Hank Shocklee

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Around Hank Shocklee arose The Bomb Squad, the production team behind the hip hop group Public Enemy. The team included Keith Shocklee, Eric Sadler and Chuck D, the rapper of Public Enemy, who contributed under the name Carl Ryder. From the debut Yo! Bum Rush the Show (1987), The Bomb Squad made the music for the group. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988), the single Fight the Power (1989) for the film Do the Right Thing and Fear of a Black Planet (1990) followed.

Music and breakthrough

The productions of The Bomb Squad were dense and full. In a single track they sometimes used dozens of samples, and they deliberately sought out harsh, grating sounds that were not neatly in tune. In this way a wall of sound arose that sounded as restless and urgent as Chuck D's political lyrics. The team also worked for other artists, such as Ice Cube on AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted (1990), Slick Rick, LL Cool J and Bell Biv DeVoe, and made remixes for Sinéad O'Connor, Peter Gabriel and Janet Jackson, among others.

Influence

The working method of Shocklee and his team showed that a sampler could be an instrument for building a new sound of one's own. They stacked fragments from old records into something that no longer resembled the sources. The Bomb Squad is counted among the most important hip hop producers.

Listening

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Mixtape 6: Fear of a Black Planet^NL Reader