Ī line from the song was sampled in 'Movement in Still Life' by BT, the title track from his 1999 album Movement in Still Life. The rhythm track has been sampled in various hip hop songs, including Sinbad's 1990 comedy album 'Brain Damaged', the remix for the 1993 song ' Check Yo Self' by Ice Cube, the 1997 song ' Can't Nobody Hold Me Down' by Puff Daddy, the 2011 song 'Teen Pregnancy' by Blank Banshee and the 2022 song ' Players' by Coi Leray. The line 'A child is born with no state of mind, blind to the ways of mankind' was taken from the early Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five track 'Superrappin'' from 1979 on the Enjoy label. The song was first written in 1980 by Duke Bootee and Melle Mel, in response to the 1980 New York City transit strike, which is mentioned in the song's lyrics. Melle Mel said in an interview with NPR: 'Our group, like Flash and the Furious Five, we didn't actually want to do 'The Message' because we was used to doing party raps and boasting how good we are and all that.'

'The Message' took rap music from the house parties of its origin to the social platforms later developed by groups like Public Enemy and KRS-One. The song ends with a brief skit in which the band members are arrested for no clear reason. In the final verses it is described how a child born in the ghetto without perspective in life is lured away into crime, for which he is jailed until he commits suicide in his cell. The song's lyrics describe the stress of inner-city poverty. 'The Message' was an early prominent hip hop song to provide social commentary. It was released as a single by Sugar Hill Records on July 1, 1982, and was later featured on the group's debut studio album of the same name. ' The Message' is a song by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five singles chronology

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