One Song

Herbie Hancock S Rockit

October 2, 2025

Key Takeaways Copied to clipboard!

  • Herbie Hancock's "Rockit" was a genre-bending instrumental hit that successfully fused jazz, hip-hop, Afro-Cuban rhythms, and electronic music, earning a Grammy and mainstream attention. 
  • The song's groundbreaking avant-garde music video, directed by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, was crucial to its success, especially in breaking barriers for Black artists on early MTV. 
  • The track's production heavily relied on innovative techniques like the use of the Oberheim DMX drum machine, scratching by Grand Mixer DXT using the "Fresh" sound from Beside's "Change the Beat," and rhythmic borrowing from jazz and rock sources. 

Segments

Introduction to “Rockit”
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(00:00:01)
  • Key Takeaway: “Rockit” achieved major success by blending jazz, hip-hop, and electronic music without vocals, winning a Grammy for Best R&B Instrumental Performance.
  • Summary: The song proved that mashing disparate genres like jazz and hip-hop could result in a major hit. Its success was bolstered by an avant-garde music video that won awards at the 1984 Music Video Awards. The hosts introduce the song by Herbie Hancock as the focus of the episode.
The Iconic Music Video
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(00:02:07)
  • Key Takeaway: The “Rockit” video featured unsettling, futuristic robot creations by British artist Jim Whiting, contributing to a dystopian vision of technology’s role in society.
  • Summary: The video, which heavily featured robot legs and a creepy bird robot, was directed by Kevin Godley and Lol Creme of 10cc. Its presence on early MTV was significant, as Black artists rarely received airplay, making its success groundbreaking. The video won five MTV Music Video Awards.
Herbie Hancock’s Career Context
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(00:06:36)
  • Key Takeaway: Herbie Hancock, an iconic jazz innovator formerly of the Miles Davis quintet, was already known for spanning acoustic, funk, and soundtrack work before releasing “Rockit.”
  • Summary: Hancock’s extensive career included work on the soundtrack for Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up, featuring the track “Bring Down the Birds.” His earlier compositions, like “Watermelon Man” and “Cantaloupe Island,” became heavily sampled in hip-hop.
Hancock’s Vocal Solution
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(00:09:38)
  • Key Takeaway: As a non-singer, Herbie Hancock experimented with technology, using a vocoder live on stage in 1979 to achieve vocal effects on tracks like “I Thought It Was You.”
  • Summary: Hancock sought ways to perform vocally without singing, contrasting with contemporaries like George Benson who adopted singing careers. The hosts clarified the difference between a vocoder (making the voice sound like an instrument) and a talk box (making an instrument sound like a voice).
Inspiration from Scratching
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(00:13:31)
  • Key Takeaway: Herbie Hancock was inspired to incorporate hip-hop elements after hearing scratching on Malcolm McLaren’s “Buffalo Gals” by the World’s Famous Supreme Team.
  • Summary: McLaren, a legendary producer, was hip to trends after witnessing block parties thrown by the Universal Zulu Nation. The innovation of scratching allowed for the manipulation of any existing sound before digital samplers were common. Hancock’s manager, Tony Milan, connected him with the production duo Material (Bill Laswell and Michael Beinhorn).
Material’s Collision Music
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(00:16:05)
  • Key Takeaway: Bill Laswell formulated the concept of “collision music,” cross-pollinating genres, instruments, and rhythms, which informed the creation of “Rockit.”
  • Summary: Laswell and Beinhorn approached the track with a “what would Herbie do” mindset, incorporating influences from New York’s no-wave, punk rock, and salsa scenes. Laswell’s early exposure to diverse musicians in his rehearsal space fueled his cross-genre approach.
Drum Programming and Percussion
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(00:20:03)
  • Key Takeaway: The track’s rhythm section features programmed drums from an Oberheim DMX machine, characteristic of post-electro music, layered with acoustic Bata drums played by Daniel Ponce.
  • Summary: The DMX drum machine beat, also heard on New Order’s “Blue Monday,” provided the core electronic rhythm, with fills acting as distinct rhythmic hooks. Daniel Ponce played the Bata drum, using rhythms associated with the Yoruba religion, adding a layer of West African/Cuban percussion.
Grand Mixer DXT’s Scratching
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(00:26:14)
  • Key Takeaway: Grand Mixer DXT’s iconic scratching solo, performed in one take, utilized a sound sample from Beside’s “Change the Beat,” which featured a vocoded phrase by Bill Laswell’s manager.
  • Summary: The sound scratched was the phrase “Ah, this stuff is really fresh,” which became one of hip-hop’s most sampled sounds. DXT viewed the turntable as an instrument, comparing his record choice to a violinist’s bow, and aimed to channel musicality akin to jazz greats like Ella Fitzgerald.
Bass Line and Sample Sources
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(00:34:51)
  • Key Takeaway: Bill Laswell’s bass line rhythmically interpolated Pharaoh Sanders’ scatting from “Upper and Lower Egypt,” while a guitar stab sample was accidentally captured from Led Zeppelin’s “We’re Gonna Groove” using a delay unit.
  • Summary: Laswell extracted the rhythm from Sanders’ 1966 track, demonstrating the power of rhythmic borrowing over melodic ownership. The Zeppelin sample resulted from missing a snare hit on the Coda album and instead capturing a guitar stab via a delay device functioning as a rudimentary sampler.
Melody Composition and Structure
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(00:40:28)
  • Key Takeaway: Herbie Hancock composed the song’s main melody in just 15 minutes by humming with Laswell and Beinhorn outside the studio, resulting in a strong, unharmonized synth hook.
  • Summary: The song’s structure is defined by an interplay between rhythm and melody, notably lacking traditional chord changes or harmony. Hancock layered the melody using a Rhodes Chroma and a Mini Moog, creating the track’s central, memorable hook.
Vocoder Vocals and Legacy
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(00:44:02)
  • Key Takeaway: The minimal vocals, processed through a Sennheiser vocoder, borrowed lyrical fragments like “Don’t Stop” from Soulsonic Force’s “Planet Rock,” with the title word “Rockit” appearing only once.
  • Summary: The song’s success, including its Grammy win and groundbreaking video, served as a major co-sign of hip-hop and turntablism as an art form to a wider, older audience. The hosts argue that Hancock’s willingness to incorporate new elements prevents jazz from becoming a strictly museum-bound art form.