Bomb Squad Productions (1987-1993)

And now for something completely different!  Hip hop has rarely been featured on this blog, on themed compilations or the occasional Comeback Special.  I'm a fan, especially of the "Golden Age of Hip Hop" (mid-1980's to mid-1990's), when amazing creative and technical innovations were happening at a rapid pace.  

It was a period when hip hop entered the commercial mainstream through artists like Run-DMC and LL Cool J.  West Coast "gangsta" rappers Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur would become superstars.  The "Dirty South" started to have its say.  On the East Coast, new groups like De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest began to expand what the music could sound like, the topics that rappers could address, and the persona of the MC. Hip hop crossed over into rock, jazz and dancehall.  For DJ's and producers, the Golden Age was the peak of the "sampling sport" (before copyright lawsuits made it prohibitively expensive for some artists to clear samples). 

One of the most innovative production teams was the Bomb Squad.  The Bomb Squad made its recorded debut in 1987 with Public Enemy's first singles and debut album. Hank Shocklee, his brother Keith, Eric "Vietnam" Sadler, Bill Stephney and Carlton Ridenhour (aka Chuck D) were the original members of the Bomb Squad.  Gary "G-Wiz" Rinaldo joined in 1990.

In 1988, the Bomb Squad produced half of the tracks on Slick Rick's first album, as well as the title track of Vanessa Williams' debut album.  They went on to write, produce and remix records for some of the most popular female singers (including Jody Watley, Paula Abdul, Jasmine Guy, Janet Jackson, Chaka Khan, Mary J. Blige, Lisa Stansfield, and Sinead O'Connor).

When Ice Cube left NWA for a solo career, the Bomb Squad produced his debut album.  After the group New Edition split up, the Bomb Squad wrote and produced singles for the newly formed Bell Biv Devoe, and helped to define the "New Jack Swing" sound of contemporary R&B.  

In 1990, Hank Shocklee and Bill Stephney started a record label, SOUL (Sound Of Urban Listeners).  They signed and produced Leaders Of The New School, Son Of Bazerk, the Young Black Teenagers (a group of white rappers) and a nepo baby who called himself Chilly Tee.  

Today's share features some of the best Bomb Squad productions outside of Public Enemy.  They range from early P.E. contemporaries (Kings Of Pressure and True Mathematics) to some of hip hop's all-time greats (Slick Rick, Doug E. Fresh, Rakim, Big Daddy Kane, LL Cool J, Run-DMC and Ice Cube).  Hank Shocklee once said of the Bomb Squad, "We believed that music is nothing but organized noise. You can take anything — street sounds, us talking, whatever you want — and make it music by organizing it. That's still our philosophy, to show people that this thing you call music is a lot broader than you think it is."

Almost forgot to mention the new Public Enemy album, Black Sky Over The Projects: Apartment 2025!