Guitars in Hip-Hop: Chuck D

[Lincoln]

Found this in another forum while doing some web searches:

An interesting quote by Paris (producer for Rebirth of a Nation) from an article/interview with Chuck D in the new Guitar Player magazine titled Fight The Presets.

Most hip-hop is now keyboard driven, because the majority of hip-hop workstations have loops and patches that enable somebody with marginal skills to put tracks together,...

Unfortunately, most hip-hop artists gravitated towards the path of least resistance by relying on these pre-set patches. As a result, electric guitar and real musicians became devalued, and a lot of hip-hop now sounds the same.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Excerpts from responses by Chuck D...

Describe the significance of electric guitar in Public Enemy's music.

We've used live guitarists since our first record, Yo Bum Rush the Show, in 1987, which had Vernon Reid on it.

We got involved with electric guitar because we were educated with a sense of what good music was. When I grew up in the '70s, I would listen to AM radio and hear stuff like Steely Dan's "Reelin' in the Years," the Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction," and James Brown's "Doing it to Death," which all start off with great guitar licks.


Who were your favorite guitarists to sample?

We never went wrong with Albert King, because he brought some really funky guitar to the table on those classic Stax records. We also liked to use James Brown's guitarists-like Jimmy Nolan-because of their great rhythms...

Then we'd use '70s guitar riffs from people like Leslie West and Billy Squier. They had a big beat happening, and the guitar was never that far away from it. Most hip-hop cats turned off the record as soon as the guitars came in, but that's pretty much where Public Enemy always started.


What's your perspective on the prominence of electric guitar in African-American music today?

It troubles me that black music is now largely devoid of guitar.

So, we have this situation where we have great black guitarists like Vernon Reid, Eric Gales, and Ernie Isley getting ignored by both the rock world and the black urban music community.


What would get African-American listeners interested in guitar again?

It's related to improving education during elementary and high school. People inherently love music, but if you don't give people knowledge when they're first drawn to music, you're putting their musical interests in the attache cases of business. The worst situation is having businesspeople tell you what to like. Educators try to tell you something. Businesspeople try to sell you something.


In 2002, Public Enemy went on tour for the first time with a live band featuring Khari Wynn on guitar. Tell me about the decision to expand beyond turntables and microphones.

We added the band so we could have a lot more flexibility. It was Griff's idea. He said we need the ability to do our classic songs, but not be locked into the recorded versions. With a band, you can take the live performance into a lot of new areas. It adds a fuller sound that you can't get from just playing back a recording. The band also allows us to improvise like you wouldn't believe.

Public Enemy now represents the best rap situation ever, because of the band's musicianship, knowledge, and ability to add to the aura of noise.

Guitar Player - July 2006

[jeromechickenbone]

Nothing new.  Chuck's been dropping knowledge for like 20 years.  It's really sad that its not cool to like the guitar in the hip hop world.  And I really agree with him with the live band at concerts.  When Snoop opened up for the Chili Peppers, he had his live band performing all the music to his songs.  It was incredible.  Going to a concert and listening to a pre-recorded track defeats the purpose.

[Shallow]

I haven't found myself disagreeing with what Chuck D says in a very long time. The guy should get more exposure. If Oprah wants to shut up some current rappers she'd have Chuck D on the show to debate with them.

[WestCoasta]

guitars are sweet, rock or hip-hop

[Trauma-san]

I too saw Snoop with the Snoopadelics.  Really was a hell of a show.  Anytime they do live bands backing up rappers, it works.  I present:

Jay Z & Linkin Park @ Live Aid or whatever it was last year
Jay Z & The Roots Unplugged
Snoop & The Snoopadelics 2 dollar bill
Dr. Dre - "Been There, Done That" - Saturday Night Live

[jeromechickenbone]

I too saw Snoop with the Snoopadelics. Really was a hell of a show. Anytime they do live bands backing up rappers, it works. I present:

Jay Z & Linkin Park @ Live Aid or whatever it was last year
Jay Z & The Roots Unplugged
Snoop & The Snoopadelics 2 dollar bill
Dr. Dre - "Been There, Done That" - Saturday Night Live

Remember LL when he did "Unplugged"?  Mama Said Knock You Out was POWERFUL.  Imagine hearing classic G-Funk performances backed by a live band.  Now that would be dope.

[Don Jacob]

i agree with chuck d .


MORE GUITAR!

[Jip]

I too saw Snoop with the Snoopadelics.  Really was a hell of a show.  Anytime they do live bands backing up rappers, it works.  I present:

Jay Z & Linkin Park @ Live Aid or whatever it was last year
Jay Z & The Roots Unplugged
Snoop & The Snoopadelics 2 dollar bill
Dr. Dre - "Been There, Done That" - Saturday Night Live

is there a video of that dre SNL performance anywhere?

[Lincoln]

I always thought that Sophisticated Bitch from PE's first album, Yo! Bum Rush The Show, had a really good guitar in it.

I read about LL Cool J putting out Unplugged in someone's post, any chance of getting a hook up on that?

[No Compute]

Dr. Dre's "Let Me Ride", one of the mixes of that has an excellent 3 minute guitar solo.

Another classic is The D.O.C.'s "Beautiful But Deadly", it samples Funkadelic's "Cosmic Slop" to great effect.

[es-jay]

Dr. Dre's "Let Me Ride", one of the mixes of that has an excellent 3 minute guitar solo.

lets have it.... please.

thanks

[Don Rizzle]

I too saw Snoop with the Snoopadelics.  Really was a hell of a show.  Anytime they do live bands backing up rappers, it works.  I present:

Jay Z & Linkin Park @ Live Aid or whatever it was last year
Jay Z & The Roots Unplugged
Snoop & The Snoopadelics 2 dollar bill
Dr. Dre - "Been There, Done That" - Saturday Night Live

[Mygla]

i love that guitar-shit... imo Wyclef got some great playing/sampling on many of his tracks...

[Machiavelli]

Dj Quik uses the guitar in alot of his songs check out the guitar solos on

Suga Free - Tip Toe Reprise
DJ Quik - Meleody 4 a V(Reprise)

His house of blues DVD has Robert Bacon playing the guitar

[Lincoln]

Mos Def's Blue Black Jack had some great guitar on there courtesy of Shuggie Otis.