Grandmaster Flash on “Birth of a Culture”
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How did Grandmaster Flash’s childhood fascination with electronics shape his DJ career?
The New Yorker Radio Hour is a co-production of WNYC and The New Yorker.
This is the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick. Hip-hop aficionados love to debate the state of the genre and which current stars are really more pop than rap. But there's no question, none at all, that Grandmaster Flash is a true pioneer. He's been an innovator in the art of DJing since he was practically a child. And now, as a senior citizen, Grandmaster Flash remains as devoted to his turntable heroics as ever. He tours the globe, he spreads the gospel of hip-hop everywhere, and he tells stories about the origins of a music genre that has come to dominate the airwaves and has forever influenced American culture. In a new memoir, Birth of a Culture, Grandmaster Flash takes us behind the scenes of hip-hop's earliest days, from the Bronx to the downtown discos and parties in dank basements.
I sat down this week with Grandmaster Flash, who was born Joseph Sadler in the Bronx, to talk about his new book and his beginnings. My mother always taught me to ask people what I should call them. Flash. Just Flash.
Flash, yeah. Flash is fine.
Because you got the greatest name ever.
Ever. Thank you so
much. To be known as Grandmaster and Flash. Thank you. We're just going to go by Flash. Okay.
So let me ask
you, Flash. You grew up and you were fascinated by these things. But before that, you were fascinated by the electronics in your house.
Yes.
At the same time, you're listening to your father's records.
My father had a routine. What was he doing for a living? He used to work for the 34th Street, the track repair for the subways, for New York City subways.
Down at Penn Station.
Right, at Penn Station, correct. So when he would come home, David, he would go into his closet and he'd open his door and he would get these square things. And it would have pictures of like trains or animals or people or flowers or I don't know. I'm like, where is he going with this square thing? He's headed over to the brown box that lives in a living room, David. And he would take out this black thing. And it's all very
mysterious to
you guys. Very mysterious. And he's taking it and he's putting this in the brown, this brown box. And you're in the Bronx? In the Bronx, yes. Brasneck Project in the Bronx. And how old are
you at this
time? Oh, single digits. Nine, ten. You know, and I'm watching. So he goes over to this brown box and he takes this black thing. He puts it on this silver stick and he presses this button. And then this thing goes up. The black disc goes down, the arm goes on to the black disc, and sound comes out of the brown box. David, my dad is a magician. He's the best in the world. I'm like, holy moly,
how did he do that?
You know, and then, David, another fascination happened with me. Anything that turned on, lights on, and it was... Electronics. And all these things fascinated me, the table radio, the stereo, the television. So now I'm getting a butter knife and I'm unscrewing the back of everything possible because now I'm trying to figure out... Why do these things light up? You know, my sister's hair dryer, the table radio, the stereo in the living room, the TV in the living room. And then eventually my family said, listen, you have to stop doing this. And I was tearing up so much stuff in the
house.
I was
tearing up so much. So when did you make the connection, the connection between one fascination and another, between music, your father's record collection, music? And doing something about it, that meaning electronics and even the notion of being a DJ. When does that kick in?
It kicks in
because in
the middle 70s, disco was...
What early experiences in the Bronx and his father’s subway‑track job inspired Flash’s love of records?
Big. Huge, yeah. It was the Godzilla of music. Did you like it, the music itself? I didn't like the music, but what fascinated me, David, was the way they would sort of pair two records together and blend. The old song disappears and the new
song arrives. So your book is so much about the connections that you draw as a kid and how you create yourself as well. You're creating a new musical form. So how did you take what you were hearing in disco and do something new?
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did Grandmaster Flash’s childhood fascination with electronics shape his DJ career?
0:02–4:23
2
What early experiences in the Bronx and his father’s subway‑track job inspired Flash’s love of records?
4:23–8:43
3
How did Flash develop the “long‑break” technique using math and vinyl manipulation?
8:43–13:02
4
Why was the Audubon Ballroom performance a turning point for hip‑hop’s move to large venues?
13:02–16:56
5
What does Flash’s three‑turntable, three‑needle setup reveal about his technical mastery?
16:56–21:49
6
How did the role of the MC evolve in the early hip‑hop scene according to Flash?
21:49–26:41
7
What political and business pressures changed the group dynamic behind “The Message”?
26:41–31:10
8
How is Grandmaster Flash still touring and promoting his memoir “Birth of a Culture” today?
31:10–35:20