| It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back | |
|---|---|
| Studio Album by | Public Enemy (rap group) |
| Released | April 14, 1988 |
| Recorded | 1987 |
| Genre/Style | Hip hop |
| Length | 57:51 |
| Label | Def Jam/Columbia |
| Producer(s) | Chuck D, Rick Rubin (exec.), Hank Shocklee |
| Writer(s) | |
| Last album | Yo! Bum Rush the Show (Public Enemy album) |
| This album | |
| Next album | Fear of a Black Planet (Public Enemy album) |
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is the second studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released in April 1988 by Def Jam Recordings. Public Enemy set out to make the hip hop equivalent to Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, an album noted for its strong social commentary. Recording sessions took place during 1987 at Chung King Studios, Greene St. Recording, and Sabella Studios in New York City. Noting the enthusiastic response toward their live shows, Public Enemy intended with Nation of Millions to make the music of a faster tempo than the previous album for performance purposes.
The album charted for 49 weeks on the US Billboard 200, peaking at number 42. By August 1989, it was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, for shipments of one million copies in the United States. The album was very well received by music critics, who hailed it for its production techniques and the socially and politically charged lyricism of lead MC Chuck D. It also appeared on many publications' year-end top album lists for 1988, and was the runaway choice as the best album of 1988 in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll, a poll of the leading music critics in the US.
Since its initial reception, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back has been regarded by music writers and publications as one of the greatest and most influential albums of all time. In 2003, the album was ranked number 48 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, the highest ranking of all the hip hop albums on the list.
Background[]
Public Enemy's 1987 debut album Yo! Bum Rush the Show, while acclaimed by hip hop critics and aficionados, had gone ignored for the most part by the rock and R&B mainstream, selling only 300,000 copies, which was relatively low by the high-selling standards of other Def Jam recording artists such as LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys at the time. However, the group continued to tour and record tirelessly. "On the day that Yo! Bum Rush the Show was released [in the spring of 1987], we was already in the trenches recording Nation of Millions," stated lead MC Chuck D.
With It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, the group set out to make what they considered to be the hip hop equivalent to Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, an album noted for its strong social commentary. As said by Chuck, "our mission was to kill the 'Cold Gettin' Dumb' stuff and really address some situations." In order to ensure that their live shows would be as exciting as those they played in London and Philadelphia, the group decided that the music on Nation of Millions would have to be faster than that found on Yo! Bum Rush the Show.
Recording[]
Public Enemy initially recorded the album at Chung King Studios in Manhattan, but began to have conflicts with the engineers who were prejudiced against hip hop acts recording there. The group then began recording at Greene St. Recording where they were much more comfortable. Initially, the engineers at Greene Street were also apprehensive about the group, but eventually grew to respect their work ethic and seriousness about the recording process. Recorded under the working title Countdown to Armageddon, the group ultimately deciding instead on It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, a line from their first album's song "Raise the Roof". The material was recorded in 30 days for an estimated $25,000 in recording costs, due to an extensive amount of preproduction by the group at their Long Island studio. The album was completed in six weeks.
Rather than touring with the rest of the group Eric "Vietnam" Sadler and Hank Shocklee would stay in the studio and work on material for the Nation of Millions album, so that Chuck D and Flavor Flav would have the music already done when they returned. When the group began planning the second album, the songs "Bring the Noise", "Don't Believe the Hype", and "Rebel Without a Pause" had already been completed. The latter track was recorded during the group's 1987 Def Jam tour, and the lyrics were written by Chuck D in one day spent secluded at his home. Instead of looping the break from James Brown's "Funky Drummer", a commonly used breakbeat in hip hop, "Rebel Without a Pause" had Flavor Flav play the beat on the drum machine continuously for the track's duration of five minutes and two seconds. Chuck D later said of his contribution to the track, "Flavor's timing helped create almost like a band rhythm". Terminator X, the group's DJ/turntabilist, also incorporated a significant element to the track, the renowned transformer scratch, towards the its end. Named for its similarity to the sound made by the Autobots in The Transformers, the scratch was developed by DJ Spinbad and popularised by DJ Jazzy Jeff and Cash Money, and Terminator X had honed his take on the scratch on tour. The group was satisfied with its sound after having removed the bass from his section of the track.
According to Chuck D, Hank Shocklee made the last call when songs were completed. "Hank would come up with the final mix because he was the sound master... Hank is the Phil Spector of hip-hop. He was way ahead of his time, because he dared to challenge the odds in sound." This was also one of the details which Chuck felt to be unique to the time and recording of the album. "Once hip-hop became corporate, they took the daredevil out of the artistry. But being a daredevil was what Hank brought to the table." It was decided amongst the group that the album should be exactly one hour long, thirty minutes on each side. At the time, audio cassettes were more popular than CD's and the group didn't want listeners having to hear dead air for a long time after one half of the album was finished. The two sides of the album were originally the other way around, the album beginning with "Show Em Whatcha Got" which leads into "She Watch Channel Zero?!" This instead became the start of side two, or the "Black Side." Hank Shocklee decided to flip the sides just before the mastering of the album and start the record with Dave Pearce introducing the group during their first tour of England.
Track listing[]
Album produced by The Bomb Squad. All songs written by Carlton "Chuck D" Ridenhour, Eric "Vietnam" Sadler, and Hank Shocklee, except where noted.
1. "Countdown to Armageddon" – 1:40
2. "Bring the Noise" – 3:46
3. "Don't Believe the Hype" (Ridenhour, Sadler, Shocklee, William "Flavor Flav" Drayton) – 5:19
4. "Cold Lampin' with Flavor" (Sadler, Shocklee, Drayton) – 4:17
5. "Terminator X to the Edge of Panic" (Ridenhour, Norman "Terminator X" Rogers, Drayton) – 4:31
6. "Mind Terrorist" – 1:21
7. "Louder Than a Bomb" – 3:37
8. "Caught, Can We Get a Witness?" – 4:53
9. "Show 'Em Whatcha Got" – 1:56
10. "She Watch Channel Zero?!" (Ridenhour, Sadler, Shocklee, Richard "Professor Griff" Griffin, Drayton) – 3:49
11. "Night of the Living Baseheads" – 3:14
12. "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" (Ridenhour, Sadler, Shocklee, Drayton) – 6:23
13. "Security of the First World" – 1:20
14. "Rebel Without a Pause" (Ridenhour, Sadler, Shocklee, Rogers) – 5:02
15. "Prophets of Rage" (Ridenhour, Sadler, Shocklee, Drayton) – 3:18
16. "Party for Your Right to Fight" – 3:24
Personnel[]
Credits for It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back adapted from Allmusic.
- Assistant production – Eric "Vietnam" Sadler
- Engineering – Greg Gordon, John Harrison, Jeff Jones, Jim Sabella, Nick Sansano, Christopher Shaw, Matt Tritto, Chuck Valle
- Executive production – Rick Rubin
- Mixing – Keith Boxley, DJ Chuck Chillout, Steven Ett, Rod Hui
- Photography – Glen E. Friedman
- Production – Carl Ryder, Hank Shocklee
- Production supervisor – Bill Stephney
- Programming – Eric "Vietnam" Sadler, Hank Shocklee
- Scratching – Norman Rogers, Johnny Juice Rosado
- Turntables – Johnny Juice Rosado, Terminator X
- Vocals – Harry Allen, Chuck D, Fab 5 Freddy, Flavor Flav, Erica Johnson, Oris Josphe, Professor Griff
Singles[]
- "Rebel Without a Pause" Released: November 1987
- "Bring the Noise" Released: January 1988
- "Don't Believe the Hype" Released: June 1988
- "Night of the Living Baseheads" Released: October 1988
- "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" Released: 1989
Links[]
See Also[]
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