The Message (Song)

"The Message" is a song by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five. 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" was an early prominent hip hop song to provide a social commentary. The song's lyrics describe the stress of inner-city poverty. 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 ends with a brief skit in which the band members are arrested for no clear reason.

"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. 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 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. 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.

## Lyrics

* … It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
* How I keep from going under
* It's like a jungle sometimes, it makes me wonder
* How I keep from going under
* … Broken glass everywhere
* People pissing on the stairs, you know they just don't care
* I can't take the smell, can't take the noise
* Got no money to move out, I guess, I got no choice
* Rats in the front room, roaches in the back
* Junkies in the alley with a baseball bat
* I tried to get away, but I couldn't get far
* 'Cause the man with the tow-truck repossessed my car
* … Don't push me
* 'Cause I'm close to the edge
* I'm trying not to lose my head
* Ah-huh-huh-huh
* It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
* How I keep from going under
* … Standin' on the front stoop, hangin' out the window
* Watchin' all the cars go by, roaring as the breezes blow
* A crazy lady, livin' in a bag
* Eatin' out of garbage piles, used to be a fag-hag
* Said, she danced the tango, skipped the light fandango
* A Zircon princess, seemed to lost her senses
* Down at the peep show, watching all the creeps
* So she can tell the stories to the girls back home
* She went to the city and got so saditty
* She had to get a pimp, she couldn't make it on her own
* … Don't push me
* 'Cause I'm close to the edge
* I'm tryin' not to lose my head
* Ah-huh-huh-huh
* It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
* How I keep from going under
* It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
* How I keep from going under
* … My brothers doin' bad, stole my mothers TV
* Says, she watches to much, is just not healthy
* All My Children in the daytime, Dallas, at night
* Can't even see the game or the Sugar Ray fight
* The bill collectors, they ring my phone
* And scare my wife, when I'm not home
* … Got a bum education, double-digit inflation
* Can't take the train to the job, there's a strike at the station
* Neon King Kong standin' on my back
* Can't stop to turn around, broke my sacroiliac
* A midrange migraine, cancered membrane
* Sometimes I think I'm going insane
* I swear I might hijack a plane
* … Don't push me
* 'Cause I'm close to the edge
* I'm tryin' not to lose my head
* It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
* How I keep from going under
* It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
* How I keep from going under
* … My son said, Daddy, I don't wanna go to school
* 'Cause the teacher's a jerk, he must think, I'm a fool
* And all the kids smoke reefer, I think it'd be cheaper
* If I just got a job, learned to be a street sweeper
* Or dance to the beat, shuffle my feet
* Wear a shirt and tie and run with the creeps
* 'Cause it's all about money, ain't a damn thing funny
* You got to have a con in this land of milk and honey
* … They pushed that girl in front of the train
* Took her to the doctor, sewed the arm on again
* Stabbed that man right in his heart
* Gave him a transplant for a brand new start
* I can't walk through the park, 'cause it's crazy after the dark
* Keep my hand on the gun, 'cause they got me on the run
* I feel like an outlaw, broke my last glass jar
* Hear them say, you want some more? Livin' on a see-saw
* … Don't push me
* 'Cause I'm close to the edge
* I'm tryin' not to lose my head (Say what?)
* It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
* How I keep from going under
* It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
* How I keep from going under
* It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
* How I keep from going under
* It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
* How I keep from going under
* … A child is born, with no state of mind
* Blind to the ways of mankind
* God is smilin' on you, but he's frownin' too
* Because only God knows, what you'll go through
* You'll grow in the ghetto, livin' second rate
* And your eyes will sing a song of deep hate
* The place, that you play and where you stay
* Looks like one great big alley way
* … You'll admire all the number book takers
* Thugs, pimps and pushers and the big money makers
* Driving big cars, spendin' twenties and tens
* And you wanna grow up to be just like them
* Smugglers, scramblers, burglars, gamblers
* Pickpockets, peddlers and even pan-handlers
* … You say I'm cool, I'm no fool
* But then you wind up dropping out of high school
* Now you're unemployed, all null 'n' void
* Walking 'round like you're Pretty Boy Floyd
* Turned stick-up kid, but look what you done did
* Got sent up for an eight year bid
* Now your manhood is took and you're a Maytag
* Spend the next two years as an undercover fag
* … Being used and abused and served like hell
* 'Til one day you was found hung dead in a cell
* It was plain to see that your life was lost
* You was cold and your body swung back and forth
* But now your eyes sing the sad, sad song
* Of how you lived so fast and died so young
* … So, don't push me
* 'Cause I'm close to the edge
* I'm trying not to lose my head
* Ah-huh-huh-huh
* It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
* How I keep from going under
* Huh-ah-huh-huh-huh
* It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder
* How I keep from going under
* Huh-ah-huh-huh-huh
* … Yo Mel, you see that girl there?
* Yo, that sounded like Cowboy man
* Cool
* Yo, what's up Money?
* Yo, hey, where's Creole and Rahiem at?
* … They upstairs cooling out
* So what's up for tonight y'all?
* Yo, we could go down to Fever man
* Let's go check out "Junebug" man
* Hey yo, you know that girl Betty?
* Yeah man
* … Her moms got robbed man (What?)
* Not again man
* She got hurt bad (When did this happen?)
* What's goin' on?
* Freeze
* … Don't nobody move nothin'
* Y'all know what this is
* Get 'em up, get 'em up (What?)
* Oh man, we're Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
* What is that, a gang?
* No
* Shut up
* … I don't wanna hear your mouth
* Shut up
* Officer, officer, what is the problem?
* You the problem
* Yo, you ain't gotta push me man
* Get in the car, get in the car
* Get in the God...
* I said, "Get in the car"
* Why is he doggin' us man?