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Melle Mel

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Melle Mel, really Melvin Glover, is a rapper from the Bronx in New York, born in 1961. He was the lead rapper and main lyricist of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. He was possibly the first rapper to call himself an MC, an abbreviation of master of ceremonies.

Music and breakthrough

The group recorded for Enjoy Records and later for Sugar Hill Records, and first scored with party songs such as Freedom and The Birthday Party. Around 1982 Mel began writing about social subjects, such as the economic policy of President Reagan and drugs. The result was The Message (1982), which is often named as one of the first examples of conscious hip hop. Mel raps over an instrumental track by Duke Bootee; the other members of the Furious Five cannot be heard on the recording. The Message was later the first hip hop record to be added to the American National Recording Registry. White Lines (Don't Don't Do It), an anti-drugs song, followed.

Influence

With his rap in I Feel for You by Chaka Khan, Mel brought hip hop to a large R&B audience. In 1990 he won a Grammy for Back on the Block. In 2007 he and the Furious Five became the first rap group in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His significance lies in a shift: from rap as party music to rap as a report on life in the city.

Listening

Listening tip. Listen in The Message to the slow, heavy synthesizer groove over which Melle Mel tells his story, and to the chorus about someone on the edge. Notice the ending: the music runs on beneath an acted scene in which the group is arrested by the police.

Discography

Studio albums

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

Categories: Artists