Charity Shoppin' #1: Step Off

The Furious Five are big names in hip hop. The group are most famous for the Grandmaster Flash canon but featuring none of his trademark scratching, it's performed solely by the Furious Five, aka Cowboy, Melle Mel, Kid Creolo, Rahiem (from the Funky Four) and Scorpio. This track is post-1984, so after Flash had left the Five (after suing Sugar Hill Records for unpaid royalties). Melle Mel then upgraded himself to Grandmaster, and provides the main vocals here along with Cowboy and Scorpio.

It's more sparse really than most of the tracks on this CD; the rapping is of a slightly harsher style (more reminiscent of Chuck D), and the backing vocals are kept very minimal. There's the standard synth breaks still though, and the handclap-based beat is pretty familiar.



Furious Five - Step Off

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Tags: hip hop; rap; Furious Five; Grandmaster Flash; Melle Mel; Scorpio; Cowboy; Sugar Hill