Chuck D on Making Public Enemy’s Rarely Heard, Game-Changing B-Sides
The complete story of Public Enemy‘s trail-blazing 1988 LP It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and 1990’s Fear of a Black Planet will be told via two Def Jam/UMe reissues released this month. The multi-disc sets, out on November 25th, will provide insight into two of the most sonically adventurous and politically stirring records of all time, appending more than two dozen instrumentals, a cappellas, remixes and dub versions previously only available on 12-inch vinyl.
While volumes have been written about the sui generis production techniques and bold rhyme styles on what Rolling Stone has dubbed the 48th and 302nd greatest albums of all time, the new set provides illumination collected like never before. The “Rebel Without a Pause” instrumental lets you get close the dizzying sound of samples being played live in a room instead of looped by a machine; the 91-second a cappella of “Bring the Noise” features the “bass!” replayed ’round the world; and the “Powersaxx” version of “Fight the Power” shows producer Hank Shocklee staging an epic battle between Branford Marsalis and. . .Branford Marsalis.
We caught up with Public Enemy leader Chuck D to discuss the many B-sides living to win again.
Do these 12-inches remind you of anything that the songs on the albums don’t?
I remember being frustrated, sometimes, that we’d make these [alternate] versions, but when you send it out to a DJ amongst a stack of six other records at the same time, they would. . .play one version. And really, if the version had a curse on it…that version probably would never be heard; it wouldn’t be broadcasted. And so they were obscure, but they were there. People who bought the 12-inch, they were able to get it. A lot of these versions were unheard, but they were released, though. They were all on 12-inches. There’s nothing in the Universal vaults that was unreleased. . .Y’know, guys like LL, the Beasties, Slick Rick, they got a lot more in the vaults of Def Jam than Public Enemy. I made sure that we never left much to the vaults. I made sure we released everything.
A really illuminating piece is the 91-second “Bring the Noise” a cappella. This little piece of an a cappella on a 12-inch ended up having a huge impact. Was there a moment when you realized that you saying “Bass!” would probably be one of the most sampled seconds in the history of music?
Yeah, not too long afterwards, Simon Harris made, “Bass (How Low Can You Go).” It was a little weird, because we were sampling James Brown and then Simon Harris is sampling me. So, it was just like that’s part of the game.
The “Bring the Noise” 12-inch was interesting because you could see both sides of Def Jam: Russell Simmons’ taste, R&B group the Black Flames on the A-side, and Rick Rubin’s taste, Public Enemy on the B-side.
I liked the Black Flames a lot. I just thought they were recording the wrong material. But I find out that “Are You My Woman?” [the Chi-Lites song they covered] ends up becoming a Beyonce hit later on [“Crazy in Love”], from a different aspect, a sample. But “Bring the Noise” was a total case of Rick kicking Russell’s ass [laughs].