The Message

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five pose together on a city street on the cover of their debut album, six young men in bright streetwear, striking confident poses beneath the group's name and the album title.

The title track changed what rap could say. Over a slow, heavy groove, Melle Mel and Duke Bootee described broken glass, junkies, debt and a city closing in, ending with the famous warning, "Don't push me 'cause I'm close to the edge." In 2002 "The Message" became the first hip-hop recording added to the Library of Congress's National Recording Registry.

The cover shows the group as party stars of the Bronx scene, flashy and proud, while the record inside turned toward the streets they came from. That gap between the sharp outfits and the grim lyrics is the moment rap grew up and learned it could report on the world as well as move a room.