Edward Fletcher, aka Duke Bootee, could have justifiably received top billing for "The Message" (1982), a Top Five Hot Black Singles hit -- credited to Grandmaster Flash the Furious Five -- that manifested hip-hop's potential as a medium for sociopolitical commentary. Fletcher wasn't merely the featured MC beside Melle Mel, as the label on the Sugar Hill 12" single noted. He came up with the idea for the track, co-wrote and co-produced it, and performed most of its funk instrumentation, almost single-handedly illuminating the link between rap music and visionary street reporters such as the Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron. Fletcher went on to release an album as Duke Bootee, Bust Me Out (1984), but was soon out of the music industry. By the time "The Message" had been sampled on dozens of tracks including Ice Cube's "Check Yo Self [Remix]" and Puff Daddy's "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down," he was deeply invested in what proved to be a long career as an educator.

Born and raised in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Edward Gernel Fletcher -- the musician who became known as Duke Bootee -- learned to play drums and xylophone as a youngster. He was in bands while attending Dickinson College in Pennsylvania, and continued with other groups after he returned to his birth state with a degree in English. After he picked up his first credits as a percussionist on recordings by Edwin Starr and Crown Heights Affair, Fletcher linked with pioneering hip-hop label Sugar Hill Records and started recording and performing with some of their acts. His first co-writing credit appeared beneath "Funk Box," the first song on Sugarhill Gang's 1981 album 8th Wonder. Shortly thereafter, Sugar Hill issued "The Message," a single credited to Grandmaster Flash the Furious Five that listed Melle Mel and Fletcher's new alias, Duke Bootee, as the featured artists. Despite the secondary designation, Fletcher devised the concept for the song, wrote it -- with friend Jiggs Chase, Melle Mel, and Sugar Hill boss Sylvia Robinson all credited after him -- and played everything on it but guitar. "The Message" entered Billboard's Hot Black Singles chart in July 1982 and eventually peaked at number four. It crossed into the Hot 100 and reached number 62. The sequel "Message II (Survival)," credited to Melle Mel & Duke Bootee, was out by the end of the year and topped out at number 32 on Hot Black Singles. In early 1983, Mel and Duke took Grandmaster Flash the Furious Five to number 17 on the same chart with "New York New York."

Content to stay out of the picture -- he didn't appear on the sleeve of The Message, and the Furious Five's Rahiem lip synced his vocals in clips for "The Message," "Message II (Survival)," and "New York New York" -- Fletcher nonetheless signed with Mercury, home to Kurtis Blow, to proceed with proper Duke Bootee solo recordings. Joined by Jiggs Chase, Sugar Hill associates such as Dennis Chambers, Doug Wimbish, Skip McDonald, and Keith LeBlanc, as well as Vernon Reid and many others, Fletcher cut the album Bust Me Out. The LP was released in 1984 and featured the charting electro-funk single "Live Wire (I Want a Girl That Sweats)." Fletcher then took part in Steven Van Zandt and Arthur Baker's protest group Artists United Against Apartheid, with whom he recorded "Sun City," and in 1986 released the Duke Bootee single "Broadway" on his own label, Beauty and the Beat (which had issued Word of Mouth's "King Kut," among other 12" singles). That was it for Duke. Fletcher bailed from the business, earned master's degrees in media studies and education, and went into teaching. His work culminated in lecturing at Savannah State College in Georgia, where he remained for a decade. He died of heart failure in 2021. ~ Andy Kellman, Rovi