Melle Mel weighed in on Coi Leray’s song “Players” at TuneCore’s 50 Years of Hip-Hop event in New York.
The Hip-Hop pioneer told PEOPLE the hit single thrived thanks to its sample of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s classic track “The Message.” Melle Mel cited Coi Leray’s “Players” as more proof of the lasting impact of his group’s music.
“That’s a perfect example of what I’ve been saying for years,” Melle Mel said. “A real hit record never goes bad.”
He continued, “’Oh yeah, well you did it back in the day.’ Everybody that did the record had a hit with it. Then 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.”
Coi Leray’s “Players” peaked at No. 9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in April. She received a co-sign from Grandmaster Flash when she dropped the track in November 2022.
“When I got a call saying this girl wanted to resurrect the beat of a song from my past – I wanted to learn more,” Grandmaster Flash wrote on Instagram. “Then when I spoke with & met Coi Leray, I TOTALLY got it.”
Listen to Coi Leray’s “Players” below.