Bridge, The - Grandmaster Flash

2009 marked the return of the Hip Hop legend, Grandmaster Flash, who found fame as the producer and DJ to the Furious Five MCs. It Is his eleventh official album, and the first charting release since 19888’s “On The Strength”. Flash produces to the best that today’s Hip Hop has to offer, as well as a couple of names from back in the day.

1. “Welcome”

2. “Shine All Day” (feat. Q-Tip, Jumz and Kel Spencer)

To ...
...of the decent ones from the album, and I think that most of this is down to the fact that you have great teamwork between Q-Tip and Flash, as the producer gives him the type of beats which you typically expect him to MC on top of, so the results of it are nice, and lead you into the album, well (giving you high hopes for the rest of it).

**Four Stars**

3. “We Speak Hip Hop” (feat. Afasi, Kase O, Abass, and KRS-One)
... more

2009 marked the return of the Hip Hop legend, Grandmaster Flash, who found fame as the producer and DJ to the Furious Five MCs. It Is his eleventh official album, and the first charting release since 19888’s “On The Strength”. Flash produces to the best that today’s Hip Hop has to offer, as well as a couple of names from back in the day.

1. “Welcome”

2. “Shine All Day” (feat. Q-Tip, Jumz and Kel Spencer)

To get things going you find yourself being thrown into one of the decent ones from the album, and I think that most of this is down to the fact that you have great teamwork between Q-Tip and Flash, as the producer gives him the type of beats which you typically expect him to MC on top of, so the results of it are nice, and lead you into the album, well (giving you high hopes for the rest of it).

**Four Stars**

3. “We Speak Hip Hop” (feat. Afasi, Kase O, Abass, and KRS-One)

To show exactly how far the genre has come (30 years since its first mainstream hits, “Rapper’s Delight” and “King Tim III”, you are shown that it is now global as you have the flows rapped out by names from France, Spain and Japan, to display the lengths it has gone, and the results of this. They all speak in their native tongues, and you can tell that what they spit is fire, just from the energy it gives off.

**Four Stars**

4. “Here Comes My DJ” (feat. DJ Kool and DJ Demo)

On this one you have an instrumental track which basically has Grandmaster reminiscing on the past, and how you could just drop the odd jam like this to just liken things up, It has him fuse the old and new well to a certain degree, but It seems as though the sounds are a little to over-the-top, and so lost their energy once there have been repeated to the degree that they are here.

**Three Stars**

5. “Bounce Back” (feat. DJ Scratch and Busta Rhymes)

Here you find Flash performing a collaboration with another legend to the Hip Hop game as DJ Scratch (formerly of EPMD) does the beats with him, and form this you find Bust Rhymes just on a buzz of the fact that he has been given the opportunity to be the sole vocal perform on top of what are some great beats from the pair. His flows have him both bring in a little Old School flava as he does something which his fans today would get too.

***Four Stars**

6. “Swagger” (feat. Lynda Carter, Snoop Dogg and Red Café)

This was the lead single to the album, and it brought on a lot of hype as a result. On it you find him doing things big as you get him finding the perfect groove to accompany the flows of New York’s Red Café and Long Beach’s (California) Snoop Dogg brings his laid-back flow to a jam which rally seems like something which fits into the music of today. Not all the album is worth listening too (unfortunately) but this one is definitely one you have to look out for.

**Four Stars**

7. “What If” (feat. KRS-One)

This is the most powerful tune on the whole album, and any true Hip Hop fans would really be touched by it as you have KRS-One (who else?) to perform a track which speaks of a world which would have existed had Hip Hop never been ‘born’ in the early seventies. The beats aren’t that impressive, but the thought-provoking lyrics meant that you don’t rally dwell on this.

**Four Stars**

8. “Unanswered” (Lude)

9. “Tribute To The Breakdancer” (feat. MC Supernatural)

This is an obvious choice of a dedication on the album, and I felt as though it was done farily well as you have him going for the obvious and dropping some breakbeats on the thing to accompany MC Supernatural, who rhymes about all the moves he would typically see in a B-Boy battle,. I liked the way he worked it up from simple Top Rocking, down to the footwork, before dropping power moves such as the 1990 to end it.

**Four Stars**

10. “Grown & Sexy” (feat. Mr. Cheeks)

This is a nice little groover on the album and one which shows off the best in the artist as he comes with similar beats to the lead single from it, and from here you get Mr. Cheeks taking over and explaining what s meant by it all as he plays the mature man in it all and has fun as he flows about hitting the bars.

**Four Stars**

11. “When I Get There” (feat. Big Daddy Kane and Hedonis Da Amazon)

This is the first of two appearances from Big Daddy Kane on the album, and in this case you find him being used in his “Smooth Operator” mode, as you have him rapping on some beats which apparently take elements of The Mary Jane Girl’s “All Night Long”, but it sounds like an amatearus remake of it, and it puts you off as you hear Kane flow.

**Three Stars**

12. “Connection” (Lude)

13. “I Got Sumthin’ To Say” (feat. Lordikim, Almighty Thor and Jay-Flo)

Although I’m sure that the chipmunked voices heard in the hook are bound to put certain people off the tune, I felt as though the track in general was well-done and it came across as something which really stood out on the album as it has heavy beats and it gets him doing something no-themed and capable of going absolutely anywhere. The odd throwback lines remind you where you are, and put it in its place.

**Four Stars**

14. “Can I Take You Higher” (feat. Mr. Cheeks, Tito and Grandmaster Caz)

This is a track which I really looked forward to listening too, having read that Grandmaster Caz was a part of it, however it turned out to be as impressive as it could have been. The production in it reminded me of “The 900 Number”, but a weaker version of it, and the fact that its sound like a watered-down take on it meant that it pulled down the quality as they come to do another average tune on it.

**Three Stars**

15. “Unpredictable” (feat. Big Daddy Kane and Syndee)

Big Daddy Kane returns as Flash brings in some old Doug E. Fresh. And I felt as though this one really highlighted exactly how far Kane has gone off-course over the years with his rhymes as he seems to have tried to hard to fit in with what is going on today that it just sounds poor, and it takes from the overall quality of the track. The hook from Syndee is nice, but in general it is a plain one.

**Three Stars**

16. “Thox Chix” (feat. Princess Superstar, Byata, Syndee, and Hendonis Da Amazon)

I wouldn’t have said that this one was worth listening to at all, and from the start as I read the guests which feature on this, I felt nothing as I didn’t recognise a single one of them, and I have to say that absolutely nothing came of it either as you have a track which is flooded with female MCs, who really have little going for them in terms of potential in their lyrics.

**Two Stars**

17. “Bronx Bombers” (feat. Mann Child, Almighty Thor and Lordikim)

As you get towards the end of the thing you begin to lose hope in it, and the robotic voices which you hear at the start of it seems to justify my doubts towards it as it really sounds forced. From here Almighty Thor takes over and speaks of Flash’s legacy, but by this point in the album it has all just been heard before and it does little on what are some fair beats.

**Two Stars**

18. “Yuka The Sound”

This one has him experimenting even more with his mixing and blending, but I have to say that this one sounded a lot worse than the earlier one, which was found on it as this one (despite showing great skills by the Grandmaster) suffers from the fact that it is based upon some terrible House thumbs, which really put me off.

**Two Stars**

19. “Oh Man” (feat. Natasha Sound and Synndee)

The final track on the album is unfortunately another poor one, and it isn’t doing a lot of good for the thing as it seems to carry through what was heard in the one prior to it with some Housey/Electronica production acting as the foundations to it, and in this case from here you find him joined by female R&B singers, who don’t really do it for listeners expecting pure Hip Hop from start to finish.

**Two Stars**

I have to say that my expectations for this were high, and hardly any of it was lived up to with only a few of the tracks on it really doing anything. You have hints of the past in it, but Flash concentrates on advancing it all, but it really isn’t of a high enough quality for it to be really felt by any modern listeners. I expect that only fans of his old music will care to try this, and it should stay this way as there isn’t really anything for the younger listeners.
 

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