A box set coming this summer from Cherry Red's Robinsongs label will offer a deep dive into the storied career of one of hip-hop's most important early influences: Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five.

The South Bronx group came together in the late '70s as bold new types of music were coming out of Black neighborhoods in the boroughs. Turntablist Joseph "Grandmaster Flash" Sadler joined up with lyricists Melvin "Melle Mel" Glover, Keith "Cowboy" Wiggins, Nate "Kidd Creole" Glover, Eddie "Scorpio" Morris and Guy Todd "Raheim" Williams, quickly joining the upper ranks of groups who'd rap original verses over break beats in dance clubs. (It's believed that Cowboy was among the first people to give the genre a name, borrowing the cadence of a drill instructor and calling out "hip-hop" in his routines.) After the Sugar Hill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" became the first rap single to crack the pop Top 40 in 1979, Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five would also sign to Sugar Hill Records.

Though their songs made comparatively modest placement on Billboard's soul charts, the songs helped form a template for the entirety of rap. "The Birthday Party," "It's Nasty (Genius of Love)" and "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" (a seven-minute opus of Flash deftly swapping sample after sample on his turntable decks) are among the most-coveted 12" singles of their time. In 1982, they had their biggest hit, the socially-conscious "The Message"; though it was a Top 5 R&B hit and anchored the group's debut album, Melle Mel was the only member of the group on the track, trading verses with co-writer Duke Bootee.

A lawsuit with Sugar Hill for unpaid royalties ended up fracturing the group; Melle Mel, Scorpio and Cowboy would remain on the label's roster, renaming themselves Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five. One of their first post-split singles (credited to Grandmaster & Melle Mel) was the club hit "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)," a simmering anti-drug screed rapped over a re-recording of Liquid Liquid's post-disco opus "Cavern." A failure to properly compensate the writers ended up hastening Sugar Hill's collapse, and despite some strong tracks like their last Top 10 R&B hit, "Beat Street Breakdown," the group would split permanently after a brief reunion on Elektra Records in 1988. Life since then has been a mix of sweet and bitter for the members: they were the first hip-hop act inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007, but Cowboy had died nearly 20 years before of a drug overdose, and Kidd Creole was this week found guilty of manslaughter for stabbing and killing a homeless man in 2017.

Robinsongs' 9CD box set is an exhaustive breakdown of every iteration of the Furious Five's output for Sugar Hill between 1979 and 1985: expanded editions of studio albums The Message (1982) and Work Party (a 1984 collection released in the U.S. as Grandmaster Melle Mel & The Furious Five), six discs of 12" (and rare and new-to-CD 7") single sides and even a compilation of late '90s dance mixes of "The Message" and "White Lines." A double vinyl cutdown will also function as a new overview of their greatest hits.

Both sets are out in the U.K. on June 24. Check out the full track lists for both below!

Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel & The Furious Five, Sugar Hill Adventures: The Collection (Robinsongs ROBINBX50 (U.K.), 2022) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Disc 1: The Message and bonus tracks

1. She's Fresh
2. It's Nasty (Genius of Love)
3. Scorpio
4. It's a Shame
5. Dreamin'
6. You Are
7. The Message
8. The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel
9. The Message (Instrumental)
10. The Message (7" Version)
11. The Message (7" Instrumental)
12. Scorpio (7" Mix)

Disc 2: Work Party and bonus tracks

1. Hustlers Convention
2. Yesterday
3. At the Party
4. White Lines (U.K. Mastermix)
5. We Don't Work for Free (Short Version)
6. The Truth
7. World War III
8. Can't Keep Runnin' Away
9. The New Adventures of Grandmaster
10. White Lines (New Shameek Mix)
11. White Lines (Ben Liebrand Remix Edit)

Disc 3: Singles 1979-1981

1. Superrappin'
2. Superrappin' Theme (Instrumental)
3. Super Rappin' No.2
4. Super Rappin' No.2 (Instrumental)
5. Freedom
6. Freedom (Instrumental)
7. Freedom (7" Version)
8. The Birthday Party
9. The Birthday Party (Instrumental)
10. The Birthday Party (7" Version)

Disc 4: Singles 1981-1982

1. It's Nasty (Genius of Love)
2. It's Nasty (Genius of Love) (Instrumental)
3. It's Nasty (Genius of Love) (Part I 7" Version)
4. It's Nasty (Genius of Love) (Part II)
5. The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash (7" Part I)
6. The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash (7" Part II)
7. Flash to the Beat (Part I)
8. Flash to the Beat (Part II)
9. Showdown (with The Sugarhill Gang)
10. Showdown (Instrumental)

Disc 5: Singles 1982-1984

1. Message II (Survival)
2. Message II (Survival) (Instrumental)
3. Message II (Survival) (7" Version)
4. Message II (7" Instrumental)
5. New York New York
6. New York New York (Instrumental)
7. New York New York (7" Part I)
8. New York New York (7" Instrumental)
9. Jesse
10. Jesse (Instrumental)
11. Jesse (7" Version)

Disc 6: Singles 1983-1984

1. White Lines (Don't Do It)
2. White Lines (Don't Do It) (Bonus)
3. White Lines (Don't Do It) (Instrumental)
4. White Lines (Don't Do It) (Short Version)
5. White Lines (Don't Do It) (U.S. Street Version)
6. White Lines (Don't Do It) Alternative 7" Version)
7. Melle Mel's Groove
8. Beat Street (12" Version)
9. Internationally Known (Part 1 Vocal)
10. Internationally Known  (Part 2 Instrumental)

Disc 7: Singles 1984-1985

1. Step Off
2. Step Off (Instrumental)
3. Step Off (Part 1)
4. Step Off (Part 2)
5. Step Off (New U.K. Edit)
6. Step Off (Alternative 12" Mix)
7. Pump Me Up
8. Pump Me Up (Instrumental)
9. Pump Me Up (7" Version)
10. The Megamelle Mix
11. King of the Streets
12. King of the Streets (Instrumental)
13. King of the Streets (7" Version)

Disc 8: Singles 1984-1985

1. We Don't Work for Free (12" Version)
2. We Don't Work for Free (Instrumental)
3. World War III (Long Version)
4. World War III (7" Version)
5. Vice
6. Vice (Instrumental)
7. Vice (Edit)
8. Street Walker
9. Street Walker (Instrumental)
10. Street Walker (Edit)

Disc 9: Remixes 1997-1998

1. The Message (Cutting Edge's Old School Mix Edit)
2. The Message (Cutting Edge's Old School Mix)
3. The Message (Richie Rich Remix)
4. The Message (Untitled's Nothin' Touchin' the Original Mix)
5. Message II (Survival) (Richie Rich Remix)
6. White Lines (Don't Do It) (Cutmaster Swift & Pogo Mix)
7. White Lines (Don't Do It) (Davidson Ospina Club Mix)
8. White Lines (Don't Do It) (NYC Ospina's Dub)
9. White Lines (Don't Do It) (Kid Chris's Cyclone Remix)
10. White Lines (Don't Do It) (Back from the Dead Remix)
11. White Lines (Don't Do It)

Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel & The Furious Five, Sugar Hill Adventures: The Collection (Robinsongs ROBINBX51D (U.K.), 2022) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

LP 1

1. The Message
2. Scorpio
3. Message II (Survival)
4. New York, New York
5. White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)
6. Beat Street

LP 2

1. Jesse
2. Step Off
3. We Don't Work for Free
4. Pump Me Up
5. World War III
6. White Lines (U.K. Mastermix)