Keith LeBlanc, Grandmaster Flash drummer, lifeless at 69

The early days of hip-hop had been arguably a few of the most necessary that the style has ever confronted. Rappers had been making an attempt to interrupt new floor with it, and that meant that their music needed to be daring but in addition accessible to the general public at giant. This wasn’t a one-person effort; it got here right down to the MC, the report labels, DJs and, after all, the musicians liable for bringing the tracks to life, probably the most necessary of whom, Keith LeBlanc, handed away final week at 69. 

When Grandmaster Flash and the Livid 5 launched ‘The Message’, they modified music ceaselessly. They used funky music so as to paint an correct image of the world they lived in, one in all racism, bigotry and inequality. They didn’t make it romantic or paint themselves as struggling poets as many individuals in folks music did, nor did they supply an answer to their downside; they said the details as they knew them. 

The observe blew folks away as the facility of hip-hop, what was predominantly occasion music earlier than then, was realised. After all, the music was simply as necessary because the message itself, if the music wasn’t good to hearken to, it could be the equal of an audiobook like that made by Iceberg Slim versus a music that belonged within the charts. Keith LeBlanc performed a significant position in making the music stand out. 

He didn’t cease at ‘The Message’ both. Throughout his time at Sugarhill Data, LeBlanc supplied the drums on iconic early hip-hop tracks similar to ‘It’s Nasty’ ‘Apache’ and ‘8^th Wonder’. He additionally labored with the Funky 4+1, one of many first rap outfits to have a feminine MC. 

After all, somebody of LeBlanc’s calibre didn’t cease at engaged on hip-hop beats; he stretched himself into numerous totally different genres, enjoying with a few of the most iconic bands on the planet. Within the assertion launched by his longtime label, On-U Sound, they highlighted simply what number of legendary bands he had labored with, actually placing his stamp on music as a complete within the course of. 

“All of us at On-U Sound are heartbroken to share the news that the great Keith LeBlanc has passed away,” they wrote earlier than occurring to checklist a few of the totally different artists he had labored with, “His writing and production skills were utilised by Living Colour, Peter Gabriel, The Cure, Ministry, and Nine Inch Nails. As a drummer/programmer, he worked with everyone from James Brown to Trevor Horn, Seal to R.E.M., The Rolling Stones, Jalal (Last Poets), The Stone Roses, Robert Palmer…” and the checklist goes on and on. 

LeBlanc was a real musical maverick and one of many uncommon sorts of session drummers who may work with no matter style folks put in entrance of him. Whether or not it was hip-hop, punk, rock or indie, he was in a position to settle into the groove as if it was a second language, and whereas he can be sadly missed, the affect he has made on music isn’t going wherever.