The Breaks is a compilation of work by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five, the Bronx group that helped lay the foundations of hip-hop. The selection runs from the social realism of The Message and the anti-cocaine warning of White Lines (Don't Do It) to the electronic funk of Scorpio. Freedom, It's Nasty and New York New York are included too, as is The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel, on which Flash cuts and scratches other artists' records together on the turntables. The Message appears twice: in an extended version and in a mix by Greg Wilson and Che Dub.

This edition is an LP.