There are some names that are as synonymous with hip-hop as rap lyrics. Grandmaster Flash is by far one of them. An architect of the music and movement that his hip-hop, Grandmaster Flash, born Joseph Saddler, is credited with helping revolutionize the music business.
With his native Boogie Down Bronx style, the hip-hop icon laid down the beats and grooves that opened the door for today’s hip-hop heavyweights such as Jay-Z and P. Diddy, leading him and his group the Furious Five to be the first hip-hop group inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007.
This week, Grandmaster Flash’s memoir The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash: My Life, My Beat hit the streets, adding him to the ranks of other African American entertainers who in recent years have become authors. Most recently, some of the most successful titles include former The Young and the Restless star Victoria Rowell’s The Women Who Raised Me; CSI: New York star Hill Harper’s Letters to a Young Brother; as well as Eddie and Gerald Levert’s I Got Your Back.
America has had a long infatuation with celebrity. The technology age has only heightened the public’s interest in the lives of the rich and famous. As the Internet fans the flames with sites such as TMZ.com and the ever-present instant postings of celebrity sightings and mishaps, coupled with the weekly dose of rags catering to celeb hounds like People and Us, not to mention Entertainment Tonight, celebrity news is everywhere.
The seemingly perennial interest in fame has fueled celebrity authors who’ve written everything from tell-alls to children’s books to self-help guides. “As long as there are celebrities and stars, there will be celebrity books,” says Carol Mackey, editor-in-chief of Black Expressions Book Club, a division of Bertelsmann Media that focuses on African American titles. Though the company does not disclose
actual sales figures, Mackey advises that their celebrity titles tend to perform very well.
But in today’s cluttered media and publishing marketplace, it takes a lot more than celebrity to sell a book. Patti LaBelle’s Don’t Block the Blessings
and Gladys Knight’s Between Each Line of Pain and Glory were disappointments, which followed Mary Wilson’s successful “Dreamgirl: My Life as a Supreme.” Two of the biggest duds of all-time were Whoopi Goldberg’s autobiography and Paul Reiser’s Babyhood, both of which reportedly had advances of $6 million and $5.6 million, respectively, yet didn’t catch-on with readers.The reality is that with fickle fans, timing is key. It also helps if the book is well written. Celebrity or not, an author must hit the pavement. “You must believe in your message and you must commit to it,” argues Marva Allen, proprietor of Harlem-based Hue-Man Bookstore. Allen has partnered with celebs such as Rowell and Eddie Levert in touring with their work. “Readers want to emotionally connect with the authors,” Allen says. She urges authors to think creatively about how to push their book’s life far beyond what has become a short three-week window to win buyers; special events can be crucial.
Concerning Grandmaster Flash, his book is most compelling. It’s a hip-hop history lesson from a master of the game who brought us the groundbreaking 1982 platinum hit “The Message.” The book takes you on a b-boy, break-dancing ride back to the days of rooftop parties in the Bronx and the famed, now defunct, dance club Disco Fever, where Grandmaster Flash worked the deejay booth and legendary groups such as the Sugar Hill Gang and, of course, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five performed.
In the book, Grandmaster Flash, who has a new album coming out this year, shares intimacies of growing up as the only boy among four sisters, the struggles with an abusive father, his mother’s mental illness, a journey through foster care, his battle with drug addiction, and his recovery. The reader gets to peek behind the curtain at the life of a hip-hop star with all of the mercurial ups and downs that a music career and being young and famous can lend.
But in spite of the arguably uncensored tone of the book, whether readers will be nostalgic for a walk down hip-hop memory lane is yet to be determined.
Coming down the pike there will, of course, be more celebrity news to devour. At Book Expo America in Los Angeles last month, Prince got the crown for generating the most buzz about his forthcoming photo essay book due in September. It didn’t hurt that the enigmatic musical genius threw a poolside party and concert for publishing honchos. The book is called 21 Nights and is expected to retail at what could be a steep $50 given the soft economy. Allen, who attended the fete, believes Prince’s
book will sell. “There are other variables besides price to consider.”
She has a point—there’s only one Prince.
George Alexander’s column on the business of entertainment appears weekly at blackenterprise.com. He is the author of “Why We Make Movies” (Doubleday Harlem Moon).