“Self Destruction” by Stop the Violence Movement is a legendary gathering of East Coast legends including Boogie Down Productions, Public Enemy, Kool Moe Dee, and many more, and is still as relevant as ever more than two decades after its recording in 1989:
Some background on the Stop the Violence Movement from Wikipedia:
In 1988, during a concert by Boogie Down Productions and Public Enemy, a young fan was killed in a fight. The killing occurred shortly after Scott La Rock, a founding member of Boogie Down Productions, was killed in a shooting. KRS-One responded to these deaths by forming the Stop the Violence Movement to advance a vision of hip hop that would restore what he called hip hop’s “original principles” to the music industry. Composed of some of the biggest stars in contemporary East Coast hip hop, the movement released a single, “Self Destruction”, in 1989, with all proceeds going to the National Urban League.[1] A music video was created, and a VHS cassette entitled Overcoming Self-Destruction – The Making of the Self-Destruction Video was also released.
Produced by D-Nice and KRS-One, the full MC roster includes:
- Boogie Down Productions (KRS-One, D-Nice & Ms. Melodie)
- Stetsasonic (Delite, Daddy-O, Wise & Frukwan)
- Kool Moe Dee
- MC Lyte
- Doug E. Fresh
- Just-Ice
- Heavy D
- Public Enemy (Chuck D & Flavor Flav)
The song samples from “Funky Drummer“, “The Champ“, and “Pass the Peas” and many more Funk standards, including James Brown’s band The JBs’ “You Can Have Watergate, Just Gimme Some Bucks and I’ll Be Straight”:
