Somebody Stole Grandmaster Flash’s Custom Charger

Rising to stardom in the early 1980s, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five quickly became icons of the exploding hip-hop genre. Their most popular song, “The Message”, is constantly cited for its cultural influence, and Grandmaster Flash himself is credited with pioneering the art of backspinning and scratching records during a live set.

Though he is now 57 years old, Flash still makes his way around his hometown of New York City, spinning records and putting on shows, lugging his vinyl and equipment with his custom 2014 Dodge Charger he calls “Ghost”. Unfortunately, the hip-hop icon found his custom Charger had been stolen when a parking attendant handed over the keys to his car to a stranger without a ticket stub, losing not just the Charger but thousands of dollars in vintage vinyl and DJ equipment.

Grandmaster Flash posted an understandably-angry message to his Instagram with the above picture of his stolen whip, saying;

“How should ANYONE be allowed to walk into a Pulic[sic] car park and get a car Released without the Stub — without ANY ID how is this possible…”

Indeed, it would be absolutely enraging to find out that a parking attendant had basically given our car away to a thief. But beyond losing his custom Charger, it’s the three boxes of classic vinyl records that Flash seems most upset about, as some of those records are nigh irreplaceable. Flash had been on set helping advise on a new 13-part Netflix drama called The Get Down, which explores the origins of hip-hop in the late 1970s.

While the guilty parking attendant has been fired, that’s of little consolation as Flash still hasn’t recovered his car or his vinyl. Here’s hoping his records find their way home, as well as his car.