bring the noise tour 1988

• Statistics Stats
• You are here:
• Public Enemy
• Tour Statistics
• Song Statistics Stats
• Tour Statistics Stats
• Other Statistics

All Setlists

• All setlist songs  ( 937 )

Years on tour

• 2024  ( 2 )
• 2023  ( 4 )
• 2020  ( 1 )
• 2019  ( 12 )
• 2016  ( 23 )
• 2015  ( 45 )
• 2014  ( 27 )
• 2013  ( 54 )
• 2012  ( 47 )
• 2011  ( 32 )
• 2010  ( 42 )
• 2009  ( 12 )
• 2008  ( 31 )
• 2007  ( 30 )
• 2006  ( 13 )
• 2005  ( 12 )
• 2004  ( 5 )
• 2003  ( 28 )
• 2002  ( 13 )
• 2001  ( 3 )
• 2000  ( 4 )
• 1999  ( 32 )
• 1998  ( 26 )
• 1995  ( 10 )
• 1994  ( 26 )
• 1993  ( 1 )
• 1992  ( 85 )
• 1991  ( 57 )
• 1990  ( 97 )
• 1989  ( 23 )
• 1988  ( 85 )
• 1987  ( 54 )
• 1982  ( 1 )

Show all tours

• 1987 Def Jam Tour  ( 15 )
• 25 Anniversary Tour  ( 1 )
• Apocalypse '91 - The Enemy Strikes Black  ( 2 )
• Bring the Noise Tour  ( 39 )
• Def Jam European Tour  ( 22 )
• Fear of a Black Planet 20th Anniversary Tour  ( 7 )
• Fight the Power  ( 1 )
• Flavour of Hip Hop  ( 1 )
• Gods of Rap 2019 Tour  ( 1 )
• Greatest Misses  ( 2 )
• Hip Hop Gods Tour Revue  ( 5 )
• It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back  ( 25 )
• Kings of the Mic  ( 25 )
• Sizzling Summer Tour '90  ( 1 )
• Smokin' Grooves 1998  ( 17 )
• The 40th Tour  ( 8 )
• The Art of Rap  ( 5 )
• The Day is my Enemy  ( 1 )
• The Hip Hop Gods Classic Tourfest Revue  ( 3 )
• The Hip Hop Gods Tour Revue  ( 6 )
• Tour Of A Black Planet  ( 63 )
• Tune In - Turn On - Load Out  ( 8 )
• UK FEAR Invasion  ( 1 )
• Avg Setlist

Concert Map

• Sep 14, 2024
• Sep 13, 2024
• Sep 12, 2024
• Sep 11, 2024
• Sep 10, 2024
• Sep 9, 2024
• FAQ | Help | About
• Terms of Service
• Ad Choices | Privacy Policy
• Songtexte.com

The Story Behind The Song: Bring The Noise by Anthrax and Public Enemy

Anthrax’s Scott Ian and Public Enemy frontman Chuck D look back on the birth of a rap metal landmark

In an age where music fans have access to more varied sounds than ever, it’s easy to take the cross-pollinaton of metal and hip hop culture for granted. Back in the summer of 1991, however, such genre-mashing was practically unheard of.

Almost a decade before nu metal ’s commercial peak, and a good year before before Rage Against The Machine ’s funk metal assault, the roots of rap metal were being sown by two bands raised in the streets of New York, from scenes that, on the face of it, couldn’t have been more different.

While Run-DMC and Aerosmith may have got the rap-rock ball rolling five years earlier with Walk This Way , it was when thrash linchpins Anthrax hooked up with hip hop pioneers Public Enemy that history was truly made. Producing a fresh, take on PE’s 1988 single Bring The Noise , the collaboration spawned a hit single, a tour and a sound that would change heavy music.

We sat down with Anthrax’s Scott Ian and Public Enemy’s Chuck D to get the story on the spark that started a music revolution.

How did you first hear of each other?

Scott Ian: “I was a huge hip hop fan. I listened to Run-DMC as much as I listened to Iron Maiden . Public Enemy quickly became my favourite band after hearing them for the first time in 1986 or 1987, so I’d had the idea of working with them for years.” Chuck D: “I was shown a copy of Melody Maker in 1987, and the first page had the Monsters Of Rock festival at Donington in Britain, and in that picture was Scott with a Public Enemy shirt. I was like, ‘Whoa!’ I reached out and said, ‘Thanks a lot, you guys,’ because that was awesome.”  Scott: “The whole thing was organic, the way it came together. It just came out of mutual respect after Public Enemy mentioned us in the original Bring The Noise . Getting to hear that line [‘ Wax is for Anthrax, still it can rock bells ’] was a giant kick in the ass. We couldn’t believe that our favourite rap band was namechecking us in a song.”

So how did the song come together?

Metal Hammer Newsletter

Sign up below to get the latest from Metal Hammer, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox!

Scott: “Chuck’s voice and my guitar sound made complete sense together in my brain. I thought it could be super fucking heavy!” Chuck: “I was approached by the guys about me rapping over a version of Bring The Noise that Anthrax had decided to ‘metallise’. I said, ‘Why don’t you guys just record it? Because I already did it, you know.’ I didn’t get why I had to get down and do it again, because the original Bring The Noise was not too long before that.” Scott: “We recorded my riff and the drums and made a fucking crushing track. We thought we’d use it for Anthrax if it didn’t work out with Public Enemy. We sent over a cassette, and Chuck called us and said, ‘We love it. How do we do it?’ We spent months trying and failing to get into the studio at the same time, so they sent us the vocals, and me and Charlie [Benante, drummer] spent a week cutting and pasting them on the instrumental tracks. A whole week! That’d take five minutes now, but it took hours and hours a day. Everybody thought we were crazy, but we said, ‘No, we’re gonna fucking do this!’ and kept going until it was perfect. For years, we never told anybody how it was done: everybody assumed that the bands were in a room together.” Chuck: “The key to the new version was that myself and [Public Enemy rapper Flavor] Flav had vocals that cut through the guitars. In hip hop, it’s about the voice on top of the music, and we could take more ‘noise’ – as we called it – because we felt that our voices could cut through anything.”

Scott, you ended up rapping on it!

Scott: “Knowing that I was going to have to rap the third verse was intimidating. I’m not a rapper! I was just a guy who loves Public Enemy. If I’m gonna get on a mic in front of Chuck, who I consider to be the greatest rapper of all time, I had to be prepared.”

And stuff started taking off once the song was out there…

Chuck: “The video we shot was significant, because there was an equal chance that both bands would lose audiences. The hip hop audience could have said, ‘Public Enemy sold out to these metal guys,’ and the metal crowd could have said, ‘What are you doing, messing with this hip hop music?’ There was a possibility of loss. It challenged us.” Scott: “Then we went on tour together [in 1991], with Primus and the Young Black Teenagers as the support bands. The shows were fucking awesome.” Chuck: “The idea came about after the song was done. I did a photoshoot and an interview with Anthrax in Salt Lake City. Afterwards we said, ‘We have this song, why not do a tour?’ We made up our minds in less than five minutes. We said, ‘What can stop us? Let’s do it!’ And the tour was magic.” Scott: “We were hoping that the crowds would be 50% white and 50% black, and open up a new world of buying power for hip hop, but that was far from the truth. Chuck predicted that it would be 90% white, and he was right.” Chuck: “The racial mix was predominantly white, but the tastes of the crowds were more like 70% metal, 30% hip hop.” Scott: “Still, a lightbulb went on over a lot of people’s heads at the end of the night, when we played Bring The Noise together. A lot of people’s eyes were opened: the rap fans were very polite to us and the rock fans were very polite to Public Enemy. A lot of mutual respect was shown.”

Did you realise at the time the legacy you were creating?

Chuck: “It was the first time that a metal artist dared to cover a rap record. You’d had it the other way around, with Run-DMC covering a metal record [ Walk This Way with Aerosmith], and us having a Slayer sample in our song She Watch Channel Zero?! , and the Beastie Boys having Led Zeppelin in their sound, but Scott and Charlie metallised hip hop. They ‘Anthrax-ised’ it, bringing it into the metal world. It was a total discovery.” Scott: “As we played that song, we’d see a sea of thousands of people, all understanding what they had just witnessed. In a sense, we taught people a lesson, every night, and it opened the door for the music that came in the 90s.”

What do you think of the bands that came through that door?

Chuck: “I liked some later rap metal: I enjoyed Rage Against The Machine’s music very much. But any time that record companies start trying to exploit something, it turns into something else. When Scotty and Charlie did it, it had an organic spirit.” 

How do you look back now at Bring The Noise and what it achieved?

Chuck: “ Bring The Noise was the logical evolution of a seed that was planted. Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys were the precursors, but before that there had been Johnny Lydon collaborating with Afrika Bambaataa [on World Destruction ] in 1984.” Scott: “Every generation needs its music, and nothing comes close to moving me as much as Public Enemy did. They created something new. We added a new branch to the heavy metal tree, but they created a whole tree!” 

Joel McIver is a British author. The best-known of his 25 books to date is the bestselling Justice For All: The Truth About Metallica, first published in 2004 and appearing in nine languages since then. McIver's other works include biographies of Black Sabbath, Slayer, Ice Cube and Queens Of The Stone Age. His writing also appears in newspapers and magazines such as The Guardian, Metal Hammer, Classic Rock and Rolling Stone, and he is a regular guest on music-related BBC and commercial radio.

Kiss icon Gene Simmons gives new Linkin Park lineup his backing

“When we first playing Reading, we got everything thrown at us. The whole crowd hated us.” Bring Me The Horizon’s Oli Sykes on the hurdles the metal giants overcame to become one of Britain’s biggest bands

Jane's Addiction cancel next show after bust-up and guitarist Dave Navarro posts cryptic "goodnight" message on social media

Most Popular

• Additional Artists
• Notable Equipment

Search form

You are here, bring the noise tour.

• Read more about Primus

Anthrax / Public Enemy

• Read more about Anthrax / Public Enemy

Category : 1988 concerts in the United States

Subcategories.

This category has only the following subcategory.

• Human Rights Now! ‎ (3 F)

Media in category "1988 concerts in the United States"

The following 6 files are in this category, out of 6 total.

• 1988 concerts by country
• 1988 music events in the United States
• Concerts in the United States by year

Navigation menu

See Public Enemy’s Chuck D, Anthrax Reunite to ‘Bring the Noise’

By Kory Grow

Public Enemy ‘s Chuck D reunited with Anthrax last year to perform the genre-smashing rendition of “Bring the Noise” they released together in 1991. The hip-hop artist’s appearance was part of Anthrax’s 40th-anniversary livestream, which was broadcast from a Los Angeles soundstage last July. The whole celebration is available now as Anthrax XL on Blu-ray, CD, and digitally.

Chuck bounces around the stage as he raps his verses, and guitarist Scott Ian and bassist Frank Bello shout Flavor Flav’s parts. The aerobic performance ends just like it did on the collaboration’s 1991 single, with Chuck D toasting drummer Charlie Benante, saying, “Hear the drummer get wicked.”

“Happy 40th to the greatest,” Chuck D says at the end of the video. “Nothing tops the feeling, every once in a while, I get invited by the band to come out and do ‘Bring the Noise.’ Nothing tops the joy.”

A few years back, Anthrax reflected on connecting with Public Enemy for a mini-documentary put together by the Smithsonian Museum of American History. In the clip, the group recounts how they had written their own rap song, “I’m the Man,” in the late Eighties and eventually caught Chuck D’s attention by how frequently Ian wore a Public Enemy shirt. Although Chuck was initially wary of the collaboration, they were able to convince him by recording their own metal version of the song and putting his verses to it. “Everybody said, a rap group and a metal group, how can that be done?” Bello says in the clip. “It can be done, and it can be done right. And we did it right.”

Anthrax, who will be on tour this summer with Black Label Society and Hatebreed, also released videos for “Aftershock” and “The Devil You Know” from Anthrax XL .

The Postal Service Will Go on Indefinite Hiatus After Wrapping 'Give Up' 20th Anniversary Tour

• By Jon Blistein

Mark Hoppus to Release Tell-All Memoir: 'Shit Gets Dark'

• Booked for a Book
• By Tomás Mier

'Stereophonic' Extends Broadway Run for Final Time, Adds New Cast Members

• Let the Music Play
• By Kalia Richardson

Perry Farrell Apologizes After Jane's Addiction Cancel Tour: 'My Breaking Point Resulted in Inexcusable Behavior'

• Apology Tour

Juanes Helps 'El Tiny' Desk Kick Off Latinx Heritage Month

• Mi Gente Latino

Most Popular

Jane's addiction concert ends abruptly after perry farrell throws a punch at dave navarro, is forced offstage by crew, "it's a cult, and walt's the messiah": meet the couple who sued disney over secretive club 33, jason kelce may have accidentally revealed taylor swift & travis kelce made a massive relationship step, michigan judge removed from bench after declaring "i’m a new racist" in leaked audio, you might also like, former moviepass ceo mitch lowe pleads guilty to securities fraud conspiracy, vince reports $74.2 million in second-quarter sales, the best yoga mats for any practice, according to instructors, pedro almodóvar describes his latest era in life as ‘more somber, more austere, more melancholic, less certain’, most valuable nfl teams 2024: cowboys first to top $10 billion.

Rolling Stone is a part of Penske Media Corporation. © 2024 Rolling Stone, LLC. All rights reserved.

The 20 greatest hip-hop tours of all time

Our ranking, inspired by all the great rap acts on the road this summer, is 100% correct

L ook around and it might feel like we’re in a golden age of rap tours.

Rhyme greats De La Soul recently finished a European tour billed The Gods of Rap with the legendary Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan and Gang Starr’s DJ Premier. And the summer concert season is set to feature even more high-profile hip-hop shows.

West Coast giant Snoop Dogg is headlining the Masters of Ceremony tour with such heavyweights as 50 Cent, DMX, Ludacris and The Lox. Lil Wayne is doing a string of solo gigs and will launch a 38-city tour with pop punk heroes blink-182 starting June 27. Stoner rap fave Wiz Khalifa will headline a 29-city trek on July 9. The reunited Wu-Tang Clan continue their well-received 36 Chambers 25th Anniversary Celebration Tour, and Cardi B will be barnstorming through the beginning of August.

With all this rap talent on the road, The Undefeated decided to take a crack at ranking the 20 greatest hip-hop tours of all time.

Our list was compiled using several rules: First and foremost, the headliners for every tour must be from the hip-hop/rap genre. That means huge record-breaking, co-headlining live runs such as Beyoncé and Jay-Z’s On the Run II Tour were not included, given Queen Bey’s rhythm and blues/pop leanings. We also took into account the cultural and historical impact of each tour. Several artists, ranging from Run-DMC and Salt-N-Pepa to MC Hammer and Nicki Minaj, were included because they broke new ground, beyond how much their tours grossed. For years, hip-hop has battled the perception that it doesn’t translate well to live performance. This list challenges such myopic ideas.

With only 20 spots, some of rap’s most storied live gigs had to be left off the list. Many were casualties of overlap, such as Run-DMC and the Beastie Boys’ memorable 1987 Together Forever Tour and the Sizzling Summer Tour ’90, which featured Public Enemy, Heavy D & the Boyz, Kid ’n Play, Digital Underground and Queen Latifah. The 12-date Lyricist Lounge Tour, a 1998 showcase that featured Big Punisher, The Roots, De La Soul, Black Star, Common, Black Moon’s Buckshot and Fat Joe, also just missed the cut.

You may notice that Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. are missing from the list. But this was no momentary lapse of sanity. ’Pac’s and Biggie’s brief runs took place when rap shows were beginning to become a rarity, leaving most of their memorable stage moments to one-off shows. Dirty South royalty Outkast’s strongest live outing, when Big Boi and Andre 3000 reunited in 2014, was not included because it was less of a tour and more of a savvy festival run.

There are other honorable mentions: Def Jam Survival of the Illest Tour (1998), which featured DMX, the Def Squad, Foxy Brown, Onyx and Cormeg a; the Ruff Ryders/Cash Money Tour (2000); Anger Management 3 Tour with Eminem and 50 Cent (2005); J. Cole’s Dollar & A Dream Tour (2013); and Drake’s Aubrey & The Three Migos LIVE! tour (2018).

With that said, on with the show!

20. Pinkprint Tour (2015)

Nicki Minaj, featuring Meek Mill, Rae Sremmurd, Tinashe and Dej Loaf

The most lucrative hip-hop trek headlined by a woman also served as the coronation of Nicki Minaj as hip-hop’s newest queen. What made The Pinkprint Tour such a gloriously over-the-top affair was its seamless balance of dramatic Broadway-like theater, silly high jinks and a flex of artistic ferocity. One moment Minaj was in a black lace dress covering her eyes while mourning the loss of a turbulent union during “The Crying Game.” The next, she was backing up her memorable appearance on Kanye West’s “Monster” as the most wig-snatching guest verse of that decade. And the Barbz went wild.

Gross : $22 million from 38 shows

Kendrick Lamar performs during the Festival d’ete de Quebec on Friday, July 7, 2017, in Quebec City, Canada.

Amy Harris/Invision/AP

19. The Damn. Tour (2017-18)

Kendrick Lamar, featuring Travis Scott, DRAM and YG

When you have dropped two of the most critically lauded albums of your era in Good Kid, M.A.A.D City (2012) and To Pimp a Butterfly (2015), there’s already an embarrassment of riches to pull from for any live setting. But Kendrick Lamar understood that to live up to his bold “greatest rapper alive” proclamation he also needed populist anthems to turn on the masses. The Damn. album and world tour presented just that, as he led his followers each night in an elevating rap-along. It kicked off with a martial arts film, a cheeky nod to Lamar’s Kung Fu Kenny alter ego, before launching into the chest-beating “DNA.”

Gross: More than $62.7 million from 62 shows

Drake and Future performing on stage during The Summer Sixteen Tour at AmericanAirlines Arena on Aug. 30, 2016 in Miami.

Getty Images

18. Summer Sixteen Tour (2016)

Drake and Future

This mammoth, co-headlining tour was a no-brainer: Drake, the hit-making heartthrob, Canada’s clap-back native son and part-time goofy Toronto Raptors superfan. And Future, the self-anointed Atlanta Trap King, gleeful nihilist and producer, whose slapping, codeine-addled bars made him a controversial figure on and off record. The magic of this yin/yang pairing shined brightest when they teamed up to perform such tracks as “Jumpman” and “Big Rings” off their industry-shaking 2015 mixtape What a Time to Be Alive . When the smoke settled, Drake and Future walked away with the highest-earning hip-hop tour of all time.

Gross : $84.3 million from 54 shows

From left to right, Sandra ‘Pepa’ Denton, DJ Spinderella and Cheryl ‘Salt’ James perform on stage.

17. Salt-N-Pepa Tour (1988)

Featuring Keith Sweat, Heavy D & the Boyz, EU, Johnny Kemp, Full Force, Kid ’n Play and Rob Base

It may seem preposterous in this outspoken, girl-power age of Cardi B, Lizzo, Megan Thee Stallion, Kash Doll, Young M.A, Tierra Whack and City Girls, but back in the early ’80s, the thought of a “female” rhyme group anchoring a massive tour seemed out of reach. That was before the 1986 debut of Salt-N-Pepa, the pioneering group who’s racked up a plethora of groundbreaking moments and sold more than 15 million albums. The first female rap act to go platinum ( Hot, Cool & Vicious ) and score a Top 20 hit on the Billboard 200 (“Push It”), Salt-N-Pepa led a diverse, arena-hopping showcase that gave the middle finger to any misogynistic notions. And Salt, Pepa and DJ Spinderella continue to be road warriors. They’re currently on New Kids on the Block’s arena-packing Mixtape Tour.

Encore: Opening-act standouts Heavy D & the Boyz would co-headline their own tour the following year off the platinum success of their 1989 masterpiece Big Tyme .

16. Glow in the Dark Tour (2008)

Kanye West, featuring Rihanna, N.E.R.D, Nas, Lupe Fiasco and Santigold

Yes, Kanye West has had more ambitious showings (2013-14’s button-pushing Yeezus Tour) and more aesthetically adventurous gigs (the 2016 Saint Pablo Tour featured a floating stage, which hovered above the audience). But never has the Chicago-born visionary sounded so hungry, focused and optimistic than he did on his first big solo excursion, the Glow in the Dark Tour.

Before the Kardashian reality-show level freak-outs and MAGA hat obsessing, West was just a kid who wanted to share his spacey sci-fi dreamscape with the public, complete with a talking computerized spaceship named Jane. Even the rotating opening acts — topped off by the coolest pop star on the planet, Rihanna — were ridiculously talented.

Gross : $30.8 million from 49 shows

15. I Am Music Tour (2008-09)

Lil Wayne, featuring T-Pain and Keyshia Cole

Between 2002 and 2007, Young Money general Lil Wayne was hip-hop’s hardest-working force of nature, releasing an astounding 16 mixtapes. Then Weezy broke from the pack with the massively successful I Am Music Tour. The bulk of Lil Wayne’s 90-minute set was propelled by his career-defining 2008 album Tha Carter III , which by the show’s second leg had already sold 2 million copies. By the time T-Pain joined the New Orleans spitter for a playful battle of the featured acts, Lil Wayne’s takeover was complete.

Gross : $42 million from 78 shows

MC Hammer, performing on stage in 1990, had a large entourage for his Hammer Don’t Hurt ’Em Tour.

14. Hammer Don’t Hurt ’Em Tour (1990-91)

MC Hammer, featuring En Vogue and Vanilla Ice

With 15 background dancers, 12 singers, seven musicians, two DJs, eight security men, three valets and a private Boeing 727 plane, MC Hammer’s world tour was eye-popping. Rap fans had never seen anything of the magnitude of the Hammer Don’t Hurt ’Em stadium gigs, which recalled Parliament-Funkadelic’s army-size traveling heyday in the 1970s.

Each night the Oakland, California, dancing machine, born Stanley Burrell, left pools of sweat onstage as if he was the second coming of James Brown. If the sight of more than 30 folks onstage doing the Running Man, with MC Hammer breaking into his signature typewriter dance during “U Can’t Touch This,” didn’t make you get up, you should have checked your pulse.

Gross : $26.3 million from 138 shows

13. Things Fall Apart! Tour (1999)

Each gig was a revelation. This was no surprise given that Philadelphia hip-hop collective The Roots, formed by longtime friends drummer Questlove and lead lyricist Black Thought, had a reputation for being unpredictable. Still, it’s ironic that a group known for being the ultimate road warriors — they were known for touring 45 weeks a year before becoming the house band on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in 2014 — is represented on this list by one of their shortest tours.

But the brilliant Things Fall Apart club and hall sprint, which took place throughout March 1999, proved to be an epic blitz fueled by the band’s most commercially lauded material to date, Questlove’s steady percussive heart and the inhuman breath control of Black Thought.

Encore: Neo soul diva Jill Scott, who co-wrote The Roots’ breakout single “You Got Me,” gave fans an early taste of her artistry as she joined the band onstage for some serious vocal workouts.

12. House of Blues’ Smokin’ Grooves Tour (1996)

The Fugees, Cypress Hill, A Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes, Ziggy Marley and Spearhead

While gangsta rap was topping the charts, the hip-hop industry faced a bleak situation on the touring front. Concert promoters were scared to book “urban” acts in large venues. Enter the House of Blues’ Kevin Morrow and Cara Lewis, the booking agent who achieved mythic status when she received a shout-out on Eric B. & Rakim’s 1987 anthem “Paid in Full.” The pair envisioned a Lollapalooza-like tour heavy on hip-hop and good vibes. The first ’96 incarnation came out of the gate with Haitian-American rap trio The Fugees, multiplatinum weed ambassadors Cypress Hill, A Tribe Called Quest and Busta Rhymes.

Encore: The series, which has also featured Outkast, The Roots, Lauryn Hill, Gang Starr, The Pharcyde, Foxy Brown and Public Enemy, is credited with opening the door for a return to more straight-ahead hip-hop tours led by Jay-Z, DMX and Dr. Dre.

Kanye West (left) and Jay-Z (right) perform in concert during the Watch The Throne Tour, Sunday, Nov. 6, 2011, in East Rutherford, N.J.

11. Watch the Throne Tour (2011-12)

Jay-Z and Kanye West

In better times, Jay-Z and Kanye West exhibited lofty friendship goals we could all aspire to, with their bromance popping on the platinum album Watch the Throne. Before their much-publicized fallout, Jay-Z and West took their act on the road for the mother of all double-bill spectacles.

Two of hip-hop’s greatest traded classics such as the ominous “Where I’m From” (Jay-Z) and soaring “Jesus Walks” (West) from separate stages on opposite sides of the venue. Those lucky enough to catch the tour can still recall the dream tag team launching into their encore of “N—as in Paris” amid roars from thousands of revelers.

Gross : $75.6 million from 63 shows

10. The Miseducation Tour (1999)

Lauryn Hill, featuring Outkast

In 1998, Lauryn Hill wasn’t just the best woman emcee or the best emcee alive and kicking. The former standout Fugees member was briefly the voice of her generation as she rode the multiplatinum, multi-Grammy success of her solo debut The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill . By February 1999, it was time to take the show on the road. Hill and her 10-piece band went beyond the hype, especially when they tore through a blistering take of the heartbreaking “Ex-Factor.”

Encore: Outkast (Atlantans Andre 3000 and Big Boi) rocked the house backed by some conspicuous props, including two front grilles of a Cadillac and a throwback Ford truck, kicked off their own headlining Stanklove theater tour in early 2001.

9. No Way Out Tour (1997-98)

Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs, Lil’ Kim, Ma$e, Busta Rhymes, Foxy Brown, 112, The Lox, Usher, Kid Capri, Lil’ Cease and Jay-Z

The Los Angeles Times headline spoke volumes: “Combs to Headline Rare Rap Tour.” Combs, of course, is Sean “Diddy” Combs, the music, fashion, television and liquor mogul who Forbes estimates now has a net worth of $820 million. But back then, the hustler formerly known as Puff Daddy was struggling to keep his Bad Boy Records afloat after the March 9, 1997, murder of Brooklyn, New York, rhyme king The Notorious B.I.G.

But out of unspeakable tragedy rose Combs’ chart-dominating No Way Out album and an emotional all-star tour. Despite suggestions that large-scale rap shows were too much of a financial gamble, Puffy rallied the Bad Boy troops and a few close friends and proved the naysayers wrong. The No Way Out Tour was both a cathartic exercise and a joyous celebration of life. “It’s All About the Benjamins” shook the foundation of every building as Combs, The Lox and a show-stealing Lil’ Kim made monetary excess look regal. And the heartfelt Biggie tribute “I’ll Be Missing You,” which was performed live at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, had audiences in tears.

Gross: $16 million

Rap stars, from left, Redman, foreground, DMX, Method Man and Jay-Z join host DJ Clue, background left, in a photo session on Jan. 26, 1999, in New York, after announcing their 40-city Hard Knock Life Tour beginning Feb. 27, in Charlotte, N.C.

AP Photo/Kathy Willens

8. Hard Knock Life Tour (1999)

Jay-Z, featuring DMX, Redman and Method Man

Jay-Z stands now as hip-hop’s most bankable live draw. In 2017, the newly minted billionaire’s 4:44 Live Nation production pulled in $44.7 million, becoming America’s all-time highest-grossing solo rap jaunt. It’s a long way from the days of Jay-Z lumbering through performances in a bulletproof vest when he was last off the bench on Puff Daddy’s No Way Out Tour.

Surely the seeds of Jay-Z’s evolution as a concert staple were first planted on his Hard Knock Life Tour, which was documented in the 2000 film Backstage . This was a confident, full-throated Shawn Carter, and he would need every ounce of charisma, with Ruff Ryders lead dog DMX enrapturing fans as if he were a Baptist preacher at a tent revival and the duo of Redman and Method Man rapping and swinging over crowds from ropes attached to moving cranes. What a gig.

Gross : $18 million

Flavor Flav (left) and Chuck D (right) of the rap group Public Enemy perform onstage in New York in August 1988.

7. Bring the Noise Tour (1988)

Public Enemy and Ice-T, featuring Eazy-E & N.W.A. and EPMD

There has always been a controlled chaos to a Public Enemy live show. Lead orator Chuck D jolted the crowd with a ferocity over the intricate, combustible production of the Bomb Squad while clock-rocking Flavor Flav, the prototypical hype man, jumped and zigzagged across the stage.

DJ Terminator X cut records like a cyborg and never smiled. And Professor Griff and the S1Ws exuded an intimidating, paramilitary presence. Armed with their 1988 watershed black nationalist work, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back , an album many music historians consider to be the pinnacle hip-hop statement, Public Enemy spearheaded arguably the most exciting rap tour ever conceived.

Encore: Along for the wild ride was the godfather of West Coast rap, Ice-T, who was putting on the rest of the country to Los Angeles’ violent Crips and Bloods gang wars with the too-real “Colors.” N.W.A. was just about to set the world on fire with their opus Straight Outta Compton. Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, MC Ren and DJ Yella unleashed a profanity-laced declaration of street knowledge that was instantly slapped with parental advisory stickers. And Erick and Parrish were making dollars with their rough and raw EPMD joint Strictly Business .

6. Nitro World Tour (1989-90)

LL Cool J, featuring Public Enemy, Eazy E & N.W.A., Big Daddy Kane, Too $hort, EPMD, Slick Rick, De La Soul and Special Ed

But not even LL Cool J was ready for the monster that was N.W.A. The self-proclaimed World’s Most Dangerous Group completely hijacked the spotlight when N.W.A. was warned by officials not to perform their controversial track “F— the Police” at Detroit’s Joe Louis Arena. A minute into the song, cops stormed the stage and shut down Eazy-E and crew’s volatile set, a wild scene that was later re-created in the 2015 N.W.A. biopic Straight Outta Compton .

Encore: A few months before the Detroit gig, N.W.A. was booed during a Run-DMC show at New York’s Apollo Theater. “We all had watched Showtime at the Apollo , so we all knew if it went bad what was gonna happen,” Ice Cube explained on the Complex story series What Had Happened Was … “We hit the stage, and as soon as they saw the Jheri curls, all you heard was ‘Boo!’ I mean, before we even got a line out, they was booin’. I guess they just wasn’t feeling the Jheri curls.”

Rappers Christopher “Kid” Reid and Christopher “Play” Nolan of Kid ‘n Play perform onstage during “The World’s Greatest Rap Show Ever” on Jan. 3, 1992 at Madison Square Garden in New York.

5. The World’s Greatest Rap Show Ever (1991-92)

Public Enemy, DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Fresh Prince, Queen Latifah, MC Lyte, Geto Boys, Kid ’n Play, Naughty by Nature, A Tribe Called Quest, Leaders of the New School and Oaktown’s 3.5.7.

Props to the promoter who put together this awesome collection of hip-hop firepower for a tour that at least aimed to live up to its tagline. What stands out the most was the early acknowledgment of rap’s reach beyond the East and West coasts. The significance of including Houston’s Geto Boys, for instance, cannot be overstated.

Scarface, Willie D and Bushwick Bill carried the flag for Southern hip-hop, winning over skeptical concertgoers with their raw dissection of ’hood paranoia, “ Mind Playing Tricks on Me ,” which had become a favorite on Yo! MTV Raps . Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince proved they could still rock the house with PG-rated material. (It helped that Will Smith had just begun the first season of NBC’s The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. ) Queen Latifah busted through the testosterone with the empowering “Ladies First.” And Naughty by Nature frequently knocked out the most crowd-pleasing set of the night with their promiscuous anthem “O.P.P.”

Encore: The World’s Greatest Rap Show Ever made its Jan. 3, 1992, stop at New York’s Madison Square Garden less than a week after nine people were fatally crushed at a hip-hop charity basketball game at City College of New York. Before Public Enemy’s powerful message of black self-determination, Heavy D, an organizer of the doomed event, made a plea for unity. Fans were certainly listening. The gig was a resounding, peaceful triumph.

LL Cool J performs at the Genesis Center in Gary, Indiana in December 1987.

Raymond Boyd/Getty Images

4. Def Jam Tour (1987)

LL Cool J, Whodini, Eric B. & Rakim, Doug E. Fresh and the Get Fresh Crew, and Public Enemy

From 1986 to 1992, New York’s Def Jam Records was the premier hip-hop label. Its roster of artists, which included Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys, EPMD and Slick Rick, was unparalleled in range and cultural dominance. So when it came time for partners Russell Simmons and Rick Rubin to spread the Def Jam gospel on its first international tour, the imprint’s biggest star, LL Cool J, was chosen to lead the way. And he didn’t disappoint.

James Todd Smith strutted out of a giant neon boombox sporting a Kangol hat, dookie rope gold chain and Adidas jacket. Of course, that jacket would soon be thrown to the floor as a shirtless Ladies Love Cool James tore through his ’85 single “Rock the Bells” as if it were the last song he would get to perform.

For many overseas, their first taste of American rap also included DJ Eric B. & Rakim, who were killing the streets with their 1987 masterpiece Paid In Full . Almost overnight in Germany, France, Norway and the Netherlands, hip-hop became the new religion.

Encore: This was the first proper world tour for Public Enemy, who had just dropped their 12-inch single “Rebel Without a Pause.” Although they were the opening act, Chuck D and his posse stole the show, establishing their standing as global behemoths. The now-legendary show at London’s Hammersmith Odeon can be heard throughout It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back .

The Up In Smoke Tour in 2000 was a dream team bill, headed by producer Dr. Dre and featuring Eminem, Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg and more.

Photo by Ken Hively/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

3. Up In Smoke (2000)

Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Eminem, Tha Dogg Pound, Warren G and Nate Dogg, and Xzibit

The multimillion-dollar stage design put the concert industry on notice that not only could rap shows attain the lavish production values of the best rock shows, they could surpass them. It was also an emphatic statement that the largely West Coast rap dignitaries knew how to throw a party. And there still isn’t another hip-hop song that matches the first 20 seconds of Dre’s “Next Episode” in concert.

Gross : $22.2 million from 44 shows

2. Raising Hell Tour (1986)

Run-DMC, featuring LL Cool J, the Beastie Boys and Whodini

There’s a reason Run-DMC is hailed as the greatest live hip-hop act of its era. They understood that less is always more. Because of their stripped-down beats and rhymes, the group amplified the genius of every aspect of their concert presentation up to 11. Jam Master Jay’s scratching was more thunderous than the other DJs on the 1s and 2s. Run’s pay-me stage presence commanded respect. And D had the throat-grabbing voice of God. They wore Godfather hats, black jeans and shoelace-less Adidas sneakers. The Hollis, Queens, crew was the personification of cool.

LL Cool J was just 18 during the Raising Hell Tour, but he was coming after Run-DMC’s crown every night. The hotel-wrecking Beastie Boys co-piloted rap’s bum-rush into Middle America, scaring parents wherever they landed. And Whodini brilliantly straddled the line between electro funkateers and around-the-way dudes representing BK to the fullest.

As “Walk This Way,” Run-DMC’s genre-shifting Aerosmith collaboration, exploded on the pop charts, vaulting the Raising Hell album to 3 million copies sold (the first hip-hop album to go triple platinum), ticket sales followed. The 45-city tour affirmed hip-hop’s cultural takeover.

Encore: The image of Joseph Simmons commanding 20,000-plus fans to hold up their sneakers during a performance of “My Adidas” at a New York show is still a surreal sight.

1. Fresh Fest (1984)

Kurtis Blow, Run-DMC, Whodini, The Fat Boys, Newcleus & the Dynamic Breakers, New York City Breakers, Turbo and Ozone

Ricky Walker had an idea: The concert promoter wanted to put together the first national rap music and break-dancing tour. In 1984, hip-hop had moved on from its underground beginnings in the Bronx. Run-DMC had just dropped their self-titled debut, and their “ Rock Box ” became the first rap video to received play on MTV. Breakin’ , the first break dancing movie to hit the big screen, pulled in nearly $40 million at the box office on a minuscule $1.2 million budget. Walker saw the future.

He called New York impresario Simmons to tap some of his Rush Productions talent, which included heartthrob Brooklyn trio Whodini , rap’s first solo superstar Kurtis Blow, the comedic Fat Boys and, of course, the hottest hip-hop act in the country, Run-DMC. But when it came time to promote the first show, billed as the Swatch Watch NYC Fresh Fest Festival , in Greensboro, North Carolina, Walker was laughed out of the room by a radio ad man.

Rap was still viewed by many record industry power brokers as a passing fad. In a 1985 interview with Billboard magazine, Walker recalled the salesperson pleading with him. “You’re a friend of mine,” he said. “Can’t I talk you out of doing this show?”

Walker’s instincts, however, proved to be dead-on. Fresh Fest moved 7,500 tickets in four hours. The tour, which also featured some of the best street dancers on the planet, such as Breakin’ stars Boogaloo Shrimp and Shabba Doo, as well as the synth funk-rap group Newcleus, not only did brisk business at mid-level venues but also sold out 20,000-seat arenas in Chicago and Philadelphia. Like the pioneering rock ‘n’ roll shows of the ’50s conceived by Cleveland radio DJ Alan Freed, the Fresh Fest proved that rap could be a serious and profitable art form. The rest is hip-hop history.

Gross : $3.5 million

Keith "Murph" Murphy is a senior editor at VIBE Magazine and frequent contributor at Billboard, AOL, and CBS Local. The veteran journalist has appeared on CNN, FOX News and A&E Biography and is also the author of the men’s lifestyle book "Manifest XO."

• Entertainment
• Celebrities
• Ticket Sales

Recommended

How public enemy battled racism with their best album.

When Public Enemy set out to make “ It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back ” — their 1988 tour de force of funk and fearlessness — they firmly believed in their own self-hype.

“I had just come off of our first international tour,” recalls PE leader and lyricist Chuck D, “and I told [producer] Hank Shocklee, ‘Look, man, let’s make this album like a ‘What’s Going On’ of rap music and hip-hop.’ We had the sole intention to make an album that stood the test of time, to make the greatest album ever as opposed to a hot street record. It was no mistake.”

The mission to change the game was accomplished with the release of “Nation” on June 28, 1988. The second LP from the Long Island crew — who were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2013 — showcased a groundbreaking, sampledelic sound and a visionary political and social consciousness.

Not only does it make the short list of contenders for the best hip-hop album of all time, but 30 years later, the album’s legacy and impact — think of it as the “Black Panther” cultural movement of its day — can still be strongly felt.

“‘Nation of Millions’ is the defining album for Public Enemy. It’s still the album that people talk about,” says Bill Adler, who was director of publicity at Def Jam on the project. “But I wish it wasn’t so relevant 30 years later. Politically, I’d love if it were consigned to the dust bin of history. Racism is on the rise, if anything.”

After their 1987 debut, “Yo! Bum Rush the Show,” Public Enemy — which then also included Flavor Flav, Professor Griff and DJs Terminator X and Johnny “Juice” Rosado — sought to elevate the rap genre to a serious album art form.

“We looked at bands like Iron Maiden, the Clash and Led Zeppelin,” says Chuck D, 57, of their inspirations. “We felt that we can go at making a classic almost in the same way that we did [while DJing] at WBAU in Long Island: Put one hour together like a hot-ass radio show.”

But before they got to crystallize the master plan for their second album, Public Enemy found themselves hustling to keep up with the sonic breakthroughs of another New York rap act — Eric B. & Rakim — who ultimately sparked the musical direction for “Nation.”

“After me and Chuck heard ‘I Know You Got Soul’ at the same time, we were so pissed off because that record was amazing,” says Shocklee, who was floored by the sample-fied production on that 1987 classic. “So we went back into the lab and came up with ‘ Rebel Without a Pause .’”

Released as a B-side to “You’re Gonna Get Yours” (off “Yo! Bum Rush the Show”) in 1987, the rambunctious “Rebel” jump-started the momentum for “Nation.” After Chuck D brought an acetate disc of the track to DJ Chuck Chillout at 98.7 KISS FM, the now- WBLS radio show spinner was instantly hooked.

“I was like, ‘Oh, my God!’ I played it three times that night,” says Chuck Chillout, who would later mix “Night of the Living Baseheads” for “Nation.” “They thought I was taking money ’cause I was playing the song so much. It spread like wildfire after that.”

After “Rebel Without a Pause,” Public Enemy recorded the “Nation” anthem “Don’t Believe the Hype,” but they didn’t release it right away. “We put it in the can because we thought it wasn’t fast enough,” says Chuck D. Instead, PE next dropped the beatastic “Bring the Noise,” which was commissioned to add some flavor to the “Less Than Zero” soundtrack.

By the summer of 1987, it was time to start thinking bigger than individual tracks, and Chuck D began plotting his lyrical maneuvers for “Nation” while PE was sharing a tour bus with Stetsasonic. “[Bomb Squad producers] Eric Sadler and Hank Shocklee would come up with some music back around the way, and then I would write to it on the bus,” says Chuck D.

But the rapper was in New York when inspiration struck for one militant song: “I was in traffic on the BQE, and that’s where I wrote ‘Prophets of Rage,’” he says. “Then check the stage/I declare a new age/Get down for the prophets of rage,” seethes Chuck D on the track, capturing the anger in the air from racial attacks against blacks, such as the late-1986 Howard Beach killing of Michael Griffith, who was hit by a car after being chased by a mob of white youths.

“There were a number of huge racial incidents happening in the New York area that really inspired Public Enemy and inspired Chuck’s writing,” says Bill Stephney, the Def Jam exec who helped to launch PE and guide them through the recording of “Nation.” “The environment, the time, the change in music production all combined to form the basis of ‘Nation.’”

Setting the musical tension to go along with the emotional agitation, Chuck D, Shocklee and the rest of the Bomb Squad crafted a dense, unsettling soundscape that took the sample boom to explosive heights when — after making “Rebel Without a Pause,” “Don’t Believe the Hype” and “Bring the Noise” in 1987 — it came time to record the rest of “Nation” in early 1988.

Much of the work was done at Greene Street Studios in Soho. “It was comfortable to build our ideas there in Soho, although it wasn’t comfortable to park a car there,” says Chuck D. “It was rampant with crackheads at that time, man. My car got broken into five times.”

As the main producer, Shocklee had his own set of challenges. “My theory was, ‘Let’s make a record out of records,’ ” he says. “And at that time, that was crazy revolutionary because you’re talking about going into a recording studio with a turntable, a mixer and a bunch of records. After that, how do we [make] these records feel like a band is playing?”

One final stroke of genius came when Shocklee decided to flip sides A and B. “The album originally started off with ‘Show ’Em Whatcha Got,’” says Chuck D. “And the last-minute call was to start off with ‘Countdown to Armageddon,’ which was live in concert, going into ‘Bring the Noise.’” Now at the beginning of “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back,” those sirens sounded the alarm that Public Enemy was about to stage a revolution.

“The album was a relentless, nonstop attack. It was a barrage,” says Chuck D. “What we had was so fast and furious and violent-sounding. We were at the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing.”

Your cart is empty

• Find A Shirt
• The Perfect Fit
• Sell Your Shirts

1988 Public Enemy Bring The Noise Tour Working Backstage Pass

Original 1988 Public Enemy Bring The Noise Tour Working Backstage Pass . This is a true vintage pass, not a modern reproduction. Pass is in excellent condition, unpeeled backing. \n \nDate: 1988 \n \nSize: 4.5 in x 4 in \n \nBacking: Unpeeled

You may also like

Recently viewed.

• Latest News

Best Songs For The Fall: 20 Autumn Classics

Rediscover the beach boys’ ‘surfer girl’, dj shadow’s ‘endtroducing’ explained, ‘top priority’: why you need to hear this rory gallagher album, ‘laughing stock’: the timeless appeal of talk talk’s final album, ‘that’s where it’s at’: the last hit of sam cooke’s life, george harrison – the first beatle on american soil, aerosmith celebrate ‘pump’ anniversary with music and merch, watch the video for queen’s ‘the night comes down’, andrea bocelli’s ‘il mare calmo della sera’ set to make vinyl debut, little big town announce ‘the christmas record’, mumford and sons announce new compilation ‘gentlemen of the road’, tito jackson, jackson 5 singer, dies aged 70, the weeknd is back and ‘dancing in the flames’, chuck d on public enemy’s ‘it takes a nation of millions to hold us back’.

Chuck D explains how Marvin Gaye and Earth Wind & Fire inspired the classic album.

Published on

It was the summer of 1987. Public Enemy was on the Def Jam Tour alongside LL Cool J, Doug E. Fresh, Eric B. & Rakim, Stetsasonic, and Whodini. During those extensive rides on the tour bus, the blueprints for three classic albums were drafted — De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising , Stetsasonic’s In Full Gear , and Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back .

Chuck D, the legendary hip-hop group’s mastermind, spent hours trying to figure out how to rap over the frenetic drums and abstract noises The Bomb Squad’s Hank Shocklee injected into the single “Bring The Noise.” Once he did, it was on.

Listen to Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back now .

‘Mama Said Knock You Out’: LL Cool J’s Triumphant Milestone

20 songs bringing conscious hip-hop back.

As Public Enemy’s sophomore effort — and the follow-up to 1987’s inaugural album Yo! Bum Rush The Show — It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back rocked the hip-hop landscape upon its 1988 release. With Chuck’s brutally honest and politically charged lyrics, Flavor Flav’s comedic relief, and The Bomb Squad’s avant-garde approach to production, it became Public Enemy’s most influential body of work.

In this interview, Chuck D reveals the unsung heroes of its production, how Marvin Gaye and Earth Wind & Fire played a role, and the story behind “Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos.”

Would you consider It Takes A Nation To Hold Us Back Public Enemy’s magnum opus?

1986 was really when the rap album was official in the mainstream as being a legitimate format. Albums released before were more like compilations. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five and Run-DMC’s first album were more like a collection of singles. Whodini was the first album in hip-hop that was kind of significant as being a mighty piece of work. Run-DMC’s Raising Hell was really the album that broke that mold and that’s my personal favorite album of all time. Then, you had the Beastie Boys ’ License To Ill .

By 1987 and ’88, the major record companies finally got what they were looking for when they invested in hip-hop and rap. They didn’t want to be in the singles market. Singles weren’t enough for them. We were right there at the cusp of proving hip-hop was an album-oriented format. When we released that first album, we then knew what to do with our second album. After traveling the country and the world, we knew what an album was supposed to be like. I predicted in an interview that I wanted to make the record our What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye.

Why did you feel that album was particularly important at that time?

We wanted to present an experience that was a bunch of different feelings all in one. One, we wanted to present what Run-DMC’s Raising Hell was. We also wanted to present a record we could perform. We noticed when we did Yo! Bum Rush The Show , whenever a concert would happen, we would want to pick up the music on the turntable to join the hype of the crowd. We felt that recording wise it was one speed, so our BPM went up. We also wanted to present a live aspect. We were really influenced by the live Earth Wind & Fire album called Gratitude . It influenced It Takes A Nation when we finally had all our songs done. I had this tape of our live performances in London to intersperse within the album. That was the first album that was broken up. We used live excerpts from that point on. De La Soul had done it with skits, but we wanted to present an experience, so all of those elements went into it.

You hear that on the beginning of “Countdown To Armageddon.” It starts with audio from a London concert.

We called it the ‘London Invasion’ when we went over there with the Def Jam Tour. We had the recordings to let people know that, ‘Look, you might not be on to what we do, but we have a whole entire world on to what we do.’ So, it takes a nation to hold us back.

That makes sense with the title then.

The album title was actually conceived from an interview from Now Magazine in Toronto, where they used it for the headline of their article. It comes from a line from a song that’s on Yo! Bum Rush The Show called “Raise The Roof.” Originally, the album was going to be called Countdown To Armageddon , but myself and Hank Shocklee, who was the other wall of noise, saw the interview together. We saw how long it was. It was so crazy long that it was actually kind of dope ‘cause it stood out.

How did you market it?

Hank actually was working in a record store — he was the manager of Sam Goode up in Queens. One day he showed me Iron Maiden and he says, ‘Yo these dudes are dope.’ That stuck with us when it came down to marketing Public Enemy, like their titles and themes.

One of my favorite remixes you did was “Bring The Noise” with Anthrax . On It Takes A Nation , there a lot of metal samples in there. I know Rick Rubin did that with Beastie Boys and Run-DMC did that with Aerosmith, but did hardcore metal seem like a risk at all?

Nah, because we came from Long Island. We knew these sounds and we knew it worked. By 1986, we were masters of records. We had rooms of records. We understood groups, records, and sounds. We knew turntablism makes them all come to the forefront.

I read you tracked down a lot of the voice samples yourself.

That was my job. The scratching on the album comes from two DJs, Terminator X and Johnny Juice Rosado — the unacknowledged hero on the turntables on both Yo! Bum Rush The Show and It Takes It A Nation . Terminator X had a scratching style that was more of a funk rhythm and Johnny Juice was a sharp executioner. When we felt like certain scratches weren’t going to work, Juice would knock them out.

I never realized it was a 2-for-1 deal.

That’s one of the things that makes Juice upset because he feels his history is obscured.

At some point, you switched engineers when finishing the album. What happened there?

Hank felt like certain studios, in the beginning, didn’t get what we were doing. Some engineers did not get it because a lot of the things broke the rules. Hank used Rick Rubin’s connection and we started working with Steven Ett. He’s another unacknowledged hero. He actually made “Public Enemy No. 1” work by cutting a two-inch tape and wrapping it around the room. He passed away years ago. But he is the unacknowledged hero on a lot of these sonic interventions. That was at Chung King Studios [in Manhattan], and Hank saw it was worthwhile to go back and use Rod Hui as an engineer. Run-DMC had abandoned Greene St. Studios and Rod Hui, who is also another unacknowledged hero. [ laughs ]

What role did Hank play throughout the album process?

Hank had the vision. He might not make the music with his hands, but he’s the master of making it all work. His ears are no more evident than how he made it work in the mixes of all the noise. You gotta organize the noise and Hank organized the noise. He was able to teach Rod Hui how some of that noise was useful.

I remember Hank saying he had to match your voice because your voice is so powerful that he felt the music of It Takes A Nation really had to parallel your strength, your energy.

That was a combined effort of knowing that you can handle the speeds. It took me so long of getting everything down to be able to knock out “Bring The Noise” during the summer of ’87 on the Def Jam Tour. We shared the bus with LL Cool J and Stetsasonic. Out of that bus ride came It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back , the developing of In Full Gear by Stetsasonic and also through Prince Paul, 3 Feet High and Rising , so you had three classic albums come out of one long tour on the bus in 1987.

Prince Paul has definitely never talked about that.

As he was contemplating ideas for De La Soul’s beginnings, Daddy-O was putting together the album In Full Gear , which is just as good as It Takes A Nation . We had eight hours of trying to figure out “Bring The Noise” and how to rap over that. It was supposed to be for the movie Less Than Zero . Originally, we submitted “Don’t Believe The Hype” for the film, but they thought it was too slow. Then, we recorded “Bring The Noise” in September and October of 1987. So when it came down to putting together “Rebel Without A Pause” and “Bring The Noise,” it was the one time with had dispute with Rick. He wanted us to leave those two off It Takes A Nation Of Millions . We vehemently opposed it and we got our way, and they were two perfect fits on the A and the B side — or as we called them — the silver and the black side. Another trivia to the album is that the second side of It Takes A Nation was originally the first side, and first side was originally the second side. Hank flipped it.

One of the best lines from “Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos” is “I got a letter from the government the other day / I opened and read it / It said they were suckers.” How does that resonate today?

It does but the song was no surprise because it didn’t come out of a fantasy. In 1967, I remember being at my grandmother’s house and one of my uncles just got out of high school, and he was drafted from the Marines to go fight in Vietnam. He had gotten a letter and I was the kid who saw the look on his face as he dropped the letter. A military guy knocked on the door – and he’d just graduated so he’s kind of celebrating like an 18-year-old would—he dropped the letter and disappeared. That was the letter that said my uncle had gotten drafted to Vietnam. He went from happy shit to, ‘Oh shit.’

A lot of people tried to get out of it but you really couldn’t because it was a serious deal. As a matter of fact, he got injured and got a Purple Heart that we’d put on our G.I. Joes [ laughs ]. That’s what he thought about those medals. We were like, ‘Oh wow you got a medal.’ He was like, ‘Yeah go fucking play. Get that shit up outta here.’ It stuck with me, so yeah, “I got a letter from the government” — that’s exactly what my uncle did.

And you describe the government as “suckas.”

I can’t stand most governments. I’m an artist. I’m like the world should be shared. I’m kinda like a hippie. I thought like a hippie, really. I’m a child of the ‘60s. But the thing about It Takes A Nation — we are all children of the ‘60s and ‘70s in spirit with music. That’s what culminated in It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back in 1988. Remember, I graduated from high school in 1978, and Hank in 1976, so were able to bring to hip-hop a lot of things that people didn’t realize we’re already there.

Editor’s note: This article was first published in 2018. We are re-publishing it today in celebration of the album’s release anniversary. Listen to Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back now .

' . esc_html__( 'Leave a Reply', 'zox-news' ) . '

• Breweriana, Spirits
• Character, TV, Movie, and Broadway Memorabilia
• Coca Cola, Coke
• Country Store
• Dairy, Cows
• Made in Japan
• Milk Bottle Caps
• Miscellaneous
• Paper, Checks, and Blotters
• Peace, Love, and Hippies
• Political, Patriotic, and Religious Memorabilia
• Popcorn, Ice Cream, Candy, Snacks
• Prints, Photos, and Art
• Signs, Posters, Displays, Flags
• Soda and Beer Bottle Caps
• Stock Certificates
• Tobacciana, Matches
• Toys, Novelties, Circus, Magic
• Trading Card Shop
• Transportation