"No Sell Out" is a

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

piece composed by American drummer

Keith LeBlanc Keith LeBlanc (November 10, 1954 – April 4, 2024) was an American drummer and record producer who was a member of the bands Little Axe and Tackhead. His record " No Sell Out" was one of the first sample-based releases. The song was a success, ...

and credited to

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an African American revolutionary, Islam in the United States, Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figur ...

, released in November 1983 on

Tommy Boy Records Tommy Boy Records is an American independent record label and multimedia brand founded in 1981 by Tom Silverman. The label is credited with helping and launching the music careers of Queen Latifah, Amber, Afrika Bambaataa, Stetsasonic, Digita ...

. It marked one of the earliest usages of sample-based composition in popular music as well as being the first

song to use

's voice for artistic and political reasons.

Background

The idea for the piece was originally conceived when LeBlanc heard

Grandmaster Flash Joseph Robert Saddler (born January 1, 1958), known by his stage name Grandmaster Flash, is a Barbadian-American musician and DJ. He created a DJ technique called the Quick Mix Theory. This technique serviced the break-dancer and the rapper by el ...

playing a record in conjunction with the sample "Do you feel lucky, punk?" taken from the 1971

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

Dirty Harry ''Dirty Harry'' is a 1971 American action-thriller film produced and directed by Don Siegel, the first in the Dirty Harry (film series), ''Dirty Harry'' series. Clint Eastwood plays the title role, in his first appearance as San Francisco Polic ...

''. In an interview with ''

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quietu ...

'', Leblanc recalled: "I just thought the combination of a beat and music and spoken word over the top of it was pretty magical to me." Leblanc began listening to Malcolm X's spoken word recordings while experimenting with different drum beats. The recording marked LeBlanc's first time working extensively with

drum machine A drum machine is an electronic musical instrument that creates percussion sounds, drum beats, and patterns. Drum machines may imitate drum kits or other percussion instruments, or produce unique sounds, such as synthesized electronic tones. A d ...

s and as a producer, with the project being financed by

Marshall Chess Marshall Chess (born March 13, 1942) is an American record producer, the son of Leonard Chess who co-founded Chess Records. Chess Records Marshall worked for sixteen years with Chess Records; founded by his father Leonard and his uncle Phil. He ...

. LeBlanc opted to use the newest gear affordable, using an

Oberheim DMX The DMX is a programmable Digital data, digital drum machine manufactured by Oberheim Electronics, Oberheim. It was introduced in 1980 at a list price of and remained in the company's product line until the mid-1980s. The Oberheim DMX was the se ...

and

E-mu Drumulator E-mu Drumulator is a sample-based drum machine by E-mu Systems. Introduced in 1983 at a price of $995 USD, the Drumulator was the first programmable drum machine with built-in samples for under $1,000, resulting in sales of over 10,000 units over ...

to create and program the music. The spoken word passages were used with the permission of

Betty Shabazz Betty Shabazz (born Betty Dean Sanders; May 28, 1934/1936 – June 23, 1997), also known as Betty X, was an American educator and civil rights advocate. She was married to Malcolm X. Shabazz grew up in Detroit, Michigan, where her foster ...

, with a percentage of the proceeds going to the family of Malcolm X. Previous to contacting

, LeBlanc wanted Sugar Hill Records to issue the recording, but was discouraged by their unwillingness to provide royalties to Malcolm's family.

Composition

The composition makes use of several samplings of Malcolm X's voice which are placed over a syncopated beat-box driven electro beat. The audio clips are primarily taken from the speech he gave after the

firebombing Firebombing is a bombing technique designed to damage a target, generally an urban area, through the use of fire, caused by incendiary devices, rather than from the blast effect of large bombs. In popular usage, any act in which an incendiary d ...

of his house. The song is punctuated by the spoken chorus "Malcolm X - no sell out", which is repeated several times in the duration of the track.

Release and reception

Some were initially perturbed by the idea of a

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

musician using the words of an

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

activist in a popular music song. Others objected to the use of Malcolm X's words in popular music, with Jim Gates, vice president of operations at WESL in East St. Louis, Illinois, telling ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' that he thought that "Malcolm would never have approved of putting himself in a dance music context in lounges, taverns, discos, and rock and soul stations." LeBlanc, who hadn't considered the response his music would generate, said, "I got press calling me from all over the world, all pissed off, I thought 'OK, maybe this was a little bit cutting edge!" However, some realized the musical and political importance of LeBlanc's composition and the song received acclaim in underground circles.

, an American civil rights advocate and Malcolm X's widow, was aware of her husband's rising influence on members of the hip hop community and sanctioned the use of Malcolm's speech. Her preface to the piece, which appears the vinyl's jacket:

Nelson George Nelson George (born September 1, 1957) is an American author, columnist, music and culture critic, journalist, and filmmaker. He has been nominated twice for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Biography George attended St. John's Universit ...

, writing in ''Billboard'', commented, "Tommy Boy Records should be saluted for releasing a most historic and memorable record about Malcolm X. ... is writer hopes it reaches a wide audience. LeBlanc has done an amazing job of capturing the essence of Malcolm X's intellectual street raps, bringing this messenger's message to a new generation of listeners." After the single's release, Sugar Hill Records sued

for infringement, claiming the record company profited from voice samples that belonged to them. A temporary restraining order prevented Tommy Boy from marketing the single until the two record companies reached a settlement in which Tommy Boy agreed to pay Sugar Hill a percentage of sales revenue from the record. The single was a hit in the club scene and received airplay in the UK. ''

People The term "the people" refers to the public or Common people, common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. I ...

'' magazine described the piece as "nothing if not provocative" that "succeed in reminding the listener of the challenging directness of Malcolm's rhetoric." British music magazines ''

Sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the br ...

'', ''

Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...

'' and the ''

New Musical Express ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a " rock inkie", the ''NME'' would become a maga ...

'' made "No Sell Out" their "Single of the Week" and ran terse summaries of Malcolm X's political career alongside their review.

Jon Savage Jon Savage (born Jonathan Malcolm Sage, 2 September 1953) is an English writer, broadcaster and music journalist, best known for his definitive history of the Sex Pistols and punk music, ''England's Dreaming'' (1991). Early life and educati ...

New Society ''New Society'' was a weekly magazine of social inquiry and social and cultural comment, published in the United Kingdom from 1962 to 1988. It drew on the disciplines of sociology, anthropology, psychology, human geography, social history and s ...

commented that "rarely has a record so united the pop press", further commenting that "this extraordinary record has redefined dance forms in the way that Grandmaster Flash's Wheels of Steel did two years ago, taking the cut-ups of current New York styles to one logical conclusion". The single was re-issued a year later as a tribute to the UK miners' strike of 1984 and 1985.

Accolades

(*) designates unordered lists.

Influence

The song "No Sell Out" represented a shift toward more politically conscious topics in the hip hop community. It was released on the heels of the single " How We Gonna Make the Black Nation Rise?" by Brother D (Daryl Aamaa Nubyahn), a song that took a

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

stance. "No Sell Out" was the beginning of a movement in which hip hop artists motivated by political ideology, including

Public Enemy Public Enemy is an American Hip-hop, hip hop group formed in Roosevelt, New York, in 1985 by Chuck D and Flavor Flav. The group rose to prominence for their political messages including subjects such as Racism in the United States, American r ...

, would utilize samples of Malcolm X's voice in their compositions. However, in contrast to other artists who used his voice, the single is unique in that

receives compositional credit in the LP's liner notes and that his family received royalties generated by the single's success. It was also the first instance of a hip hop artist using a deceased individual's voice for artistic purposes. The track was sampled by

Tragedy Khadafi Percy Lee Chapman (born August 13, 1971), known by his stage name Tragedy Khadafi (formerly Intelligent Hoodlum), is an American rapper and record producer. Hailing from the Queensbridge Housing Projects in Queens, New York City,Brown, Marisa. ...

on his song "Black & Proud" from the 1990 album ''

Intelligent Hoodlum ''Intelligent Hoodlum'' is the debut studio album by the American rapper Intelligent Hoodlum, later known as Tragedy Khadafi. It was released on A&M Records in 1990. It peaked at number 52 on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Top R&B/Hip-Ho ...

'', which also sampled Malcolm X.

Formats and track listing

All songs written by

and

;US 12" single (TB 840) #"No Sell Out" – 5:44 #"No Sell Out" (instrumental version) – 7:09

Personnel

Adapted from the ''No Sell Out'' liner notes. ;Music personnel *Reggie Griffin –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...

Voyetra-8 The Voyetra-8 (Voyetra-Eight) is an eight voice polyphonic analog synthesizer. Released in 1982 by Octave-Plateau Electronics (later renamed Voyetra and still later merged with Turtle Beach Systems to become Voyetra Turtle Beach, Inc.), it was one ...

–

, Minimoog, Voyetra-8, producer *

–

spoken word Spoken word is an oral poetic performance art that is based mainly on the poem as well as the performer's aesthetic qualities. It is a 20th-century continuation of an oral tradition, ancient oral artistic tradition that focuses on the aesthetic ...

;Technical personnel *Robert Haggins –

photography Photography is the visual arts, art, application, and practice of creating images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is empl ...

Chris Lord-Alge Chris Lord-Alge is an American mix engineer. He is the brother of both Tom Lord-Alge and Jeff Lord-Alge, both of whom are also audio engineers. Chris and Tom are known for their abundant use of dynamic range compression for molding mixes that ...

– mixing *Herb Powers Jr. – mastering *Eric Thorngren –

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

Charts

Release history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:No Sell Out 1983 songs 1983 singles Works about Malcolm X Song recordings produced by Keith LeBlanc Songs written by Keith LeBlanc Tommy Boy Records singles