and see it here. You know, when our President’s trying to fire up people and everything… but, just traveling all around the world, they more curious about us then we are about them. And some of the greatest people that I met, that I have had a conversation with, and this way that all that, was white people. I’m not saying that I didn't do good business with black people, but if you just come from the Bronx, or whatever, and the things that you taught, you wouldn't want to go nowhere, no other races, you want to just stay… the closest you'll get to another race, is when you go to a record company.
But that's it. And they have their agenda, like you know, so you don't know how genuine they are because like “yeah yeah-yeah” you got a product they want to sell and make money off for you, but yes, for I just mean, the average folk, regular restaurants and having conversation and realize like “Yo! They want the same thing that we want. They want to grow up safe. They want their families to be safe, and if they raising kids, they want their family, they kid’s to be safe, and everything.” You know, at the end of the conversation that's what you would take from me. But, like wow! I can't believe I just sat and talked with that brother blond hair blue eyes. Only thing I ever heard about them is that they didn't like us.
So, just traveling the world really opened my eyes up. You’ve got to judge everybody on an individual basis. You know, you can't blink at people and throw them all in one thing. Like, white people, so they all racist? Or, we all black and we all ignorant. That's what traveling around the world taught me.
Boy Scout: What do you most value in friendships?
Scorpio: What do our value and friendship? Most of my friendships, right now, is music-based, or industry-based. We’ve got to do our business. I would say loyalty, because that's the make and break of all friendships. Especially when it’s more intertwined in business versus friendship like going out fishing and doing stuff, going to baseball games, and it's all orientated around business. So, definitely loyalty plays a major role.
Boy Scout: What is your greatest regret?
Scorpio: What’s my greatest regret? Regret is when the head of the record label want to put Furious 5 featuring Grandmaster Flash and we fought very hard to leave it as Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5 because I think if the word was TheFurious 5 featuring Grandmaster Flash, Flash would have still obviously gotten all of his props for being the inventor of the scratch, and the DJ, but the Furious 5 would have got props for being, you know, the MCs, what we was… and not being seen as just a backup group to Flash. There is nothing but love and respectful for Flash but that is probably one of my biggest regrets. Because the lady, actually called me and Mele Mel outside, Miss Sylvia Robinson, and we fought said “no-no no,” you know, so now, you know kind of hurt us now, more so than then. So if it we would have just said The Furious5 we would be getting much more play worldwide than we are. No disrespect to Flash.
Boy Scout: What is your greatest fear?
Scorpio: What is my biggest fear? Well, my biggest fear is not end my career the way it started, you know what I mean? I don't really want my past be greater and my future. So that's why I just want to top my legacy off, you know, what we've done and what we brought to the table. I really want the world to know the significance of us, of our group The Furious 5. You know, our group was called Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5, but somehow, you know, we got slighted in that. I love Flash to death but most people just think the Furious 5 is like The Pips to Gladys Knight. So, our biggest fear is to make it balance. You know, Flash had a lot to do with this hip-hop music, brought a lot to the table. Our biggest fear would be to never to even it back out. And our history of the Furious 5 is to just go down as a group that was there, versus the group that did it all.
Boy Scout: What are you currently working on? Can you share what 2019 might hold? Scorpio: What are we working on? Right now, we're working on obviously to release a Grandmaster Mele Mel ScorpioFurious 5 album. Or even, just a record or two. We understand this ain’t really the album ages. Also, January, 2019 will be the 40th Anniversary of “Rapper's Delight' and us and The Sugarhill Gang, our group and The Sugarhill Gang, we merged to go on the road together, we've been doing that for the last three years. Every May we go overseas and we're doing it again this year. You know, celebrating our 40th Anniversary of “Rapper's Delight” and both groups will be on that stage at the same time. They’ll be doing their records, we do our records. And now, we do records together and it's an incredible show. So, we would definitely like to see you know what I mean a lot of people that read this article support us and the easiest way to follow us and follow everything we doing is on Instagram, you can follow at IG @Scorpiofurious5, please put that in interview. All right…..
To learn more about the Grandmaster's Furious5, visit them here
Boy Scout: If you arrived in New York City in 2019 filled with great ambition, how might you ascend to your artistic summit?
Mele Mel: Same as in the beginning. Talent and hard work takes you wherever you want to go.
Boy Scout: In a time of faltering news platforms, transient facts and generations who opt for digital currency over great literature, how will the stories of those that came before us survive?
Mele Mel: Time has always been a filter for bullshit so at the end of the day only the true story will survive.
Boy Scout: With the eradication of many of New York City’s cultural landmarks through hyper-gentrification, an act that seems to be eroding the soul of many cultural capitals, will our artistic heritages henceforth be confined to yellowing newsprint and the libraries of the past?
Mele Mel: I personally believe in gentrification as a social reality as well as a musical reality. There are a lot of people that don’t realize or give credit to the fact that the roots of hip-hop was built on gentrification and multiculturalism and that is what made Hip Hop a dominant force in music and in culture.
Boy Scout: The late Harry Dean Stanton believed “Everything is predestined. Nothing is important. Life is an illusion. It’s all a movie. Nobody’s in charge” which is lovingly referred to as his Appreciation of Nothing. Do you have a guiding life philosophy that keeps you on the path?
Mele Mel: My philosophy in life is hard work hard. Work hard. Work hard work in the gym. Hard work on the stage. Hard work in the studio.
Boy Scout: Abraham Lincoln said: “To summon up our better angels.” What are the words you live by?
Mele Mel: Live every day like it’s your first and last.
Boy Scout: Anthony Bourdain’s wrenching “Parts Unknown” finale takes place in New York’s lower East Side where a good deal of your history resides. In that episode, Lydia Lunch says: “People were beautiful, doing things because they had to do it—not because of any other grand idea. Happiness was not the goal; satisfaction was the goal, as it still is. . . . We had to do something because we were burning; our blood was on fire.” Lunch made very clear that in the present day, she wastes no time pining for that bygone time—but Bourdain seemed a little more wistful. As a cultural catalyst, are you ever wistful for an older, grittier New York?
Mele Mel: For me it’s neither here nor there. It’s served a purpose then, and it serves a different purpose now. Hip hop is inherently rebellious.
Boy Scout: Where in the world can you find rough, raw, and revolutionary today? Can you share some artists or forms that currently beat your heart?
Mele Mel: I personally never did listen to other rappers as a rule. I think comedy is the most rebellious of art forms because it takes all situations whether it’s funny or not funny and makes it something to laugh at. That is the beauty and brilliance and rebellious nature of the human experience. Without being able to laugh at all reality we probably couldn’t make it out of the week.
Boy Scout: Are you still hungry to explore the bleakly beautiful?
Mele Mel: The journey of your life is always something that should be explored. I tell people all the time that everybody’s truth is different and you have to explore life for yourself to seek your own truth and then relate that truth to others.
Boy Scout: “The Message”, “White Lines”, “New York, New York”, “Beat Street Breakdown” all come from a place of hard-worn observation. Can you describe what the commitment of artistic endurance means to you?
Mele Mel: Artistic commitment is to make it plain and not to re-invent the wheel but to keep the wheel rolling. Being an entertainer is the same as a doctor or lawyer or an accountant. There is a place for it in society. And a great entertainer always walks with the greatness of the entertainers that came before him.
Boy Scout: You are regarded as one of Hip-Hop’s first generation of MC Icons. Your groundbreaking work serves as an indelible impression of New York during the height of culture and you created a writing style now imbedded in narrative. Does desperation drive determination?
Mele Mel: Anger has always been the driving factor. Angry at being poor. Angry at being black. Angry at being young. That is why when I chose a name for the group I chose the word FURIOUS. Where there is anger there is a battle for change. When you are happy you want things to stay the same.
Boy Scout: You have journeyed through the world with music. What has this travel taught you?
Mele Mel: Music is the great equalizer amongst people and cultures. We could all have different religions and languages, but for the most part, all people love the same music. For example, everyone loves Michael Jackson.
Boy Scout: Does a world of hyper social media intrude on your ability to be your artistic self?
Mele Mel: Not at all because for me it is very easy to block out everything else and concentrate on my expressions.
Boy Scout: Has your bravery grown through the ages?
Mele Mel: Bravery is bravery. Either you’re brave or you’re not.
Boy Scout: In a media mad world, can sincerity still be a virtue?
Mele Mel: Of course. Because after you get past the bullshit everybody wants sincerity.
Boy Scout: The last couple of years has seen a country divided. Has the current political climate inhibited or infused your work?
Mele Mel: It has done neither. Music is there to be a stabilizing force and factor. When you take something political and put it to music it makes it more of a song. That’s politics. Once again, that is the beauty of music.
Boy Scout: What is your greatest fear?
Mele Mel: DEATH (The uncertainty of death).
Boy Scout: What is your most marked characteristic?
Mele Mel: Determination.
Boy Scout: What do you most value in friendships?
Mele Mel: Loyalty on both ends.
Boy Scout: Who are your real life heroes?
Mele Mel: Everybody. Everybody is capable of being a hero.
Boy Scout: What is your greatest regret?
Mele Mel: Putting Grandmaster Flash’s name in front of the Furious Five. We taught people to forget the name Furious Five.
Boy Scout: How would you like to be remembered?
Mele Mel: The King of Hip Hop. The biggest and the best. That’s the way I am remember now.
Boy Scout: There is no shortage today of hands and mouths in need. How do you give back? Are there other issues near and dear that you support? Are you currently aligned with an organization of charity?
Mele Mel: We have a school program called Windows of Hip Hop. Our goal is to have people understand the importance of kids and take a responsibility for their own education through Hip Hop. And, of course, fitness will always be near and dear to my heart.
Boy Scout: What are you currently working on? Can you share what 2019 might hold?
Mele Mel: New album. New tour. New money New mission. New muscles. Lol.
To learn more about the Grandmaster's Furious5, visit them here