User:East718/PE

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It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
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)
Singles from East718/PE
  1. "Bring the Noise"
    Released: 1988 (CSK-2916)
  2. "Don't Believe the Hype"
    Released: 1988 (44-07846)
  3. "Night of the Living Baseheads"
    Released: 1988 (44-08121)
  4. "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos"
    Released: 1989 (44-68216)
Back cover

ALL REFERENCES NOT IN THE NOTES SECTION NEED TO BE CONVERTED TO {{CITATION}} It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is the second studio album by American

the 500 greatest albums of all time, and is the highest ranked hip hop album on the list.[4]

Uncharacteristically aggressive for its time, It Takes a Nation of Millions represented a radical shift in the hip hop zeitgeist towards

platinum by the RIAA in 1989.[8]

Music

Lyrical content

write something here

  • focus on the struggles of black nationalism, particularly in "party for your right to fight" and "black steel in the hour of chaos"
  • a section on misogynism - from "sophisticated bitch" to "she watch channel zero?!"
  • flavor flav raps?
  • something about the instrumental interludes

Production

After using Rick Rubin's rap-rock crossovers and coruscating guitars on Yo! Bum Rush the Show, Chuck D began experimenting with samples of musique concrète in his search for a new production style.[9][10] With the addition of hip hop's first notable production camp, The Bomb Squad, to his entourage of disc jockey Terminator X and dance choreographer Professor Griff, Chuck D stepped away from full-time production duties and instructed his production team to engineer a disturbing, disconcerting, and provocational soundscape that would become "music's worst nightmare."[10]

The Bomb Squad, who produced the album under the lead of

avant-garde noise,[5] they engineered what Chuck D referred to as a "sonic wall": a dense, chaotic mix of "organized noise".[12] The Bomb Squad's practice of not just replicating samples, but manipulating them to suit their needs and discarding them afterwards was praised especially for elevating the technique to an art form despite the controversy associated with it.[13] Public Enemy had little remorse for their production team's actions, bragging on "Caught, Can We Get a Witness?" that "you can't copyright no beats—what, are they crazy?"[14]

With the notable exceptions of 3 Feet High and Rising, The Chronic, and other albums using interpolation, the album would become both one of the first and last to be backed by this eclectic style as future endeavors by other artists ran into legal problems, namely copyright infringement.[15] It Takes a Nation of Millions was made before record labels sought permission for usage of samples, and by 1992 the dense productions of Public Enemy became too cost-prohibitive to secure rights for. With the movement of rap from a fringe genre to one with mainstream credibility, record labels began to invest less in upcoming artists, effectively stifling smaller-budgeted independent acts and preventing them from experimenting with samples in any ground-breaking fashion.[11] Like other parts of the movement which Public Enemy started, their musical style fell by the wayside and became a casualty of hip hop's increasing corporate demeanor.[12]

Singles

It Takes a Nation of Millions featured four singles and three music videos, including "Bring the Noise", which was previously included on the soundtrack for the 1987 film

Less Than Zero and met with critical acclaim.[16]

  • write on specific songs, as opposed to "lyrical content" which will deal with broader issues

title to come

put some human interest bullshit here to make the reader happy, nobody wants to digest something as heavy as this album's content without some relief... critical reception? significance to rap/rock? fluff about chuck d?

dois to track down

fulltext

iz in bmp, nooooo!

much too much, refer to pdf

some crap

http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/061024/A721.htm

"it takes a nation of millions" - the offset is 30

newsbank

just fucking search it! and lexis too!

awol

more crap

integrate this somewhere

  • "Party for Your Right to Fight" is a rearrangement of the Beastie Boys' song, "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)" (frequently referred to as: "Fight For Your Right to Party").
  • The Vans shoe company released Public Enemy shoes for their Vans Supreme line of premium shoes. On the soles of the shoes is written; "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back."

Track listing

# Title Time Producers Samples cite!
1 "Countdown to Armageddon" 1:40 The Bomb Squad
2 "Bring the Noise" 3:46 The Bomb Squad
3 "Don't Believe the Hype" 5:19 The Bomb Squad
  • "Synthetic Substitution" by Melvin Bliss
  • "Do the Funky Penguin" by Rufus Thomas
  • "I Got Ants in my Pants" by James Brown
  • "Escape-ism" by James Brown
4 "Cold Lampin' with Flavor" 4:17 The Bomb Squad
5 "Terminator X to the Edge of Panic" 4:31 Terminator X
6 "Mind Terrorist" 1:21 The Bomb Squad
7 "Louder Than a Bomb" 3:37 The Bomb Squad
  • "Long Red" by Mountain
  • "It's Yours" by T La Rock
  • "AJ Scratch" by Kurtis Blow
  • "Here We Go" (Live) by Run-D.M.C.
  • "One for the Treble" by Davy DMX
  • "Feel Like Making Love" by Bob James
  • "Who's Gonna Take the Weight?" by Kool & the Gang
  • "Fantastic Freaks at the Dixie" by Grand Wizard Theodore
  • "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)" by The Beastie Boys
8 "Caught, Can We Get a Witness?" 4:53 The Bomb Squad
  • "Blow Your Head" by The J.B.'s
  • "Son of Shaft" by Bar-Kays
  • "Theme from Shaft" by Isaac Hayes
  • "Terminator X Speaks with His Hands" by Public Enemy
  • "Soul Power" by James Brown
  • "Hot Pants... I'm Coming, I'm Coming, I'm Coming" by Bobby Byrd
9 "Show Em Whatcha Got" 1:56 The Bomb Squad
10 "She Watch Channel Zero?!" 3:49 The Bomb Squad, Professor Griff
11 "Night of the Living Baseheads" 3:14 The Bomb Squad
12 "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" 6:23 The Bomb Squad
  • "Bring the Noise" by Public Enemy
  • "Little Green Apples" by
    The Escorts
  • "Living for the City" by Stevie Wonder
  • "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" by Isaac Hayes
13 "Security of the First World" 1:20 The Bomb Squad
14 "Rebel Without a Pause" 5:02 The Bomb Squad, Terminator X
  • "The Grunt" by The J.B.'s
  • "Funky Drummer" by James Brown
  • "Get Up Offa That Thing" by James Brown
  • "I Don't Know What This World Is Coming To" by the Soul Children
15 "Prophets of Rage" 3:18 The Bomb Squad
16 "Party for Your Right to Fight" 3:24 The Bomb Squad
  • "Do That Stuff" by Parliament
  • "I Know You Got Soul" by Bobby Byrd
  • "Butt-to-Butt Resuscitation" by Funkadelic
  • "
    Bob Marley & The Wailers
  • "Sing a Simple Song" by Sly & the Family Stone
  • "Get Up, Get Into It, Get Involved" by James Brown
  • "(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (To Party!)" by The Beastie Boys

Chart positions

Album

Album chart positions are taken from Billboard magazine (North America).[18]

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).[19] move these to the correct places

Song B-side Chart (1988) Peak position
"Bring the Noise" "Are You My Woman?" U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks 56
"Don't Believe the Hype" "Prophets of Rage" 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" "Cold Lampin' with Flavor" U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks 62
"Terminator X to the Edge of Panic"
Song B-side Chart (1989) Peak position
"Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" "Caught, Can We Get a Witness?"
(Pre Black Steel Ballistic Felony Dub)
U.S. Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks 86
U.S. Hot Rap Singles
11

Notes

  1. ^ Brackett & Hoard 2004, pp. 661–662 track down specific text
  2. ^ Ashby 2006, p. 516
  3. ^ Hoye 2003, p. 54
  4. ^ Levy & Van Zandt 2006 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFLevyVan_Zandt2006 (help) track down specific text and page number
  5. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference erlewine was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Forman et al. 2004, pp. 307
  7. ^ Ripani 2006, p. 143 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFRipani2006 (help) track down specific text
  8. ^ Chang & Campbell 2005, p. 280
  9. ^ Friskics-Warren 2005, p. 184
  10. ^ a b Howard 2004, p. 274
  11. ^ a b Ross & Rose 1994, pp. 129–130 track down specific text
  12. ^ a b Watkins 2006, p. 117
  13. ^ Harrington & Bielby 2000, p. 247
  14. ^ Harrington 2002, p. 441
  15. ^ Perry 2004, p. 115 track down specific text
  16. ^ White 1995, pp. 82–83 harvnb error: multiple targets (2×): CITEREFWhite1995 (help) track down specific text
  17. ^ Chang & Campbell 2005, p. 263
  18. ^ Ashby 2006, p. 476
  19. ^ Allmusic editors 2006

References

i need locations

needs uncommenting