Instrumental Players in the Making of 'Self Destruction'

The creators of hip hop's call to stop the violence.

The Making of 'Self Destruction' - Some of the power players in rap on the East Coast came together in 1989 to record a protest song against Black-on-Black crime called “Self Destruction,” orchestrated by KRS-One after a fan was killed at one of his shows. Artists like Public Enemy and MC Lyte were among the voices to spread love and unity on one monstrous track. Read on to honor this hip hop classic and take a look at the MCs and producers who brought it to life.— Michael Harris (@IceblueVA)(Photos from left: PYMCA/UIG via Getty Images, Jive Records, Joseph Okpako/Redferns via Getty Images)

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The Making of 'Self Destruction' - Some of the power players in rap on the East Coast came together in 1989 to record a protest song against Black-on-Black crime called “Self Destruction,” orchestrated by KRS-One after a fan was killed at one of his shows. Artists like Public Enemy and MC Lyte were among the voices to spread love and unity on one monstrous track. Read on to honor this hip hop classic and take a look at the MCs and producers who brought it to life.— Michael Harris (@IceblueVA)(Photos from left: PYMCA/UIG via Getty Images, Jive Records, Joseph Okpako/Redferns via Getty Images)

D-Nice - B.D.P.'s  DJ D-Nice is known for being nice on the 1s and 2s, but the turntabilist can wreck a mic as well. Pulling double duties on the "put down the guns cut," D-Nice was the lead producer and he delivered a message that needs to be revisited today. "It's time to stand together in a unity/ 'Cause if not then we're soon to be/ Self-destroyed, unemployed/ The rap race will be lost without a trace/ Or a clue."(Photo: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images)

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D-Nice - B.D.P.'s  DJ D-Nice is known for being nice on the 1s and 2s, but the turntabilist can wreck a mic as well. Pulling double duties on the "put down the guns cut," D-Nice was the lead producer and he delivered a message that needs to be revisited today. "It's time to stand together in a unity/ 'Cause if not then we're soon to be/ Self-destroyed, unemployed/ The rap race will be lost without a trace/ Or a clue."(Photo: Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images)

Ms. Melodie - The first lady of Boogie Down Productions came with heat from the crew that was known to birth conscious spitters. Ms. Melodie's lyrics were a reminder that hip hop wasn't meant to glorify the streets but to uplift Black people. "The violence in rap must cease and settle/ If we want to develop and grow to another level/ We can't be guinea pigs for the devil," she rhymed. (Photo: Raymond Boyd/Getty Images) 

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Ms. Melodie - The first lady of Boogie Down Productions came with heat from the crew that was known to birth conscious spitters. Ms. Melodie's lyrics were a reminder that hip hop wasn't meant to glorify the streets but to uplift Black people. "The violence in rap must cease and settle/ If we want to develop and grow to another level/ We can't be guinea pigs for the devil," she rhymed. (Photo: Raymond Boyd/Getty Images) 

Stetsasonic (Delite, Daddy-O, Wise, and Frukwan) - Stetsasonic has a storied hip hop history that includes being the first hip hop band long before the Roots. Daddy-O, Wise, and Frukwan all kicked lyrics for this cut, with Delite pointing out that even back then hip hop was wrongfully being blamed for all of society's ills: "Pop pop pop/ One is shot, who's to blame?/ Headlines, front page, and rap's the name/ MC Delight here to state the bottom line/ That Black-on-Black crime was way before our time." (Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

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Stetsasonic (Delite, Daddy-O, Wise, and Frukwan) - Stetsasonic has a storied hip hop history that includes being the first hip hop band long before the Roots. Daddy-O, Wise, and Frukwan all kicked lyrics for this cut, with Delite pointing out that even back then hip hop was wrongfully being blamed for all of society's ills: "Pop pop pop/ One is shot, who's to blame?/ Headlines, front page, and rap's the name/ MC Delight here to state the bottom line/ That Black-on-Black crime was way before our time." (Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

KRS-One - KRS-One, aka Tha Teacha, was responsible for bringing this hip hop Hall of Justice together in 1989 after a kid was murdered at one of his shows with Public Enemy. Hands down one of the best MCs ever, Kris knew the effect rap had on the youth. "We got ourselves together so that you could unite and fight for what's right/ Not negative, 'cause the way we live is positive/ We don't kill our relatives."(Photo: John Sciulli/WireImage)

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KRS-One - KRS-One, aka Tha Teacha, was responsible for bringing this hip hop Hall of Justice together in 1989 after a kid was murdered at one of his shows with Public Enemy. Hands down one of the best MCs ever, Kris knew the effect rap had on the youth. "We got ourselves together so that you could unite and fight for what's right/ Not negative, 'cause the way we live is positive/ We don't kill our relatives."(Photo: John Sciulli/WireImage)

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Kool Moe Dee - No one will ever deny that Kool Moe Dee once held the N.Y. hip hop crown, and in 1989 he was at the top of his lyrical game with hits like "I Go to Work" and "How Ya Like Me Now." Always lyrically strapped, Kool Moe Dee had everyone screaming, "I never ever ran from the Ku Klux Klan/ And I shouldn't have to run from a Black man/ 'Cause that's Self Destruction!"(Photo: Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) 

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Kool Moe Dee - No one will ever deny that Kool Moe Dee once held the N.Y. hip hop crown, and in 1989 he was at the top of his lyrical game with hits like "I Go to Work" and "How Ya Like Me Now." Always lyrically strapped, Kool Moe Dee had everyone screaming, "I never ever ran from the Ku Klux Klan/ And I shouldn't have to run from a Black man/ 'Cause that's Self Destruction!"(Photo: Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images) 

MC Lyte - MC Lyte was running things in 1989 when she stood tall next to the boys as one of the few female MCs killing the game. She kept the wannabe ruffnecks at bay, spitting, "You ain't guarding the door/ So what you got a gun for?/ Do you rob the rich and give to the poor?" (Photo: Ethan Miller/BET/Getty Images for BET)

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MC Lyte - MC Lyte was running things in 1989 when she stood tall next to the boys as one of the few female MCs killing the game. She kept the wannabe ruffnecks at bay, spitting, "You ain't guarding the door/ So what you got a gun for?/ Do you rob the rich and give to the poor?" (Photo: Ethan Miller/BET/Getty Images for BET)

Doug E. Fresh - Doug E. Fresh also came in for double duty as the Human Beat-Box and lyricist. His rhythms have been entertaining us for over 30 years now, but he made everyone turn their radios down for a moment of silence when he kicked, "I hate it when someone dies and gets all hurt up/ For a silly gold chain by a chump; word up."(Photo: Ethan Miller/BET/Getty Images for BET)

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Doug E. Fresh - Doug E. Fresh also came in for double duty as the Human Beat-Box and lyricist. His rhythms have been entertaining us for over 30 years now, but he made everyone turn their radios down for a moment of silence when he kicked, "I hate it when someone dies and gets all hurt up/ For a silly gold chain by a chump; word up."(Photo: Ethan Miller/BET/Getty Images for BET)

Hank Shocklee - Hank Shocklee was an associate producer on "Self Destruction" and a member of Public Enemy's revered production team, the Bomb Squad. Outside of P.E., Shocklee and his crew were also responsible for hits from LL Cool J, Slick Rick, Ice Cube, Teddy Riley, Aaron Hall and Bell Biv DeVoe.(Photo: Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

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Hank Shocklee - Hank Shocklee was an associate producer on "Self Destruction" and a member of Public Enemy's revered production team, the Bomb Squad. Outside of P.E., Shocklee and his crew were also responsible for hits from LL Cool J, Slick Rick, Ice Cube, Teddy Riley, Aaron Hall and Bell Biv DeVoe.(Photo: Jason Merritt/Getty Images)

Just-Ice - "I was known as the gangster/ But believe me that is no fun/ The time is now to unite everyone," Just-Ice spit, speaking from first hand experiences. Breaking out in 1989, the Brooklyn MC was one of N.Y.'s first hard-core rappers, paving the road with Back to the Old School and Kool & Deadly. (Photo: Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

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Just-Ice - "I was known as the gangster/ But believe me that is no fun/ The time is now to unite everyone," Just-Ice spit, speaking from first hand experiences. Breaking out in 1989, the Brooklyn MC was one of N.Y.'s first hard-core rappers, paving the road with Back to the Old School and Kool & Deadly. (Photo: Al Pereira/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

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Heavy D - Heavy D may have been a multi-platinum-selling star who made his way to Hollywood rapping about the ladies, but he also knew what time it was in the hood because he lost two brothers to the streets. "They call us animals — mmm mmm, I don't agree with them/ I'll prove them wrong, but right is what your proving them," he revealed on this track.(Photo: Prince Williams/FilmMagic)

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Heavy D - Heavy D may have been a multi-platinum-selling star who made his way to Hollywood rapping about the ladies, but he also knew what time it was in the hood because he lost two brothers to the streets. "They call us animals — mmm mmm, I don't agree with them/ I'll prove them wrong, but right is what your proving them," he revealed on this track.(Photo: Prince Williams/FilmMagic)

Public Enemy - Chuck and Flav brought the noise to this hip hop manifesto, living up to their moniker as the Black Panthers of rap and holding ourselves accountable for our own racial genocide. Chuck closed out the radical symphony: "Cause we got to keep ourselves in check." Some of those same messages also permeated throughout their own albums, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and Fear of a Black Planet and eventually landed P.E. in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.(Photo: Douglas Gorenstein/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank)

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Public Enemy - Chuck and Flav brought the noise to this hip hop manifesto, living up to their moniker as the Black Panthers of rap and holding ourselves accountable for our own racial genocide. Chuck closed out the radical symphony: "Cause we got to keep ourselves in check." Some of those same messages also permeated throughout their own albums, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and Fear of a Black Planet and eventually landed P.E. in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.(Photo: Douglas Gorenstein/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank)