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Grandmaster Flash Reveals His Father Inspired Him to Build a DJ Setup

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Apple Music Grand Master Flash 9 (1)

In celebration of hip-hop’s 50th anniversary, Ebro had the honor of sitting down with one of its true pioneers, Grandmaster Flash. Flash took Ebro on a journey back to the early days of hip-hop, reminiscing about how he revolutionized the art of turntablism and became one of the genre’s originators.

During the insightful conversation, Grandmaster Flash emphasized the powerful message that one can create something extraordinary out of nothing, a philosophy that has defined his illustrious career. As a special tribute to the essence of hip-hop, Flash curated “The Message” playlist, featuring iconic songs from artists like Blondie, Bob James, and Dennis Coffey & The Detroit Guitar Band.

For Flash, these songs are more than just classics: “These are a few of the staples of hip-hop.”

During the conversation, Ebro revealed he was inspired by his father to build his own DJ setup:

And the first original person to inspire me to even do that was my dad, because he was constantly kicking my rear end for touching the brown box that lived in the living room. And these black circular discs that came out of this jacket, and this piece of paper that had pictures of trains and cars and flowers and people. I mean, I found out later on, it was an album cover, but as a toddler, I’m like, “Why is he pulling these things out of there and what’s he going to do with that?” And he would go over to this brown box living room, and he would do this process to make the record drop down, and the needle would come down and sound would come out of that brown box, E. I thought dad was the greatest magician of all time.

You can hear Grandmaster Flash’s playlist below.

The post Grandmaster Flash Reveals His Father Inspired Him to Build a DJ Setup first appeared on The Source.

The post Grandmaster Flash Reveals His Father Inspired Him to Build a DJ Setup appeared first on The Source.

Ebro Claps Back After Akademiks Accuses Him Of Blackballing DaBaby

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Ebro finally responded after Akademiks accused him of blackballing DaBaby, among other artists in the genre.

LONG BEACH, CA – NOVEMBER 03: DJ Akademiks attends 2018 ComplexCon-Day 1 at Long Beach Convention Center on November 3, 2018 in Long Beach, California. (Photo by Earl Gibson III/Getty Images)

Akademiks charged at industry executives in the past week in the wake of his comments towards hip-hop’s pioneers. Ak said Ebro was gatekeeping at Apple Music. As a result, Ak claimed Ebro prevents some of the most notable figures in rap from getting playlist placements.

“Da Baby’s last project in 2020, Blame it on Baby, sold 124K first week. His new project after being blackballed by Ebro, Apple Music is scheduled to do less than 20K,” DJ Akademiks tweeted on Wednesday. “Now yall understand my Ebro convo… DSPs control who is hot and who is not. Fall out of favor with them… UR DONE.”

In response to Akademiks’s comments, Ebro noted that Apple Music isn’t the only platform. He also called out the inconsistent argument that radio, DJs and platforms are to blame when an artist loses their momentum.

“Funny shit when artists get hot it is always how they built this themselves and the fans. When shit slows down it is radio, DJs, platforms, and the label. #BlameEbro is back for a whole new generation,” Ebro responded.

Ebro added that DaBaby should be able to get a few looks from Spotify, a platform that hosts Ak’s Off The Record podcast.

“Apple Music is not the only platform,” he continued. “Based on this dummy’s logic, Da Baby should be doing well on the platform HE works for. Is it?”

Finally, Ebro pointed out that Hot 97 allowed DaBaby to perform at Summer Jam, despite the controversy. Then, he added that he’s catching heat from the same people who’ve accused him of being irrelevant.

“Im confused… Im old and irrelevant. No one listens to my shows. But why am I always being brought up by people who are “more powerful” and “doing more for the culture” as the reason things don’t perform? Somebody lying!!

Still, Akademiks pushed back against Ebro. “If you weren’t the Global Head of Hip Hop and R&B for Apple nobody would mention u breh… It aint like n***as is reacting to u for shit u say or ur radio show. U just dont like that now ppl can c beyond the veil of these playlists esp at apple.. & u the n***a responsible for it,” he added.

“I gotta loud this issue up now.. it aint bout one artist… I remember when ppl use to say .. man its only 69 we dont like him anyway.. . then it was oh… its only Tory.. we dont fw him either.. now its YB, etc and the list keep getting longer. Stop the Blackballing,” he added, clarifying that he isn’t loyal to any one artist.

Vince Staples Recorded ’30 Verses On 30 Beats’ For A Joint Project With Alchemist And Earl Sweatshirt

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Today in “news guaranteed to make rap fans salivate,” Vince Staples revealed that he and Earl Sweatshirt recorded a joint project with The Alchemist, leading to the Long Beach native putting “30 verses on 30 beats.” Unfortunately, Vince jokes that “Alchemist moves at a very cryptic pace — he’s hella slow,” leading to him recording his new album Vince Staples with Kenny Beats. He further reveals that there are anywhere from 12 to 22 leftovers from that project after picking the initial eight songs that worked for the self-titled album.

So to recap, there are up to 50 Vince Staples songs out there that haven’t been heard by anyone but him, his producers, and Earl Sweatshirt. Obviously, this news has fans in a tizzy, wondering when — or indeed, if — these songs will ever come out. Since it’s 2021 and social media exists, they will undoubtedly be insufferable about it until they find out.

Meanwhile, Vince’s latest rollout media blitz has unearthed even more notable quotes from the Long Beach native. On Drink Champs, he recounted how he got into music and that Mac Miller never accepted royalties from their Stolen Youth joint tape, as well as explaining why he always avoided drugs and alcohol. He also broke down how the music business monetizes people’s struggles and spit a mind-blowing verse over Dr. Dre’s “Xplosive” beat for LA Leakers.