Grandmaster Flash was a guest at New York's Columbia College earlier this week where he explained to students how his musical theories and inventions changed music. “Four bars forward is equal to six counterclockwise revolutions, which equals a full loop extraction,” he explained to a full house of students in Roone Arledge Cinema.

Flash was on campus as part of a special session of Dean Josef Sorett’s “Hip Hop at 50: Music, Politics, Religion” course.

Grandmaster Flash is the DJ credited with improving upon DJ Kool Herc's technique of continuously "looping" drum breakdown portions of records in the mid 1970's. Along with his MC's The Furious 5, Flash recorded for the Enjoy, Sugar Hill, and Elektra labels, helping to build the template for modern day Rap records.

When asked if he preferred to be referred to as a Godfather of Hip-Hop or a scientist, Flash responded: "How I came up with this formula is math, science and a touch of physics.” He continued, “I’m a scientist first, I’m a DJ second — pushing the envelope is what I believe in.”

Check out Flash's Quick Mix Theory above.