Founding member of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Kidd Creole found guilty of killing a man in NYC.

Welcome to the ROX-TV website. We are learning today that Kidd Creole, a founding member of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five has been convicted in the 2017 killing of a homeless man named John Jolly. The killing occurred on August 1st, 2017 just after midnight. From reporting outlets, apparently Jolly had approached Kidd Creole (Nathaniel Glover, born 2/19/1960) and asked him “What’s up”. In turn Kidd Creole pulled out a “steak knife” and stabbed the homeless man repeatedly, causing death.

Kidd Creole’s attorney had argued that his actions in the matter had been justified because Kidd Creole had feared for his safety. Prosecutors in the case argued that there was nothing from preventing Mr. Glover from just running away if he in fact had feared for his life. The Manhattan Jury found Kidd Creole guilty of manslaughter and sentencing is scheduled for May 4th. The verdict went against Creole’s “self defense” argument, setting up a sad twist in the Hip Hop Pioneers life.

Kidd Creole, brother of another member of Grandmaster Flash and Furious Five, Melle Mel formed a group with Keef Cowboy in 1978 called the “Three MCs”. Production of the group was done by Grandmaster Flash. Two more MC’s joined the brothers, Rahiem and Scorpio. They released two singles before the group “Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five” was formed.

The group recorded an EP called “Superappin” and it was released on Enjoy Records, which was owned by Bobby Robinson (R and B legend). Between 1980 and 1987, Kidd Creole was on a number of songs with the group. They were pioneers in the art of turn tables, break beat djing, and political/social awareness lyrics.

In 1980 the group signed with Sugar Hill Records, which specialized in hip hop music. All though their song “Freedom” landed them attention, it was the song “The Message” which really established them for all time as one of the greatest hip hop/rap groups of the era. “The Message” was released July 1st, 1982. The song was originally written in 1980 by Duke Bootee and Melle Mel and was inspired by a transit strike at the time in New York City.

The Message was ranked number one by NME (New Music Express, a British brand and website) in 1982. In December of 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked the song at 51, in their “500 Greatest Songs of all time”. In 2002, the song was recorded in the National Recording Registry (Library of Congress). VHI named the song as #5 on the top 100 hip hop songs of all time.

Signing Off,

Mike Shepard

ROX-TV Editor