DJ COMMUNITY

GRANDMASTER FLASH BECOMES FIRST DJ TO WIN “NOBEL PRIZE FOR MUSIC”

Previous winners include the likes of Metallica, Led Zeppelin and Paul McCartney...

The first DJ to win "Nobel Prize for Music" is Grandmaster Flash

KIERAN DEVLIN

THURSDAY, JUNE 13, 2019 - 18:37

Grandmaster Flash has become the first DJ to win the Polar Music Prize, often dubbed the "Nobel Prize For Music".

The prize was founded by Stig Anderson, better known as ABBA's lyricist and manager, in 1989. Previous winners include Led Zeppelin, BB King, Metallica, and Paul McCartney.

Flash, real name Joseph Saddler, accepted the prize from the King of Sweden, saying the award was "in honour of every DJ, every rapper, every graffiti artist, and every breakdancer".

He further commented: "This thing that I did had not existed before, and I am one of many where I come from. It ended up being called hip-hop, taking the drum break from pop, rock, jazz, blues, funk, disco, R+B, and using duplicate copies of records. I would take one section and repeat it over and over again."

We at DJ Mag HQ are quite glad that he did. The prize money equates to roughly $130,000.