Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos

1989 single by Public Enemy

"Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos"

Single by Public Enemy

from the album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

A-side

"Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos"

B-side

"B Side Wins Again"

Released

January 6, 1989

Recorded

1988

Genre

Hip hop, Political hip hop

Length

6:23

Label

Def Jam

Songwriter(s)

Carl Ridenhour
Hank Shocklee
Eric "Vietnam" Sadler
William Drayton

Producer(s)

The Bomb Squad

Public Enemy singles chronology

"Night of the Living Baseheads"
(1988)

"Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos"
(1989)

"Fight the Power"
(1989)

"Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" is a song on the American hip hop group Public Enemy's 1988 album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. It was released as a single in 1989.^[1] The song tells the story of a conscientious objector who makes a prison escape. It is built on a high-pitched piano sample from Isaac Hayes' "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic", from 1969's Hot Buttered Soul.

Song

The vocals are mostly by lead rapper Chuck D, with sidekick Flavor Flav appearing between verses, seemingly speaking to Chuck over the phone. Flavor went to another room and called the studio to achieve this effect.

It features a slower, more melodic beat than other songs on It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Aside from the aforementioned Hayes sample, the song samples "Little Green Apples" by The Escorts and "Living for the City" by Stevie Wonder.

The lines in the scratch breaks – "Now they got me in a cell" and "Death Row/What a brother knows" – are samples from "Bring the Noise", another song on the same album.

The lyric "anti-nigger machine" became the title of a song on the group's next album, Fear of a Black Planet.

Music video

The music video was filmed in the abandoned cell blocks of the nationally landmarked old Essex County Jail in Newark, New Jersey.^[2] The official video was directed by Adam Bernstein. According to Bernstein, Public Enemy wanted Joey Ramone to play a prisoner. Ramone refused, as group member Professor Griff – despite not appearing in the video – had been reported making antisemitic remarks.^[3]

Charts

Chart (1988)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks	86
U.S. Billboard Hot Rap Singles	11

Covers

Brazilian metal band Sepultura covered the song.^[4]
Chuck D has performed the song with Asian Dub Foundation and Rage Against the Machine. In 1998, a live version from 1996, featuring Chuck, appeared on Rage Against The Machine's Live & Rare.
English trip hop musician Tricky released a cover entitled "Black Steel" – with Martina Topley-Bird on vocals, backed by the techno-rock band FTV^[5] – on his debut album Maxinquaye (1995). The stripped-down sound of the original is replaced by pounding drums and guitars. Topley-Bird sings the lyrics instead of rapping.^[6]

Samples of the song

"Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" was also used by DJ Muggs for "The Puppet Master", featuring B-Real and Dr. Dre, on the Soul Assassins, Chapter 1 album.^[7]
The same Isaac Hayes sample is used by The Game in the Just Blaze-produced song "Remedy" on the album Doctor's Advocate. Chuck D's line "They got me in a cell" from "Black Steel" is scratched in the hook.
The beginning of the song is sampled heavily in "Make Some Noise" by "Dougal & Gammer".^{[citation needed]}

Legacy

The title and cover art of writer/director Bayer Mack's 2016 American documentary drama In the Hour of Chaos – which tells the story of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr.'s ("Daddy King") rise from an impoverished childhood in the violent backwoods of Georgia to become patriarch of one of the most famous, and tragedy-plagued, families in history – are influenced by Public Enemy's song.^[8]^[9] The original trailer for the docudrama featured a portion of "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" by Isaac Hayes.^[10] In the Hour of Chaos aired on public television July 25, 2016.^[11]

"I don't feel like there's ever been music that's been political in this way that's been so bad-ass," observed musician Joan as Police Woman. "It's so raw, angry [and] extremely intelligent… The music's really cutting and funky, but not in the way you'd hear it now. It's not refined, all the samples are jarring, and the drums are really harsh. It's very punk rock! There's no other rap song that I've learned every word of, and people will be astounded that it was ever made."^[12] (Joan As Police Woman covered another Nation of Millions song, "She Watch Channel Zero?!", on her album Cover.)

References

^ Strong, Martin Charles (October 21, 2004). The Great Rock Discography (7th ed.). Canongate U.S. p. 1226. ISBN 1841956155.
^ "Old Essex County Jail Research Resources". Myles Zhang. 2019-06-11. Retrieved 2021-09-10.
^ Ducker, Eric. "On the Job Training: Part Two - Adam Bernstein". waxpoetics.com. Wax Poetics. Archived from the original on 2018-08-21. Retrieved 2018-08-21.
^ DiVita, Joe (August 26, 2021). "Sepultura Unveil 5-Album Box Set Highlighting Early Derrick Green Era From 1998 to 2009". Loudwire. Retrieved September 23, 2023.
^ Buskin, Richard (June 2007). "Classic Tracks: Tricky 'Black Steel'". Sound on Sound. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
^ Ciarán (October 26, 2006). "Tricky - Black Steel (Cover version of Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos by Public Enemy". Sample-as-that.blogspot.com. Archived from the original on January 3, 2008. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
^ "DJ Muggs, Dr. Dre and B-Real's 'The Puppet Master' - Discover the Sample Source". WhoSampled. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
^ Kelly, Kate (January 18, 2016). "Daddy King's Story Told in New Documentary". Huffington Post. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
^ "In the Hour of Chaos". IMDb. January 15, 2016. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
^ "In the Hour of Chaos (2015)". Block Starz TV. Archived from the original on February 8, 2017. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
^ "In The Hour of Chaos!". Cambridge Community Television. Retrieved March 5, 2018.
^ "Mind blowers!". Mojo (245): 25. April 2014.