Hip-hop legend Grandmaster Flash offers turntable clinic, performs at Musica, Oct. 8

Keepers of the Art will welcome hip-hop legend and turntable royalty Grandmaster Flash for the third installment of the 2016 KOTA Music Showcase Concert Series, Saturday, Oct. 8 at Musica in downtown Akron. Also performing is the WuTang Clan’s own The GZA and Diggin’ in the Crates’ own O.C.

Tickets are on sale now via TicketWeb. Tickets are $15 for pre-sale, and $20 the night of the show. Doors open at 9 p.m.

KOTA also will present its inaugural Respect da Architect Turntable Education Series Saturday, Oct. 8, from 1 to 3 p.m. at Square Records, located at 824 W. Market St. The series is part of the International Hip-Hop Preservation Project, a live and interactive workshop series featuring some of the most influential and best DJs in order to share the history, theory, mechanics, technology and techniques behind the hip-hop element of DJing.

Grandmaster Flash and his group the Furious Five were among hip-hop’s greatest innovators, transcending the genre’s party-music origins to explore the full scope of its lyrical and sonic horizons. Flash was born Joseph Saddler in Barbados on Jan. 1, 1958.  He began spinning records as a teen growing up in the Bronx, performing live at area dances and block parties.

By age 19, while attending technical school courses in electronics during the day, he was also spinning on the local disco circuit. Over time, he developed a series of groundbreaking techniques including “cutting” (moving between tracks exactly on the beat), “back-spinning” (manually turning records to repeat brief snippets of sound) and “phasing” (manipulating turntable speeds) — in short, creating the basic vocabulary which DJs continue to follow even today.

The KOTA Music Showcase Concert Series is an inspirational and thought-provoking meeting of progressive minds designed to provide heightened stimulation through underexposed artists and their music. The focus of this venue is to socialize and entertain the masses through soulful meetings that showcase soul music and next level hip-hop music. The KOTA Concert Series has the ability to embrace any specific urban professional demographic, all while concentrating in a certain region/market/city.

Supported by Knight Foundation and Akron Community Foundation, the KOTA Music Showcase Concert Series has provided urban-inspired art, music and culture since 2007. For info, visit www.keepersoftheartinc.com.