Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos

The vocals are mostly by lead rapper Chuck D, with sidekick Flavor Flav appearing between verses, seemingly speaking to Chuck over the phone. Flavor went to another room and called the studio to achieve this effect.

It features a slower, more melodic beat than other songs on It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Aside from the aforementioned Hayes sample, the song samples "Little Green Apples" by The Escorts and "Living for the City" by Stevie Wonder.

The lines in the scratch breaks – "Now they got me in a cell" and "Death Row/What a brother knows" – are samples from "Bring the Noise", another song on the same album.

The lyric "anti-nigger machine" became the title of a song on the group's next album, Fear of a Black Planet.

"B-Side Wins Again" is a song that was not featured on It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back but only featured on the 2014 deluxe edition of the album, it was originally recorded around in 1987 before or after the Yo! Bum Rush the Show era.

The song was remixed with other samples on the next album, Fear of a Black Planet.

The music video was filmed in the abandoned cell blocks of the nationally landmarked old Essex County Jail in Newark, New Jersey.{{cite web|title=Old Essex County Jail Research Resources|publisher=Myles Zhang|date=2019-06-11|url=https://www.oldessexcountyjail.org/resources/|accessdate=2021-09-10}} The official video was directed by Adam Bernstein. According to Bernstein, Public Enemy wanted Joey Ramone to play a prisoner. Ramone refused, as group member Professor Griff – despite not appearing in the video – had been reported making antisemitic remarks.{{cite web |last1=Ducker |first1=Eric |title=On the Job Training: Part Two - Adam Bernstein |url=http://www.waxpoetics.com/blog/features/articles/on-the-job-training-2/ |website=waxpoetics.com |publisher=Wax Poetics |accessdate=2018-08-21 |archive-date=2018-08-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180821223224/http://www.waxpoetics.com/blog/features/articles/on-the-job-training-2/ |url-status=dead }}

1. "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos (Radio version)" - 6:01
2. "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos (Instrumental)" - 1:17
3. "Too Much Posse" - 2:25
4. "Caught, Can I Get a Witness? (Pre Black Steel Ballistic Felony Dub)" - 5:04
5. "B-Side Wins Again" - 3:49

• Brazilian metal band Sepultura covered the song.{{cite web |url=https://loudwire.com/sepultura-five-album-box-set-1998-2009-derrick-green-era/ |publisher=Loudwire |title=Sepultura Unveil 5-Album Box Set Highlighting Early Derrick Green Era From 1998 to 2009 |first=Joe |last=DiVita |date=August 26, 2021 |accessdate=September 23, 2023}}
• Chuck D has performed the song with Asian Dub Foundation and Rage Against the Machine. In 1998, a live version from 1996, featuring Chuck, appeared on Rage Against The Machine's Live & Rare.
• English trip hop musician Tricky released a cover entitled "Black Steel" – with Martina Topley-Bird on vocals, backed by the techno-rock band FTV{{cite web |first=Richard |last=Buskin|url=http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/jun07/articles/classictracks_0607.htm |title=Classic Tracks: Tricky 'Black Steel' |website=Sound on Sound |date=June 2007 |accessdate=March 5, 2018}} – on his debut album Maxinquaye (1995). The stripped-down sound of the original is replaced by pounding drums and guitars. Topley-Bird sings the lyrics instead of rapping.{{cite web |url=http://sample-as-that.blogspot.com//2006/10/tricky-black-steel-cover-version-of.html |title=Tricky - Black Steel (Cover version of Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos by Public Enemy |author=Ciarán |date=October 26, 2006 |website=Sample-as-that.blogspot.com |accessdate=March 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080103141756/http://sample-as-that.blogspot.com//2006/10/tricky-black-steel-cover-version-of.html |archive-date=January 3, 2008

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• "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" was also used by DJ Muggs for "The Puppet Master", featuring B-Real and Dr. Dre, on the Soul Assassins, Chapter 1 album.{{cite web |url=http://www.whosampled.com/sample/10784/DJ-Muggs-Dr.-Dre-B-Real-The-Puppet-Master-Isaac-Hayes-Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic/ |title=DJ Muggs, Dr. Dre and B-Real's 'The Puppet Master' - Discover the Sample Source |website=WhoSampled |accessdate=March 5, 2018}}
• The same Isaac Hayes sample is used by The Game in the Just Blaze-produced song "Remedy" on the album Doctor's Advocate. Chuck D's line "They got me in a cell" from "Black Steel" is scratched in the hook.
• The beginning of the song is sampled heavily in "Make Some Noise" by "Dougal & Gammer".{{citation needed|date=December 2018}}

File:Poster_for_the_2016_documentary_film_In_the_Hour_of_Chaos.jpg

The title and cover art of writer/director Bayer Mack's 2016 American documentary drama In the Hour of Chaos – which tells the story of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr.'s ("Daddy King") rise from an impoverished childhood in the violent backwoods of Georgia to become patriarch of one of the most famous, and tragedy-plagued, families in history – are influenced by Public Enemy's song.{{cite web |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/kate-kelly/daddy-kings-story-told-in_b_9005656.html |title=Daddy King's Story Told in New Documentary |first=Kate |last=Kelly |date=January 18, 2016 |website=Huffington Post |accessdate=March 5, 2018}}{{cite web |url=https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4952372/ |title=In the Hour of Chaos |date=January 15, 2016|website=IMDb |accessdate=March 5, 2018}} The original trailer for the docudrama featured a portion of "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" by Isaac Hayes.{{cite web |url=http://blockstarztv.com/video/118989236 |title=In the Hour of Chaos (2015) |website=Block Starz TV |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170208060400/http://blockstarztv.com/video/118989236 |archive-date=February 8, 2017 |access-date=March 5, 2018}} In the Hour of Chaos aired on public television July 25, 2016.{{cite web |url=https://www.cctvcambridge.org/node/367457 |title=In The Hour of Chaos! |website=Cambridge Community Television |accessdate=March 5, 2018}}

"I don't feel like there's ever been music that's been political in this way that's been so bad-ass," observed musician Joan as Police Woman. "It's so raw, angry [and] extremely intelligent… The music's really cutting and funky, but not in the way you'd hear it now. It's not refined, all the samples are jarring, and the drums are really harsh. It's very punk rock! There's no other rap song that I've learned every word of, and people will be astounded that it was ever made."{{cite journal|title= Mind blowers! |journal= Mojo |issue=245 |date= April 2014 |page= 25}} (Joan As Police Woman covered another Nation of Millions song, "She Watch Channel Zero?!", on her album Cover.)

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Category:1988 songs

Category:Public Enemy (band) songs

Category:Anti-war songs

Category:Song recordings produced by Rick Rubin

Category:Political rap songs

Category:Songs about prison

Category:Songs written by Chuck D

Category:Songs written by Eric "Vietnam" Sadler

Category:Songs written by Flavor Flav

Category:Songs written by Hank Shocklee

Category:Def Jam Recordings singles

Category:Draft evasion