"White Lines" - Grandmaster Flash

OK, another track that's confusing to me.

Obviously this song was a 12" single listed at (7:38), and the version available on The Sugar Hill Records Story jibes with that run time. There
are promo 7" versions that are listed at (4:05), which are not available on CD or on iTunes. Rhino had a version in its Rhino Hi-Five series that
runs (4:32) (which I have); the song also appears on the Anchorman 2 OST with a run time of (4:28). I'm assuming those two are the same version
with less runout time on the soundtrack version.

So the question is: what is the (4:32) version? Is it an edit of the 12" single that's different from the short promo version? Is it perhaps a single
version from the UK or other country? Is it in fact the short version (and the listed time is wrong)? Since it never charted in the US on the Hot 100
(presumably because a stock 7" to my knowledge wasn't issued), none of the databases have it. (And to add to the confusion, the video version only runs
about (3:25).)

Um, help?

Signed,

Really Confused in Chicago

Edited by sriv94

This song is definitely in my wheelhouse, but unfortunately, I don't have a copy on vinyl. I do, however, have it on several different rap compilations. This may be totally unhelpful, but I just timed them all for you, Doug.

(7:28) Rapmasters 8 (Priority)
(4:28) Millennium Hip-Hop Party (Rhino)
(7:27) Hip Hop Greats (Rhino)
(4:28) Best Of Sugar Hill Records (Rhino)
(7:37) Hip-Hop Essentials Vol. 4 (Tommy Boy) (:09 longer than the other 12" versions on CD and more in line with the printed run time of the vinyl; the 7:28 versions are faded earlier than this one)
(4:28) Sugar Hill Records - Definitive Groove Collection (Rhino)
(4:27) Rap Attack (1997 import on Disky) (a different mix from the 12" and 4:28 version)
(7:23) Message From Beat Street (Warner Bros.) (sped up quite a bit compared to other CD versions)
(7:24) Richard Blade's Flashback Favorites Vol. 2 (Oglio)
(3:11) Now 1984 (import on EMI/Virgin/Polygram) (a different mix from the 12" and 4:28 version, and not the same as the mix on Rap Attack either)
(4:26) 100 Dance Hits Of the '80s (import on Connoisseur Collection)

Good question. I don't have many answers, but I can flesh out your question a little more.

The artist is credited as Grandmaster & Melle Mel, and the title really does have two "don'ts" in it.

The US 12" single was on Sugar Hill Records SH-465, with a copyright date of 1983. The 12" single has four versions, with the following tracks:

Track 1 on A-side: White Lines (Don't Don't Do It) - printed 7:38
Track 2 on A-side: White Lines (Don't Don't Do It) [Bonus] - printed 2:16
Track 1 on B-side: White Lines (Don't Don't Do It) [Bonus Break] - printed 2:34
Track 2 on B-side: White Lines (Don't Don't Do It) [Short Version] - printed 4:10

Some pressings of the 12" single have a different song on the B-side: Melle Mel's Groove, with a printed time of 5:56. I don't know which pressing came first. The version with Melle Mel's Groove on the B-side was also released with a catalog number of SH-32009, with an additional credit of "Mfg. & Dist. by MCA Dist. Corp."

The 7:30-ish 12" single version turns up on a few compilations:

• Priority's Rapmasters 8 (1989) - sounds like it has a lot of noise reduction; intro has all the life sucked out of it
• Rhino's Hip Hop Greats (1990) - sounds great here
• Richard Blade's Flashback Favorites Vol. 2 (1993) - balance is off, making the left channel a dB or two louder than the right

The Rhino disc is the clear winner here.

In the US, there was a promo 7" on Sugar Hill Records SH-806, also with a copyright date of 1983. This has a printed time of 4:05. I don't know if the 4:05 promo 45 version is the same version as the 4:10 "Short Version" from the 12" single.

In 1998, I think I reverse-engineered the US promo 45 version from an actual promo 45. (I didn't keep detailed notes back then.) Assuming that I really did work on recreating the US promo 45, the US promo 45 version can be edited down from Rhino's Hip Hop Greats (1990), but it's a pain - it involves 10 different segments from the song, plus an early fade. I may post editing instructions tomorrow.

The 4:32 version is a completely different edit from the US promo 45 version, edited from different portions of the 12" single version. You can't edit the US promo 45 version down from the 4:32 version, because the intros use different parts of the 12" single version.

I don't think the 4:32 version was released in the US at the time. My guess is that it was the UK 45 version (and that's entirely a guess), because that 4:32 edit turns up on a UK 5-CD set from Connoisseur Collection called One Hundred Dance Hits Of The Eighties (1990). The 4:32 version also appeared on Rhino's Best Of Sugar Hill Records (1998) and Rhino's Millennium Hip-Hop Party (1999). Both sound very nice. There's a rerecording of "White Lines" on Grandmaster Flash's 1994 collection White Lines & Other Messages - avoid.

Finally, there's a 3:11 version on Virgin EMI Polygram UK's 2-CD Now 1984 (1993), which sounds more like a Bonus Beats version than an actual single version. It's pretty terrible - avoid.

Edited by crapfromthepast

I'll be anxious to hear how to get to the proper 4:05
promo version as all I have is the 4:28 version too.

Here are the editing instructions for creating (what I assume is) the promo 45 version from the 12 inch single version on Rhino's Hip Hop Greats (1990).

Segment 1
Extends from 0:00.0 to 0:12.3 of 12 inch single version and promo 45 edit
Begins with "fun baby"
Ends on third bass drum hit

Remove the 8 beats from 0:12.3 to 0:16.4 of the 12 inch single version.

Segment 2
Two beats long
Extends from 0:12.3 to 0:13.3 of the promo 45 edit
Extends from 0:16.4 to 0:17.5 of the 12 inch single version

Remove the 16 beats from 0:17.5 to 0:25.8 of the 12 inch single version.

Segment 3
48 beats long
Begins and ends on a downbeat
Extends from 0:13.3 to 0:38.4 of the promo 45 edit
Extends from 0:25.8 to 0:50.9 of the 12 inch single version

Remove the 16 beats from 0:50.9 to 0:59.2 of the 12 inch single version.

Segment 4
105 beats long
Begins on a downbeat
Ends on a snare
Extends from 0:38.4 to 1:33.1 of the promo 45 edit
Extends from 0:59.2 to 1:53.9 of the 12 inch single version

Remove the 16 beats from 1:53.9 to 2:02.2 of the 12 inch single version.

Segment 5
35 beats long
Begins on a snare
Ends on a downbeat
Extends from 1:33.1 to 1:51.3 of the promo 45 edit
Extends from 2:02.2 to 2:20.5 of the 12 inch single version

Remove the 8 beats from 2:20.5 to 2:24.7 of the 12 inch single version.

Segment 6
75 beats long
Begins on a downbeat
Ends on a snare
Extends from 1:51.3 to 2:30.3 of the promo 45 edit
Extends from 2:24.7 to 3:03.7 of the 12 inch single version

Remove the 8 beats from 3:03.7 to 3:07.9 of the 12 inch single version.

Segment 7
34 beats long
Begins on a snare
Ends on a snare
Extends from 2:30.3 to 2:48.1 of the promo 45 edit
Extends from 3:07.9 to 3:25.6 of the 12 inch single version

Remove the 16 beats from 3:25.6 to 3:34.0 of the 12 inch single version.

Segment 8
35 beats long
Begins on a snare
Ends on a downbeat
Extends from 2:48.1 to 3:06.4 of the promo 45 edit
Extends from 3:34.0 to 3:52.3 of the 12 inch single version

Remove the 8 beats from 3:52.3 to 3:56.4 of the 12 inch single version.

Segment 9
51 beats long
Begins on a downbeat
Ends on a snare
Extends from 3:06.4 to 3:33.0 of the promo 45 edit
Extends from 3:56.4 to 4:23.0 of the 12 inch single version

Remove the 22 beats from 4:23.0 to 4:34.5 of the 12 inch single version.

Segment 10
59 beats long
Begins on a snare
Ends on a downbeat
Extends from 3:33.0 to 4:03.6 of the promo 45 edit
Extends from 4:34.5 to 5:05.2 of the 12 inch single version

Fade
8 beats long
Begins and ends on a downbeat
Extends from 3:59.5 to 4:03.6 of the promo 45 edit
Extends from 5:01.1 to 5:05.2 of the 12 inch single version

I originally did this edit over 17 years ago (!), and I can't guarantee with 100% certainty that everything's correct. I do remember that I wasn't so good with fades back then, so the fade start and end points could be off a little.

If I may editorialize, I think this is a pretty badly-done edit. For most simple pop songs, like this one, I've learned that if you want your edit to keep the flow of the song, then take out 16 beats, or 32 beats, or some other multiple of 16 beats. Taking out 8 beats will sound goofy, which is why about half of these edits sound strange. The last edit,
which cuts out 22 beats and deliberately cuts out the "a business is caught with 24 kilos/he's out on bail and out of jail and that's the way it goes" lines, sounds especially jarring, to my ears.