Hip hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash will release The Bridge: Concept Of A Culture on February 23rd next year on Adrenaline City Entertainment via Strut.
Billed as his first high profile studio album since his final recordings for Elektra back in 1988, the record should see Flash reassuming his mantle as one of the great innovators of the genre, and will feature guest spots from KRS ONE, Big Daddy Kane, Q Tip, Busta Rhymes, Snoop Dogg, Princess Superstar and DJ Kool among others.
Recorded at Flash’s own Adrenaline Lab studio in New York during 2007/8, the album’s overarching theme is the global language of hip hop.
"Wherever I travel as a DJ, I see the incredible power of this artform," explains Flash. " am constantly amazed by it. That’s the line that runs through the album – we speak many languages and come from many cultures but, wherever I go in the world, there is one universal culture of hip hop."
Flash’s ‘quick mix theory’ turntable techniques led to his cutting of the first ever mix record in ‘Grandmaster Flash On The Wheels Of Steel’ – also the first hip-hop record to employ samples – and helped gain the genre recognition as a credible artistic force away from the New York block parties which had forged its name.
Famously, he was also the first to play the music of German electronic act Kraftwerk at the parties, a direction which would later be picked up on by Afrika Bambaataa with his genre-spawning classic ‘Planet Rock’.
Flash was inducted into the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall Of Fame during 2007, and he co-wrote an autobiography, ‘The Adventures Of Grandmaster Flash: My Life, My Beats’ which was released through Random House in June this year.
The full track listing for the album runs like this:
- ‘Welcome’
- ‘Shine All Day’ feat. Q-Tip, Jumz & Kel Spencer & Jumz
- ‘We Speak Hip Hop’ feat. Afasi, Kase-O, Maccho, Abass & KRS-One
- ‘Here Comes My DJ’ feat. DJ Kool & DJ Demo
- ‘Bounce Back’ feat. Busta Rhymes
- ‘Swagger’ feat. Red Café, Snoop Dogg & Lynn Carter
- ‘What If’ feat. KRS-One
- ‘Unanswered’ (Interlude)
- ‘Tribute To The Breakdancer’ feat. MC Supernatural
- ‘Grown & Sexy’ feat. Mr Cheeks
- ‘When I Get There’ feat. Big Daddy Kane & Hedonis Da Amazon
- ‘Connection’ (Interlude)
- ‘I Got Sumthin’ To Say’ feat. Lordikim Allah, J-Flo & Almighty Thor
- ‘Can I Take You Higher’ feat. Mr Cheeks, Grandmaster Caz & Tito
- ‘Unpredictable’ feat. Syndee & Big Daddy Kane
- ‘Those Chix’ feat. Byata, Princess Superstar & Hedonis Da Amazon
- ‘Bronx Bombers’ feat. Lordikim Allah, Almighty Thor & Mann Child
- ‘Zuka The Soujnd’ (Interlude)
- ‘Oh Man’ feat. Syndee & Natacha Atlas
