Grandmaster Flash was been honoured with the I Am Hip-Hop Icon award at the inaugural Black Entertainment Television hip-hop awards.
The 48-year-old changed the face of popular music as one of the true pioneers of rap, developing his dual-turntable cutting and scratching technique throughout the 1970s, and giving new voice to black culture.In his acceptance speech, he said the DJs and not rappers were the true pioneers of hip-hop.
"I actually didn't realize what I was onto," he told Reuters. "All I knew was I was very frustrated with the way DJs were playing at the time. The part where the drummer was playing was the least noticed out of the whole composition."
Other winners at the event included T.I., who won the award for hip-hop CD of the year.
