Grandmaster Flash didn't just prove the turntable could be an instrument, paving the way for virtuosos like Qbert—who realizes the avant-garde potential in Flash's athletic scratch—and Shadow, who hones the Master's approach to sonic collage (and even samples him). He also dropped rap's first socially aware hit (1982's "The Message"), elements of which (namely that laugh) have been imitated by everyone from Phil Collins to the cast of Hamilton.