Shock on the system

ENEMY ALLY Don't blame this man for Flavor of Love

Along with his brother Keith, Hank Shocklee pushed early hip-hop beyond the drum machine and turntable as the production team The Bomb Squad. Their layered concept albums – in addition to their work with Public Enemy, the duo are responsible for the sound on Ice Cube’s AmeriKKA’s Most Wanted and Young Black Teenagers self-titled album, among others - pulled samples from James Brown and teakettles, setting the stage for dense epics like the Beastie Boys’ Paul’s Boutique and DJ Shadow’s Endtroducing. “I’m not a fan of singles,” Shocklee tells us. “Public Enemy was conceptual from day one.”

Though the seminal group was Shocklee’s baby, he no longer performs with the group. We talked with the designer behind It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back for his take on this summer’s nostalgic performance of the record at the Pitchfork Music Festival and the roots of Public Enemy.

Time Out Chicago: You had a major hand in creating Public Enemy. Were there casting sessions?
Hank Shocklee: No, it wasn’t the Pussycat Dolls. I hand-picked everyone—even though I had no idea that they would be in a group together. People put together groups, man, and think there is a magic formula. It doesn’t work that way. It was an organic process. I started as a DJ outfit called Shock City and I used to deejay all the local functions. Chuck used to follow me all around while I was playing spots. He was a fan that became a member. Flavor used to answer the phones. Flav lived on the same block I lived, and Griff lived around the corner from me.

TOC: Were you deejaying clubs?
Hank Shocklee: Yeah, we had like a mobile DJ setup. We were like Kool Herc or Grandmaster Flash, but we were in Long Island. They were in the city where it was heavily populated, so more people knew about them. As far as level of expertise, we were the best. It’s funny because people don’t know that aspect of us, that we was DJs first, and moved over into production later. We did a demo for WBAU [a now defunct student-run radio station at Adelphi University] because there wasn’t enough rap records being made. I was just looking for rap records. MCing and rap was hot; it was a phenomenon. So we we’re looking for anyone that’s recorded a rap record. Rap records used to be played at the peak moment of parties. It wasn’t like now, where it’s rap from the beginning. You would save the rap for the peak party crowd at midnight.

TOC: So what else were you spinning at these parties?
Hank Shocklee: Oh, everything! From the Treacherous 3, Cold Crush Brothers, Spoonie G, Kool Moe D. Everything that came out on Sugarhill and Tough City. We had all the break beats, everything from “Dance to the Drummer’s Beat” to “Jam on the Groove” to “Mardi Gras”—all the beats that everybody made records out of. Our library was ridiculous. We would pull out breaks from the Turtles, Alabama and Level 42. We were just looking for anything that had that kind of hip-hop kind of vibration. Hip-hop was not a particular style of music, but a vibration. One thing that’s happened today, people look at hip-hop as a style of music. Anything that gave you that hip-hop feel was game—classical, jazz, country, folk. People don’t even know, Sesame Street had the biggest hip-hop record before hip-hop. “C is for Cookie” had a break in the middle of it. We would get two copies and rock that like crazy.

TOC: How did this turn into Public Enemy?
Hank Shocklee: Rick Rubin heard one of the songs we did, “Public Enemy #1.” That record was a tape hit. It was like downloading. Cats would record the radio and copy that tape to another mix tape. We found out “Public Enemy #1” was the song everybody was taping. Russell [Simmons] and Rick knew about us because that record got so big. “They were like, ‘Wow, that record is bigger than our records! Who is this Chuckie D guy?’” That prompted Rick to sign Chuck to do a solo 12”. I told Chuck, let’s not do a solo act. At the time there was Schoolie D, Kool Moe D and Heavy D. We’re going to have Chuckie D now? That’s not going to impress anybody. So I wanted to go with a concept. The record is “Public Enemy,” so I’m going to create a group called Public Enemy. That way I could add Flav. I could bring in Griff. The guys who used to do security at our events became the S1Ws—security of the first world. I just thought that seemed kinda cool.

TOC: How did you come up with the crosshairs logo?
Hank Shocklee: Back in the day, all the media was depicting the black man as the worst person on the planet, hence the target with a black man in the middle. It has the same feeling to me as the cross does for Catholics—it’s a sign of persecution. Now the black man is under more attacks than ever before, and this is after PE.

TOC: This summer Public Enemy is performing It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Do you see that album as the group’s ultimate statement?
Hank Shocklee: To me, the ultimate statement was the first record, Yo! Bum Rush the Show. It was the entry level for us coming into the business. When we used to go to functions, we never got treated with any respect. We were always the underdogs, the cats that weren’t allowed, the guys that wouldn’t get past the velvet ropes. After that, we got critical acclaim, but not much commercial acclaim or street acclaim. Nation got more write ups than it did cats rocking it in the streets.

TOC: Is Public Enemy’s message still relevant and potent in light of Flavor’s reality show and sitcom infamy? You are not taking part in the Pitchfork show…
Hank Shocklee: My standpoint was to create awareness. That’s why I did the group. That’s why I produce. I don’t produce because I want to make records. I produce because I want to communicate. Public Enemy is a manifestation of my imagination. It was a vehicle for communicating what I thought needed to be communicated. Music can stop wars and change the frequency of bad and shift it to good—if it’s used properly. Chuck and Flavor forgot about where they came from in different ways.