Melle Mel Talks Coi Leray's 'The Message' Sample: 'A Real Hit Record Never Goes Bad' (Exclusive)

The Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five MC revealed to PEOPLE what he thinks of the success of Leray's smash "Players," which samples the classic song

Melle Mel knows that 1982's "The Message" was a lasting hit record — and so do the charts!

The Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five MC opened up to PEOPLE about Coi Leray's flip of the legendary track for her latest smash "Players," which recently cracked the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100.

"That's a perfect example of what I've been saying for years," Melle, 61, said at TuneCore's 50 Years of Hip-Hop event Thursday in New York City when asked about "Players." "A real hit record never goes bad."

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"'Oh yeah, well you did it back in the day.' Everybody that did the record had a hit with it," he adds. "Ten years from now, five years from now, somebody else gonna do the record and that's gonna be a hit record. Because it was a real hit record from the beginning. So there it is."

Melle released "The Message" as part of the pioneering hip-hop group Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five during the genre's earlier years, and at the tail end of 2022, the track saw some revamped love from Leray, 25, in the form of "Players."

During her ascent to the top of the charts, Coi earned a cosign from Grandmaster Flash himself. And on Thursday, Melle Mel — who is listed as a songwriter on Coi's hit given the sample — acknowledged the revived success of the classic composition.

Speaking with Billboard about the success of "Players" back in January, Leray revealed her mindset when rapping over the song — which she wrote alongside producer Johnny Goldstein, WorldWideFresh and Feli Ferraro.

"I feel like, if anything, this record was to connect the new with the old and bring us together. There's been a lot of rah-rah music lately," she said at the time. "There's a lot of older cats and OGs talking about TikTok and the sound and it just feels good to bring everybody together. Whether you're 10, 2, 80 or 30, everyone's bopping, and those are the moments I love."

"When you doing these samples, it's one thing to do a sample and you blow up — but it's another thing when you give credit when it's due," she added. "I feel like a lot of people don't do that. Even producers and writers, there's so many people who don't get their credit in the industry. The least you could do is give it to who created the motherf---ker. It shows respect."

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As for Melle, the MC performed "The Message" alongside a string of other classics at the 40/40 Club during the anniversary celebration Thursday.

"As we approach the 50 years and further, hip-hop is supposed to be the teacher. Hip-hop is supposed to be the parent," he tells PEOPLE. "It turns into a lot of different things but I still think hip-hop is a great teacher if you can utilize it the right way."

The hip-hop pioneer, who was recently listed as one of the 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time in Billboard and Vibe's new list, has seen the song sampled several times over the last 40 years. Diddy and Mase flipped the track for 1997's "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down," Calvin Harris did so on 2017's "Holiday," Ice Cube saluted the song with 1992's "Check Ya Self," and somewhere around 300 other artists did the same, according to WhoSampled.com.

Coi Leray's "Players" currently sits at a peak of No. 9 on the Hot 100.

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