NEW YORK (AFP) - Rapper Kidd Creole, who helped steer Grandmaster Flash And The Furious Five to fame, has been charged with murder.

The 57-year-old, whose real name is Nathaniel Glover, was arrested for stabbing a homeless man on Tuesday.

Grandmaster Flash was the first rap band inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2007. In 1982, it had its biggest hit with The Message, which is listed at No. 51 in Rolling Stone magazine's top 500 songs of all time.

Drug woes eventually led to the band's collapse, with Creole working as a security and maintenance worker before his arrest.