eventually change everything for the young group. An element of necessity would play its part in the creation of Public Enemy. It was necessary for Chuckie D to defend his lyrical reputation. ‘I made “Public Enemy Number One” ’cos there were some elements in the neighbourhood that heard my other promos and one of these cats that was part of a legendary crew called the Play Hard Crew told Flavor he was gonna take me out rhyming.’ Sound familiar? This is the cat Flav is talking about at the beginning of the (slightly different) version of ‘Public Enemy Number One’ that was released on Def Jam just over two years later. He’s the dude that complains to Flavor about how ‘that brother Chuckie D swears he’s nice’.
At first, emcee battles were not top of Chuck’s to-do list. He wasn’t trying to be ‘one of those battle cats’. He was trying to improve things for all of the local emcees by getting them on the radio and building up a local scene. Ironically (and unluckily for the Play Hard Crew), Chuck’s mic skills were called into question at the same time that Chuck and Flav began to put together their unmatchable back-and-forth style. Prior to PE, no two rappers had jammed together in the way Chuck and Flav made famous. Run and DMC had traded lyrics and even finished each other’s lines, but they did it on a far more equal footing. Chuck was definitely in charge, but Flavor’s contribution was priceless, and always funky.
Unbeknown to the Play Hard Crew, they would be the first to be blown away by the combination of Chuck and Flav. Chuck’s father had a furniture removal business. Chuck managed to hit his boy Flav off with a job, and by working a job together, they came up with something that would later prove to be one of PE’s greatest assets. Their interaction not only made their records memorable. The PE live show would not be the devastating affair it undoubtedly is without their chemistry.
After leaving the offices on 58th street in Times Square Flav would write down ideas if Chuck was driving and vice versa. Once they got back to Hempstead they would work on their ideas in the studio. ‘Me and Flavor were driving trucks for my father, for a year and a half, two-year period. Flavor needed a gig, my father was moving furniture in trucks, so we would drive the new furniture and go through new routines while in the truck.’
Their interplay, though unique for hip-hop, was not without precedent. One major influence was the legendary James Brown and Bobby Byrd. The Godfather of Soul didn’t only influence hip-hop with the loops that formed the basis of many great rap records. His vocal stylings were equally influential. ‘You know the “everybody over there, get on up”, that contrast,’ says Chuck. All the years spitting on sub-par equipment had taught Chuck a thing or two about voice levels. He realised very early on that he would work well with Flav. Flavor’s voice is high pitched and ‘trebley’ but it has some ‘bassy’ strength to it. Chuck’s voice is of course as bassy as they come, but has the tiniest amount of treble there too.
Their voices, like their personalities, were polar opposites: they were up and down, left and right, north and south. ‘Both of us could cut through a recording,’ Chuck states. ‘Or cut through things that became noise.’ The other influence was far more modern. Chuck was paying attention to the Philadelphia rapper Schoolly D, who, alongside DJ Code Money, made his mark with hits like ‘PSK’. ‘Code Money would open up to say something and set it up for Schoolly like, “Hey Schoolly, why did you do this, duh duh duh”, and Schoolly D would come in with “duh duh duh”.’ Schoolly D’s style of making records and his voice style were a big influence on ‘Yeah, I’m just going in with the 98,’ as Chuck raps in ‘You’re Gonna Get Yours’. Chuck goes on: ‘It’s in the same cadence as “PSK what the hell does it mean?”’
Just as hip-hop production developed more rapidly during the mid eighties, so did the vocal styles. At the close of the decade Ice Cube would comment to Chuck on how he was influenced by Chuck when it came to that particular cadence and flow. Chuck responded by saying he got it from Schoolly D and Mr. Magic. When it was brought to Schoolly D’s attention he admitted he was influenced by Melle Mel.
But while Spectrum were becoming more and more involved with the recording process they still didn’t want to be recording artists. They wanted to work full time in radio. The crew looked up to the likes of the World Famous Supreme Team (who in time would go on to make ‘Buffalo Gals’ with Malcolm McLaren), who had a show on WHBI, and ‘Chief Rocker’ Frankie Crocker who played on WWRL. A gig along those lines, and the chance to continue with their DJ gigs, would have suited them just fine.
A big reason for their hesitancy to become recording artists was that during their time at WBAU the Spectrum camp had been observing the harsh realities of the developing rap game. Inflated egos meant that they had to treat the upcoming acts who played at their gigs like kings. But after the shows the Spectrum crew would then drive those acts back to the same impoverished neighbourhoods that they’d always lived in. Driving supposed rap stars back to the projects made an impression. ‘None of them were really getting paid off records so I was like, “Damn”,’ is how Chuck assessed the situation.
In among everything else that was going on, Spectrum were still actively courting local talent. It was around this time, late ’84, early ’85, that DJ Johnny Juice joined the crew, after impressing Chuck and Hank at a talent contest they held at Spectrum’s headquarters. Juice would also play his part in the future careers of the individuals who would go on to form Leaders of the New School, the Long Island-based group that released hits like ‘International Zone Coaster’, ‘Case of the PTA’ and ‘What’s Next’ before their most popular member Busta Rhymes went solo. When the young Juice arrived in Long Island he realised that, unlike in The Bronx, he would have to go looking for hip-hop vibes. ‘In The Bronx you just had to look out the window and it was there,’ he says.
Juice met a guy named DJ Will who in turn introduced him to Darryl Higgins, aka DJ Hig. Hig had been DJing for a long time around Long Island and this was how he met Spectrum. He was particularly tight with Eric Sadler: ‘Hig also had his own little sound system, they were like competing sound systems but they were friends, they knew each other.’
Hig and Will had been teaching Juice, already a natural at breakdancing, how to scratch and mix, with the result that Juice and Hig’s brother Charlie Brown, who went to the same school, formed their own little DJ crew. Trevor Smith, aka Busta Rhymes, also attended the same high school as Juice who, because he was a few years older, was helping to tutor the young break-dancer. ‘As gifted students if we tutored other kids in certain subjects we’d get extra credit. Busta was a popper and he was nasty. He came looking for me to be a part of my breakdancing group kinda before I even met Brown.’
Before long, Juice would introduce the artists who would be known as Busta and Charlie Brown to each other. At the time they went by the excellent old-school names of MC Chill O-Ski and KB MC, short for Krush Brown. Rolling with older breakdancers allowed the three youths to shuffle past security and into the Spectrum parties. ‘I was with Hig so I was introduced to MC DJ Flavor, Chuckie D, Mellow D and DJ K-Jee.’ The B-boy in Juice still makes him speak his mind: ‘Honestly, I wasn’t too impressed with ’em. But they were still rocking the shit.’
Johnny Juice was back in The Bronx visiting family when Charlie Brown called him up about the talent contest that led to him joining PE. ‘I got back and there was a message from Brian like, “There’s a contest, they’re looking for rappers and DJs”. I was like, “Aiight”.
