Public Enemy
It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

THE REVIEW

What have Public Enemy always proposed? I have always seen them as the first "group" in rap, so they would consequently have been the best if rap had not exploded into a genre that involved the entire current generation, bringing forth much more talented MCs and DJs.

This rap has something to share with those who fight with conscience without using weapons, with anyone who feels marginalized or even despised; the musical spokespersons of the S1W became the first to use the beat and the mic put onto vinyl as an anesthetic against injustices, rejecting guns. "Can I tell 'em that I really never had a gun?"
Chuck D, Flavor Flav, and DJ Terminator X had no small amount of trouble with the cops after the release of this album, with beatings, stakeouts under their homes, and possession charges. And it is a black manifesto of antagonism against the system.

The powerful voice of Chuck D and the production of the Bomb Squad even managed to involve Spike Lee, with whom there was collaboration included in the subsequent album... is the importance of the group in the urban context clear? The CD is entirely rap except for 2 which are cross-over: "She Watch Channel Zero?!" where he addresses his sister to distract her from TV and "Party For Your Right To Fight" the black response to a song by the Beastie Boys.
One track is dedicated to their DJ "Terminator X To The Edge Of Panic"; the first track "Bring The Noise" talks about music and style with references to Run-DMC, Anthrax, Eric B., LL, and Yoko Ono. The second "Don't Believe The Hype" urges not to stop at appearances if you see a black man in the street. The Flav track "Cold Lampin' With Flavor" is something really senseless.

In "Louder Than a Bomb" you hear "The FBI was tappin' my telephone, I never live alone, my posse is always ready, and they're waiting in my zone..... CIA FBI all they tell us is lies and when I say it they get alarmed, 'cause I'm louder than a bomb" with these lyrics we felt united by the hatred towards those who commanded and marginalized us. The gem is "Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos" where Chuck D imagines himself leading a prison revolt, with techno refrains "I'm looking for the steel".
I'm not passionate about militant rap but I have to concede almost maximum credit to an album that has marked an era by standing against the system and all forms of control over black people, they started a label DefJam that was at the top for years.

I can't connect because the excessive militancy in the songs makes it heavy after a while but at first impact, it's grand. If you are looking for real rap, download all the CDs from Def Jux, the antagonist of the first, at least there you range from politicized things to sick rap to electronic beats, all of exquisitely underground level. But without this classic, maybe the first verse of 36 Chambers wouldn't have been "Bring da motherfuckin' Ruckus".