![]() The three men, who shared an interest in rap and politics, began mixing proto-hip-hop dub-plates – recordings made specifically for their own use – that helped increase the popularity of Stephney’s night time show. That experiment started in the mid-’80s when Shocklee hooked up with Carl Ridenhour, – a graphic design student at Long Island’s Adelphi University, where he DJd for the student radio station WBAU – and program director/DJ Bill Stephney. Public Enemy was basically an experiment to see what we could get across.” They were about what I had instilled in him. “The early PE records were purely designed for communication, and Chuck D’s lyrics were influenced by me. “With rap, you have more words to get across your ideas,” he said, “and that was more appealing to me than singing, because with singing you can only hint at the ideas.” His burgeoning socio-political awareness was a driving force behind Public Enemy. With rap, you have more words to get across your ideas, and that was more appealing to me than singing, because with singing you can only hint at the ideas. ![]() with hard funk, freeform jazz, soul and R&B – a unique sonic mix that is pefectly exemplifiied by ‘Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos’, Chuck D’s allegorical tale of a supposed prison break following his refusal to be drafted by the U.S. This was achieved by melding the rock-edged rap elements of Run-D.M.C. While its remarkable 1987 debut album, Yo! Bum Rush the Show, introduced a musical force that was still in the ascendancy, the following year’s sophomore effort, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, was a groundbreaking musical tour de force on which the Bomb Squad production team of Chuck D, Hank Shocklee, his brother Keith and Eric ‘Vietnam’ Sadler created a dense, chaotic, sample-heavy backdrop for Chuck’s supercharged vocals and Flavor Flav’s manic humour. Chuck D) is still widely acclaimed as the definitive rap outfit of all time. Public Enemy, the hardcore-politico group fronted by Carlton Ridenhour (a.k.a. In this latest excerpt from Classic Tracks, Richard Buskin takes a deeper dive into the Bomb Squad’s production techniques on Public Enemy’s: Black Steel in The House of Chaos.
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