As one of the Holy Trinity of DJs who invented hip-hop, Flash stands out for breaking the most ground. Herc was there first and isolated the break, and Bam had the records, but Flash couldn’t be touched for deckmanship.

In 1973 DJs were considered crazy for touching records, but Flash developed a Quick Mix Theory to tear them up. He approached DJing studiously. He used stickers to mark out the records, invented a Peek-A-Boo system to pre-fade listen to the next tune, and experimented with different torque powers of decks and stability of needles before ‘DJ setups’ could be bought out the box. He even claims to have invented the slipmat.

The art of playing records experienced a renaissance thanks to Flash’s Adventures on the Wheels of Steel. He is the daddy of modern DJing.

Watch

Check the 1.29 mark for Flash’s legendary kitchen set in the movie, Wild Style

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