Freedom

Released in 1980 on Sugar Hill Records, the single was produced by Sylvia Robinson and Joey Robinson Jr. It was cut in New York with the Sugar Hill house production team behind the group’s early recordings. The track was the group’s Sugar Hill debut and first breakthrough, turning Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five into a nationally recognized rap act. It reached No. 19 on Billboard’s R&B chart and established the group’s party-rap formula before their later crossover success. The single remains an early landmark in recorded hip-hop and a key title in the group’s pre-The Message catalog. It is still cited as one of the records that helped carry rap from local block-party culture into the mainstream.