Wave the white flag: #7 "White Lines (Don't Do It)" Melle Mel (1983)

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I always thought the rap classic “White Lines” was from Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five of “The Message” fame. That was the credit on radio the billion times I heard the song. The 45 said Grandmaster & Melle Mel. Turns out DJ Grandmaster Flash had left leaving Five member and principle songwriter Melle Me (born Melvin Glover) in command. The song was written by Melle Mel and Sylvia Robinson who is an interesting story in herself. The so-called “Mother of Hip Hop” and co-founder of Sugar Hill Records, Robinson was the Sylvia of Mickey & Sylvia whose “Love is Strange” was a big hit in 1956. She made a solo comeback in 1973 with the controversial sexy hit “Pillow Talk.” “White Lines” has long been regarded as a powerful cautionary rap about the dangers of drugs. Not quite. The song was written as a celebration of cocaine fueled party lifestyle and reworked to anti-drug for commercial purposes. The song was not a hit going uncharted on the Hot 100 yet “White Lines” endures. Rap simply was not played on alternative new wave/punk/synthpop dominated radio (exceptions Blondie’s “Rapture” and the Beastie Boys) but “White Lines” was played and played. It is a great song even for those intensely disliking rap like myself.