Mean Machine

Recorded and mixed at RPM Studios in New York, the track paired Grand Mixer D ST with Jalaluddin Mansur Nuriddin of The Last Poets. The release credits Bill Laswell and Grand Mixer D ST as producers, Bob Musso as recording engineer and Dave Jerden as mix engineer. Released by Celluloid in 1984, Mean Machine updated The Last Poets 1971 chant for the electro era. It connected spoken word politics, turntable technique and downtown New York studio production in a form suited to hip hop and club DJs. The record became a durable sample source after its chant appeared in Pump Up the Volume by M A R R S. It remains a key bridge between Last Poets spoken word, early hip hop turntablism and later dance music sampling.