Scorpio

Recorded in 1981 at Sweet Mountain Studios in Englewood, New Jersey during the sessions for The Message. It was issued by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five with production credited to Sylvia Robinson’s Sylvia Inc. and Jigsaw Productions. The single appeared in 1982 on Sugar Hill as part of the group’s breakthrough The Message period, and critics later singled it out as one of the album’s essential cuts. Mark Richardson of Pitchfork called it the greatest early electro track. Scorpio remains one of the defining early electro-breakdance records and a widely sampled source for later hip-hop and electronic acts. Its robot-voiced hook and machine-groove sound have kept it in circulation well beyond its original release era.