Grandmaster Flash to host masterclass and Q&A in celebration of 50 years of hip-hop
The sampling mastermind will be hosting the live event at the Amsterdam Dance Event this October.

Image: Richard Bord / Getty
Grandmaster Flash will host a live masterclass and Q&A session at this year’s Amsterdam Dance Event in October.
The iconic DJ and producer is known for being the inventor of the slipmat, and for creating Quick Mix Theory – a technique which utilises duplicate copies of vinyl, and provides elongated beats for rappers to speak on.
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His Keynote speech comes as part of a celebration of the 50th anniversary of the hip-hop genre and will form part of the week-long electronic music gathering, with his event taking place on the Saturday (22 October).
ADE writes on its Instagram page, “We celebrate 50 years of Hip Hop at ADE Beats with its founding father and turntable legend Grandmaster Flash, one of the culture’s most influential pioneers.”
It continues, “He will host an exclusive keynote and Q&A on the evolution of Hip Hop and DJ culture on ADE Saturday. Flash has influenced generations of DJs and artists with his pivotal role in using record players to create new music, scratching and much more; laying the foundation for turntablism and helping turn DJs into fully fledged live acts.”
Last month (August), Grandmaster Flash revealed in an interview how he prevented other DJs from copying his work by switching the labels on his records.
“The way I would look for a break on a record is I would buy one copy and I would put it up with a light. And the area where it was the most shiniest was where the least band members was playing,” he told Music News.
“Now, if there wasn’t a turntable in a record shop, I would look at that, I’d go and I’d say, this is probably a drum break because this area of this composition is shiny. And I would buy two of these and I would take it home.”
He later added, “what I would do is switch the labels on it, so if there was a person from another DJ crew that was trying to see what I was playing, the label was wrong.”
Get tickets to Grandmaster Flash’s masterclass via the official ADE website.