"The Message" (Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, feat. Melle Mel & Duke Bootee)

The development of rap can pretty much be divided into two periods: before “The Message” and after “The Message.”  Before the song hit the airwaves in 1982, 99% of rap was about having a good time and getting the party started  (Kurtis Blow’s “The Breaks,” The Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper's Delight,” and Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five’s own “Freedom.”)  But “The Message” broke the mold as the first mainstream rap record that actually included social commentary.  There was no posturing; it was simply a truthful slice of life from the inner city.
When session musician and songwriter Ed “Duke Bootee” Fletcher demoed the instrumental track and lyric to Sylvia Robinson, CEO of Sugar Hill Records, she decided that it was a perfect vehicle for Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five.  But the group didn’t agree.  They argued that the laid back groove, which was heavily influenced by Zapp and Tom Tom Club, and the lyrical content weren’t right for their style.
“We [were] used to doing party raps and, like, boasting how good we are and all that,” Melvin “Melle Mel” Glover told NPR in 1992 (rebroadcast 2012). “When the record company brought the record to us to do, we didn’t actually want to do it, and I was the only one that, like, caved in…I didn’t think it would be pivotal either way.”
Little did Glover know that the track would go on to be one of the most influential songs of the 20th Century.
And despite the song being credited to Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, only Glover and Fletcher actually appear on the track.  The rest of the group only shows up for a few seconds in a skit at the end of the song, where they get busted by overzealous cops who think they’re gang members.