| Grandmaster Flowers | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Birth name |
Jonathon Cameron Flowers |
|
Origin |
Brooklyn, New York |
|
Died |
1992 |
Jonathon Cameron Flowers, better known by his stage name Grandmaster Flowers, was an American hip hop DJ from Brooklyn, New York. Flowers was one of the first DJs to mix records together in sequence, and he is remembered as one of the earliest pioneers of hip hop. Flowers was involved in the disco and funk scene and used to hold block parties. He is cited as having a heavy influence on hip hop DJs such as Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa in the early 1970s. In 1969, he opened for James Brown at Yankee Stadium. Although he was an inspiration to many of hip hop's early greats, Flowers himself never made it to the heights of his successors in hip hop culture. As he discovered that he was being overtaken by the younger up-and-coming DJs at the end of the 1970s, Flowers succumbed to a life of homelessness and dependence on hard drugs. He died in 1992.