On Bringing Rhythmic Order To Sonic Chaos

What was Chuck D looking for in a bassist when he recruited you?

He wanted someone who could enhance the music but not get in the way. Public Enemy’s sound is a massive wall of layered samples and vocals. To work as the bandleader and bassist, I had to first take off my musician hat and listen to the music from a hip-hop producer’s point of view. A lot of hip-hop guys say, “I hate live musicians, because you think too much.” When you listen to Public Enemy’s music, you understand that perspective because a lot of things are out of tune, out of time, and clashing. The next step was to put the musician hat back on and figure out what key something’s really in or was meant to be in. From there, I would work with Khari Wynn and we’d put some parts together in which we’re really adding to the sound instead of just sitting on top of it.

Describe the process of creating bass lines for Public Enemy tracks that were originally constructed from loops and samples.

Let’s use “Rebel Without a Pause,” a big crowd favorite, as an example. It doesn’t have a driving, hooky bass line. High-pitched sirens, a crazy drumbeat, and Chuck’s vocals are what carry the studio version [It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Def Jam, 1988]. Khari and I asked ourselves, “What does the bass drum sound like it’s implying?”—because there are inherently some pitches in anything you listen to. So, we came up with a pulsing C–G, C–G bass line that gave the track some musical movement without interfering with it.

Why do you believe live bass is so poorly represented in hip-hop?

Most bassists and other musicians didn’t embrace or respect hip-hop when it emerged. Then hip-hop artists started making hit records and a lot of money. The musicians got jealous and didn’t like the fact that they couldn’t get work in the genre. But because of the initial resistance, hip-hop artists didn’t want to put themselves in a position where they would get crapped on by musicians who thought hip-hop is not “real music.” So, the musicians are just as responsible as the hip-hop artists for not being better represented. Thankfully, live musicians are re-emerging in hip-hop. They can create momentum for themselves by not looking at the genre as a vehicle for material gain. Just try to make great music and take advantage of any interest or support that emerges along the way.