Melle Mel began performing in the late 1970s as a member of the Furious Five. He may have been the first rapper to call himself MC (master of ceremonies). Other Furious Five members included his brother, The Kidd Creole (Nathaniel Glover), Scorpio (Eddie Morris), Rahiem (Guy Todd Williams), and Cowboy (Keith Wiggins). While a member of the group, Cowboy created the term Hip Hop while teasing a friend who had just joined the US Army, by scat singing the words “hip/hop/hip/hop” in a way that mimicked the rhythmic cadence of marching soldiers.
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five began recording for Enjoy Records and released “Superrappin” in 1979. They later moved on to Sugar Hill Records and were popular on the R&B charts with party songs like “Freedom” and “The Birthday Party”. They released numerous singles, gaining a gold disc for “Freedom”, and touring. In 1982, Melle Mel began to turn to more socially-aware subject matter, in particular the Reagan administration’s economic (Reaganomics) and drug policies, and their effect on the black community.
The song “The Message” became an instant classic and one of the first examples of conscious Hip Hop by exploring personal and social themes. “The Message” went platinum in less than a month and would later be the first Hip Hop record ever to be added to the United States National Archive of Historic Recordings and the first Hip Hop record inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Mel became known as Grandmaster Melle Mel and the leader of the Furious Five. The group went on to produce the anti-drug song “White Lines (Don’t Don’t Do It)”. An unofficial music video starred up-and-coming actor Laurence Fishburne and was directed by then-unknown film student Spike Lee. Mel gained greater fame and success after appearing in the movie Beat Street with a song based on the movie’s title.
During the 1980s, Mel performed with The King Dream Chorus and Holiday Crew on “King Holiday” aimed at having Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday declared a national holiday. Mel also performed with Artists United Against Apartheid on the anti-apartheid song “Sun City,” which was aimed at discouraging other artists from performing in South Africa until its government ended its policy of apartheid. Mel ended the decade by winning two Grammy Awards for his work on Quincy Jones’ Back on the Block and Q – The Autobiography of Quincy Jones albums.
In 2007, Melle Mel and The Furious Five (joined by DJ Grandmaster Flash) became the first rap group ever inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In his acceptance speech, Mel implored the recording industry members in attendance to do more to restore Hip Hop to the culture of music and art that it once was, rather than the culture of violence that it has become. In 2012, Mel also appeared in Ice-T’s Hip Hop documentary Something from Nothing: The Art of Rap.
