After one of the most talked about sets at the 2009 Future Music Festival, a true founder of the hip hop movement is set to return to the west for his first headline set of the new decade on Friday January 22 at Capitol.

Grandmaster Flash is the man who first used turntables to manipulate the motion of vinyl and change the face of DJing forever. He was also one of the first to invite MCs to rhyme over the top of his beats at his legendary block parties, and he released one of hip hop’s most seminal tracks, The Message, with the Furious Five.

The rock n’ roll establishment recognised Flash with an honor no one else in hip hop has received; Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five becoming the first hip hop group ever inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. Flash remains the only hip hop DJ to ever receive the honor.

In 2009 he was kept busy with his album The Bridge, and also as a lead character in Activision’s positively huge DJ Hero game release. Check the video below for proof; the hip hop icons don’t come much bigger than Flash!

Grandmaster Flash touches down at Capitol on Friday January 22nd.