It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
Studio album by Public Enemy
Released June 28, 1988
Recorded July–October 1987 at Greene Street Recording and Chung King House of Metal in New York City; Sabella Recording in Roslyn and Spectrum City Studios in Hempstead
Genre Hip hop
Golden age hip hop
Political hip hop
Length 57:51
Label Def Jam/Columbia
CK-44303
Producer Hank Shocklee and Carl Ryder (The Bomb Squad)
Professional reviews
Public Enemy chronology
Yo! Bum Rush the Show
(1987)		 It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
(1988)		 Fear of a Black Planet
(1990)

It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is the second studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released on Def Jam Recordings on June 28, 1988.[1]

Enormously influential, the album's mix of The Bomb Squad's dense, sample-heavy production and Chuck D's politically charged lyrics turned the album into a sensation, peaking at #42 on the Billboard 200, and at #1 on the Billboard R&B/Hip Hop Album charts.

Contents

Reception and influence

Widely regarded as the group's magnum opus, the album regularly ranks as one of the greatest and most influential recordings of all time in various publications.[2][3][4] In 2003, the album was ranked number 48 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. It is the highest ranking hip hop album on the list.[5] Acclaimedmusic.net ranks the album as the 17th best album of all time and also the greatest hip-hop album.[6] Time Magazine hailed it as one of the 100 greatest albums of all time in 2006.[7] It was also listed in The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums.

Professional reviews:

Track listing

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

Don't Look Back tour May 2008

Public Enemy performed the album in its entirety to audiences in the UK during May 2008 as part of the 'Don't Look Back' series of concerts which saw classic rap albums such as 'Nation of Millions' and Raekwon's 'Only Built 4 Cuban Linx' performed for the first time in years. During the Manchester gig Chuck D told the audience that the B side was initially intended as the A side but they changed it as Bring the Noise was an obvious album opener.

Song title references

Certain track titles refer to other titles from popular culture. These include:

Personnel

Chart positions

Album

Album chart positions are taken from Billboard magazine (North America).[9]

Chart (1988) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard 200 42
U.S. Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums 1

Singles

Singles chart positions are taken from Billboard magazine (North America).[10]

Song Chart (1988) Peak
position
"Bring the Noise" U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks 56
"Don't Believe the Hype" U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks 18
U.S. Hot Dance Music/Club Play 21
U.S. Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales 17
"Night of the Living Baseheads" U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks 62
Song Chart (1989) Peak
position
"Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks 86
U.S. Hot Rap Singles 11

Singles information

Single information
"Bring the Noise" Single from the Less Than Zero soundtrack
  • Released: 1987
  • A-side: "Are You My Woman?" by The Black Flames
"Don't Believe the Hype"
  • Released: 1988
  • B-side: "Prophets of Rage"
"Night of the Living Baseheads"
  • Released: 1988
  • B-side: "Cold Lampin' With Flavor" & "Terminator X to the Edge of Panic"
"Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos"
  • Released: 1989
  • B-side: "Caught, Can We Get A Witness? (Pre Black Steel Ballistic Felony Dub)"

Partial list of samples

The following lists some of the songs and sounds sampled on It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. In an interview years later, producer Hank Shocklee said that in the face of increased clearance costs for copyrighted material that replicating the number of samples used on the album wouldn't be impossible, but would be far more expensive than it was at the time [1].

"Bring the Noise"
  • Intro speech by Malcolm X (the "too black... too strong" quote is extracted from the full quote where he says "It's just like when you've got some coffee that's too black, which means it's too strong. What do you do? You integrate it with cream, you make it weak. But if you pour too much cream in it, you won't even know you ever had coffee. It used to be hot, it becomes cool. It used to be strong, it becomes weak. It used to wake you up, now it puts you to sleep.) [2].
  • "It's My Thing" by Marva Whitney
  • "Funky Drummer" by James Brown (drums)
  • "Get Off Your Ass and Jam" by Funkadelic (opening guitar solo)
  • "Fantastic Freaks at the Dixie" by DJ Grand Wizard Theodore (scratch phrase: "say turn it up")
  • "I Don't Know What this World is Coming To" by the Soul Children
"Don't Believe the Hype"
  • "Synthetic Substitution" by Melvin Bliss (drums)
  • "Do the Funky Penguin" by Rufus Thomas
  • "I Got Ants in my Pants" & "Escape-ism" by James Brown (trumpet squeak)
"Cold Lampin' With Flavor"
  • "Funk It Up!" by Sweet
  • "Jungle Fever" by Chakachas
  • "Here We Go" (Live) by Run-DMC
  • "Gimme Some More" by The J.B.'s
  • "I Know You Got Soul" by Bobby Byrd
  • "Lesson One (The Payoff Mix)" by Double Dee and Steinski (vocals: "Now we come to the payoff")
  • "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)" by The Beastie Boys (vocals: "Yeah!")
"Terminator X to the Edge of Panic"
  • "Flash" by Queen (vocals: "Ah Ah. Savior of the universe")
  • "The Grunt" by The J.B.'s
  • "B.A.D." by Big Audio Dynamite
  • "Rebel Without a Pause" by Public Enemy
  • "Love Rap" by Spoonie G & the Treacherous Three
  • "Funky Drummer" & "Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved" by James Brown
"Louder Than a Bomb"
  • "Long Red" by Mountain (Vocals: "Louder!")
  • "It's Yours" by T La Rock (Vocals: "It's yours!"
  • "AJ Scratch" by Kurtis Blow
  • "Here We Go" (Live) by Run-DMC (Vocals: "Aww yeah!"
  • "One for the Treble" by Davy DMX
  • "Feel Like Making Love" by Bob James
  • "Who's Gonna Take the Weight?" by Kool & the Gang (Intro/drums and guitar)
  • "Fantastic Freaks at the Dixie" by DJ Grand Wizard Theodore
  • "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)" by The Beastie Boys (Vocals: "Yeah!")
"Caught, Can We Get a Witness?"
  • "Blow Your Head" by The J.B.'s
  • "Son of Shaft" by The Bar-Kays (wah wah guitar)
  • "Theme from Shaft" by Isaac Hayes (wah wah guitar)
  • "Terminator X Speaks With His Hands" by Public Enemy
  • "Soul Power" (Revolution Of The Mind 1971) by James Brown
  • "Hot Pants. . . I'm Coming, I'm Coming, I'm Coming" by Bobby Byrd
"Show 'Em Whatcha Got"
  • "Darkest Light" by the Lafayette Afro Rock Band (saxophone, drums)
"She Watch Channel Zero?!"
"Night of the Living Baseheads"
  • A speech by Khalid Abdul Muhammed (Intro)
  • "UFO" by ESG (sirens)
  • "Fame" by David Bowie
  • "The Grunt" by The J.B.'s (horn riff)
  • "Scorpio" by Dennis Coffey
  • "Son of Shaft" by The Bar-Kays
  • "Funky Man" by Kool & The Gang
  • "Bring the Noise" by Public Enemy
  • "Christmas Rappin'" by Kurtis Blow (vocals: "Twas the night"/"Hold it now")
  • "Do the Funky Penguin" by Rufus Thomas
  • "I Can't Get Next to You" by The Temptations (vocals: "Everybody hold it, listen")
  • "Pick Up the Pieces" by Average White Band
  • "You Can Make It If You Try" by Sly & the Family Stone (drums)
  • "I Don't Know What This World Is Coming To" by Soul Children (vocals: "Brothers and sisters")
  • "Here We Go" (Live), & "Sucker M.C.'s (Krush-Groove 1)" by Run-DMC
  • "Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved" & "Soul Power Pt. I" by James Brown
  • "Rappin' Ain't No Thang" by Boogie Boys featuring Kool Ski, Kid Delight & Disco Dave (Vocals: "We are willing")
"Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos"
  • Spoken intro taken from a documentary film on country singer Johnny Cash upon his 1969 visit to San Quentin State Prison, where he would record a live album released later that year.
  • "Living for the City" by Stevie Wonder (spoken vocal: "get in that cell, nigger")
  • "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" by Isaac Hayes (piano riff)
  • "Bring the Noise" by Public Enemy (scratched vocal: "now they got me in a cell", "death row, what a brother know")
  • "Little Green Apples" by The Escorts
"Rebel Without a Pause"
  • "The Grunt" by The J.B.'s (trumpet glissando)
  • "Funky Drummer" & "Get Up Offa That Thing" by James Brown (drums)/(horns)
  • "I Don't Know What This World Is Coming To" by the Soul Children (vocals: "Brothers and sisters", as spoken by the Rev. Jesse Jackson)
"Prophets of Rage"
  • "Cold Sweat" by James Brown (drums)
  • "Shining Star" by Earth, Wind & Fire
  • "Bring the Noise" & "Miuzi Weighs a Ton" by Public Enemy
  • "Pump That Bass (Get A Little Stupid)" by Original Concept (vocals: "get a little stupid")
"Party for Your Right to Fight"
  • Live version of "Do That Stuff" by Parliament
  • "I Know You Got Soul" by Bobby Byrd
  • "Butt-to-Butt Resuscitation" by Funkadelic
  • "Get Up, Stand Up" by Bob Marley & the Wailers (vocals: "Don't give up the fight")
  • "Sing a Simple Song" by Sly & The Family Stone (vocals)
  • "Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved" by James Brown (vocals: "Get involved, get into it")
  • "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party)" by The Beastie Boys (vocals: "Fight for your right")

Adaptations

The track "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" was covered by Tricky on the album Maxinquaye. It was also covered by thrash metal group Sepultura on their Revolusongs EP. During their 1996 European tour Rage Against the Machine would frequently play alternative versions of this song including one at the Pinkpop Festival where they brought Chuck D out onto the stage to perform with them. This was later included on the Live & Rare album and the People of the Sun 10" single. The West-Coast Hip-Hop group The Pharcyde also referenced the song "Black Steel in the Hour of Choas" in their song "Officer" on their album "Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde", were the paraphrase the lyrics, saying "I got a letter from the DMV the other day/I opened and read it, it said they were suckers."

Chuck D recorded a new version of "Bring the Noise" in a 1991 collaboration with the thrash metal band Anthrax.

In 2008, the album was performed live in its entirety as part of the All Tomorrow's Parties-curated Don't Look Back series. First it was be debuted as a UK tour featuring special guest DJ Hank Shocklee (Bomb Squad), and then it appeared on July 18th, 2008 at Pitchfork Music Festival. Chuck D has expressed reservations about the format of the Don't Look Back series. [11]

On April 1 2008 BBC Radio 1 DJ Zane Lowe featured the album in a two-hour 'masterpiece' program. The album was played in its entirety, preceded by interviews with various prominent musicians.

Later Samples

References

  1. ↑ "Hip-Hop's Greatest Year: Fifteen Albums That Made Rap Explode", RollingStone.com, February 12, 2008. Retrieved on July 27, 2008.
  2. ↑ Otto, Jeff. "Rolling Stone Essential Albums of the 90s at Rocklist.net". Retrieved on 2007-06-02.
  3. ↑ "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back at AcclaimedMusic.net". AcclaimedMusic.net. Retrieved on 2007-05-03.
  4. ↑ "The Source's 100 Best Rap Albums at Rocklist.net". Retrieved on 2007-06-02.
  5. ↑ "The RS 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back review". RollingStone.com (2003-11-01). Retrieved on 2007-05-03.
  6. ↑ www.acclaimedmusic.net
  7. ↑ TIME.com - The All-TIME 100 Albums
  8. ↑ "Public Enemy - "Louder Than A Bomb" title influence". Retrieved on 1 April, 2007.
  9. ↑ "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back: Billboard Albums at Allmusic". Allmusic. Retrieved on 2007-04-01.
  10. ↑ "''It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back: Billboard Singles at Allmusic". Allmusic. Retrieved on 2007-04-01.
  11. ↑ Chuck D discusses the Don't Look Back shows on The Quietus
Public Enemy
Chuck D • Flavor Flav • Professor Griff • Terminator X • DJ Lord
Studio albums
Yo! Bum Rush the Show • It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back • Fear of a Black Planet • Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black • Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age • There's a Poison Goin' On • Revolverlution • New Whirl Odor • Rebirth of a Nation • How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?
Live releases
Fight the Power… Live! • It Takes a Nation: London Invasion 1987 • Fight the Power: Greatest Hits Live!
Compilations
Greatest Misses • He Got Game (soundtrack) • Power to the People and the Beats: Public Enemy's Greatest Hits • Beats and Places
Singles
"Public Enemy #1" • "You're Gonna Get Yours" • "Rebel Without a Pause" • "Bring the Noise" • "Don't Believe the Hype" • "Night of the Living Baseheads" • "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" • "Fight the Power" • "Welcome to the Terrordome" • "Brothers Gonna Work It Out" • "911 Is a Joke" • "Can't Do Nuttin' For Ya Man" • "Can't Truss It" • "Shut 'Em Down" • "Nighttrain" • "Hazy Shade of Criminal" • "Give It Up" • "I Stand Accused" • "So Watcha Gonna Do Now" • "He Got Game" • "Do You Wanna Go Our Way???" • "Black is Back"
Related articles
Discography