Grandmaster Flash, one of the pioneers of hip hop and DJ music, on Wednesday shared Sweden's Polar Music Prize with German violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and US charity Playing for Change Foundation.
The winners will each receive one million Swedish kronor (95,700 euros, $108,000) at a gala in Stockholm on June 11th in the presence of King Carl XVI Gustaf.
The winners will each receive one million Swedish kronor (95,700 euros, $108,000) at a gala in Stockholm on June 11th in the presence of King Carl XVI Gustaf.
Grandmaster Flash, whose real name is Joseph Saddler, is best known for his 1982 hit "The Message" about inner-city violence, drugs, and poverty, and for developing DJ techniques such as scratching, backspinning and punch phrasing.
The 60-year-old is the first hip hop artist to win the award.
"Grandmaster Flash is a scientist and a virtuoso who has demonstrated that turntables and mixing consoles can be musical instruments," the jury said.
"His adventures at the turntables - 'the Adventures of the Wheels of Steel' - changed the course of popular music."
