“The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel & the Furious Five: More of the Best,” Rhino. (***)

The Gang’s Sugar Hill Records labelmates Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five are also early rap influences, but much more substantial ones. With such seminal songs as “The Message,” and “White Lines (Don’t Do It),” the group proved that rap was much more than a disco-oriented art form. It could serve as a vital platform for political statements.

This album, which collects gems that were left off the group’s previous Rhino greatest-hits collection, is a brilliant hip-hop document. The stripped-down army cadence of “Flash to the Beat (Part 1)” and the bounce of “Internationally Known” have a staying power that makes the records sound relevant years later. The songs recorded after rapper Mel left with the Furious Five (“Pump Me Up”) and Grandmaster Flash did his solo thing (“Girls Love the Way He Spins”) pale in comparison, but “Adventures” is still a worthwhile old-school listening experience.

*

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