Chuck D: Corporations found that hip-hop music was viable. It sold albums, which was the bread and butter of corporations. Since the corporations owned all the sounds, their lawyers began to search out people who illegally infringed upon their records. All the rap artists were on the big six record companies, so you might have some lawyers from Sony looking at some lawyers from BMG and some lawyers from BMG saying, "Your artist is doing this," so it was a tit for tat that usually made money for the lawyers, garnering money for the company. Very little went to the original artist or the publishing company.

Shocklee: By 1990, all the publishers and their lawyers started making moves. One big one was Bridgeport, the publishing house that owns all the George Clinton stuff. Once all the little guys started realizing you can get paid from rappers if they use your sample, it prompted the record companies to start investigating because now the people that they publish are getting paid.... Much more at Stay Free! Check it out.

I would very much like to see sampling greatly opened up, with standard rates across the board like the royaltiy rates for recording someone else's song: I can record any song I want and the royalty rates are set and not subject to individual negotiation, nor can it be prohibited by the rights holder, unlike say, the Beatles and Stones who forbid sampling of their material outright (see DJ Dangermouse case). The entire library of recorded work should be avaiable for sampling at standardized rates as all published songs are available for performance or recording.

Here is more on the Public Enemy production team ("The Bomb Squad") by Kevin Johnson from the Encyclopedia of Record Producers:

The Bomb Squad (Hank Shocklee, Keith Shocklee, Eric (Vietnam) Sadler, Carl Ryder)

Think of the one rap album that stands out as being the best of all time. What comes to mind? Run-D.M.C.'s self-titled debut? A Tribe Called Quest's People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm? N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton? Dr. Dre's The Chronic? Eric B. & Rakim's Paid in Full? Fugees' The Score? Ice Cube's AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted?

The list goes on and on, but one group and one album that stands out is Public Enemy and its 1988 classic It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back - almost a greatest-hits package within itself with cuts like "Don't Believe The Hype," "Bring The Noise," and "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos."

For several years after It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, that album's title would prove true as the controversial Public Enemy seemed unstoppable.

Among the reasons for the group's success were the in-your-face, political raps of Chuck D and his flow with partner Flavor Flav, but behind the rappers and behind most of PE's work was the production outfit known as the Bomb Squad, who were single-handedly responsible for one of rap's most recognizable, popular, and hardcore sounds.

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