Grandmaster Flash

Using two copies of Karen Young's "Hot Shot", Grandmaster Flash dazzled the crowd. His quick-mix and backspin techniques were born from the DJ's need to repeat his favorite get-down part, a primitive form of looping that later evolved into sample production. As with the MCs, most DJs began as dancers before changing careers, so the backspin was imperative for refining their moves. Flash called it The Clock Theory and encoded his records with making tape. Hands being hands, the Flash wind-up was what grand-folks might call "tight as a tick." Flash was the first DJ performer, a rock star who inspired generations of nerds to just gawk at the turntables and clog up the dance floor. In the future DJs would mix with their mouths, noses, and stomachs in arenas while suspended in the a I really by their ankles. If Flash only knew what he has started.