The Rock Hall inductee will celebrate Grandmaster Flash Day on Monday (August 4) with a 20-DJ Twitch marathon honoring his 52 years in Hip-Hop.
Grandmaster Flash will celebrate Grandmaster Flash Day on Monday (August 4) with a worldwide DJ marathon and digital celebration. Since 2023, Flash has been officially recognized by the City of New York City with his own commemorative day for his pioneering contributions to Hip-Hop and DJ culture.
“The mayor of New York was like, ‘Flash, we’re going to give you a plaque and your own day,’ and I was like, ‘What?’ They gave me a proclamation and they said August 4th is Grandmaster Flash Day,” he told AllHipHop. “They wanted me to be recognized for the things that I did, the technique that I invented that brought all the rappers to life and other things.”
Instead of another block party like the first year, Grandmaster Flash is taking the celebration online with his “Back2Back Raid Train” on Twitch. The event will feature more than 20 DJs from across the globe, including Skratch Bastid, DJ Jazzy Jeff, DJ Icy Ice and Grandmaster Flash himself.
“Myself and some of my good friends who do the Raid Trains, we got together and said, ‘Let’s do a Raid Train on August 4,’ and here we are,” he said. “I like the idea of doing this because it gives me a chance to say thank you to all the DJs who adopted my techniques and all the producers that adopted the techniques and where it’s going.
“It’s wonderful, and the great people at Twitch give me my freedom to play my deep collection. I can play stuff in the ’60s all the way up to now and nobody says anything.”
Widely regarded as one of the founding fathers of Hip-Hop, Grandmaster Flash revolutionized DJing in the 1970s by developing the Quick Mix Theory—an innovative method of extending breakbeats using two turntables. His groundbreaking work laid the foundation for modern Hip-Hop production and performance. In 2007, he and the Furious Five became the first Hip-Hop group inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
“For me, it’s 52 years, you know?” he said. “As far as technology is concerned, it’s absolutely wonderful. I get to play in the sandbox all over again with modern technology because I’m a geek. I’ve always loved gadgets.
The “Back2Back Raid Train” kicks off Monday (August 4) at 4 a.m. ET and runs until midnight on Grandmaster Flash’s Twitch channel.