Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five/The Message/ video review
Rating: 4.5 stars
You talk best about the environment you know very well. Many inhabitants of the ghetto feel like they live in a disgusting, stinky place of desperation where daily dramas happen. Between the broken glass, the piss in the stairs, the cockroaches that stalk your kitchen and living room and the constant noise and the bloody murders, you have to stay strong if you don’t wanna lose your head-particularly when you know you don’t have the money to leave your place.
Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five describe the world of American ghettos with a poignant sense of reality in their old school rap video entitled « The Message ».
Based on a funky sounding musical background combined with some dope ass beats, the video draws a raw and realistic picture of the living conditions in the hood:
«Â
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 lose my head
Its like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
How I keep from going under… »
Grandmaster Flash has a strong message to deliver to the viewers of his video. His mind is racing, full of contained rage. Don’t push him too far, because he might show you his quick temper in no time.
« 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… »
Growing up in the ghetto fills your heart with hatred. You are destined to face harsh living conditions, unemployment, violence and abuse. Your probability of living a long life are quite low.
The video describes daily life in the ghetto with realism and a good sense of humor. Check out this good piece of old school rap if you haven’t done it yet!
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