Ten years after Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five kicked open the doors for rap music with ”The Message,” original Fivers Melle Mel and Scorpio have recut it. They`ve updated the lyrics with music by Danish mixer Nikolaj Steen, who loved ”The Message” before he knew English.
The time is right, says Melle Mel. With rap under heavy attack, there`s more need than ever for America to hear what it`s saying.
”Kids today see bad things on the streets so long they don`t even think of them as bad anymore,” he says. ”And not just crack. Dope is back. It`s like the so-called war on drugs never happened.”
The new ”Message” keeps the original punchline (”Sometimes I wonder/
How I keep from going under”) but adds new verses.
It`s a grim picture, particularly when national leaders who have yet to acknowledge any of rap`s messages about American communities have tried to score quick points by taking a few lines out of context and denouncing them.
”White people hear about a song like `Cop Killer` and they get scared,” says Melle Mel. ”And I understand why, because they don`t know the other side of the coin. But that`s not even a rap song. When you get the whole picture, you`ll realize that`s not what we`re saying. No one`s going to hear a record and go out and kill cops.”
But he also argues that rappers share some blame themselves: ”A lot of rap now is about getting press. Whoever says the most inflammatory thing gets the attention. We`ve got to get back to the music.”
And yes, warns rap producer Van Silk, the music is in danger. ”A lot of people want to get rid of rap-because we talk about what`s going on. No one else wants to do that. We`re dangerous.”
In response, Silk says, rappers must unite, starting with the Sister Souljah case: ”Anyone who doesn`t publicly support her shouldn`t be in rap.”
