Hello, the horror, the horror let's frighten our kids has become let's frighten the young and gullible too, there's much more money to be made there, all the while the origens of Halloween and it's co-opted catholic version has gone astray. Instead of honoring those that had died , it's turned into a commercialised sick fright fest, what an infantile species homo superstitionis still is....
Today's Artists are arguably one of the most critically acclaimed and influential groups of all time, they brought their own brand of politics and sonic innovation into hip-hop in the 80s, and some would say, changed it forever.Their first four albums during the late 1980s and early 1990s were all certified either gold or platinum and were, according to music critic Robert Hilburn in 1998, "the most acclaimed body of work ever by a hip hop act ...... N Joy
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Public Enemy rewrote the rules of hip-hop, becoming the most influential and controversial rap group of the late '80s and, for many, the definitive rap group of all time. Building from Run-D.M.C.'s street-oriented beats and Boogie Down Productions' proto-gangsta rhyming, Public Enemy pioneered a variation of hardcore rap that was musically and politically revolutionary. With his powerful, authoritative baritone, lead rapper Chuck D rhymed about all kinds of social problems, particularly those plaguing the black community, often condoning revolutionary tactics and social activism. In the process, he directed hip-hop toward an explicitly self-aware, pro-black consciousness that became the culture's signature throughout the next decade. While Public Enemy's early Def Jam albums, produced with the Bomb Squad, earned them a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they continued to release relevant material up to and beyond their 2013 induction.
Musically, Public Enemy were just as revolutionary, as their production team, the Bomb Squad, created dense soundscapes that relied on avant-garde cut-and-paste techniques, unrecognizable samples, piercing sirens, relentless beats, and deep funk. It was chaotic and invigorating music, made all the more intoxicating by Chuck D's forceful vocals and the absurdist raps of his comic foil, Flavor Flav. With his comic sunglasses and an oversized clock hanging from his neck, Flav became the group's visual focal point, but he never obscured the music. While rap and rock critics embraced the group's late-'80s and early-'90s records, Public Enemy frequently ran into controversy with their militant stance and lyrics, especially after their 1988 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back made them into celebrities. After all the controversy settled in the early '90s, once the group entered a hiatus, it became clear that Public Enemy were the most influential and radical band of their time.
Chuck D (born Carlton Ridenhour, August 1, 1960) formed Public Enemy in 1982, as he was studying graphic design at Adelphi University on Long Island. He had been DJ'ing at the student radio station WBAU, where he met Hank Shocklee and Bill Stephney. All three shared a love of hip-hop and politics, which made them close friends. Shocklee had been assembling hip-hop demo tapes, and Ridenhour rapped over one song, "Public Enemy No. 1," around the same time he began appearing on Stephney's radio show under the Chuckie D pseudonym. Def Jam co-founder and producer Rick Rubin heard a tape of "Public Enemy No. 1" and immediately courted Ridenhour in hopes of signing him to his fledgling label.
Chuck D initially was reluctant, but he eventually developed a concept for a literally revolutionary hip-hop group -- one that would be driven by sonically extreme productions and socially revolutionary politics. Enlisting Shocklee as his chief producer and Stephney as a publicist, Chuck D formed a crew with DJ Terminator X (born Norman Lee Rogers, August 25, 1966) and fellow Nation of Islam member Professor Griff (born Richard Griffin) as the choreographer of the group's backup dancers, the Security of the First World, who performed homages to old Stax and Motown dancers with their martial moves and fake Uzis. He also asked his old friend William Drayton (born March 16, 1959) to join as a fellow rapper. Drayton developed an alter ego called Flavor Flav, who functioned as a court jester to Chuck D's booming voice and somber rhymes in Public Enemy.
Public Enemy's debut album, Yo! Bum Rush the Show, was released on Def Jam Records in 1987. Its spare beats and powerful rhetoric were acclaimed by hip-hop critics and aficionados, but the record was ignored by the rock and R&B mainstream. However, their second album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, was impossible to ignore. Under Shocklee's direction, PE's production team, the Bomb Squad, developed a dense, chaotic mix that relied as much on found sounds and avant-garde noise as it did on old-school funk. Similarly, Chuck D's rhetoric gained focus and Flavor Flav's raps were wilder and funnier. A Nation of Millions was hailed as revolutionary by both rap and rock critics, and it was -- hip-hop had suddenly become a force for social change. As Public Enemy's profile was raised, they opened themselves up to controversy. In a notorious statement, Chuck D claimed that rap was "the black CNN," relating what was happening in the inner city in a way that mainstream media could not project. Public Enemy's lyrics were naturally dissected in the wake of such a statement, and many critics were uncomfortable with the positive endorsement of black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan on "Bring the Noise." "Fight the Power," Public Enemy's theme for Spike Lee's controversial 1989 film Do the Right Thing, also caused an uproar for its attacks on Elvis Presley and John Wayne, but that was considerably overshadowed by an interview Professor Griff gave The Washington Times that summer. Griff had previously said anti-Semitic remarks on-stage, but his quotation that Jews were responsible for "the majority of the wickedness that goes on across the globe" was greeted with shock and outrage, especially by white critics who previously embraced the group. Faced with a major crisis, Chuck D faltered. First he fired Griff, then brought him back, then broke up the group entirely. Griff gave one more interview where he attacked Chuck D and PE, which led to his permanent departure from the group.
Public Enemy spent the remainder of 1989 preparing their third album, releasing "Welcome to the Terrordome" as its first single in early 1990. Again, the hit single caused controversy as its lyrics "still they got me like Jesus" were labeled anti-Semitic by some quarters. Despite all the controversy, Fear of a Black Planet was released to enthusiastic reviews in the spring of 1990, and it shot into the pop Top Ten as the singles "911 Is a Joke," "Brothers Gonna Work It Out," and "Can't Do Nuttin' for Ya Man" became Top 40 R&B hits. For their next album, 1991's Apocalypse 91...The Enemy Strikes Black, the group re-recorded "Bring the Noise" with thrash metal band Anthrax, the first sign that the group was trying to consolidate its white audience. Apocalypse 91 was greeted with overwhelmingly positive reviews upon its fall release, and it debuted at number four on the pop charts, but Public Enemy began to lose momentum in 1992 as they toured with the second leg of U2's Zoo TV tour and Flavor Flav was repeatedly in trouble with the law. In the fall of 1992, they released the remix collection Greatest Misses as an attempt to keep their name viable, but it was greeted to nasty reviews.
Public Enemy were on hiatus during 1993, as Flav attempted to wean himself off drugs, returning in the summer of 1994 with Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age. Prior to its release, it was subjected to exceedingly negative reviews in Rolling Stone and The Source, which affected the perception of the album considerably. Muse Sick debuted at number 14, but it quickly fell off the charts as it failed to generate any singles. Chuck D retired Public Enemy from touring in 1995 as he severed ties with Def Jam, developed his own record label and publishing company, and attempted to rethink Public Enemy. In 1996, he released his first debut album, The Autobiography of Mistachuck. As it was released in the fall, he announced that he planned to record a new Public Enemy album the following year.
Before that record was made, Chuck D published an autobiography in the fall of 1997. During 1997, Chuck D reassembled the original Bomb Squad and began work on three albums. In the spring of 1998, Public Enemy kicked off their major comeback with their soundtrack to Spike Lee's He Got Game, which was played more like a proper album than a soundtrack. Upon its April 1998 release, the record received the strongest reviews of any Public Enemy album since Apocalypse '91...The Enemy Strikes Black. After Def Jam refused to help Chuck D's attempts to bring PE's music straight to the masses via the Internet, he signed the group to the web-savvy independent Atomic Pop. Before the retail release of Public Enemy's seventh LP, There's a Poison Goin' On..., the label made MP3 files of the album available on the Internet. It finally appeared in stores in July 1999.
After a three-year break from recording and a switch to the In the Paint label, Public Enemy released Revolverlution, a mix of new tracks, remixes, and live cuts. The CD/DVD combo It Takes a Nation appeared in 2005. The multimedia package contained an hour-long video of the band live in London in 1987 and a CD with rare remixes. The studio album New Whirl Odor also appeared in 2005. The "special projects" album Rebirth of a Nation -- an album with all rhymes written by Bay Area rapper Paris -- was supposed to be released right along with it, but didn't appear until early the next year. The odds-and-ends collection Beats and Places appeared before the end of 2006.
In 2007, the group released an album entitled How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?. Public Enemy's single from the album was "Harder Than You Think". Four years after How You Sell Soul ... , in January 2011, Public Enemy released the album Beats and Places, a compilation of remixes and "lost" tracks. On July 13, 2012, Most of My Heroes Still Don't Appear on No Stamp was released and was exclusively available on iTunes. In July 2012, on UK television an advert for the London 2012 Summer Paralympics featured a short remix of the song "Harder Than You Think". The advert caused the song to reach No. 4[ in the UK Singles Chart on September 2, 2012. On July 30, 2012, Public Enemy performed a free concert with Salt-N-Pepa and Kid 'n Play at Wingate Park in Brooklyn, New York as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series. On August 26, 2012, Public Enemy performed at South West Four music festival in Clapham Common in London. On October 1, 2012 The Evil Empire of Everything was released. On June 29, 2013, they performed at Glastonbury Festival 2013. On September 14, 2013 they performed at Riot Fest & Carnival 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. On September 20, 2013 they performed at Riot Fest & Side Show in Byers, Colorado.
In 2014 Chuck D launched PE 2.0 with Oakland rapper Jahi as a spiritual successor and "next generation" of Public Enemy. Jahi met Chuck D backstage during a soundcheck at the 1999 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and later appeared as a support act on Public Enemy's 20th Anniversary Tour in 2007. PE 2.0's task is twofold, Jahi says, to "take select songs from the PE catalog and cover or revisit them" as well as new material with members of the original Public Enemy including DJ Lord, Davy DMX, Professor Griff and Chuck D. PE 2.0's first album People Get Ready was released on October 7, 2014. InsPirEd PE 2.0's second album and part two of a proposed trilogy was released a year later on October 11, 2015. Man Plans God Laughs, Public Enemy's thirteenth album, was released in July 2015. On June 29, 2017, Public Enemy released their fourteenth album, Nothing Is Quick in the Desert. The album was available for free download through Bandcamp until July 4, 2017
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They may go in and out of fashion, fall out of critical favor, have comebacks and slumps, but even at their worst, the truly great artists have flashes where their brilliance shines through. Public Enemy is one of those bands. When they released Revolverlution in 2002, they had been out of favor for a full decade, and throughout that time in the wilderness, the band fluctuated between brilliance (He Got Game) and unfocused meandering (Muse Sick), but the one constant remained -- even when they were bad, it was a thrill to hear them, especially Chuck D, whose voice is one of those intangible, transcendent thrills in all of popular music; it's as magical and undefinable as John Coltrane's sheets of sound, Jeff Beck's head-spinning guitar, Duke Ellington's piano, Frank Sinatra or Hank Williams' singing, Keith Richards' open-G chords -- no matter the quality of the material at hand, it's worth listening just to hear him rap. That was true when the Bomb Squad was producing PE, but, as subsequent recordings have proved, Chuck and PE could still sound shatteringly good without them. True, they built on that sound, but they did find ways to expand it, and, unlike their peers and many new artists, they were restless, not afraid of falling on their face by trying something new. Indeed, Chuck D made a point of trying something new, as he says in the liner notes for Revolverlution. Given the state of the industry and hip-hop, he's decided that there's no reason for Public Enemy to release a new album unless it covered uncharted territory. Unlike many veteran artists, he's acutely aware that new product directly competes with the band's classic albums, and that the new audience has changed, looking for individual tracks instead of full-fledged, cohesive albums -- and that might mean that they want killer new songs, live tracks, contemporary remixes, old remixes, whatever sounds good. So, Revolverlution is an attempt to craft a record along those lines. Cohesion has been thrown out the window in favor of new tunes, live tracks from 1992, new remixes by fans, remixes of songs debuted on this album, PSAs, and interviews -- the kind of album you'd burn if you spent some time on a really good artist's MP3 site. There's a bunch of good stuff here, whether it's new stuff ("Gotta Give the Peeps What They Need," the title track, the fiercely political "Son of a Bush," and "Get Your Sh*t Together"), remixes or archival material (great live versions of "Fight the Power" and "Welcome to the Terrordome"), along with collector-bait interview snippets that don't amount to much. But, there's a lot to be said for old-fashioned, cohesive albums -- they keep a consistent tone and message, delivering an album that felt unified, and thereby easier to listen to at length. This is deliberately the opposite of that kind of record, which is an admirable artistic move, but it does make the album feel like a bewildering hodge-podge, even after you understand the intent behind the entire thing. Even so, it's a worthwhile listen because, no matter what, it is still a thrill to hear Public Enemy. They might not be hip, they're not as innovative as they used to be, but they still make very good, even great music, and that's evident on Revolverlution. If only it were presented better.
Public Enemy - Revolverlution (flac 499mb)
01 Give the Peeps What They Need 3:32
02 Revolverlution 3:01
03 Miuzi Weighs a Ton (Live San Francisco 10/21/1999) 1:47
04 Put It Up 3:11
05 Can a Woman Make a Man Lose His Mind? 3:34
06 Public Enemy Service Announcement #1 0:21
07 Fight the Power (Live Winterthur Switzerland 1992) 3:55
08 By the Time I Get to Arizona (The Molemen Mixx) 3:57
09 Post-Concert Arizona Interview (U2 Zoo Tour) 1:03
10 Son of a Bush 5:52
11 54321... Boom 4:47
12 Welcome to the Terrordome (Live Winterthur Switzerland 1992) 3:38
13 B Side Wins Again (Scattershot Remix) 4:54
14 Get Your Shit Together 3:37
15 Public Enemy Service Announcement #2 0:30
16 Shut 'Em Down (The Functionist Version) 5:28
17 Now a Daze 3:25
18 Public Enemy No. 1 (Jeronimo Punx Redu) 4:48
19 The Making of Burn Hollywood Burn (feat. Big Daddy Kane, Chuck D, Flavor Flav 1989) 2:46
20 Give the Peeps What They Need feat. Paris (DJ Johnny Juice - Paris Revolverlution Mix) 3:30
21 What Good Is a Bomb 6:17
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Alright! New Whirl Odor is the first proper, no-gimmicks LP for Chuck and co. for the 2000s. What surprised me most is that a number of cuts have a kind of chill-out funk groove to them. Starting with "Preachin' to the Quiet" (one of the highlights), it gives a very different sound to Public Enemy. Personally, I really like it. It gives the record a lot of growth, and makes it stand out in PE's lengthy discography. Unfortunately, there's some up and down for the LP. On one hand, you have standouts like the title track, "Preachin' to the Quiet," and "Check What You're Listening To," and the closing "Superman's Black in the Building," but then there are some missteps like "66.6 Strikes Again" (which feels redundant), the equally extraneous "Either You Get It by Now or You Don't," and some weaker cuts like "As Long as the People Got Something to Say" and "Y'all Don't Know." Even so, things are largely positive. The biggest shocker here is the final track, "Superman's Black in the Building," a 12-minute epic that features rapping, spoken-word, and then a lengthy live instrument outro. It definitely outweighs any and all missteps for me.
Public Enemy - New Whirl Odor. (flac 415mb)
01 ...And No One Broadcasted Louder Than... (Intro) 0:33
02 New Whirl Odor 3:24
03 Bring That Beat Back 4:17
04 66.6 Strikes Again 1:45
05 MKLVFKWR 3:20
06 What a Fool Believes 3:07
07 Makes You Blind 5:34
08 Preachin' to the Quiet 5:27
09 Either We Together or We Ain't (S1W Stepstrumental) 1:44
10 Revolution 4:19
11 Check What You're Listening To 5:46
12 As Long as the People Got Something to Say 3:23
13 Y'all Don't Know 4:04
14 Either You Get It By Now or You Don't 1:45
15 Superman's Black in the Building 11:50
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If the title of Rebirth of a Nation consciously recalls the title of Public Enemy's 1988 masterwork, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, that shouldn't be taken as indication that the music on Rebirth is a revival of the dense sound of Nation as masterminded by the Bomb Squad. Nevertheless, Rebirth is certainly a throwback to the sound of the golden age, when hardcore rap was not defined solely by the sonics or subjects of gangsta rap, and that's a deliberate move on PE's part -- they want to re-create the sound of the time, but not the sound that was identified with them, and in order to do that they've entered into a full-fledged collaboration with Paris, who produced and wrote all of Rebirth of a Nation. This is the first time that Chuck D did not have a hand in writing either the music or the words on a Public Enemy album (he did write some verses on four songs on the record), which is initially disarming, since he's always been the sound and vision of PE. But he explains the project clearly in his liner notes, comparing the album to Muddy Waters' psychedelicized blues on Electric Mud -- Muddy may have been reluctant to work in a rock setting, but it was an artistic challenge, and Chuck wanted Public Enemy to take the same kind of risk. Even if all PE fans may not be pleased with the results, Rebirth of a Nation isn't nearly as divisive as Electric Mud -- Paris to Public Enemy isn't as big a stretch as Chicago blues to psychedelia, after all, and they have an audience more willing to go along with change, which this certainly is. But change is often welcome for artists, nowhere more so than for PE, whose last album, New Whirl Odor, was their first to feel truly tired, something that Rebirth can not be called. Not that it's especially daring sonically -- Paris did construct this as a self-consciously old-school record, dropping in samples of old PE records and adhering to the sound of 1990 -- but the group, particularly Chuck D, sounds engaged by the project, which at the very least makes for a listen that's more gripping than its immediate predecessor. And if the sound of the record is a throwback, Paris' subjects are nervy and politically charged, directly addressing the state of the world in a way few records do in 2006. All of this makes Rebirth of a Nation an admirable effort -- perhaps the music gets a little monochromatic, but that's merely a byproduct of its narrowly targeted goals, and as a whole, it's an ambitious and successful artistic detour for PE. Besides, it's hard not to be impressed by a record that sounds like a blast from the past while playing like a news bulletin from today -- not an easy trick to pull off, but Paris and Public Enemy manage it with Rebirth of a Nation.
Public Enemy - Rebirth Of A Nation . (flac 311mb)
01 Raw Shit feat. Paris & MC Ren 4:16
02 Hard Rhymin' feat. Paris & Sister Souljah 4:41
03 Rise 4:08
04 Can't Hold Us Back feat. Paris, Dead Prez, Kam 5:07
05 Hard Truth Soldiers feat. Paris, MC Ren, Dead Prez, The Conscious Daughters 4:18
06 Hannibal Lecture feat. Paris 3:50
07 Rebirth of a Nation feat. Professor Griff 3:27
08 Pump the Music, Pump the Sound 2:28
09 Make It Hardcore feat. Paris 5:16
10 They Call Me Flavor 3:09
11 Plastic Nation 3:03
12 Coinsequences feat. Paris 4:19
13 Invisible Man 4:28
14 Hell No (We Ain't Alright) (Paris Remix) 4:31
15 Watch the Door 3:35
16 Field Nigga Boogie (XLR8R Remix) 5:10
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A collection of "the unleashed and the unreleased," Public Enemy's Beats and Places gets back to the outrage, back to the immediacy of the early days, and turns out to be the most satisfying full-length this crew has released since the millennium turned. Unfortunately, it's released at a time when the hip-hop community is PE-saturated with a remix album (Bring That Beat Back) and an album with lyrics written by Paris, not Chuck D (Rebirth of a Nation) both landing within the last 12 months. Beats and Places looks even less vital than the Paris album since it's marked as a compilation of remixes and tracks looking for a proper home, but as the short liner notes infer, these lost tracks aren't really leftovers. Instead they're venom-filled, immediate cuts originally set free on the Internet in hopes of viral destruction. "Hell No, We Ain't Allright" deals with "the son-of-a-Bush nation" and the Katrina aftermath while "Grand Theft Oil" manipulates said Bush's speeches into a doublespeak nightmare through the power of Johnny Juice Rosado's turntables. Rosado worked on both Yo! Bum Rush the Show and It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and adds to the old-school flavor, as does "The Flavor Flav Show" which repeats everything great about Nation's "Cold Lampin' with Flavor"." It's unfortunate all the highlights are pushed upfront, but a bonus DVD of plenty of late-era videos and extras makes up for that, leaving only the lack of helpful track-by-track information to complain about. A great deal of the album doesn't seem to have been leaked or released in any shape or form before, but there's no telling why it was recorded or what for. This sure sounds like half to two-thirds of a proper, vital album with some exciting extras tacked on. Guessing what would have happened had they finished this possible album instead of the other projects is both interesting and frustrating, which has been par for the course with PE as of late. Beats and Places at least suggests the future could be much, much brighter. ....And it would
Public Enemy - Beats and Places (flac 348mb)
01 Here We Go Again (PE Tour Intro: 2007) 1:34
02 Air Conditioning 3:12
03 Who's Your Hero? 3:56
04 The Flavor Flav Show 3:21
05 Electric Slave 3:30
06 Grand Theft Oil 3:17
07 Hell No, We Ain't Allright 5:23
08 Vidiot1:22
09 Like It Is 5:48
10 $hit 2:17
11 PE, Break It To P.E.ACES 0:40
12 All Aboard The New Nighttrain 3:01
13 Do You Wanna Go Our Way Human Beatbox – Professor Griff (Live At The Filmore, 2002) 3:55
14 If I Gave You Soul (What Would You Do With It?) 5:43
15 Air Conditioning (Revisited) 4:23
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Today's Artists are arguably one of the most critically acclaimed and influential groups of all time, they brought their own brand of politics and sonic innovation into hip-hop in the 80s, and some would say, changed it forever.Their first four albums during the late 1980s and early 1990s were all certified either gold or platinum and were, according to music critic Robert Hilburn in 1998, "the most acclaimed body of work ever by a hip hop act ...... N Joy
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Public Enemy rewrote the rules of hip-hop, becoming the most influential and controversial rap group of the late '80s and, for many, the definitive rap group of all time. Building from Run-D.M.C.'s street-oriented beats and Boogie Down Productions' proto-gangsta rhyming, Public Enemy pioneered a variation of hardcore rap that was musically and politically revolutionary. With his powerful, authoritative baritone, lead rapper Chuck D rhymed about all kinds of social problems, particularly those plaguing the black community, often condoning revolutionary tactics and social activism. In the process, he directed hip-hop toward an explicitly self-aware, pro-black consciousness that became the culture's signature throughout the next decade. While Public Enemy's early Def Jam albums, produced with the Bomb Squad, earned them a place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, they continued to release relevant material up to and beyond their 2013 induction.
Musically, Public Enemy were just as revolutionary, as their production team, the Bomb Squad, created dense soundscapes that relied on avant-garde cut-and-paste techniques, unrecognizable samples, piercing sirens, relentless beats, and deep funk. It was chaotic and invigorating music, made all the more intoxicating by Chuck D's forceful vocals and the absurdist raps of his comic foil, Flavor Flav. With his comic sunglasses and an oversized clock hanging from his neck, Flav became the group's visual focal point, but he never obscured the music. While rap and rock critics embraced the group's late-'80s and early-'90s records, Public Enemy frequently ran into controversy with their militant stance and lyrics, especially after their 1988 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back made them into celebrities. After all the controversy settled in the early '90s, once the group entered a hiatus, it became clear that Public Enemy were the most influential and radical band of their time.
Chuck D (born Carlton Ridenhour, August 1, 1960) formed Public Enemy in 1982, as he was studying graphic design at Adelphi University on Long Island. He had been DJ'ing at the student radio station WBAU, where he met Hank Shocklee and Bill Stephney. All three shared a love of hip-hop and politics, which made them close friends. Shocklee had been assembling hip-hop demo tapes, and Ridenhour rapped over one song, "Public Enemy No. 1," around the same time he began appearing on Stephney's radio show under the Chuckie D pseudonym. Def Jam co-founder and producer Rick Rubin heard a tape of "Public Enemy No. 1" and immediately courted Ridenhour in hopes of signing him to his fledgling label.
Chuck D initially was reluctant, but he eventually developed a concept for a literally revolutionary hip-hop group -- one that would be driven by sonically extreme productions and socially revolutionary politics. Enlisting Shocklee as his chief producer and Stephney as a publicist, Chuck D formed a crew with DJ Terminator X (born Norman Lee Rogers, August 25, 1966) and fellow Nation of Islam member Professor Griff (born Richard Griffin) as the choreographer of the group's backup dancers, the Security of the First World, who performed homages to old Stax and Motown dancers with their martial moves and fake Uzis. He also asked his old friend William Drayton (born March 16, 1959) to join as a fellow rapper. Drayton developed an alter ego called Flavor Flav, who functioned as a court jester to Chuck D's booming voice and somber rhymes in Public Enemy.
Public Enemy's debut album, Yo! Bum Rush the Show, was released on Def Jam Records in 1987. Its spare beats and powerful rhetoric were acclaimed by hip-hop critics and aficionados, but the record was ignored by the rock and R&B mainstream. However, their second album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, was impossible to ignore. Under Shocklee's direction, PE's production team, the Bomb Squad, developed a dense, chaotic mix that relied as much on found sounds and avant-garde noise as it did on old-school funk. Similarly, Chuck D's rhetoric gained focus and Flavor Flav's raps were wilder and funnier. A Nation of Millions was hailed as revolutionary by both rap and rock critics, and it was -- hip-hop had suddenly become a force for social change. As Public Enemy's profile was raised, they opened themselves up to controversy. In a notorious statement, Chuck D claimed that rap was "the black CNN," relating what was happening in the inner city in a way that mainstream media could not project. Public Enemy's lyrics were naturally dissected in the wake of such a statement, and many critics were uncomfortable with the positive endorsement of black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan on "Bring the Noise." "Fight the Power," Public Enemy's theme for Spike Lee's controversial 1989 film Do the Right Thing, also caused an uproar for its attacks on Elvis Presley and John Wayne, but that was considerably overshadowed by an interview Professor Griff gave The Washington Times that summer. Griff had previously said anti-Semitic remarks on-stage, but his quotation that Jews were responsible for "the majority of the wickedness that goes on across the globe" was greeted with shock and outrage, especially by white critics who previously embraced the group. Faced with a major crisis, Chuck D faltered. First he fired Griff, then brought him back, then broke up the group entirely. Griff gave one more interview where he attacked Chuck D and PE, which led to his permanent departure from the group.
Public Enemy spent the remainder of 1989 preparing their third album, releasing "Welcome to the Terrordome" as its first single in early 1990. Again, the hit single caused controversy as its lyrics "still they got me like Jesus" were labeled anti-Semitic by some quarters. Despite all the controversy, Fear of a Black Planet was released to enthusiastic reviews in the spring of 1990, and it shot into the pop Top Ten as the singles "911 Is a Joke," "Brothers Gonna Work It Out," and "Can't Do Nuttin' for Ya Man" became Top 40 R&B hits. For their next album, 1991's Apocalypse 91...The Enemy Strikes Black, the group re-recorded "Bring the Noise" with thrash metal band Anthrax, the first sign that the group was trying to consolidate its white audience. Apocalypse 91 was greeted with overwhelmingly positive reviews upon its fall release, and it debuted at number four on the pop charts, but Public Enemy began to lose momentum in 1992 as they toured with the second leg of U2's Zoo TV tour and Flavor Flav was repeatedly in trouble with the law. In the fall of 1992, they released the remix collection Greatest Misses as an attempt to keep their name viable, but it was greeted to nasty reviews.
Public Enemy were on hiatus during 1993, as Flav attempted to wean himself off drugs, returning in the summer of 1994 with Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age. Prior to its release, it was subjected to exceedingly negative reviews in Rolling Stone and The Source, which affected the perception of the album considerably. Muse Sick debuted at number 14, but it quickly fell off the charts as it failed to generate any singles. Chuck D retired Public Enemy from touring in 1995 as he severed ties with Def Jam, developed his own record label and publishing company, and attempted to rethink Public Enemy. In 1996, he released his first debut album, The Autobiography of Mistachuck. As it was released in the fall, he announced that he planned to record a new Public Enemy album the following year.
Before that record was made, Chuck D published an autobiography in the fall of 1997. During 1997, Chuck D reassembled the original Bomb Squad and began work on three albums. In the spring of 1998, Public Enemy kicked off their major comeback with their soundtrack to Spike Lee's He Got Game, which was played more like a proper album than a soundtrack. Upon its April 1998 release, the record received the strongest reviews of any Public Enemy album since Apocalypse '91...The Enemy Strikes Black. After Def Jam refused to help Chuck D's attempts to bring PE's music straight to the masses via the Internet, he signed the group to the web-savvy independent Atomic Pop. Before the retail release of Public Enemy's seventh LP, There's a Poison Goin' On..., the label made MP3 files of the album available on the Internet. It finally appeared in stores in July 1999.
After a three-year break from recording and a switch to the In the Paint label, Public Enemy released Revolverlution, a mix of new tracks, remixes, and live cuts. The CD/DVD combo It Takes a Nation appeared in 2005. The multimedia package contained an hour-long video of the band live in London in 1987 and a CD with rare remixes. The studio album New Whirl Odor also appeared in 2005. The "special projects" album Rebirth of a Nation -- an album with all rhymes written by Bay Area rapper Paris -- was supposed to be released right along with it, but didn't appear until early the next year. The odds-and-ends collection Beats and Places appeared before the end of 2006.
In 2007, the group released an album entitled How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?. Public Enemy's single from the album was "Harder Than You Think". Four years after How You Sell Soul ... , in January 2011, Public Enemy released the album Beats and Places, a compilation of remixes and "lost" tracks. On July 13, 2012, Most of My Heroes Still Don't Appear on No Stamp was released and was exclusively available on iTunes. In July 2012, on UK television an advert for the London 2012 Summer Paralympics featured a short remix of the song "Harder Than You Think". The advert caused the song to reach No. 4[ in the UK Singles Chart on September 2, 2012. On July 30, 2012, Public Enemy performed a free concert with Salt-N-Pepa and Kid 'n Play at Wingate Park in Brooklyn, New York as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Concert Series. On August 26, 2012, Public Enemy performed at South West Four music festival in Clapham Common in London. On October 1, 2012 The Evil Empire of Everything was released. On June 29, 2013, they performed at Glastonbury Festival 2013. On September 14, 2013 they performed at Riot Fest & Carnival 2013 in Chicago, Illinois. On September 20, 2013 they performed at Riot Fest & Side Show in Byers, Colorado.
In 2014 Chuck D launched PE 2.0 with Oakland rapper Jahi as a spiritual successor and "next generation" of Public Enemy. Jahi met Chuck D backstage during a soundcheck at the 1999 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and later appeared as a support act on Public Enemy's 20th Anniversary Tour in 2007. PE 2.0's task is twofold, Jahi says, to "take select songs from the PE catalog and cover or revisit them" as well as new material with members of the original Public Enemy including DJ Lord, Davy DMX, Professor Griff and Chuck D. PE 2.0's first album People Get Ready was released on October 7, 2014. InsPirEd PE 2.0's second album and part two of a proposed trilogy was released a year later on October 11, 2015. Man Plans God Laughs, Public Enemy's thirteenth album, was released in July 2015. On June 29, 2017, Public Enemy released their fourteenth album, Nothing Is Quick in the Desert. The album was available for free download through Bandcamp until July 4, 2017
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They may go in and out of fashion, fall out of critical favor, have comebacks and slumps, but even at their worst, the truly great artists have flashes where their brilliance shines through. Public Enemy is one of those bands. When they released Revolverlution in 2002, they had been out of favor for a full decade, and throughout that time in the wilderness, the band fluctuated between brilliance (He Got Game) and unfocused meandering (Muse Sick), but the one constant remained -- even when they were bad, it was a thrill to hear them, especially Chuck D, whose voice is one of those intangible, transcendent thrills in all of popular music; it's as magical and undefinable as John Coltrane's sheets of sound, Jeff Beck's head-spinning guitar, Duke Ellington's piano, Frank Sinatra or Hank Williams' singing, Keith Richards' open-G chords -- no matter the quality of the material at hand, it's worth listening just to hear him rap. That was true when the Bomb Squad was producing PE, but, as subsequent recordings have proved, Chuck and PE could still sound shatteringly good without them. True, they built on that sound, but they did find ways to expand it, and, unlike their peers and many new artists, they were restless, not afraid of falling on their face by trying something new. Indeed, Chuck D made a point of trying something new, as he says in the liner notes for Revolverlution. Given the state of the industry and hip-hop, he's decided that there's no reason for Public Enemy to release a new album unless it covered uncharted territory. Unlike many veteran artists, he's acutely aware that new product directly competes with the band's classic albums, and that the new audience has changed, looking for individual tracks instead of full-fledged, cohesive albums -- and that might mean that they want killer new songs, live tracks, contemporary remixes, old remixes, whatever sounds good. So, Revolverlution is an attempt to craft a record along those lines. Cohesion has been thrown out the window in favor of new tunes, live tracks from 1992, new remixes by fans, remixes of songs debuted on this album, PSAs, and interviews -- the kind of album you'd burn if you spent some time on a really good artist's MP3 site. There's a bunch of good stuff here, whether it's new stuff ("Gotta Give the Peeps What They Need," the title track, the fiercely political "Son of a Bush," and "Get Your Sh*t Together"), remixes or archival material (great live versions of "Fight the Power" and "Welcome to the Terrordome"), along with collector-bait interview snippets that don't amount to much. But, there's a lot to be said for old-fashioned, cohesive albums -- they keep a consistent tone and message, delivering an album that felt unified, and thereby easier to listen to at length. This is deliberately the opposite of that kind of record, which is an admirable artistic move, but it does make the album feel like a bewildering hodge-podge, even after you understand the intent behind the entire thing. Even so, it's a worthwhile listen because, no matter what, it is still a thrill to hear Public Enemy. They might not be hip, they're not as innovative as they used to be, but they still make very good, even great music, and that's evident on Revolverlution. If only it were presented better.
Public Enemy - Revolverlution (flac 499mb)
01 Give the Peeps What They Need 3:32
02 Revolverlution 3:01
03 Miuzi Weighs a Ton (Live San Francisco 10/21/1999) 1:47
04 Put It Up 3:11
05 Can a Woman Make a Man Lose His Mind? 3:34
06 Public Enemy Service Announcement #1 0:21
07 Fight the Power (Live Winterthur Switzerland 1992) 3:55
08 By the Time I Get to Arizona (The Molemen Mixx) 3:57
09 Post-Concert Arizona Interview (U2 Zoo Tour) 1:03
10 Son of a Bush 5:52
11 54321... Boom 4:47
12 Welcome to the Terrordome (Live Winterthur Switzerland 1992) 3:38
13 B Side Wins Again (Scattershot Remix) 4:54
14 Get Your Shit Together 3:37
15 Public Enemy Service Announcement #2 0:30
16 Shut 'Em Down (The Functionist Version) 5:28
17 Now a Daze 3:25
18 Public Enemy No. 1 (Jeronimo Punx Redu) 4:48
19 The Making of Burn Hollywood Burn (feat. Big Daddy Kane, Chuck D, Flavor Flav 1989) 2:46
20 Give the Peeps What They Need feat. Paris (DJ Johnny Juice - Paris Revolverlution Mix) 3:30
21 What Good Is a Bomb 6:17
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Alright! New Whirl Odor is the first proper, no-gimmicks LP for Chuck and co. for the 2000s. What surprised me most is that a number of cuts have a kind of chill-out funk groove to them. Starting with "Preachin' to the Quiet" (one of the highlights), it gives a very different sound to Public Enemy. Personally, I really like it. It gives the record a lot of growth, and makes it stand out in PE's lengthy discography. Unfortunately, there's some up and down for the LP. On one hand, you have standouts like the title track, "Preachin' to the Quiet," and "Check What You're Listening To," and the closing "Superman's Black in the Building," but then there are some missteps like "66.6 Strikes Again" (which feels redundant), the equally extraneous "Either You Get It by Now or You Don't," and some weaker cuts like "As Long as the People Got Something to Say" and "Y'all Don't Know." Even so, things are largely positive. The biggest shocker here is the final track, "Superman's Black in the Building," a 12-minute epic that features rapping, spoken-word, and then a lengthy live instrument outro. It definitely outweighs any and all missteps for me.
Public Enemy - New Whirl Odor. (flac 415mb)
01 ...And No One Broadcasted Louder Than... (Intro) 0:33
02 New Whirl Odor 3:24
03 Bring That Beat Back 4:17
04 66.6 Strikes Again 1:45
05 MKLVFKWR 3:20
06 What a Fool Believes 3:07
07 Makes You Blind 5:34
08 Preachin' to the Quiet 5:27
09 Either We Together or We Ain't (S1W Stepstrumental) 1:44
10 Revolution 4:19
11 Check What You're Listening To 5:46
12 As Long as the People Got Something to Say 3:23
13 Y'all Don't Know 4:04
14 Either You Get It By Now or You Don't 1:45
15 Superman's Black in the Building 11:50
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If the title of Rebirth of a Nation consciously recalls the title of Public Enemy's 1988 masterwork, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, that shouldn't be taken as indication that the music on Rebirth is a revival of the dense sound of Nation as masterminded by the Bomb Squad. Nevertheless, Rebirth is certainly a throwback to the sound of the golden age, when hardcore rap was not defined solely by the sonics or subjects of gangsta rap, and that's a deliberate move on PE's part -- they want to re-create the sound of the time, but not the sound that was identified with them, and in order to do that they've entered into a full-fledged collaboration with Paris, who produced and wrote all of Rebirth of a Nation. This is the first time that Chuck D did not have a hand in writing either the music or the words on a Public Enemy album (he did write some verses on four songs on the record), which is initially disarming, since he's always been the sound and vision of PE. But he explains the project clearly in his liner notes, comparing the album to Muddy Waters' psychedelicized blues on Electric Mud -- Muddy may have been reluctant to work in a rock setting, but it was an artistic challenge, and Chuck wanted Public Enemy to take the same kind of risk. Even if all PE fans may not be pleased with the results, Rebirth of a Nation isn't nearly as divisive as Electric Mud -- Paris to Public Enemy isn't as big a stretch as Chicago blues to psychedelia, after all, and they have an audience more willing to go along with change, which this certainly is. But change is often welcome for artists, nowhere more so than for PE, whose last album, New Whirl Odor, was their first to feel truly tired, something that Rebirth can not be called. Not that it's especially daring sonically -- Paris did construct this as a self-consciously old-school record, dropping in samples of old PE records and adhering to the sound of 1990 -- but the group, particularly Chuck D, sounds engaged by the project, which at the very least makes for a listen that's more gripping than its immediate predecessor. And if the sound of the record is a throwback, Paris' subjects are nervy and politically charged, directly addressing the state of the world in a way few records do in 2006. All of this makes Rebirth of a Nation an admirable effort -- perhaps the music gets a little monochromatic, but that's merely a byproduct of its narrowly targeted goals, and as a whole, it's an ambitious and successful artistic detour for PE. Besides, it's hard not to be impressed by a record that sounds like a blast from the past while playing like a news bulletin from today -- not an easy trick to pull off, but Paris and Public Enemy manage it with Rebirth of a Nation.
Public Enemy - Rebirth Of A Nation . (flac 311mb)
01 Raw Shit feat. Paris & MC Ren 4:16
02 Hard Rhymin' feat. Paris & Sister Souljah 4:41
03 Rise 4:08
04 Can't Hold Us Back feat. Paris, Dead Prez, Kam 5:07
05 Hard Truth Soldiers feat. Paris, MC Ren, Dead Prez, The Conscious Daughters 4:18
06 Hannibal Lecture feat. Paris 3:50
07 Rebirth of a Nation feat. Professor Griff 3:27
08 Pump the Music, Pump the Sound 2:28
09 Make It Hardcore feat. Paris 5:16
10 They Call Me Flavor 3:09
11 Plastic Nation 3:03
12 Coinsequences feat. Paris 4:19
13 Invisible Man 4:28
14 Hell No (We Ain't Alright) (Paris Remix) 4:31
15 Watch the Door 3:35
16 Field Nigga Boogie (XLR8R Remix) 5:10
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A collection of "the unleashed and the unreleased," Public Enemy's Beats and Places gets back to the outrage, back to the immediacy of the early days, and turns out to be the most satisfying full-length this crew has released since the millennium turned. Unfortunately, it's released at a time when the hip-hop community is PE-saturated with a remix album (Bring That Beat Back) and an album with lyrics written by Paris, not Chuck D (Rebirth of a Nation) both landing within the last 12 months. Beats and Places looks even less vital than the Paris album since it's marked as a compilation of remixes and tracks looking for a proper home, but as the short liner notes infer, these lost tracks aren't really leftovers. Instead they're venom-filled, immediate cuts originally set free on the Internet in hopes of viral destruction. "Hell No, We Ain't Allright" deals with "the son-of-a-Bush nation" and the Katrina aftermath while "Grand Theft Oil" manipulates said Bush's speeches into a doublespeak nightmare through the power of Johnny Juice Rosado's turntables. Rosado worked on both Yo! Bum Rush the Show and It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and adds to the old-school flavor, as does "The Flavor Flav Show" which repeats everything great about Nation's "Cold Lampin' with Flavor"." It's unfortunate all the highlights are pushed upfront, but a bonus DVD of plenty of late-era videos and extras makes up for that, leaving only the lack of helpful track-by-track information to complain about. A great deal of the album doesn't seem to have been leaked or released in any shape or form before, but there's no telling why it was recorded or what for. This sure sounds like half to two-thirds of a proper, vital album with some exciting extras tacked on. Guessing what would have happened had they finished this possible album instead of the other projects is both interesting and frustrating, which has been par for the course with PE as of late. Beats and Places at least suggests the future could be much, much brighter. ....And it would
Public Enemy - Beats and Places (flac 348mb)
01 Here We Go Again (PE Tour Intro: 2007) 1:34
02 Air Conditioning 3:12
03 Who's Your Hero? 3:56
04 The Flavor Flav Show 3:21
05 Electric Slave 3:30
06 Grand Theft Oil 3:17
07 Hell No, We Ain't Allright 5:23
08 Vidiot1:22
09 Like It Is 5:48
10 $hit 2:17
11 PE, Break It To P.E.ACES 0:40
12 All Aboard The New Nighttrain 3:01
13 Do You Wanna Go Our Way Human Beatbox – Professor Griff (Live At The Filmore, 2002) 3:55
14 If I Gave You Soul (What Would You Do With It?) 5:43
15 Air Conditioning (Revisited) 4:23
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