''On the Strength'' is the second and final studio album by

Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were an American hip hop group formed in the South Bronx of New York City in 1978. The group's members were Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel, Kidd Creole (not to be confused with Kid Creole), Keef Cowboy, S ...

. Released in 1988, it was the full line-up's last album together. Although certainly contributing to the album itself, Cowboy (Keith Wiggins) was not present for the album or single photo shoots. The album was reissued in the US on CD in 2005 (

Collectors' Choice Music Collectors' Choice Music (CCM) is an Itasca, Illinois, company originally primarily in two businesses, but since 2010 only in the second. CCM was best known for reissuing albums originally recorded in LP record form as compact disc The com ...

, CCM-585-2) but once again (see ''

Ba-Dop-Boom-Bang ''Ba-Dop-Boom-Bang'' is the fifth album released by Grandmaster Flash. It was released in 1987 on Elektra records. The cassette version was titled ''Ba-Dop-Boom-Bang...And More'' and the CD version was titled ''Ba-Dop-Boom-Bang...And Even More'' ...

'') omitted the bonus track (*) that was originally included on both the original CD and cassette versions of the album.

Track listing

#"Gold" – 4:25 #"Cold in Effect" – 2:28 #"Yo Baby" – 4:31 #"On the Strength" – 4:45 #"The King" – 3:19 #"Fly Girl" – 5:13 #" Magic Carpet Ride" (featuring Steppenwolf) – 4:14 #"Leave Here" – 3:50 #"This Is Where You Got It From" – 4:06 #"The Boy Is Dope" – 3:11 #"Back in the Old Days of Hip-Hop" – 4:05 (*)

Notes

*"Back in the Days of Hip-Hop" also appeared as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

of the UK and US ''Gold'' 7-inch single and the ''Magic Carpet Ride'' 12" single.

Personnel

Artist & Repertoire Artists and repertoire (colloquially abbreviated to A&R) is the division of a record label or music publishing company that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists (singers, instrumentalist ...

: Raoul Roach *

Grandmaster Flash Joseph Saddler (born January 1, 1958), popularly known by his stage name Grandmaster Flash, is an American DJ and rapper. He is considered to be one of the pioneers of Hip Hop DJing, cutting, scratching and mixing. Grandmaster Flash and the Fur ...

(Joseph Sadler) – turntables, drum programming, Flashformer transform DJ device, background vocals * Keef Cowboy (Keith Wiggins) – Lead and background vocals, writer and arranger *

Grandmaster Melle Mel Melvin Glover (born May 15, 1961 in The Bronx), better known by his stage name Grandmaster Melle Mel (or simply Melle Mel) () is an American hip hop recording artist who was the lead vocalist and songwriter of Grandmaster Flash and the Furiou ...

(Melvin Glover) – Lead and background vocals, writer and arranger *

The Kidd Creole Nathaniel Glover (born February 19, 1960), also known as Nate or Danny Glover and better known by the stage name Kidd Creole, is a former American rapper. He was a member of the pioneering old school hip hop group Grandmaster Flash & the Furio ...

(Nathaniel Glover Jr.) – Lead and background vocals, writer and arranger *Scorpio (Eddie Morris) – Lead and background vocals, writer and arranger *Rahiem (Guy Todd Williams) – Lead and background vocals, writer and arranger *Guy Vaughn – keyboards, drum programming, and vocals on ''The Boy Is Dope'' *

Afrika Bambaataa Lance Taylor (born on April 17, 1957), also known as Afrika Bambaataa (), is an American DJ, rapper, and producer from the South Bronx, New York. He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenc ...

(Kevin Donovan) – music and drum-sound consultant *Jesse Daniels Force MD's – vocals on ''Fly Girl'' *Arthur "Disco B" Hayward – additional scratches and assistant to the Grandmaster *Ray (Ray Roll) Cortez – vocals on ''The Boy Is Dope''

References

{{Authority control 1988 albums Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five albums Elektra Records albums Albums produced by Grandmaster Flash