Download: A Salute To Eric ‘Vietnam’ Sadler

Eric ‘Vietnam’ Sadler was the Bomb Squad‘s secret weapon. It was his programming expertise that kept their ‘wall of noise’ production style in the pocket, assigned to translate Hank Shocklee and Chuck D‘s musical chaos into sharply welder tools of war. You can pick the tracks which have Eric’s heavy fingerprints in the way that the drums swing and the finely-woven loop changes, perhaps best demonstrated by his work on Ice Cube‘s first solo album.

In this interview with Flatline from 2007, MC Serch talks about working with the Bomb Squad on the first 3rd Bass album:

‘Eric was, to me, the producer. Keith was the street guy who made sure the street was gonna love it and the beat was hot – the engineer. Hank was the guy who kinda put the stamp of approval, who did the final mixing, came in and listened and then was on to other things. I loved working with Eric Sadler. It was a great pleasure being in the studio with him, watching him make “Oval Office” and “Steppin’ To The A.M.”.’

This is re-enforced by Sadler’s recollection of picking up Ice Cube and Sir Jinx for the recording of AmeriKKKa’ Most Wanted in Check The Technique , Volume 2:

‘When I picked them up at the airport, Cube was like, ‘Who is this guy?’ He thought he’d only be working with Hank, Chuck and Terminator X on the album. He didn’t know that I did 99% of our music.’

Download: A Salute To Eric ‘Vietnam’ Sadler [Re-upped]

Track listing:

01 ‘The Nigga Ya Love To Hate’ – Ice Cube
02 ‘Anti-Nigger Machine’ [Uncensored Extended] – Public Enemy
03 ‘Slang Teacher’ – Kings Of Pressure
04 ‘Coolin’ In Cali’ [Extended Mix] – The 7A3
05 ‘Bring the Noise’ – Public Enemy
06 ‘For The Money’ – True Mathematics1
07 ‘Nitro’ – LL Cool J
08 ‘Lick The Balls’ – Slick Rick2
09 ‘Livin’ Like A Troopa’ [Eric Sadler Remix] – Greyson & Jasun
10 ‘Night Of The Living Baseheads’ [Anti-High Blood Pressure Encounter Mix] – Public Enemy
11 ‘Sobb Story’ – Leaders Of The New School
12 ‘Oval Office’ – 3rd Bass
13 ‘AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted’ – Ice Cube3
14 ‘Brothers Gonna Work It Out’ – Public Enemy
15 ‘State Of Accomodation: Why Aren’t You Angry’ – Sister Souljah feat. Chuck D
16 ‘You Know How To Reach Us’ – Kings of Pressure
17 ‘Trains, Planes And Automobiles’ – Leaders Of The New School
18 ‘On The Strength’ – Doug E. Fresh & The Get Fresh Crew

Bonus: Eric Sadler’s first production credit:

1. Keith Shocklee told me ‘True Mathematics had a strange voice. That’s why it sounded like he was rhymin’ through a telephone, ‘cos his regular voice wasn’t cuttin’ through the record.’ [↩]
2. ‘The Moment I Feared’ isn’t included since Slick Rick claims that he produced that himself and the credits are wrong. [↩]
3. This was originally recorded by Son of Bazerk, but according to Check The Technique, Volume 2 it was given to Cube since his album was due out first. [↩]