It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

Lore & Background

Public Enemy's 1987 debut album *Yo! Bum Rush the Show*, while acclaimed by hip hop critics and aficionados, had gone ignored for the most part by the rock and R&B mainstream, selling only 300,000 copies. However, the group continued to tour and record tirelessly. With this album, the group set out to make what they considered to be the hip hop equivalent to Marvin Gaye's *What's Going On*. In order to ensure that their live shows would be as exciting as those they played in London and Philadelphia, the group decided that the music on *Nation of Millions* would have to be faster than that found on *Yo! Bum Rush the Show*. Years of saved-up ideas were compiled into one focused aural missile.

The album was recorded in 30 days for an estimated $25,000 in recording costs, due to extensive preproduction at their Long Island studio. The material was completed in six weeks. Rather than touring with the rest of the group, Eric 'Vietnam' Sadler and Hank Shocklee would stay in the studio and work on material for the album. When the group began planning the second album, the songs 'Bring the Noise', 'Don't Believe the Hype', and 'Rebel Without a Pause' had already been completed. The latter track was recorded during the group's 1987 Def Jam tour, and the lyrics were written by Chuck D in one day. Instead of looping the break from James Brown's 'Funky Drummer', 'Rebel Without a Pause' featured a beat programmed by Hank Shocklee and Eric Sadler using a drum machine. Terminator X incorporated the transformer scratch towards its end. Hank Shocklee made the final call when songs were completed, and it was decided that the album should be exactly one hour long, thirty minutes on each side.

Reader's Guide

It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back charted for 47 weeks on the US Billboard 200, peaking at number 42, and was certified Platinum by the RIAA in 1989. The album received widespread acclaim from critics, who praised its production techniques and Chuck D's socially and politically charged lyricism. It appeared on many publications' year-end top album lists for 1988 and was the runaway choice as the best album of 1988 in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll. Since its initial reception, the album has been regarded by music writers and publications as one of the greatest and most influential albums of all time. In 2000, it was voted number 92 in Colin Larkin's book All Time Top 1000 Albums, and in 2003, it was ranked number 48 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, the highest ranking of all the hip hop albums on the list, and the only one acknowledged in the top 100. In the 2020 version of the same list, the album was ranked number 15. Under Hank Shocklee's direction, the Bomb Squad developed a dense and chaotic production style that relied on found sounds and avant-garde noise as much as on old-school funk. The tracks feature a greater tempo than those of the group's contemporaries. Music journalist Peter Shapiro wrote that droning feedback, occasional shards of rock guitar, and James Brown horn samples distorted into discordant shrieks back the political rhetoric of lead rapper Chuck D and the surreality of Flavor Flav.

Did You Know?

• The working title for the album was Countdown to Armageddon.
• The album was originally intended to start with 'Show Em Whatcha Got' but Hank Shocklee flipped the sides just before mastering.
• The song 'Rebel Without a Pause' features a beat programmed by Hank Shocklee and Eric Sadler using a drum machine, not played live by Flavor Flav.