Marley Marl Remixes Two Public Enemy Classics

Two years ago, writing about a Public Enemy LL Cool J blend, I said it "reconciles Rap Attack's infamous on-air diss of 'Public Enemy No. 1' by placing Chuck and Flav's voices on beat over a Marley Marl loop." I sometimes write stupid shit. This is Chuck D at Mr. Magic's funeral service. Little did I know that Marley Marl had already remixed my favorite Public Enemy song, "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos." Apparently he put hands on "By the Time I Get to Arizona" at some point as well. 

Public Enemy + LL Cool J - Rebel Mama Said Knock You Out Without a Pause (Stretch Armstrong Blend)

 

Marley Marl deserves mention in this post's title as much as, if not more so than, LL Cool J, but when you hear that four-note vocal sample odds are your brain jumps to James in a boxing ring not Marlon in a recording studio. So it goes. This blend was mixed live on a January or February 1991 broadcast of the world-famous Stretch & Bobbito Show. After this, Stretch transitioned seamlessly into the full song, "Mama Said Knock You Out," but the blend is what grabs my attention, as it 1) is dope, 2) brings together two of the headliners of the 87 Def Jam Tour, and 3) in a roundabout kind of way, reconciles Rap Attack's infamous on-air diss of "Public Enemy No. 1" by placing Chuck and Flav's voices on beat over a Marley Marl loop. Talk about the magic of radio!

As it happens, in addition to the PE-LL dream team, this broadcast also featured songs from several other Long Island rappers, including EPMD ("I'm Mad"), Bolaji ("Massive Material"), and L.O.N.S. ("Where Do We Go From Here?"), and although I can't say for certain, we may even hear a young Zev Love X shouting out the latter group during Kurious's mic break around the 18:20 mark.

DJ Eclipse - Fear Of A Brown Planet

Public Enemy - Live on FM Tokyo 80.0 (March 17, 1989)

Here we have a live in-studio performance by Public Enemy, which aired on FM Tokyo 80.0 on March 17, 1989, one day before their concert at Club Citta in Kawasaki.

On a program called Tokyo Radical Mystery Night, Chuck and Flavor kick live renditions of "B Side Wins Again," "Cold Lampin' with Flavor," "Fight the Power," "Prophets of Rage," "Party for the Right to Fight," "Rebel Without a Pause" and "Bring the Noise," with some beat-boxing, crooning and break beats thrown in for good measure.

Public Enemy - "Bring the Noise" (Todd Terry Mix)

This unreleased PE remix comes to us from Umberto Lampanosa's YouTube channel, a trove of exclusive acetate rips like this one. A closer look at the label shows us that this acetate was pressed May 27, 1988 (52788) by Dick Charles Recording Inc.

DJ Moneyshot - Solid Steel and the Hour of Chaos

Public Enemy - Prophets of Rage Documentary

This BBC documentary was directed by James Hale and first aired on December 9, 2011. It covers Public Enemy from the Spectrum City days all the way up to Flavor of Love.

Public Enemy - Bring The Noise 2000 (Unreleased CD)

Here we have "A[N] INDUSTRIAL MEGAMIX OF PUBLIC ENEMY HITS, INSTRUMENTALS, BASS DUBS, JAMZ, B SIDES & UNRELEASED JOINTS," courtesy of ShutEmDown.com, one of the rare fan sites that's as enduring as it is endearing. Supposedly, PE's initial attempts to make this mix available online in 2000 were blocked by PolyGram. They must have given up since, as it's now easily accessed. After you stream the amazing posse cut "There Were More Hype Believers Than Ever In 97" below and download the 27-track Bring The Noise 2000 mix here, we highly recommend you head over to ShutEmDown.com and check out the myriad other PE rarities that site hosts, many more of which will hopefully find their way over here in future posts.

Public Enemy's Fear Of A Black Planet on WBAUMarch 26, 1990

Today's date marks the 25th anniversary of the commercial release of Public Enemy's classic third album Fear Of A Black Planet. What you might not realize is that the album debuted, albeit to a much smaller audience, weeks earlier on Long Island college radio. (Public Enemy is of course in many ways a product of this scene, as Chuck D worked at Adelphi's WBAU alongside members of the Bomb Squad and actually met Flavor Flav [then known as MC DJ Flavor] in the studio there.) According to DJ WildMan Steve, Fear Of A Black Planet was played by DJ Jeff Foss on Hofstra University's 88.7 WRHU on Saturday, March 24, 1990 before its 90.3 WBAU debut on Monday, March 26.

Thanks to Long Island hip-hop icons Oxygen (aka Ox the Architect) and DJ WildMan Steve, the Internet now has a recording of this second local debut. To complement this long-lost radio set, we're posting it alongside the original Fear Of A Black Planet artwork by NASA illustrator B.E. Johnson.

"I don’t know why it took so long, nor do I care"

A graphic design major while at Adelphi, Chuck D
designed the now-iconic PE logo, using a picture of b-boy
E Love, which he cut out of the fanzine Right-On.

In anticipation of the It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and Fear of a Black Planet reissues, Chuck D spoke to Cuepoint about Public Enemy's past and the making of these classic albums. Just as these reissues are must-haves for all Long Island hip-hop completists, this article, "It Took A Nation: The Greatest Rap Album Gets Its Due," is instant must-read status.

The Illustrated Origin of Public Enemy

On this Memorial Day, Long Island Rap Blog continues to honor hip-hop's first militant rap group, Public Enemy. Here, we get a few different perspectives on the PE collective's origins, as illustrated by the brilliant Ed Piskor. The pages above come from his Hip Hop Family Tree graphic novels, which are collected in print form by Fantagraphics and online through Boing Boing. Salute!

Public Enemy - "Public Enemy No. 1" (WBAU Promo Version)

Chuck D, Keith Schocklee, Bill Stephney and Dr. Dre

Here we have the first version of Public Enemy's debut single, which originally served as a promo for Adelphi University's WBAU. This promo/demo features a verse not included on the more-popular version that would later appear on Yo! Bumrush The Show. Listen to it below, along with the infamous Mr. Magic diss, "No more music from these suckers," as played by WBAU Operating Room host/founder Andre "Dr. Dre" Young, who is more famously known as the co-host of YO MTV Raps.

Special thanks to Random Rap Radio for the upload and to Media Assassin Harry Allen for the picture above.