DJ Grandmaster Flowers Rare Cameo Interview

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  • čas přidán 10. 02. 2013
  • Interviewed by Thomas Butler at Club Mahogany in Brooklyn, U.S.A.
    A Cliff Smalls and Hazel Benson Presentation.......
    • Grand Master Flowers R...

Komentáře • 118

  • @anthonywhitaker7455
    @anthonywhitaker7455 Před rokem +12

    Without Black American music, namely, Funk, Soul, Jazz, and Rhythm & Blues, there would be no Hip Hop or Disco. Black American music is the source from which it ALL springs and the glue that holds it ALL together. FACTS!!!

  • @FBA_AllTHEWAY
    @FBA_AllTHEWAY Před rokem +12

    If it weren’t for Disco Funk Soul Jazz RnB.. there would be NO hiphop. It’s really not that hard to comprehend people if you truly understand the essence.

  • @JewelerTv
    @JewelerTv Před 10 lety +21

    The ORIGINAL Grandmaster!!! rest in peace

  • @davidbober8503
    @davidbober8503 Před 7 lety +18

    yes..that was me commenting at the end, crazy to see this after all these years. Didn't imagine this existed.
    I was part of Flowers' crew from 1975 till about '79. DJ'd as 'Sophistifunk' solo and with Flowers at clubs like The Blue Maze, Walterios, The New World, Club Atlantis, President's Chateau, The Total Experience, so many others...also at venues in Manhattan, the Bronx, boat rides, block parties...alongside DJ's like Maboya, Pete (and Becky) DJ Jones, Elmo the Magic Christian, Ash the Hyper Freak, Action Jackson, The Smith Brothers, DJ Greg, DJ Plummer, just to mention a few. These were exceptional times with wonderfully talented, creative and hard working people that set the stage for all that followed (early Emcees who rhymed on mics along with the music is where rap was born).
    Nobody was more innovative and a better mixer the Flowers, a funny, gentle and essentially shy person, he led the whole movement with his choice of records and style.
    I was part of his crew (remembering Jamal, Smokey, Henni with the van, many others) living with him at various spots (sometimes above clubs), moving speakers, setting up at gigs, hanging out at all the after hours spots after. Many stories to tell.
    I was heartbroken seeing him after many years 'haunting' Tower Records on B'way in Manhattan, addicted to crack and then to learn of his passing. Johnnie, as his family called him, was an influence on so many (Larry Levan for one), and was so immersed in the life and music, he deserves utmost respect and credit.
    I'm glad for what I stumbled on and read below after all these years away from 'the life'. (Wendy, I remember you! Damn you were fine, still are!).
    I was led away by cocaine as many were in this days, but thankfully survived to tell what I can remember of the person he was and the times we shared. Be glad to post more as three memories flood back.
    Love to you Cameron and all who remember!

    • @Oldschoolhiphoplustplus
      @Oldschoolhiphoplustplus Před 7 lety +1

      Wow. I would LOVE to interview you. This is valuable!

    • @davidbober8503
      @davidbober8503 Před 7 lety +3

      I'd be glad to tell what I can remember. You can contact me privately anytime!

    • @rickjason1786
      @rickjason1786 Před 6 lety +1

      David Bober. That's you with the big fro?

  • @rickjason1786
    @rickjason1786 Před rokem +6

    I used to have a tape of Flowers. He was mixing Brass Construction's " Get To The Point"..... The way he mixed it was the way it should have been mixed in the first place. It was designed to be a jam but only went 4 minutes. In Flowers hands it went about eight minutes like " Movin". Flowers turned it into a manifesto. I could really understand the magic behind him.

    • @GeneralTarik
      @GeneralTarik Před 6 měsíci

      Damn! I wish somebody had that tape! I feel you on that mix. I bought a bootleg 12” of Eddie Kendricks “Date With the Rain” remixed in a similar fashion by DJ Dimitri. “Date With the Rain” on the album is 2:45 but Dimitri extended it to 9 minutes.

  • @donaldmccall3968
    @donaldmccall3968 Před 2 lety +4

    Disco haven't started yet n the 60s and he was playing in the clubs through out BK. He was the first to play out doors jam and the first to open up for a major r&b artist at Yankees Stadium.

  • @DJJonesnc
    @DJJonesnc Před 9 lety +20

    R.I.P. Grandmaster Flowers without you, it wouldn't be us.

    • @shamika5300
      @shamika5300 Před 5 lety

      Inbox me your # fb:shamika rickenbacker

    • @donaldmccall3968
      @donaldmccall3968 Před 2 lety

      @@shamika5300 Alright I did my research on GMF and he was doing when disco music haven't started yet, yeah. He ture goat rockin on the turntables and first that open up for a major artist back n 68.

    • @rickjason1786
      @rickjason1786 Před rokem +1

      @@donaldmccall3968 Don.....disco was anything that was danceable. Frieda Payne's "Band of Gold" was considered to be "disco" by some. Disco was an underground word. Mother used that word as far back as 1972. I didn't understand what she was talking about until 1975. Lol

  • @charlesblack1610
    @charlesblack1610 Před 2 měsíci +1

    Flowers and Dice...
    The Early Days,
    Club Ibidam, Bklyn New York
    R.I.P. DJ 💐 FLOWERS!!!

  • @mailmaniac8
    @mailmaniac8 Před 3 lety +9

    R..I.P. Grandmaster Flowers AND Pete DJ Jones. They, along with Becky DJ Jones, K.C. the Prince of Soul, Rip and Cliff, Maboya-Godfather of Tapes, Ken Spider Webb, and many others were the true pioneers.
    I remember them rocking the house at Nemo's, Nell Gwynnes, the PanAm Building, Circle Line boat rides, Liquid Smoke, the Red Parrot, Manhattan Center, Hard Rock Cafe and a whole bunch of places in the 1970's.
    I even remember Bobby Lee spinning in Queensbridge River Park and Jacob Riis Center long before he became Dr. Bob Lee!

    • @mistamagichristian
      @mistamagichristian  Před 3 lety +2

      Maboya didn’t do tapes though. That might have been QJ

    • @mailmaniac8
      @mailmaniac8 Před 3 lety

      @@mistamagichristian Thank you for that, you're 100% right. QJ

    • @donaldmccall3968
      @donaldmccall3968 Před 3 lety

      Micheal, back n late 60s there weren't no such thing call disco until the early 70s and then history emerged in front of our eye's and the bringing of hip hop, no disrespect to Flowers but how he's the The Father Of Hip Hop or Disco.

    • @rickjason1786
      @rickjason1786 Před rokem

      @@donaldmccall3968 Don we have already gone through this back in 2021. Even you said that Flowers was the GOAT.

    • @donaldmccall3968
      @donaldmccall3968 Před rokem

      @@rickjason1786 Might've been goat but Flash became god on the turntable.

  • @wendylovejoy218
    @wendylovejoy218 Před 11 lety +12

    Man what memories hearing his voice Flowers was so shy and so humble..I reflect on the last day i saw him and if only O knew it would be my last time....I was a Maboya Dancer back then...But Flowers will always be special in my heart..RIP

    • @hardcorehouse
      @hardcorehouse Před 4 lety +2

      Ya, I noticed that guys like Flowers there’s a youtube interview just a couple of minutes plus an online interview with Pete Jones also humble. He was good at explaining the context and who the main players were. Typical music history the originators don’t benefit much commercially, then later people with more business sense come in and exploit it.

    • @donaldmccall3968
      @donaldmccall3968 Před 4 lety

      There was no such call hip hop and witness history unfold, see Brooklyn might've had the stereo sound system but Herc extended and isolated the break beats on two turntables and add the drums

    • @rickjason1786
      @rickjason1786 Před rokem +1

      @@donaldmccall3968 Don...I should have known you would be lurking in the shadows. Don it was disco DJs like Starski who called this hip-hop.

    • @donaldmccall3968
      @donaldmccall3968 Před rokem

      @@rickjason1786 Neah, Cowboy name it GMF&FF before him but Love add Do Wop

    • @rickjason1786
      @rickjason1786 Před rokem

      @@donaldmccall3968 No sir..... Cowboy just did that chant.....Starski was the one who actually called this thing hip-hop.

  • @aaeridualulim4885
    @aaeridualulim4885 Před 11 lety +11

    Grandmaster Flowers was X-clan's sound engineer, he taught me how to Blend records

  • @rickjason1786
    @rickjason1786 Před 6 lety +7

    It's an honor to finally meet some of The Grandmaster's crew!!!! I've been looking for you for a while now. Does anybody have charts of the GMF records. I know The Grandmaster was an influence on Kenny Dope among others.

  • @LongshoremanX
    @LongshoremanX Před 10 lety +6

    "the music is nice. When Flowers is playing here."

  • @jarvisbruce2015
    @jarvisbruce2015 Před 8 lety +11

    rip flowers I thank you for letting me carry the crate's while you worked at the blue maze & mahogany at restoration.I learned a lot from grand master im DJ stereo the innovator of the rap the { Bed stuy rock }

    • @user-fs9js2ig3j
      @user-fs9js2ig3j Před 3 měsíci

      Flowers played breaks its on net 😊😊😊 peace

  • @Jay-iu4st
    @Jay-iu4st Před 4 lety +3

    The First Grandmaster

  • @Sugaa22
    @Sugaa22 Před rokem +1

    Rest well DJ Flowers

  • @joannfranklin4320
    @joannfranklin4320 Před 2 měsíci

    People dance together back then now the come to clubs with cell phones in their hands so glad to be a 65 years old nothing like the old school

  • @moehammondmedia
    @moehammondmedia Před 8 lety +10

    They didn't even know what they were doing was called hip hop they still was calling it disco because actual disco was still raging and also because hip hop (as it would later be called) was partly born out of actual disco music.

    • @hardcorehouse
      @hardcorehouse Před 4 lety +2

      Agreed, on this evolution. Also, the original “disco” wasn’t disco records, it was originally soul n funk, then later disco records based on those other musics..

    • @norakat
      @norakat Před 3 lety +2

      Or rather Disco was played along w Soul/Funk at many of the parties, but then when rappin caught on over the Soul/Funk breaks then that was the birth of Hip Hop

  • @juliusfreeman8579
    @juliusfreeman8579 Před 10 lety +39

    There was NOTHING "underground" about Grandmaster Flowers. Along with Pete DJ Jones, Maboya & Plummer, Flowers was known ALL OVER New York. If you lived in New York City in the 70s & partied or were a DJ back then, YOU KNEW the name of Grandmaster Flowers. This is a man who played in the neighborhood, but also played for the folks who had money. You simply DO NOT open for James Brown at Yankee Stadium & be remotely considered to be "underground". Back then, Grandmaster Flowers was the truth & it's sad to think that the only tape that seems to be circulating is the one of that park jam, because that was nowhere near Flowers at his best. Not even close.
    For what it's worth & if you partied in ENY back in 1978, you may remember this. There was a spot named Club Atlantis on Atlantic & Wyona. The DJs were Eddie Dee & Bambi, & I joined their crew in April 1978 when "Boogie Oogie Oogie" was just blowing up. For a few Saturdays late in 1978, the owners Baby Leon & Walter & managers Sir Derrick & Al Crow brought Grandmaster Flowers to Club Atlantis to play a couple of nights. Big Bob used to hang there befre he started spinning at Laces, Empire & the rest.
    Anyway, by that time, that life had caught up with Flowers & it was showing & by that time, he wasn't as sharp nor as smooth as he had been in his prime.
    What I'll remember was that huge monitor mixer that he used to use. No headphones, just that huge monitor mixer.
    Nevertheless, despite how it all ended, the fact remains that Grandmaster Flowers was there before anyone was dreaming of record deals, there was no such thing called Hip-Hop & no one knew that we were seeing history unfold before our eyes.
    What we were, were a bunch of young guys doing something that we loved & were doing it for the love of it, to gain a little notoriety in the neighborhood & of course, to get the ladies.
    Folks can call all of the names that they want to, but when we discuss the origins of all of this, if you haven't said Grandmaster Flowers & Pete DJ Jones, then you haven't said nothing.
    THEY are where this all began & I say this with respect for all & no disrespect intended to anyone. But if we're going to tell OUR history, then let's tell it right, not based upon politics & b.s.
    And check out The Founding Fathers video & listen to what Grandmaster Flash had to say about this.

    • @hardcorehouse
      @hardcorehouse Před 4 lety +5

      ALWAYS appreciate real information from someone who lived it. Herc gets a lot of deserved attention, but it seems that Flowers and a little later Jones might’ve been there first..Jones in 70 and Flowers even earlier, late 60s. And ya, I’m ALWAYS concerned hearing a recording from back in the day, because it’s easy to get the wrong one that doesn’t fully represent the magic of what was. Interview with Jones shows me a modest invidual trying to present the truths of who was actually there, then. He might’ve been one of the only ones along with Mancuso, who was playing in Manhattan, each to different crowds. Sadly, in many musics the originators aren’t the top businessmen, don’t really benefit or promote and are left in obscurity, just as the Stones would sometimes do a show then drive miles to see an obscure blues artist in the middle of nowhere, because they appreciated their work that’s usually forgotten by the masses.

    • @norakat
      @norakat Před 3 lety +1

      Would you say the DJ culture where you throwing jams outdoors, w the ill sound systems started on the island of Jamaica ? I hear it went back even couple decades before the 60's there..

    • @waynegomillion4976
      @waynegomillion4976 Před 2 lety

      Appreciate it. Big bob was deejaying since? He is still playing out.

    • @IAMHIPHOP974
      @IAMHIPHOP974 Před rokem

      Disco DJ

    • @IAMHIPHOP974
      @IAMHIPHOP974 Před rokem +2

      @@norakat nothing started in Jamaica except Reggae 💯

  • @bizness812
    @bizness812 Před 9 lety +2

    A legend!

  • @DjSandrinha
    @DjSandrinha Před 3 lety +1

    perfect

  • @Tiny1Love
    @Tiny1Love Před 11 lety +2

    Thank you so much !!!### , can you post all the interview

  • @Tiny1Love
    @Tiny1Love Před 11 lety +1

    This is the most underground Dj outhere

  • @loveyu2778
    @loveyu2778 Před 4 lety +3

    Rap and Djays..go hand in hand with Disco..
    It derives from Disco.. to me there was pop disco & Rnb disco..

    • @hardcorehouse
      @hardcorehouse Před 4 lety +1

      Yup, and disco was essentially soul n funk, then later disco records using those forms..

    • @hiphophistorian5476
      @hiphophistorian5476 Před rokem

      @@hardcorehouse facts!

  • @NYDJBMIX
    @NYDJBMIX Před 11 lety +1

    ONE OF THE HOTTEST CLUBS BACK-N-THE DAYS IN BK

  • @johnhill9445
    @johnhill9445 Před 2 lety

    RIP

  • @donaldmccall3968
    @donaldmccall3968 Před měsícem

    He planted the seed to become djs

  • @Atariatari-ky9te
    @Atariatari-ky9te Před rokem +3

    My personal DJ Top 10
    1 Kid Capri (One of the best party DJs ever and a Mix Tape King)
    2 DJ Screw (Mix Tape King- 1,000s of mix tapes. He was his Own Radio Station. Tons of Great Mix Tapes. June 27th was the best Hip Hop Mixtape of 1996)
    3 DJ Grandmaster Flowers (Nobody would be doing if it wasnt for him. First one to blend records. Arguably the Father of Hip Hop. Mixologist. DJ'd for James Brown in 68')
    4 DJ Premier (One of the best producers of all time and a Mix Tape King)
    5 DJ Ron G (Mix Tape King- Tons of Classic R&B Blend tapes. One of the only to get 2 Pac on a Mix Tape)
    6 DJ Jelly (No2 South DJ after DJ Screw. Blend Mix Tape King. 1,000s of mix tapes)
    7 DJ Jazzy Jeff ( Arguably the most talented on the tables, great producer and a few classic mix tapes)
    8 DJ Michael Watts (Swisha House Mixes were a huge deal in Texas Louisiana. Watts is a Mix Tape King. Classic Freestyles too)
    9 DJ Funk Master Flex (Arguably the best radio dj, great party dj, a few classic mix tapes, classic freestyles, love the fact he was still mixing vinyl even when Serato had got popular.)
    10 DJ Ol G Ron C - Swisha House Mix Tape King. Tons of tapes. His Fu** Action series was a huge hit in Texas Louisiana.

  • @slightcurves
    @slightcurves Před 11 lety +1

    one of the hottest club in bk 4sure.

  • @rogiervanhout7326
    @rogiervanhout7326 Před 9 lety

    When was this recorded?

  • @juliusfreeman8579
    @juliusfreeman8579 Před 10 lety

    And Brooklyn, what do you know about App Super Hog, Electrified Sounds & Phase III.
    If you were there back in the mid 70s, then you know what I'm talking about.

    • @rickjason1786
      @rickjason1786 Před rokem

      I heard a lot about App from Cozmo D. By all means expand.

  • @potatosfortots9909
    @potatosfortots9909 Před 7 lety +4

    I dont know if you still have it, but if you do, put up the original video, without all the colors infront of it to preserve the video for the future.

    • @mistamagichristian
      @mistamagichristian  Před 7 lety +1

      I still have it, so I will preserve it for the future..... thanks.

    • @dostateczniedobry7788
      @dostateczniedobry7788 Před 7 lety +3

      HI, do you have entire video or just this short part? Please share with us! A lot of people waiting for any new Flowers's revelation. Been waiting since decades ...

    • @rickjason1786
      @rickjason1786 Před 6 lety

      Elmo 'Magic' Christian. By the way Mr.Magic do you have any charts of The Grandmaster and Maboya ? Thanks.

    • @davidbober8503
      @davidbober8503 Před 4 lety +1

      @@mistamagichristian Hi and thank you for posting this...If you could contact me on facebook I could shoot you my e-mail. I would love to have the full version of this without the colorization. That was me at the end at the pool table ("Sophistifunk") I played with Flowers, he was my friend, You an I have met way back...lol, older now, appreciate what you do in keeping this alive!

  • @mistamagichristian
    @mistamagichristian  Před 11 lety +2

    • @motorengin
      @motorengin Před 11 lety

      Wow. It's good seeing my homeboy from the neighborhood, 'specially since I did a piece on him recently. Check it out. motorenginestevenstancell.com/blog/grandmaster_flowers_and_the_mobile_dj_movement/

    • @donaldmccall3968
      @donaldmccall3968 Před 2 lety

      We need lot more Flowers

    • @rickjason1786
      @rickjason1786 Před rokem

      @@donaldmccall3968 What that's you saying that, Don?

  • @RobertoGinsburg
    @RobertoGinsburg Před 7 lety

    At 2:01 the interviewer says "Look this Board!" and the stupid cameraman takes ..the crowd dancing aAaAaAGGGG

  • @balle733
    @balle733 Před rokem

    What yr?

  • @BeatStylist
    @BeatStylist Před 11 lety +1

    This footage is INSANE. Check out my channel for a recent DJ Kool Herc appearance.

  • @mistamagichristian
    @mistamagichristian  Před 7 lety

    czcams.com/video/_glAyY5VTXA/video.html

  • @LongshoremanX
    @LongshoremanX Před 10 lety

    Flowers became a homeless panhandler..

    • @mikesuede56
      @mikesuede56 Před 9 lety +5

      UrbanConcreteBeats He was working when he died not as a DJ but none the less working. Flowers was a Gypsy is regards to his domicile, more times than not he lived in Clubs yes I mean literally lived in clubs.

    • @TheBLACKMQQN
      @TheBLACKMQQN Před 5 lety

      @@mikesuede56 so in essence he was homeless.

    • @hardcorehouse
      @hardcorehouse Před 4 lety +8

      Don’t understand the fascination with homeless; maybe maybe not. In any case, the true originators of most forms of recent musical forms often don’t benefit or think in terms of capitalizing on their contributions, get pushed to the side or don’t care, sadly.

    • @norakat
      @norakat Před 3 lety +3

      @@hardcorehouse - Its crazy how Larry Levan, also faced a similar fate. You prob get burnt out experiencing all the amazing times which must one day come to a decline or end.

    • @moonsyoungestsun6550
      @moonsyoungestsun6550 Před 2 lety +2

      @@hardcorehouse True. I noticed this too. The innovators probably didn't realize what they had because they had nothing to compare it to. So they probably just took it for granted at the time.

  • @IAMHIPHOP974
    @IAMHIPHOP974 Před rokem

    Disco not Hip Hop

  • @ACCOMPLISHEDSHEIS
    @ACCOMPLISHEDSHEIS Před 5 lety +1

    PERSONALLY, I THINK DJ FLOWERS INVENTED DISCO WITHOUT EVEN REALIZING IT WHILE KOOL HERCS AND WIZARD THEODORE INVENTED RAP. CORRECT ME IF I’M WRONG. JUST STUDYING ON THIS HISTORY OF RAP.

    • @hardcorehouse
      @hardcorehouse Před 4 lety +5

      It’s confusing, because there were always around 10 crucial players who fed off one another. You might be right about Flowers; on rap or hip hop it seems there were a number of them earliest Flowers, Jones and a couple of others, then Herc and others a little later. But he wasn’t anywhere near disco they just used disco beats mid-70s thru early 80s

    • @kas3583
      @kas3583 Před 2 lety +1

      Wrong

    • @moonsyoungestsun6550
      @moonsyoungestsun6550 Před 2 lety +1

      @@hardcorehouse I've watched several of these documentaries about the early days of hip hop. Each time, as I read the comments, a new unknown name is brought up, as being the first to do it. There has to be one person who started it because I can't see several people having the same idea during that era. But I guess we'll never know who this person was. He'll, they might not even realize that they started it. If they did, it was probably stolen by others and used by them to take things to the next level. But best believe, there is one person, dead or still alive, who lived a very lowkey life, who started all of this.
      Also, what's with everybody from that era calling themselves Grandmaster? I guess that was the equivalent of how everybody uses Li'l in their rap name today.

    • @hardcorehouse
      @hardcorehouse Před 2 lety +2

      No, I was there in New York during those times and watched vids; it’s just as likely it was derived by several people at once while they were collaborating or competing with one another. New York City was electric; the center of the world musically and another wise. There was just a hell of a lot going on and developing.

    • @oneone3983
      @oneone3983 Před rokem +1

      How did they invent rap when in 68 and earlier they was rapping over a beat even radio personality was rapping