January 27: “The Message” Gets Archived By Congress. (2003)

January 27, 2003 – On This Date In Hip-Hop, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious 5’s song “The Message” was selected for the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry – the 1st Hip-Hop song to receive the honor. The song was among 50 selections which also included: Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” and Aretha Franklin’s “Respect.”

The registry was established “specifically for the purpose of maintaining and preserving sound recordings and collections of sound recordings that are culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”