Recording
Recording sessions for the album took place during June to October 1989 at Greene St. Recording in New York City, The Music Palace in West Hempstead, and Spectrum City Studios in Long Island. It was produced entirely by The Bomb Squad, which included Chuck D, Eric "Vietnam" Sadler, and brothers Hank and Keith Shocklee. The album's recording marked the first time that Keith Shocklee was credited as a member of the team; he played a significant role in composing the main tracks and music for the album. Hank Shocklee was their director and was referred to by Chuck D as "the Phil Spector of hip-hop". For Fear of a Black Planet, they sought to expand on the dense, sample-layered "wall of noise" sound of It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.
Having worked out an elaborate method that involved the members assembling different types of sounds in the studio, the Bomb Squad reconfigured and recontextualized musical fragments from various sources into their own compositions. Each member brought a different philosophy to making music, arranging sounds, and working with technology, with material appropriated from singles, LP albums, and radio, among other sources. Hank Shocklee viewed the group as "a production assembly line where each person had their own particular specialty." According to him, he came "from a DJ's perspective. Eric is coming from a musician’s perspective. So together, you know, we started working out different ideas." Sadler advocated a more traditional, structured approach to songwriting, while Shocklee's approach was less conventional. As the group's main lyricist, Chuck D wanted to recontextualize the sampled material into his lyrics and create a theme for the album.
For the track "Burn Hollywood Burn", Chuck D dealt with clearance issues from different record labels in order to collaborate with rappers Big Daddy Kane and Ice Cube, who had been pursuing the Bomb Squad to produce his debut album. The recording marked one of the first times in which MCs from different rap crews collaborated, and it led to the Bomb Squad working with Ice Cube on his 1990 debut album AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted.
Read more about this topic: Fear Of A Black Planet
Famous quotes containing the word recording:
“He shall not die, by G—, cried my uncle Toby.
MThe ACCUSING SPIRIT which flew up to heaven’s chancery with the oath, blush’d as he gave it in;—and the RECORDING ANGEL as he wrote it down, dropp’d a tear upon the word, and blotted it out for ever.”
—Laurence Sterne (1713–1768)
“Write while the heat is in you.... The writer who postpones the recording of his thoughts uses an iron which has cooled to burn a hole with. He cannot inflame the minds of his audience.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“I didn’t have to think up so much as a comma or a semicolon; it was all given, straight from the celestial recording room. Weary, I would beg for a break, an intermission, time enough, let’s say, to go to the toilet or take a breath of fresh air on the balcony. Nothing doing!”
—Henry Miller (1891–1980)