SHOCKLEE: And that led to Jive becoming - because Jive was not a record label that you see to first. SHOCKLEE: But the thing, I think, that served you well was the fact that since Def Jam was the most envied record company that means all the other record companies had to step up they game. SHOCKLEE: But you know something? I think you guys could've been. Because the Def Jam artist to me had, you know, the chest-beating, braggadocios, hard male figures. But, like, fast-forwarding through the years, we weren't that Def Jam artist. And I don't quite remember exactly why we decided to go with Jive instead. MUHAMMAD: The stuff I hated, he'd be like, "Yeah, this is the good stuff."īut it's interesting because we always dreamed of being on Def Jam. Lyor would ask me about certain groups and if it was stuff I liked or loved, he'd be like, "Ah, we can't mess with this." KELLEY: You had a similar thing with Lyor? But if he liked it, that meant I had to go back in the studio and work on it. It's like, I'll take a record to Russell and if Russell hated it, it was a smash. SHOCKLEE: Well, because I used to look at Russell and Rick and I used to play them off of each other. But that's when I knew that he - that's when I knew it was going to be a hit. They not rapping hard enough." And I was like, "Are you kidding me?" But then, that's when I knew that, you know, he's Uncle Russ. And I took it to Russell and he was like, "Nah. Whatever, you know? But the songs were already tight. I said, "Let me get this to Russell." Because, you know, I figured, well, maybe I get it to Russell I can produce it. And that tape, I listened to that I was amazed. That's something you can't forget because it was cassette, you know? And I remember when I listened to it, it had - I can't remember all the songs but I know "Left My Wallet" was on there. And I think there was like five songs on there. And it was the most amazing stuff I've ever heard. And Chris gave me the tape of you guys when you guys were first starting out. And so I knew Afrika and then I got to Chris through there. And I was trying to secure them a deal at Warner Brothers. SHOCKLEE: Well, I remember that I was working with the Jungle Brothers. The same people - we were trying to get in your area of being noticed, really. SHOCKLEE: We were kind of like - we flow around so many different people then. SHOCKLEE: You know something? None of us remember how we met because at that time, right, it was more of a synergy thing. KELLEY: Do you remember when you guys first met? Sorry to cut you off. SHOCKLEE: But then when we found out, I was like, "Ah!" I'll come by." I was going to say a few words on the camera and that's it. SHOCKLEE: I thought it was just her, her show. And I said, "Look." You said, "I want you to come to this show that I'm doing." And I didn't even know that she was doing it with you. Because what else am I going to say? Because people are like, "Well, who? Yeah, right. SHOCKLEE: It's funny because I have to always preface that. I produced for Public Enemy." And I was like, "I know who you are. I met Hank Shocklee out of nowhere like at ten o'clock two nights ago? Something like that. At SXSW 2015 in Austin, Texas, Microphone Check spoke with Hank Shocklee about hip-hop's underappreciated technical ingenuity and why pop music doesn't appeal to him.ĪLI SHAHEED MUHAMMAD: Hank Shocklee! What up, Hank? Racking up production credits for a diverse list of collaborators that ranged from Ice Cube to Bell Biv Devoe, the Bomb Squad was an inspiration to a generation of influential musicians like Microphone Check' s own Ali Shaheed Muhammad.
front man Chuck D and Eric "Vietnam" Sadler - was an architect of Public Enemy's distinct, attention-grabbing sound, and helped sampling evolve into an art form unto itself. Shocklee - alongside his brother, Keith, P.E.
And so I just want to create this collage, almost like a Romare Bearden kind of a painting." But what I do have is a turntable and records. I'm not going to pick up a bass or a guitar or keys and I'm going to, you know, put some virtuoso stuff down. I understand scales and musical arrangements and that stuff but I didn't have - I was not a player. And I wanted to prove that it was the records that inspired me. People often refer to the multi-layered, cacophonous style of Public Enemy's production team the Bomb Squad as a "wall of noise" - similar to Phil Spector's "Wall of Sound" - but to let Squad member Hank Shocklee tell it, their sample-heavy approach was less like Spector's and more akin to a particular collage-based visual artist's:
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