The Message

I really want to rate this higher because of how important it is to the genre... but most of it is dated and cheesy. The title track is worth a full-star bump on its own, but the rest is meh....

Not as good as I had hoped

Old skool hip hop!...feels like a album with a brilliant track and lots of obvious filler. (though Scorpio is interesting) I'm thinking that at this time rap "albums" were not really a thing. 12 inch extended mixes were where it was at. This strikes me as a cash in. 2

One classic song and a bunch of meh.

Wel oke, maar niet mijn genre

More slow soulful songs than expected. Not great. Best songs The message, new York new York,

Really not a fan, was hard to figure out what it was about.

Groundbreaking back then, felt very dated now

'The Message,' in a nutshell? Hard to be black in America. ‘Don’t push me ‘cause I’m close to the edge. I’m tryin’ not to lose my head… It’s like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder how I keep from going under.’ Note that neither the lyricists nor lead vocalist Keef Cowboy are expressing anger, but caution: I’m really tryin’ here. And, as the final and title track clearly reveals, against the kinds of disadvantages that confront minorities when tryin’ to make the American creed of equal opportunity, including access, more of a practical reality. Before all that, though, we are introduced to the sole enterprise that seems to have prevailed where others have failed: sex. And on the very first track, we’re introduced to the sexual prowess of the players- and there’s quite a lot of them, vocalists and instrumentalists- before we then move on to a celebration of nasty sex on the second, followed by a bizzare robot vocal on the third cut, ‘Scorpio,’ in which we hear what phone sex (or at least foreplay) between two robots might sound like. Oddly, I could find no connection between the electronically effected voice and the lyrics, but there it is. And just when we’ve established this as a steamy, lusty, sex-themed funk LP, the next three songs take a decidedly different turn, musically and lyrically, concluding with a (literally) black gospel number, ‘You Are,’ with the ‘you’ being God, and everything being who You Are. Downtempo went the music and with it the vocals, taking a bit of downturn of their own, Keef never quite aspiring to the high notes he was hearing in this mind but abundantly sharing nonetheless. At least the background harmonies were a little sweeter on ‘Dreamin.’ I’m reminded of a hilarious episode of the NBC sit-com Seinfeld, in which ‘George’ (portrayed by Jason Alexander) unsuccessfully tries to combine his two favorite activities- sex and eating sandwiches. Musical artists certainly can and do bend and blend genres- country rock, jazz fusion, etc. But, can one album successfully offer the two side by side, unvarnished- especially such disparate ones as lusty funk and black church gospel- and still hold true? Only to end with 'The Message?' This, and average performances, all around make for just an ok time. There’s an argument to be made about this LP's inclusion into a time capsule. But I suppose the same could be said about a telegraph machine.

Not quite the groundbreaking album I was led to believe. Some of the Streetsounds compilations piss all over this. The Message itself is magnificent. But the rest is a little electro auto-pilot.

i knew the message and figured it would be a classic rap album. however, a big part of the album is more towards R&B. Some relgious themes too. The content is mostly social so thats cool and the early days dj techniques are also fun but it's a bit outdated besides its title track

Buiten de message, meh. 2.5

I really hope these fellas finally got to meet Stevie Wonder. Appreciated the sample of "It's A Shame" by The Spinners.

Good in NY with a big soundsystem and friends

Talk about schizophrenic. This album has a mix of classic early hip-hop tracks and terrible "smooth" R&B vocals that sound like something a 15 year old would think is romantic. The ballads are so bad they border on parody. Best Tracks: It's Nasty (Genius of Love); Scorpio; The Message

Очень посредственный альбом, есть пару нормальных треков и всё! 3/10

too many of the same sounding tracks, title track is really good tho

A lot of fun and I bet it sounded amazing and fresh at the time but doesn't do much for me now.

Was expecting a lot more from this considering how iconic and influential the title track is. Kinda boring album

word. imagine the scenario, you hear the track 'the message' and understandably you're blown away. its mega. so you're like surely the guys that wrote this must have a whole back cataolgue of this magic stuff. no way, there's an album named after that monster track. buy the record, put it on and spend the next half hour wondering how they came up with the message and why they couldn't create anything else half as good as it. its like buying a pack of fruit gums and there's only one red one in the pack. ordering a peperoni pizza and it just has one slice of peperoni on it. like turning on the telly to watch some football but only liverpool are playing.

Fresh

Not great, I liked the idea of funk and rap together, but it just didn't mesh into a very interesting album. If you've heard one track, you've heard them all.

Album ktory rownie dobrze moglby byc jednym kawalkiem, tytulowym the message, bo to jedna z tych wczesnych rapowych plyt, ktore chce wiele, a wychodzi jak to czesto w poczatkach gatunku, czyli pomieszanie z wylewem kreatywnosci tworcow, ktorych grupa liczyla sporo, bo sporo jest grania na instrumentach, no i kazdy musial miec swoja zwrote, albo chociaz probowal, bo rapowanie jest tutaj glownie na tytulowym traku, reszta to raczej funkowe brzmienia, no i abominacje pokroju scorpio, ktore brzmia jak bazarowa muzyka kogos kto dostal synthy i sprawdza jakie to ma funkcje, zwlaszcza te wokale przepuszczone przez miliard filtrow w celu uzyskania robociego giberiszu jest dnem dna plyty, czas dobrze pokazal czemu banda sie nazywala arcymistrz flesz i pieciu furiatow, influencyjne techniki tworzenia beatow i krojenia sampli pochodza od niego, drugim pozytywnie zaskakujacym punktem, nawet po tylu latach, bo plyta z roku 82 jest wystep drugiego arcymistrza, chodzi o Melle Mela, ktory razem z Duke Bootee, artysta znanym jedynie z zwrotki i hooka na the message, tworza podwaliny pod wspolczesne ukladnaie rymow na beaty, wiec o ile pierwsze 30 minut jest ciezkim odsluchem, tak ostatni trak ratuje krazek, dziwne ze na plejce go wczesniej nie mialem, albo inna wersja zagoscila, cieszy widok tak waznego albumu w historii czarnej muzyki, ale jednak nie zestarzal on sie zbyt dobrze, zbyt duzo elektronicznego funku, za malo jakosciowych zwrotek, stad ocena calosci mocne 2/5

Didn’t love it but understand it

Wasn't really a fan but fun to hear early versions of rap.

Excellent production/samples, but lyrics really showing their age

I'm not impressed by this. It is really just not good. Just sounds like bad 80s music that's trying to be funky.

“A singles-plus filler cash-in that proves a fascinating time capsule of rap's early attempts with the album format"

Revolutionary in its day - pretty dated listening now. Not their fault, really - this was the blueprint for so much that followed. The ballads are honking.

An album about God, Stevie Wonder and loving your Mother with some rap and groundbreaking production. Mostly the first three though. The Message is a standout, an absolute classic but can't elevate the album above a 2. Extremely dated.

2/5 way too experimental for my taste.

Undeniably influential for the single of The Message, and probably essential for break dancing and popping. However, overlong and samey. Nice to see them give tribute back to Tom Tom Club and Stylistics cover. Single 5*, album 2*

I hadn't listened to the album before. The title track is great. As an album as a whole, it felt all over the place, and dated. I couldn't tell if the mid-tracks like "Dreamin'" and "You Are" were taking the piss or not?

'The message' is a bop, but the rest of the album is pretty meh. I really don't like the techno style of scorpio especially

Not what I was expecting and feel kinda let down. Loads of shifts and didn't really get the album as a whole. Couple of decent tracks though

If you love your mother, if you love your mother, if you really really really really love your mother. Jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump, jump. The first song rules. The second song I think Mariah Carey + ODB improved upon the sample. Overall, this was fun, and I assume innovative for its time. Scorpio was some cool as hell robot business. I didn't care much for the more R&B ballads, but the raps were fun in an innocent way. Almost sounds like it's written for toddlers in today's context. C+

En realidad quería, esperaba, dar una excelente calificación aquí. Quería centrarme en hablar de la importancia y genio de Grandmaster Flash, de la manera en que literalmente inventó una forma de hacer música cuando el hip hop apenas estaba ya no en pañales, sino en etapas fetales. Tenía planeado hablar sobre como creo/descubrió la manera de mezclar correctamente en carrusel, sobre su creatividad, sobre su importancia histórica y sobre cómo revolucionó por completo la manera de hacer música moderna en ciertos aspectos y fue el origen de que se pueda considerar que una tornamesa puede ser un instrumento musical. Después seguirían los halagos sobre los Furious Five y cómo estaban entre los mejores raperos de esa época, hablaría de Melle Mel, Rahiem y Kidd Creole... y luego daría el bizarro dato de cómo Kidd Creole ahora está en la cárcel porque acuchillo (en repetidas ocasiones) y mató a un indigente en NY... en 2017... Podría después tocar sobre como The Message es una canción super importante no solo por el mensaje social y la importancia de unión en la comunidad que tuvo sino como realmente la pieza importante musicalmente del disco. Hablaría de cómo el disco todavía no se siente taaaanto como hip-hop en forma y todavía guarda mucha sensación de esos discos de "mezcla de fiesta" y cómo aun se oye mucho soul y funk crudos y trasplantados.... Y ahí empiezan los problemas. Por más que quiera, fuera de The Message el disco no ha envejecido con gracia. El resto de las canciones suenan hoy en día o demasiado blandas y sin chiste, con los breaks más simples de funk copiados y pegados sin tocar nada, o se siente como experimentos que no venían al caso y simplemente no funcionan (como hacer toda una canción con voz de robot - Kraftwerk no son) o simplemente se sienten como canciones sin brillo y que hoy en día hacen bola y paja. Sí, creo que es un disco que se DEBE conocer, por su importancia cultural o histórica; pero musicalmente, con la excepción de The Message, hasta ahí se queda, como una curiosidad para ser estudiada más que para ser disfrutado como música.

Rap de los 80s a todo lo que da. Me imagino que es un gran debut pero no dejo de imaginarme a Ross (Friends) tocando el teclado. Las baladas, más de R&B que rap fueron lo que más gusto de este disco. Quitando ciertas partes con buen funk en el bajo para romper la monotonía, el uso de las mismas secuencias se me hizo repetitivo en todo el disco. Songs: Dreamin'

Qué rara onda de hip hop del muy muy viejito pero con onda medio social, medio de queja. La verdad es que no empezó tan mal: los metales y la onda funk al inicio del primer track me gustaron; también la guitarra en It's a Shame. Pero en todas las canciones siento que pasa que de una gran intro (quizá hasta exagerada) pasan a algo repetitivo.

Old rap, its fine, I liked being able to hear the original samples of some more recent/popular songs. But same story with old rap, doesn't feel like it has much of a story to tell

fine. 2 stars its smooth but forgettable.

Terrible 80s hip-hop/rap

Not my thing

Yikes

I can understand The Message in 1001 Songs, but not this.

"Respect to the pioneers of rap, but this is some of the corniest music I have ever heard" c

Наверное это мой ад

Pretty bland

😞👎🏻

nope

Has all the elements to be a great record, yet it ends up disappointing. Boring and lyrics often seem kind of naive. I guess the album is only worth it for the title track. Won't hear again.

More like Grandmaster trash.

I'm only on the first track.. uhhhhhh what is this The message is good tho

The Message er en anthem som har hatt en innflytelse på popmusikken som knapt kan overdrives. Likevel er det ikke til å komme unna at hip hop før Eric B. & Rakim egentlig var ganske dritt, og at vi må over på 90-tallet før det virkelig ble bra. Jeg er helt med på at The Message er med i lista 101 singler du må høre før du dør, men LPen er en historisk artefakt som bør granskes kun av hip hop archeologer. Fett albumcover, da.

not my vibe

Nope.

Not my idea of music

Musicalmente está bien. Las letras y las melodías son lamentables. Le dedican una canción a Stevie Wonder (?) con una letra propia de un niño de cinco años, incluyendo "creemos en todo lo que ves"...¿En serio? ¿Nadie pensó en lo inconveniente de ese verso? Es gente hablando rápido, pero al menos tiene algo de ritmo humano. No obstante, una mierda. Esto es una patraña.

Things have really moved on since

Fav songs: Scorpio; The Message As an album in the strict definition of a cohesive collection of songs telling a story or setting a mood, this fails utterly. I appreciate listening to an early attempt of hip hop to bring an album together. That said, it's hard to get passed the corny paeans to Stevie Wonder on "Dreaming" and Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, on "You Are." There two great songs on here definitely worth listening to but rest of the album is unnecessary. There are better hip hop albums in the whole.

Not a fan of hip hop in general, this album was not an exception

No va

Rap, blechhh. 1/5

I couldn't listen to the whole album. Not the kind of music I enjoy.

never heard the full album before but it has not aged well I like the message and the other songs I've heard in gta but man this album was kinda harsh on the ears

I respect how influential this album, but I don't think it makes it good. There are some cool beats but it's whatever. I would never listen to this when later 80s and early 90s groups improved on it vastly. Giving this a 1 but I understand why it was on the list

i was really not a fan, i had a bad time

didn't care for it

last 2 songs were decent but nahhhh

No comment

no.

Not my vibe

no rap for me :-(

Seemed very repetitive to me. I did not care for it.

1. zhez frezh - 0 2. itz nazty - 1 3. zcorpio - 0 4. itz a zhame - 0 5. dreamin - 0 6. you are - 1 7. the mezzage - 2 8. zurvival - 1.5 9. neuu york neuu york - 0 10. the adventurez of grandmazter - 11.the mezzage -

A lil too old fashioned for me but ya gotta respect their big hit

No not hip hop… The first song gave me hope for The album, But already at the third song “Scorpio” I figured this album was not for me.

Didn’t listen, will listen now

It's Nasty: that hook again! -- this is where I learned it came from the Tom Tom Club, Genius of Love. Very groovy, fun listening for the first couple tracks. Scorpio was weird. Then Dreamin'/You Are were like R&B ballads, took me by surprise. Feels disjointed. And then The Message has the hook sampled by that "girls is players too" song! Iconic. Overall maybe a 1.5 for me, 1*.

Too groovy for my liking.

Basically one good song and a load of shite

Not sure what I expected

Nope

rubbish

I tried to get over the mumbling, screeching voice, and synths but I just couldn't. This was so boring. Definitely not my thing.

Four Songs in and I gave up, this isn't for me.

Gar nicht mein Ding.

2 ok this is hard, cause this really fucking sucks Yea this a 1 Oh thats the meme maybe not

Just noise...

Nã ouvi, pois não tem no deezer.

Je comprends que c'est un album important historiquement pour les début du rap mais sérieux ça vieilli pas full bien Il manquait beaucoup de tounes sur spoty mais j'en ai eu assez...

sample city. rent bajs, önska att jag kunde ratea 0

I like the funky parts, but those parts didn't outshine, or even complement, the rapping.