Hank Shocklee

Hank Shocklee at the Red Bull Academy April 12.
The launch of this years application round up for the Barcelona Red Bull Academy presented the sonic architect behind the the classic Public Enemy sound which peaked in the early 90s. The combination of the Shocklee brothers Hank and Keith with Eric ‘vietnam’ Saddler made the production team the Bomb Squads work for PE a definitive rebel music of Hip Hops third stage.

Now working on a series of electronic works including the debut album from the Bomb Squad, Shocklees profile has recently acquired a rejuvenated relevance. On the couch exploring PEs themes and history, Hank is quizzed by Dj and fan Fergus Murphy.

For years the production of the first three Public Enemy have been intensely dissected by HipHops faithful. As layered sample orchestrations they offered a glimpse into the the political rawness that was  attained through a production ideology that fused James Brown with the unconformity of Slayer. Once this gritty flagpost was planted Chuck D's concious lyrics hoisted the colours red black and green for a multiracial worldwide audience. While PE are still on active duty the lack of general structured information on the groups history in relation to how the elements came together and created the legacy meant that tonights talk was a rare chance to join some background dots.

Shocklee is currently delivering versions of this talk and told me that since the Waxpoetics magazine article of june 2006 presented a definitive review of the early years, he tries to tailor his chronology and historical bites to the needs of specific crowds.This brings out the educator in him as well this keeping it fresh on ocassions like this. Even if one is familiar with the rundown in wax P its still an exhilerating experience to hear the man himself deliver it .Tonight we listened to an intense beatdown of the old days.

The Shocklees were a musical family and music obsessed Hanks formative years revolved around following teen funk bands with pilgrimages to the parks checking out the original Djs like Kool Herc and particularly Grandmaster flash .This was first as a Dj then as a promoter. Hanks reminisces on this focused on the small details such as hearing raw funk and Bob Marley for the first time and the conditions that led to the creation of his own sound system .The B-boys in the audience tonight caught some classic good time vibes from an infectious description of the importance of the visual dynamics of a Flash flyer and how the anticipation of such a gig hyped the Long Island posse. These snippets were a glimpse of almost primitive times to this audience; the majority raised as they were on an accelerated diet of mp3s and downloadable music software. Thus Hanks emphasis on finding the right guitar lead that would allow him to wire a turntable to a P.A which allowed a transition from observer to generator in one physical movement is a reference to the level of direct transition from the funk bands to a processed sound system needed at that time .These formative ‘ build it from scratch’ acts were paying your dues as you got to know the parameters of amplified sound on the street and this of course is where the funk was.

In fairness there is a week long seminar needed to orientate the history of Public Enemy in terms of sound design and social perspective before their position in the canon of Hip Hop is arrived at. The strict fans in the Audience tonight (clutching our PE records) were open to what ever direction the director chose to deliver, primarily working tales about the roots of the group . And so we heard that the structure of the PE was grounded in promoted gigs run by the Shocklees Spectrum Sound system after the acquisition of the essential MC in the form of Chuck D, who initially refused to take part. The extension of this hustle led to a Radio show where they pioneered the idea of the continuous Hip Hop mix, a format which was then taken up by the legendary NY Djs Marley Marl and Red Alert. The mutation of shout outs and jingles led to the crew looping up the James Brown intro to ‘Blow your Head’ which became the track ‘Public Enemy no 1’. Chuck, Griff and Flavs Hardcore boasts now launched the concept of an organised militant rap. Remember at that time that the industry in their vision had designated the rap thing as good time party music.T La Rock may have premiered the Bass shudder of ‘Its yours’ on record but the shocklees point out that they were playing self produced earlier versions of this transitional beat on their show on WBAU. The siren call of ‘Public Enemy No I’ hit hard. This production sideswiped everything and a new agenda was on the streets .The Bomb squad was in effect from this point as Hank knew just from the songs beatbox plays in the park alone that their lab experiments were hitting home and his calling was as a producer.

This discussion of the early years culminated in Fergus dropping the needle on the intro to Fear of a Black planet, PE's third Album. This is a deep collage that includes audio sound bites that mention terrorism in the context of the early 90s .This blast referenced the threat that the American media considered lurking within any debate on the Black agenda. Those that spoke out at this time were in effect anti-American. The Bomb squads uncompressed, almost Rock sounding production was their version of a Black Psychedelic pulpit to rail against this censorship. The intro didn’t even need a Rap as the beat was so strident and shocklees insistence that the samples remain unprocessed and ‘not soft’ created studio tension but formulated a political charged sonic blast that caught those of us who hadn't heard the piece in years off guard.

In response to an inquiry by Fergus about the layering and texture on that intro Hank expanded, ‘Everything that is in key is in harmony but at this time in my life I felt anything but harmony and the music reflected that’. The squads intention was to create a ‘call to arms’ to ‘make people stand up’in light of the internal uprest left by the Regan administration. Listening to the intro himself tonight Hank spoke of revisiting the agitation he originally felt in creating that album. The sound was the sound of some thing ‘just not sounding right’ and that was the by product of what he wanted to put across on Fear of a Black Planet.

Murphy concluded the session expounding on the embedded theme of resistance that the squad sonically forged at this time and that for us white Europeans became appreciated only after the necessary research on the millitant agenda of radical muslim's like Farrakan were completed. Pre internet times meant that this was achived by scouring the album covers and print reviews. I remember cassettes of Malcolm X speeches doing the rounds in Dublin with their clandestine tape hiss multiplying after being copied and passed on.This was purely to give some background to the lyrical content of PE, BDP, Lakim Shabazz and others. Perhaps only the anchro punk band Crass had an equivilant text and audio matrix that referenced a political totality in the act of listening. The 1988 preformance by the group in Ireland made a point of referencing republican concerns over a scratched Thin Lizzy beat as Chuck spoke on Thatcher and the importance of knowing and respecting your roots.

Is this revoultionary agenda still relevent for the Bomb squad? was the final question posed tonight.

Rapidly Hank adopted a polemical stance. ‘More so than ever’ was his immediate response to the question. Describing Public Enemy as an experiment he wanted to see if by ‘injecting inspiration and anger’ into the body politic of a major label record company could he visualise freedom through his art. ‘Freedom, Musical Freedom, everybody was fitting neatly into these little boxes and I wanted to take away a lot of those comfort blankets’. The Feedback that came back from that experiment is what keeps this producer in his own words ‘humble today’. Hanks final words spoke jointly on the music industry as well as a society that often is a unwilling participant in American hypercapitaism.‘we are becoming comfortable again, starting to get back into a place that’s very dangerous by allowing the establishment to dictate what our lives are going to be as opposed to us dictating what our agenda is.’Music is the only form of communication left that allows us to resist the establishment. Musicians are community leaders, Artists are supposed to represent their fan base but today Artists are starting to become self indulgent with no point of view and that’s why their fans are leaving them. The artists are starting to adopt the same attitude of their oppressors’ ‘Shouting on the corner has a limited success but Art can change the way people think.’Fans again are browbeaten in to supporting an agenda that celebrates the absence of a point of view. In telling the audience that he never liked Micheal Jacksons Thriller Hank says he only respects music that makes an impression on him and Thriller ‘did nothing for my soul’ Dylan may have a ‘Terrible singing voice’ but he certainly leaves an impression.

Today we know more about the factors that hold back an artist from making a stand rather than the dynamics exploring the expressive possibilities in the craft of music construction. Hank spoke of the two types of Vibrations in the world, positive and negative and as one shall not cancel the other, the mission is balance. There is a loss of perspective that comes with the lack of understanding of ones rights was Shocklees philosophical coda to a summing up of his own position as not just as participant in the Industry but as a Rebel never on Pause.

Sloganeering? A written description does not do the talk justice as the passion that fuelled the final summing up was a genuine representation of the agenda that registered the polemical stance of Public Enemys Bomb squad productions. This agenda was an extension of the Black Militant progression of the 60s and like the current recollections of the 68 movement in Paris should be reclaimed from a nostalgic perspective particularly in the artistic arena .

Hank ended the night in Ri-Ra Djing. A full two hours of heavy Bass influenced Dubstep which is the Bomb Squads new stomping ground was a perfect end to the event. Meeting him and hearing him excitedly discuss the Heavy Metal influnces on his early productions was a personal highlight. This second coming of the squad is awaited with more than interest from original fans and from the reaction of the Red Bull audience tonight, some new converts.

Paul Tarpey

Comments

[Organ Donor]

Ah back to the start of the 90's,the 2 main tapes in the walkman? South of Heaven By Slayer and Fear of a Black Planet. And i got the raw anger and musical kick equally from both..
Love the fact didnt like Thriller but it doesnt really shock me that much.
I will look forward to the Bomb Squad album with interest,i havent quite made my mind up about the whole Dub-step sound yet,i like a few bits i've heard and i dislike some too..but Shocklee's take on it will be worth checking.. Good article once again Mr T

[Shane]

Simon Reynolds has an excellent piece on dubstep doubt (an uncarved headline)

check here
http://blissout.blogspot.com/2008/04/rhythmic-danger-relick-spotted-and.html
As he says
--you will never hear anyone utter the sentence:

"police are locking off dubstep raves"--