Grandmaster Flash, the godfather of mixing and scratching records (as both a solo act and with the early '80s hip-hop crew Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five) is set to introduce himself to a new generation in Activision's upcoming music game DJ Hero.
DJ Hero is a spin-off of the multi-million-dollar Guitar Hero series, where players trade in the traditional video game controller for a mini plastic turntable with a mixer (with a cross-fader and effects knob) and a movable platter with three colored buttons on top. The game helps turn the little turntable into a Simon Says experience. Score big by, when prompted, pressing buttons, jamming the platter back and forth to scratch, switching tracks and tossing in effects with the dexterity of a seasoned DJ.
Naturally, Grandmaster Flash will contribute mixes to DJ Hero, but also plays a larger role as music and design consultant, and stars as himself in the game, teaching you how to rock as a virtual DJ.
We met up with Flash in New York to talk about how he got involved in this project and what to expect when it arrives for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and PlayStation 2 in October this year.
Flash says a family friend connected him with the Guitar Hero folks two years ago, he said he was skeptical going in to the initial meeting, convinced they just wanted to license some of his songs.
"They said to me, Flash, we want to come up with a game but there's no way possible we could pull this off without you... we want to do it in such a way that the gamer is DJing the game," Flash says. "And then he says to me, 'We are the inventors of Guitar Hero,' so I'm thinking, 'OK, this is some big shit right now.'
Then he was presented out the prototype turntable, which Flash says, "was too big" and "wasn't as sleek" as the final version that will ship with the game. After running him through the tracks that would be in the game and how it would work, Flash says he was totally on board.
"They started hooking me up with real cool geeks, and because I'm a geek first and foremost before I'm a DJ. I'm a straight up geek and that's how I came up with the turn table science that, you know, every DJ uses."
Besides the turntables, Flash also said the initial tutorial voice-over needed to go.
"They play me this woman who's going to be the instructor of the game. And its basically [doing his best impression of the stiff, expressionless voice], "Well, if you press the red button, this will get you to the hit zone and you will be in euphoria and this and that" and I'm like ... 'she sounds instructional.'"
He says once got the script and he started to cross out language and as he says, "put the cool on this motherf*cker."
With games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band's popularity, it's almost become a must for artists who want to get in front of an entirely new audience. While classic bands like The Beatles, Aerosmith, AC/DC and Metallica have eagerly jumped on board the music game train (all have starred in special editions of Guitar Hero or its competitor Rock Band), others, like the White Stripes' Jack White and Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page aren't as enthused. At a recent press conference, White says it's "depressing" when record companies tell him that this is how kids are learning about new music, and Page says he can't imagine that mock rock games can teach kids anything about playing instruments.
Grandmaster Flash is, of course, surprised to hear this.
"Jimmy Page? The Jimmy Page?" After we assure him that we're talking about Led Zeppelin's influential guitarist he continues. "For Jimmy Page and Jack White, I respect their opinion, but I don't play a guitar. So I guess I can understand what they're talking about."
"[But]," he adds, "There are some people that don't know who Jimmy Page is still, so it's people like Grandmaster Flash who goes into the Salvation Army to find old records. Who goes into the momma and pop shops to find old records with them great breaks that Jimmy Page played guitar on? It's us that made them heroes. When I play the White Stripes song, he needs to see what that song does [to the crowd]."
See how Flash lays down the 'cool' in DJ Hero in this brand new video below.
We also witnessed Flash's first look at himself in the game, and even for the most jaded journalist, it was hard not to get misty-eyed. As his virtual self bopped around the TV screen, we watched his face go from shock to smiling to him exclaiming "oh shit" like, well, a broken record. After it was over, Flash raised both of his hands in the air and told everyone in the room, "Thirty years after my pops used to beat me for playing with his record collection and now this."
Flash expanded on that later talking about how his dad was overly protective of his record collection and even though he got in trouble, Flash was always drawn back to playing his old man's records on the stereo in their home in the Bronx.
"To go from there to now, to this. This is more than just a game for me. This is just actually taking my science that I invented, and now it's not only making it available to the party goers, but just the people," he says.
"Chronologically people who enjoy rock know who did what. People who enjoy jazz know who did what. People that do R&B, know who did what. Classical, who did what. Hip-hop, is always 'we don't know' and today's kids don't know, and it's such a mystery to which person started this or where did this come from?
"So now for me to be able to go on this level and talk about [hip-hop]. I just want to set the record straight -- just for historical chronological reasons. This game will allow me to do this."
Reader Comments (1)
Good interview.