Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Hank Shocklee calls out Timbo

UK music, film, fashion, and art magazine Dazed and Confused conducted an interview last month with the legendary hip-hop producer Hank Shocklee (most known for being a founding member of Public Enemy and being part of the Bomb Squad) for their online magazine Dazed Digital.com. While discussing the reunion of the Bomb Squad, his upcoming book, and creativity (or lack thereof) in hip-hop, Shocklee had some choice words regarding Timbaland:

DD: Surely some hip hop producers are still creative – what about, say, Timbaland?
HS: Listen, I know Timbaland from way back. I was one of the first Timbaland supporters before he even did the first Aaliyah album, when he was up in Rochester trying to put together a group called Girl with Missy Elliott. But the stuff he’s doing now, he’s just regurgitating. He’s an assembly line, just cranking it out. He’s just taking a loop, putting it on a tape and putting a vocal on it. Musically, almost everybody’s taking a step backwards today.


Man, I wish we had more info on that whole Rochester scene with Devante. At any rate, thoughts on Shocklee's statements? Has Tim become an assembly line? Let us know!

You can peep the full interview here

Props to my goodd friend Wayne over at wayneandwax.comfor the article!

16 comments :

  1. I remember a time when Czar never used to post, and now he's taking J's place...

    But, Tim WAS an assembly line... back when he was only cranking out singles (around '05). He did a mix of albums and singles back in '06-'07. And now, this year, it's kind of slowed down, and Tim seems like a more album-oriented producer (with the OCCASIONAL single).

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  2. Infra Red: what are my thoughts??? Even though dude's a legend and all that, he doesn't know what he's talkin about - Bomb Squad use (and loop) more samples than Timbaland - that niggas trippin.

    www.myspace.com/infraredbeats

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  3. timbo's sorta outta ideas/stuck in that nelly/timberlake mode...

    the stuff he did for aaliyah is still his best imo

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  4. Frederick didn't you hear J's away, I would assume that's why the other dudes are posting for him? Get with the program son! :P

    I expected something more agressive from the title. I don't think Timbaland's like a production line he seems to really get into every production he does and seems passionate about every one so I can't really see where he's coming from.

    What's Hank Shocklee done since Public Enemy anyway? *crickets*

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  5. The irony kills me ... Hank saying Tim's "just taking a loop, putting it on a tape and putting a vocal on it" is the basic production method of hip-hop music that was employed by Bomb Squad.

    Now that Timbaland is producing albums using musicians like a traditional prdocuer he is an assembly line?

    Someone is bitter. Old heads need to give it up.

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  6. wow...um didn't even know this dude until just now haha shows how mch his opinion differs from anybody elses...now i don't think it's a matter of manufacturin old beats...I think it's a matter of this: how exactly he gonna top what he has already topped before? Once u go to the top there's only one way to go...because the shit he brought on the nelly, jt and his own album was pure genius...we all know he can top it... He's done it time and time again. It's just a matter of when...hopefully it's with keri doe and chris and shock value 2... :D

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  7. TAPE??? SERIOUS?? LOL WELL THE ONLY WAY HE IS AN ASSEMBLY LINE IS BY CREATING ALL THESE OTHER PRODUCERS... TIM JUST KEEPS ADDING ON TO HIS PRODUCTION CAMP... GETTIN THAT CHEESE!!!! AS FOR HIM... STILL HOT.. AINT LOST NOTHIN... HATERS GON HATE... LIVE AND MOVE ON...

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  8. it would be helpful for people to go head and get the background information so they can make an informed response, that's why I like when the blogs make posts with link references or footnotes throughout the piece ... for stuff that Hank Shocklee has done recently, he put together the music for the American Gangster soundtrack, the real one when Anthony Hamilton and others as well as scoring the movie ... as for what he said about looping, Public Enemy was never about loops, they were collage artists and they chop and spliced together lots of samples into each song DJ style, their first album is a good example of that, the second album, they had to ease up on that because of the new sample laws being revised at the time ... and he also makes it known that he was a supporter of Tim from the beginning, but you can tell a difference between the Sista album, or the post-DeVante tracks with Aaliyah & Ginuwine, Playa, Total, etc. and the stuff now, I think Hank is talking about stuff like the song Do It, ... I don't know what Tim's process or mindset is, but I feel like, when people start out, they have a certain sound their trying to achieve, and when they fail to emulate it perfectly, out of that comes their own style and creativity, and I noticed that some people, when they learn more, and figure out how to emulate it more accurately, it doesn't sound so good to some people, I still enjoy Flo-Rida's Elevator, and other recent productions, but I'm definitely a fan of his older work, and I can see what Hank Shocklee saying, ... and if you read the whole piece, he says he doesn't agree with the gatekeepers trying to tell people to sound a certain way, but for him, Tim with the production and Wayne with the pen, is kinda formulaic and just going with the flow as opposed to going against the grain and creating your own lane, he spoke about being the alternative or counter culture, so I can see that, and I'm still a fan of Tim & the whole crew

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  9. mrjames851: You took the words out of my mouth.

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  10. OMG mr. James I feel so stupid that was SUCH a critically and commercially acclaimed project *crickets

    ANYWAY the point I was trying to express is that you shouldn't diss other artists with unfounded claims and make out they're commercialised just because they've gained mainstream popularity and you haven't...

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  11. Infra Red says: mrjames851 - yea but Timbo made the grain, the created the whole damn lane in the first place - the industry is biting his style - diddy and all these other people wouldn't be on this pop shit if it weren't for Tim, all y'all would still be making down south and "snap" style beats - how can you tell him to go against his OWN grain???

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  12. 2 new chris songs confirmed....
    "Time" and "Get Up"...
    http://www.spin.com/reviews/chris-cornell-scream-interscopemosley

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  13. http://www.speedyshare.com/220805810.html

    2 new D.O.E song!

    D.o.E Ft Timbaland - Made It Big (prod by. Timbaland)
    D.o.E Ft Trace - Lil Miss Rida ( prod. BY TrackStarz )

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  14. CZAR and crew

    Here is a interesting article about Timbaland and his mark on the music industry:

    http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/musical/2008/10/06/081006crmu_music_frerejones

    They call it the "Timbaland Era"



    This is Venture Bro

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  15. mrjames851 i feel you but if we want to get specific, Hank did additional scoring for the soundtrack of American Gangster The movie was actually scored by Marc Streitenfeld.

    Yeah, Bomb Squad are known for using multiple samples to build tracks, but that still doesn't remove the fact they built off sampled loops. Listen to Cube's early stuff.

    Hank is welcome to his own opinion on Tim, I agree at times Tim gets into auto-pilot but he has to see the hypocrisy in his statement.

    Thats all.

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  16. I agree. Timbaland's music isn't poppin' how it used to for me. His productions just feel LACKING to me. Danja is definitely bringing more to the table than Tim, and the same goes for other producers like Pharrell, Kanye and even T-Pain and it PAINS me to say I'm feeling that dudes' productions more than Timbo's.

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