Public Enemy
Encyclopedia
Public Enemy is an American hip hop
group consisting of Chuck D
, Flavor Flav
, Professor Griff
and his S1W
group, DJ Lord
(DJ who replaced Terminator X
in 1999), and Music Director Khari Wynn
. Formed in Long Island
, New York
in 1982, Public Enemy is known for their politically charged lyrics and criticism of the American media, with an active interest in the frustrations and concerns of the African American
community.
In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Public Enemy number forty-four on its list of the Immortals: 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Acclaimed Music ranks them the 29th most recommended musical act of all time and the highest hip-hop group. The group was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame
in 2007.
with Flavor Flav
while delivering furniture for his father's business, Chuck D
(Carlton Douglas Ridenhour) and Spectrum City, as the group was called, released the record "Check Out the Radio," backed by "Lies," a social commentary—both of which would influence RUSH Productions' Run-D.M.C.
and Beastie Boys
.
Chuck D
put out a tape to promote WBAU
(the radio station where he was working at the time) and to fend off a local MC who wanted to battle him. He called the tape Public Enemy #1 because he felt like he was being persecuted by people in the local scene
. This was the first reference to the notion of a public enemy
in any of Chuck D's songs. The single was created by Chuck D with a contribution by Flavor Flav
, though this was before the group Public Enemy was officially assembled.
Around 1986, Bill Stephney, the former Program Director at WBAU, was approached by Sam the Assassin and offered a position with the label. Stephney accepted, and his first assignment was to help fledgling producer Rick Rubin
sign Chuck D, whose song "Public Enemy Number One" Rubin had heard from Andre "Doctor Dré" Brown
. According to the book The History of Rap Music by Cookie Lommel, "Stephney thought it was time to mesh the hard-hitting style of Run DMC with politics that addressed black youth. Chuck recruited Spectrum City, which included Hank Shocklee, his brother Keith Shocklee, and Eric "Vietnam" Sadler, collectively known as the Bomb Squad
, to be his production team and added another Spectrum City partner, Professor Griff
, to become the group's Minister of Information. With the addition of Flavor Flav and another local mobile DJ named Terminator X, the group Public Enemy was born."
According to Chuck, The S1W, which stands for Security of the First World, "represents that the black man can be just as intelligent as he is strong. It stands for the fact that we're not third-world people, we're first-world people; we're the original people [of the earth]."
Public Enemy started out as opening acts for the Beastie Boys
during the latter's Licensed to Ill
popularity, and in 1987 released their debut album Yo! Bum Rush The Show
However, over the next few years Public Enemy released It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
, Fear of a Black Planet
, and Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black. In addition to ushering in the golden age of hip hop, during this time, Public Enemy reached the height of their popularity, adulation, and controversy. The group then separated from Def Jam and has since been independently producing, marketing, and publishing their music.
, was released in 1987 to critical acclaim. The album was the group's first step toward stardom. The group released the album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
in 1988, which performed better in the charts than their previous release, and included the hit single "Don't Believe the Hype
" in addition to "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos
". Nation of Millions... was voted Album of the Year by The Village Voice
Pazz and Jop Poll, the first hip hop album to be ranked number one by predominantly rock critics in a major periodical. It is also ranked the 17th best album of all time (and best album of the 1980s
) by Acclaimed Music. Writing towards the end of 1987, music critic Simon Reynolds
dubbed Public Enemy "a superlative rock band".
In 1989, the group returned to the studio to record Fear of a Black Planet
, which continued their politically charged themes. The album was supposed to be released in late 1989, but was pushed back to April 1990. The title song "Fear of a Black Planet" addresses the fear some white people have of black and white relationships. It was the most successful of any of their albums and, in 2005, was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress
. It included the singles "Welcome To The Terrodome", "911 Is a Joke
", which criticized emergency response units for taking longer to arrive at emergencies in the black community than those in the white community, and "Fight the Power
". "Fight the Power" is regarded as one of the most popular and influential songs in hip hop history. It was the theme song of Spike Lee
's Do the Right Thing
. It was ranked the 80th best song of all time by Acclaimed Music. Among other things, the song voices disgust for considering Elvis Presley
and John Wayne
standard American icons.
The group’s next release, Apocalypse '91...The Enemy Strikes Black
, continued this trend, with songs like "Can't Truss It", which addressed the history of slavery and how the black community can fight back against oppression; "I Don't Wanna be Called Yo Nigga
", a track addresses on how the urban culture uses the word nigga outside of its usual derogatory context. The album also included the controversial song and video "By the Time I Get to Arizona
," which chronicled the black community's frustration that some US states did not recognize Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a national holiday. The video featured members of Public Enemy taking out their frustrations on politicians in the states not recognizing the holiday.
In 1992, the group was one of the first rap acts to perform at the Reading Festival, in England, headlining the second day of the three day festival.
Terminator X's innovative scratching
tricks can be heard on the songs "Rebel Without a Pause," and "Shut Em Down". The Bomb Squad offered up a web of innovative samples and beats. Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine
declared that PE "brought in elements of free jazz
, hard funk
, even musique concrète
, via [its] producing team the Bomb Squad, creating a dense, ferocious sound unlike anything that came before."
Public Enemy made contributions to the hip-hop world with political, social and cultural consciousness; which infused itself into skilled and poetic rhymes, using raucous sound collages as a foundation. Public Enemy developed a strong pro-Black political stance. Before PE, politically motivated hip-hop was defined to a few tracks by Ice-T
, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
, and KRS-One
. Other politically motivated opinions were shared by prototypical artists Gil Scott-Heron
and the Last Poets
. PE was a revolutionary hip-hop act, basing an entire image around a specified political stance. With the successes of Public Enemy, many hip-hop artists began to celebrate Afrocentric themes, such as Kool Moe Dee
, Gang Starr
, X Clan, Eric B. & Rakim
, Queen Latifah
, the Jungle Brothers, and A Tribe Called Quest
.
Public Enemy was one of the first hip-hop groups to do well internationally. PE changed the Internet's music distribution capability by being one of the first groups to release MP3
-only albums, a format virtually unknown at the time.
Public Enemy helped to create and define "rap metal
" by collaborating with New York thrash metal
outfit Anthrax
in 1991. The single "Bring The Noise
" was a mix of semi-militant black power
lyrics, grinding guitars, and sporadic humor. The two bands, cemented by a mutual respect and the personal friendship between Chuck D and Anthrax's Scott Ian
, introduced a hitherto alien genre to rock fans, and the two seemingly disparate groups toured together. Flavor Flav's pronouncement on stage that "They said this tour would never happen" (as heard on Anthrax's Live: The Island Years
CD) has become a legendary comment in both rock and hip-hop circles. Metal guitarists Vernon Reid
(of Living Colour
) contributed to Public Enemy's recordings, and PE sampled Slayer's
"Angel of Death" half-time riff on "She Watch Channel Zero."
Members of the Bomb Squad produced or remixed works for other acts, like Bell Biv DeVoe
, Ice Cube
, Vanessa Williams
, Sinéad O'Connor
, Blue Magic
, Peter Gabriel
, L.L. Cool J, Paula Abdul
, Jasmine Guy
, Jody Watley
, Eric B & Rakim, Third Bass, Big Daddy Kane
, EPMD
, and Chaka Khan
. According to Chuck D, "We had tight dealings with MCA Records
and were talking about taking three guys that were left over from New Edition
and coming up with an album for them. The three happened to be Ricky Bell
, Michael Bivins
, and Ronnie DeVoe
, later to become Bell Biv DeVoe
. Ralph Tresvant
had been slated to do a solo album for years, Bobby Brown
had left New Edition and experienced some solo success beginning in 1988, and Johnny Gill
had just been recruited to come in, but [he] had come off a solo career and could always go back to that. At MCA, Hiram Hicks, who was their manager, and Louil Silas, who was running the show, were like, 'Yo, these kids were left out in the cold. Can y'all come up with something for them?' It was a task that Hank, Keith, Eric, and I took on to try to put some kind of hip-hop-flavored R&B shit down for them. Subsequently, what happened in the four weeks of December [1989] was that the Bomb Squad knocked out a large piece of the production and arrangement on Bell Biv DeVoe
's three-million selling album Poison. In January [1990], they knocked out Fear of a Black Planet in four weeks, and PE knocked out Ice Cube
's album AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted in four to five weeks in February." They have also produced local talent such as Son of Bazerk
, Young Black Teenagers
, Kings of Pressure, and True Mathematics—and gave producer Kip Collins
his start in the business.
Poet and hip-hop artist Saul Williams
uses a sample from Public Enemy's "Welcome to the Terrordome" in his song "Tr[n]igger" on the Niggy Tardust album. He also used a line from the song in his poem, amethyst rocks.
Public Enemy's brand of politically & socially conscious hip hop has been a direct influence on new hip hop artists such as The Cornel West theory.
The Manic Street Preachers
track "Repeat (Stars And Stripes)" is a remix of the band's own anti-monarchy tirade by Public Enemy production team The Bomb Squad
of whom James Dean Bradfield
and Richey Edwards were big fans. The song samples "Countdown to Armageddon" from It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
. The band had previously sampled Public Enemy on their 1991 single Motown Junk
.
American punk rock
band NOFX
references Public Enemy in their song "Franco Unamerican", stating "I'm watching Michael Moore
expose the awful truth/I'm listening to Public Enemy and Reagan Youth
."
The influence of the band goes largely beyond hip-hop as the group was cited by artists as diverse as Autechre
(selected in the All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)
in 2003, Nirvana
(It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back being cited by Kurt Cobain
among his favorite albums), Nine Inch Nails
(mentioned the band in Pretty Hate Machine
credits), Björk
(included Rebel Without a Pause
in her The Breezeblock
Mix in July 2007), Tricky
(did a cover of Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos
and appears in Do You Wanna Go Our Way ??? video), Prodigy (included Public Enemy No. 1 in The Dirtchamber Sessions Volume One
), Ben Harper
, Underground Resistance
(cited by both Mad Mike and Jeff Mills
), Orlando Voorn, M.I.A.
, Amon Tobin
, Mathew Jonson and Aphex Twin
(Welcome To The Terrordome being the first track played after the introduction at the Coachella festival in April 2008).
In September of 2009, VH1
aired a show called "100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs" where Public Enemy earned the number one spot with their hit song, Fight the Power
.
The groups last album to date is How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?
. Public Enemy's single from the album was "Harder Than You Think
".,The repercussions of Public Enemy are felt to this day. Public Enemy showed that hip-hop was not, as Alan Light
says, "just a silly novelty, a fleeting fad."
, lifted some quotations from a UK magazine in which the band were asked their opinion on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Professor Griff’s comments apparently sympathized with the Palestinians
and was accused of anti-Semitism
. According to Rap Attack 2, he suggested that "Jews are responsible for the majority of the wickedness in the world" (p. 177). (In turn a quote from The International Jew
) Shortly after, Ridenhour expressed an apology on his behalf. In an attempt to defuse the situation, Ridenhour first fired Griffin. He later rejoined the group in the album Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age
. In the late 1990s, he rejoined the band, and Ridenhour and Griffin took on a side project, the rap rock
outfit Confrontation Camp
.
In his 2009 book, entitled Analytixz, Griff criticized his 1989 statement: "to say the Jews are responsible for the majority of wickedness that went on around the globe I would have to know about the majority of wickedness that went on around the globe, which is impossible... I'm not the best knower. Then, not only knowing that, I would have to know who is at the crux of all of the problems in the world and then blame Jewish people, which is not correct." Griff also said that not only were his words taken out of context, but that the recording has never been released to the public for an unbiased listen.
The controversy and apologies on behalf of Griff spurred Chuck D to reference the negative press they were receiving. In 1990, Public Enemy issued the single "Welcome to the Terrordome", which contains the lyrics: "Crucifixion ain't no fiction / So-called chosen frozen / Apologies made to whoever pleases / Still they got me like Jesus". These lyrics have been cited by some in the media as anti-Semitic, making supposed references to the concept of the "chosen people"
with the lyric "so-called chosen" and Jewish deicide
with the last line.
In a letter to the editor, Leo Haber alludes to criticism by New York Times writer Peter Watrous of the group's supposed homophobia
.
Reviewers John Alroy
and David Wilson said that Fear of a Black Planet contained "homophobic babbling" which challenged politically correct
thinking.
Zoe Williams
defended Public Enemy against charges of homophobia:
Public Enemy have also been supporters of Nation of Islam
Supreme Minister Louis Farrakhan
, who has been controversial for his commentary which is often interpreted as being black nationalist
, homophobic
, and anti-Semitic.
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
group consisting of Chuck D
Chuck D
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour , better known by his stage name, Chuck D, is an American rapper, author, and producer. He helped create politically and socially conscious rap music in the mid-1980s as the leader of the rap group Public Enemy.- Early life :Ridenhour was born in Queens, New York...
, Flavor Flav
Flavor Flav
William Jonathan Drayton, Jr. , better known by his stage name Flavor Flav, is an American rapper and television personality who rose to prominence as a member of the rap group Public Enemy...
, Professor Griff
Professor Griff
Professor Griff is an American rapper and spoken word artist. He is a member of the hip hop group Public Enemy and head of the Security of the First World.-Early years in Public Enemy:...
and his S1W
S1W (group)
S1W, short for Security of the First World, began as a security organization inRoosevelt, New York under the name of Unity Force where they provided security at hip hop parties during the mid 1980s. The organization was headed by Professor Griff. Later they became part of the hip hop group Public...
group, DJ Lord
Dj Lord
Dj LORD , is a DJ and turntablist. In 1999, Dj LORD joined the hip-hop group Public Enemy on their 40th World Tour replacing Terminator X. Soon after, Dj LORD had his own performance segment within the Public Enemy show. While DJ battles and hip hop has been at the foundation of his career, Dj...
(DJ who replaced Terminator X
Terminator X
Norman Rogers is a retired American DJ, best known for his work with rap group Public Enemy, which he left in 1999...
in 1999), and Music Director Khari Wynn
Khari Wynn
-External links:*...
. Formed in Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1982, Public Enemy is known for their politically charged lyrics and criticism of the American media, with an active interest in the frustrations and concerns of the African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
community.
In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Public Enemy number forty-four on its list of the Immortals: 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Acclaimed Music ranks them the 29th most recommended musical act of all time and the highest hip-hop group. The group was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame
Long Island Music Hall of Fame
The Long Island Music Hall of Fame is an organization whose office is located in Port Jefferson, New York. It was incorporated in July 2005 under the New York State Board of Regents as a non profit organization and holds a provisional charter to operate as a museum in the state of New York...
in 2007.
Formation and early years (1982-1986)
Developing his talents as an MCMaster of Ceremonies
A Master of Ceremonies , or compere, is the host of a staged event or similar performance.An MC usually presents performers, speaks to the audience, and generally keeps the event moving....
with Flavor Flav
Flavor Flav
William Jonathan Drayton, Jr. , better known by his stage name Flavor Flav, is an American rapper and television personality who rose to prominence as a member of the rap group Public Enemy...
while delivering furniture for his father's business, Chuck D
Chuck D
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour , better known by his stage name, Chuck D, is an American rapper, author, and producer. He helped create politically and socially conscious rap music in the mid-1980s as the leader of the rap group Public Enemy.- Early life :Ridenhour was born in Queens, New York...
(Carlton Douglas Ridenhour) and Spectrum City, as the group was called, released the record "Check Out the Radio," backed by "Lies," a social commentary—both of which would influence RUSH Productions' Run-D.M.C.
Run-D.M.C.
Run–D.M.C. was an American hip hop group from Hollis, in the Queens borough of New York City. Founded by Joseph "Run" Simmons, Darryl "D.M.C." McDaniels, and Jason "Jam-Master Jay" Mizell, the group is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential acts in the history of hip hop culture.Run–D.M.C...
and Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....
.
Chuck D
Chuck D
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour , better known by his stage name, Chuck D, is an American rapper, author, and producer. He helped create politically and socially conscious rap music in the mid-1980s as the leader of the rap group Public Enemy.- Early life :Ridenhour was born in Queens, New York...
put out a tape to promote WBAU
WBAU
WBAU is the now-deleted call sign of the student-operated radio station located at Adelphi University in Garden City, New York. The new web-based radio station is PAWS Web Radio....
(the radio station where he was working at the time) and to fend off a local MC who wanted to battle him. He called the tape Public Enemy #1 because he felt like he was being persecuted by people in the local scene
Subculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
. This was the first reference to the notion of a public enemy
Public Enemy
Public Enemy is an American hip hop group consisting of Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Professor Griff and his S1W group, DJ Lord , and Music Director Khari Wynn...
in any of Chuck D's songs. The single was created by Chuck D with a contribution by Flavor Flav
Flavor Flav
William Jonathan Drayton, Jr. , better known by his stage name Flavor Flav, is an American rapper and television personality who rose to prominence as a member of the rap group Public Enemy...
, though this was before the group Public Enemy was officially assembled.
Around 1986, Bill Stephney, the former Program Director at WBAU, was approached by Sam the Assassin and offered a position with the label. Stephney accepted, and his first assignment was to help fledgling producer Rick Rubin
Rick Rubin
Frederick Jay "Rick" Rubin is an American record producer and the co-president of Columbia Records. Along with Russell Simmons, Rubin was the co-founder of Def Jam Records and also established American Recordings...
sign Chuck D, whose song "Public Enemy Number One" Rubin had heard from Andre "Doctor Dré" Brown
Doctor Dre
André "Doctor Dré" Brown is an African American radio personality and former MTV VJ.-Career:Doctor Dré is best known for being the co-host of MTV's hip hop music specialty program Yo! MTV Raps with partner Ed Lover. The duo also starred in the 1993 film Who's the Man?...
. According to the book The History of Rap Music by Cookie Lommel, "Stephney thought it was time to mesh the hard-hitting style of Run DMC with politics that addressed black youth. Chuck recruited Spectrum City, which included Hank Shocklee, his brother Keith Shocklee, and Eric "Vietnam" Sadler, collectively known as the Bomb Squad
The Bomb Squad
The Bomb Squad is an American hip hop production team, known for their work with the rap group Public Enemy. The Bomb Squad are noted for their dense, distinct, innovative production style, often utilizing dozens of samples on just one track...
, to be his production team and added another Spectrum City partner, Professor Griff
Professor Griff
Professor Griff is an American rapper and spoken word artist. He is a member of the hip hop group Public Enemy and head of the Security of the First World.-Early years in Public Enemy:...
, to become the group's Minister of Information. With the addition of Flavor Flav and another local mobile DJ named Terminator X, the group Public Enemy was born."
According to Chuck, The S1W, which stands for Security of the First World, "represents that the black man can be just as intelligent as he is strong. It stands for the fact that we're not third-world people, we're first-world people; we're the original people [of the earth]."
Public Enemy started out as opening acts for the Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys
Beastie Boys are an American hip hop trio from New York City. The group consists of Mike D who plays the drums, MCA who plays the bass, and Ad-Rock who plays the guitar....
during the latter's Licensed to Ill
Licensed to Ill
In 1998, the album was selected as one of The Sources 100 Best Rap Albums.It is still the only album by a white hip-hop act to receive the coveted 5 mics from The Source....
popularity, and in 1987 released their debut album Yo! Bum Rush The Show
Yo! Bum Rush the Show
* Q magazine - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...a stunning opening...just the first, in retrospect almost shy, step on a remarkable journey...a hard, droning extension of the basic drum`n'scratch Def Jam template that had served LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys so well."* Melody Maker - Recommended - "It...
However, over the next few years Public Enemy released It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is the second studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released April 14, 1988, on Def Jam Recordings. Recording sessions for the album took place at Chung King Studios, Greene Street Recording, and Sabella Studios in New York City...
, Fear of a Black Planet
Fear of a Black Planet
Fear of a Black Planet is the third studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released April 10, 1990, on Def Jam Recordings and Columbia Records. Production for the album was handled by the group's production team The Bomb Squad, who expanded on the dense, sample-layered sound of the...
, and Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black. In addition to ushering in the golden age of hip hop, during this time, Public Enemy reached the height of their popularity, adulation, and controversy. The group then separated from Def Jam and has since been independently producing, marketing, and publishing their music.
Mainstream success (1987-1994)
Their debut album, Yo! Bum Rush the ShowYo! Bum Rush the Show
* Q magazine - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...a stunning opening...just the first, in retrospect almost shy, step on a remarkable journey...a hard, droning extension of the basic drum`n'scratch Def Jam template that had served LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys so well."* Melody Maker - Recommended - "It...
, was released in 1987 to critical acclaim. The album was the group's first step toward stardom. The group released the album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is the second studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released April 14, 1988, on Def Jam Recordings. Recording sessions for the album took place at Chung King Studios, Greene Street Recording, and Sabella Studios in New York City...
in 1988, which performed better in the charts than their previous release, and included the hit single "Don't Believe the Hype
Don't Believe the Hype
"Don't Believe the Hype" is the second single of Public Enemy's second album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. The song's lyrics are mostly about the political issues that were current in the U.S. at the time of its release. "Don't Believe the Hype" charted at number 18 on the U.S....
" in addition to "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos
Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos
"Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" is a song by the American hip hop group Public Enemy from their second album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back...
". Nation of Millions... was voted Album of the Year by The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
Pazz and Jop Poll, the first hip hop album to be ranked number one by predominantly rock critics in a major periodical. It is also ranked the 17th best album of all time (and best album of the 1980s
1980s
File:1980s decade montage.png|thumb|400px|From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, Columbia, lifted off in 1981; American President Ronald Reagan and Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev eased tensions between the two superpowers, leading to the end of the Cold War; The Fall of the Berlin Wall in...
) by Acclaimed Music. Writing towards the end of 1987, music critic Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds
Simon Reynolds is an English music critic who is well-known for his writings on electronic dance music and for coining the term "post-rock". Besides electronic dance music, Reynolds has written about a wide range of artists and musical genres, and has written books on post-punk and rock...
dubbed Public Enemy "a superlative rock band".
In 1989, the group returned to the studio to record Fear of a Black Planet
Fear of a Black Planet
Fear of a Black Planet is the third studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released April 10, 1990, on Def Jam Recordings and Columbia Records. Production for the album was handled by the group's production team The Bomb Squad, who expanded on the dense, sample-layered sound of the...
, which continued their politically charged themes. The album was supposed to be released in late 1989, but was pushed back to April 1990. The title song "Fear of a Black Planet" addresses the fear some white people have of black and white relationships. It was the most successful of any of their albums and, in 2005, was selected for preservation in the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
. It included the singles "Welcome To The Terrodome", "911 Is a Joke
911 Is a Joke
"911 Is a Joke" is a 1990 song by American hip hop group Public Enemy, from their third album, Fear of a Black Planet. It was released as a single and became their first Top 40 hit in June 1990, reaching number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100....
", which criticized emergency response units for taking longer to arrive at emergencies in the black community than those in the white community, and "Fight the Power
Fight the Power
"Fight the Power" is a single by American hip hop group Public Enemy. First released on the soundtrack for the film 1989 Do the Right Thing, a different version was released on the group's third studio album, Fear of a Black Planet . The single reached number one on Hot Rap Singles and number 20 on...
". "Fight the Power" is regarded as one of the most popular and influential songs in hip hop history. It was the theme song of Spike Lee
Spike Lee
Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee is an American film director, producer, writer, and actor. His production company, 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, has produced over 35 films since 1983....
's Do the Right Thing
Do the Right Thing
Do the Right Thing is a 1989 American dramedy produced, written, and directed by Spike Lee, who is also a featured actor in the film. Other members of the cast include Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, and John Turturro. It is also notably the...
. It was ranked the 80th best song of all time by Acclaimed Music. Among other things, the song voices disgust for considering Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
and John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
standard American icons.
The group’s next release, Apocalypse '91...The Enemy Strikes Black
Apocalypse '91...The Enemy Strikes Black
Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black is the fourth studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released October 3, 1991 on Def Jam Recordings in the United States. It debuts production team Imperial Grand Ministers of Funk, which consisted of producers Stuart Robertz, Cerwin 'C-Dawg'...
, continued this trend, with songs like "Can't Truss It", which addressed the history of slavery and how the black community can fight back against oppression; "I Don't Wanna be Called Yo Nigga
Nigga
Nigga is a term used in African American Vernacular English that began as an eye dialect form of the word nigger .- Use in language :In practice, its use and meaning are...
", a track addresses on how the urban culture uses the word nigga outside of its usual derogatory context. The album also included the controversial song and video "By the Time I Get to Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
," which chronicled the black community's frustration that some US states did not recognize Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday as a national holiday. The video featured members of Public Enemy taking out their frustrations on politicians in the states not recognizing the holiday.
In 1992, the group was one of the first rap acts to perform at the Reading Festival, in England, headlining the second day of the three day festival.
Legacy
Scratching
Scratching is a DJ or turntablist technique used to produce distinctive sounds by moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable while optionally manipulating the crossfader on a DJ mixer. While scratching is most commonly associated with hip hop music, since the late 1980s, it has been used...
tricks can be heard on the songs "Rebel Without a Pause," and "Shut Em Down". The Bomb Squad offered up a web of innovative samples and beats. Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine is a senior editor for Allmusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for Allmusic, as well as a freelance writer, occasionally contributing liner notes. He is also frontman and guitarist for the Ann Arbor-based band Who Dat?Erlewine is the nephew...
declared that PE "brought in elements of free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
, hard funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, even musique concrète
Musique concrète
Musique concrète is a form of electroacoustic music that utilises acousmatic sound as a compositional resource. The compositional material is not restricted to the inclusion of sounds derived from musical instruments or voices, nor to elements traditionally thought of as "musical"...
, via [its] producing team the Bomb Squad, creating a dense, ferocious sound unlike anything that came before."
Public Enemy made contributions to the hip-hop world with political, social and cultural consciousness; which infused itself into skilled and poetic rhymes, using raucous sound collages as a foundation. Public Enemy developed a strong pro-Black political stance. Before PE, politically motivated hip-hop was defined to a few tracks by Ice-T
ICE-T
* Ice-T, an American rapper and actor* ICE T , a tilting model of the German InterCityExpress series of high-speed trains...
, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five was an influential American hip-hop group formed in the South Bronx of New York City in 1978. Composed of one DJ and five rappers Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five was an influential American hip-hop group formed in the South Bronx of New York City in...
, and KRS-One
KRS-One
Lawrence Krisna Parker , better known by his stage names KRS-One , and Teacha, is an American rapper...
. Other politically motivated opinions were shared by prototypical artists Gil Scott-Heron
Gil Scott-Heron
Gilbert "Gil" Scott-Heron was an American soul and jazz poet, musician, and author known primarily for his work as a spoken word performer in the 1970s and '80s...
and the Last Poets
The Last Poets
The Last Poets is a group of poets and musicians who arose from the late 1960s African American civil rights movement's black nationalist thread...
. PE was a revolutionary hip-hop act, basing an entire image around a specified political stance. With the successes of Public Enemy, many hip-hop artists began to celebrate Afrocentric themes, such as Kool Moe Dee
Kool Moe Dee
Mohandas Dewese , better known as Kool Moe Dee, is an American Hip Hop MC prominent in the late 1970s through the early 1990s. He was born in Manhattan, New York...
, Gang Starr
Gang Starr
Gang Starr was an influential East Coast hip hop duo that consisted of the late MC Guru and DJ/producer DJ Premier. Their style combined elements of New York jazz and hip hop.-Background:...
, X Clan, Eric B. & Rakim
Eric B. & Rakim
Eric B. & Rakim were a hip-hop duo composed of DJ Eric Barrier and MC Rakim .Hailing from Long Island, New York, the pair are generally considered by hip hop enthusiasts to be one of the most influential and innovative groups in the genre...
, Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah
Dana Elaine Owens , better known by her stage name Queen Latifah, is an American singer, rapper, and actress. Her work in music, film and television has earned her a Golden Globe award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Image Awards, a Grammy Award, six additional Grammy nominations, an Emmy...
, the Jungle Brothers, and A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest is an American hip hop group, formed in 1985, and is composed of rapper/producer Q-Tip , rapper Phife Dawg , and DJ/producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A fourth member, rapper Jarobi White, left the group after their first album but rejoined in 2006...
.
Public Enemy was one of the first hip-hop groups to do well internationally. PE changed the Internet's music distribution capability by being one of the first groups to release MP3
MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
-only albums, a format virtually unknown at the time.
Public Enemy helped to create and define "rap metal
Rap metal
Rap metal is a subgenre of rap rock which fuses vocal and instrumental elements of hip hop music with heavy metal.-History:Rap metal originated from rap rock, a genre fusing vocal and instrumental elements of hip hop with rock...
" by collaborating with New York thrash metal
Thrash metal
Thrash metal is a subgenre of heavy metal that is characterized usually by its fast tempo and aggression. Songs of the genre typically use fast percussive and low-register guitar riffs, overlaid with shredding-style lead work...
outfit Anthrax
Anthrax (band)
Anthrax is an American heavy metal band from New York City, formed in 1981. Founded by guitarists Scott Ian and Danny Lilker, the band has since released ten studio albums and 20 singles, and an EP featuring Public Enemy. The band was one of the most popular of the 1980s thrash metal scene...
in 1991. The single "Bring The Noise
Bring the Noise
"Bring the Noise" is a song by the hip hop group Public Enemy. It was included on the soundtrack of the 1987 film Less Than Zero and was also released as a single that year. It later became the first song on the group's 1988 album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back...
" was a mix of semi-militant black power
Black Power
Black Power is a political slogan and a name for various associated ideologies. It is used in the movement among people of Black African descent throughout the world, though primarily by African Americans in the United States...
lyrics, grinding guitars, and sporadic humor. The two bands, cemented by a mutual respect and the personal friendship between Chuck D and Anthrax's Scott Ian
Scott Ian
Scott Ian Rosenfeld , better known by the stage name Scott Ian, is an American musician, best known as the rhythm & lead guitarist for the heavy metal band Anthrax. Ian is also the guitarist and a founding member of the crossover thrash band Stormtroopers of Death...
, introduced a hitherto alien genre to rock fans, and the two seemingly disparate groups toured together. Flavor Flav's pronouncement on stage that "They said this tour would never happen" (as heard on Anthrax's Live: The Island Years
The Island Years
The Island Years is Anthrax's first full-length live album. The album was released in 1994 by Megaforce Worldwide/Island Entertainment. As it is a live album, there were no new singles....
CD) has become a legendary comment in both rock and hip-hop circles. Metal guitarists Vernon Reid
Vernon Reid
Vernon Reid is an English-born American guitarist, songwriter, composer, and bandleader. Best known as the founder and primary songwriter of the heavy metal band Living Colour, Reid was named #66 on Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.Critic Steve Huey writes, "[Reid's]...
(of Living Colour
Living Colour
Living Colour is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1984. Stylistically, the band's music is a creative fusion influenced by free jazz, funk, neo-psychedelia, hard rock, and heavy metal...
) contributed to Public Enemy's recordings, and PE sampled Slayer's
Slayer
Slayer is an American thrash metal band formed in Huntington Park, California, in 1981 by guitarists Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King. Slayer rose to fame with their 1986 release, Reign in Blood, and is credited as one of the "Big Four" thrash metal acts, along with Metallica, Megadeth and...
"Angel of Death" half-time riff on "She Watch Channel Zero."
Members of the Bomb Squad produced or remixed works for other acts, like Bell Biv DeVoe
Bell Biv DeVoe
Bell Biv DeVoe is an American R&B musical group which branched off from New Edition. It consists of three of New Edition's previous members, Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, and Ronnie DeVoe...
, Ice Cube
Ice Cube
O'Shea Jackson , better known by his stage name Ice Cube, is an American rapper and actor. He began his career as a member of the hip-hop group C.I.A. and later joined the rap group N.W.A. After leaving N.W.A in December 1989, he built a successful solo career in music, and also as a writer,...
, Vanessa Williams
Vanessa L. Williams
Vanessa Lynn Williams is an American pop-R&B recording artist, producer, dancer, model, actress and showgirl. In 1983, she became the first woman of African-American descent to be crowned Miss America, but a scandal generated by her having posed for nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine...
, Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
, Blue Magic
Blue Magic (band)
Blue Magic is an American soul music group, one of the most popular Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s. Founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1972, they were originally composed of lead Ted Mills, Vernon Sawyer, Wendell Sawyer, Keith Beaton, and Richard Pratt...
, Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
, L.L. Cool J, Paula Abdul
Paula Abdul
Paula Julie Abdul is an American singer-songwriter, dancer, choreographer, actress and television personality.In the 1980s, Abdul rose from cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers to highly sought-after choreographer at the height of the music video era before scoring a string of pop music-R&B hits...
, Jasmine Guy
Jasmine Guy
Jasmine Guy is an American actress, singer and dancer. She is best known for her starring role as Whitley Gilbert in the television sitcom A Different World.-Biography:...
, Jody Watley
Jody Watley
Jody Vanessa Watley is an American, singer, songwriter, record producer, and founder of Avitone Records whose music crosses genres from Pop, R&B, Jazz, Dance and Electronic Soul....
, Eric B & Rakim, Third Bass, Big Daddy Kane
Big Daddy Kane
Antonio Hardy better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper who started his career in 1986 as a member of the rap group the Juice Crew. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential and skilled MC's in Hip Hop...
, EPMD
EPMD
EPMD is an American hip hop group from Brentwood, New York. The group's name is a concatenation of the members' name "E" and "PMD" or an acronym for "Erick and Parrish Making Dollars", referencing its members, emcees Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith...
, and Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan
Chaka Khan , frequently known as the Queen of Funk, is a 10-time Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter who gained fame in the 1970s as the frontwoman and focal point of the funk band Rufus. While still a member of the group in 1978, Khan embarked on a successful solo career...
. According to Chuck D, "We had tight dealings with MCA Records
MCA Records
MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group , of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003...
and were talking about taking three guys that were left over from New Edition
New Edition
New Edition is an R&B group formed in Boston in 1978. The group reached its height of popularity during the 1980s. They were the progenitors of the boy band movement of the 1980s and 1990s and led the way for groups like New Kids on the Block, Boyz II Men, Backstreet Boys and 'N Sync...
and coming up with an album for them. The three happened to be Ricky Bell
Ricky Bell (singer)
Ricky Bell, nicknamed "Slick" is an American R&B singer best known as one of the founding members of New Edition and the lead singer of Bell Biv DeVoe...
, Michael Bivins
Michael Bivins
Michael Lamont Bivins, a.k.a. Biv , is the founder and member of the R&B group New Edition and the hip hop group Bell Biv DeVoe...
, and Ronnie DeVoe
Ronnie DeVoe
Ronnie DeVoe, aka R.D., is one of the members of the R&B sextet New Edition....
, later to become Bell Biv DeVoe
Bell Biv DeVoe
Bell Biv DeVoe is an American R&B musical group which branched off from New Edition. It consists of three of New Edition's previous members, Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, and Ronnie DeVoe...
. Ralph Tresvant
Ralph Tresvant
Ralph Tresvant , aka Rizz, is an American tenor singer, best known as one of the lead singers in New Edition.-New Edition:Tresvant sang lead on many of the New Edition lead singles including "Candy Girl", "Cool It Now" and "If It Isn't Love"...
had been slated to do a solo album for years, Bobby Brown
Bobby Brown
Robert Barisford "Bobby" Brown is an American R&B singer-songwriter, occasional rapper, and dancer. After success in pop group New Edition, Brown began his solo career in 1987 and had a string of Top 10 Billboard hits, culminating in a Grammy Award. He was a pioneer of New Jack Swing music, a...
had left New Edition and experienced some solo success beginning in 1988, and Johnny Gill
Johnny Gill
Johnny Gill is an American R&B singer-songwriter. He is the sixth and final member of the R&B supergroup New Edition, and was also a member of another supergroup called LSG; with Gerald Levert and Keith Sweat. His signature song "My, My, My" has been included on numerous romantic...
had just been recruited to come in, but [he] had come off a solo career and could always go back to that. At MCA, Hiram Hicks, who was their manager, and Louil Silas, who was running the show, were like, 'Yo, these kids were left out in the cold. Can y'all come up with something for them?' It was a task that Hank, Keith, Eric, and I took on to try to put some kind of hip-hop-flavored R&B shit down for them. Subsequently, what happened in the four weeks of December [1989] was that the Bomb Squad knocked out a large piece of the production and arrangement on Bell Biv DeVoe
Bell Biv DeVoe
Bell Biv DeVoe is an American R&B musical group which branched off from New Edition. It consists of three of New Edition's previous members, Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, and Ronnie DeVoe...
's three-million selling album Poison. In January [1990], they knocked out Fear of a Black Planet in four weeks, and PE knocked out Ice Cube
Ice Cube
O'Shea Jackson , better known by his stage name Ice Cube, is an American rapper and actor. He began his career as a member of the hip-hop group C.I.A. and later joined the rap group N.W.A. After leaving N.W.A in December 1989, he built a successful solo career in music, and also as a writer,...
's album AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted in four to five weeks in February." They have also produced local talent such as Son of Bazerk
Son of Bazerk
Son of Bazerk is an American hip hop group consisting of Son of Bazerk ; Almighty Jahwell ; Daddy Rawe ; Half Pint . It was formed by Hank Shocklee, member of the producer team the Bomb Squad.- History :The band formed in the mid-1980s, originally as Townhouse 3...
, Young Black Teenagers
Young Black Teenagers
Young Black Teenagers was an early 1990s American rap group consisting of Kamron, First Born, Anthony DelCioppo, Tommy Never, and DJ Skribble. Despite their name, none of the group was black...
, Kings of Pressure, and True Mathematics—and gave producer Kip Collins
Kip Collins
Alarza Lee Collins Jr. , best known as Kip, was born on April 26, 1969. Alarza Lee Collins Jr. was an American record producer and composer who had collaborated with a number of music artists in the 1990’s and early 2000’s.-Professional Path:...
his start in the business.
Poet and hip-hop artist Saul Williams
Saul Williams
Saul Stacey Williams is an American poet, writer, actor and musician known for his blend of poetry and alternative hip hop and for his leading role in the 1998 independent film Slam.-Biography:...
uses a sample from Public Enemy's "Welcome to the Terrordome" in his song "Tr[n]igger" on the Niggy Tardust album. He also used a line from the song in his poem, amethyst rocks.
Public Enemy's brand of politically & socially conscious hip hop has been a direct influence on new hip hop artists such as The Cornel West theory.
The Manic Street Preachers
Manic Street Preachers
Manic Street Preachers are a Welsh alternative rock band, formed in 1986. They are James Dean Bradfield, Nicky Wire, Richey Edwards and Sean Moore. The band are part of the Cardiff music scene, and were at their most prominent during the 1990s...
track "Repeat (Stars And Stripes)" is a remix of the band's own anti-monarchy tirade by Public Enemy production team The Bomb Squad
The Bomb Squad
The Bomb Squad is an American hip hop production team, known for their work with the rap group Public Enemy. The Bomb Squad are noted for their dense, distinct, innovative production style, often utilizing dozens of samples on just one track...
of whom James Dean Bradfield
James Dean Bradfield
James Dean Bradfield is the lead guitarist and vocalist for the Welsh rock band Manic Street Preachers.- Early life :...
and Richey Edwards were big fans. The song samples "Countdown to Armageddon" from It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is the second studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released April 14, 1988, on Def Jam Recordings. Recording sessions for the album took place at Chung King Studios, Greene Street Recording, and Sabella Studios in New York City...
. The band had previously sampled Public Enemy on their 1991 single Motown Junk
Motown Junk
"Motown Junk" is an early stand alone single from the rock band Manic Street Preachers. It was released on January 21, 1991, and peaked at #94 on the UK Singles Chart. The track has long been a live favourite from the earlier part of their career to the present day...
.
American punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band NOFX
NOFX
NOFX is an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California .The band was formed in 1983 by vocalist/bassist Fat Mike and guitarist Eric Melvin. Drummer Erik Sandin joined NOFX shortly after. In 1991 El Hefe joined to play lead guitar and trumpet, rounding out the current line-up...
references Public Enemy in their song "Franco Unamerican", stating "I'm watching Michael Moore
Michael Moore
Michael Francis Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic and activist. He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time. His films Bowling for Columbine and Sicko also place in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries...
expose the awful truth/I'm listening to Public Enemy and Reagan Youth
Reagan Youth
Reagan Youth is an American punk rock band formed by singer Dave Rubinstein and guitarist Paul Bakija in Queens, New York in early 1980. They are known for introducing the style of hardcore punk to the East Coast punk scene, but were also a part of the peace punk movement...
."
The influence of the band goes largely beyond hip-hop as the group was cited by artists as diverse as Autechre
Autechre
Autechre are an English electronic music duo consisting of Rob Brown and Sean Booth, both natives of Rochdale, Greater Manchester. Formed in 1987, they are one of the most prominent acts signed to Warp Records, a label known for its pioneering electronic music and through which all Autechre albums...
(selected in the All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)
All Tomorrow's Parties (music festival)
All Tomorrow's Parties is a music festival which takes place at Camber Sands holiday camp in East Sussex and Butlin's holiday camp in Minehead, Somerset, England....
in 2003, Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...
(It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back being cited by Kurt Cobain
Kurt Cobain
Kurt Donald Cobain was an American singer-songwriter, musician and artist, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the grunge band Nirvana...
among his favorite albums), Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
(mentioned the band in Pretty Hate Machine
Pretty Hate Machine
Pretty Hate Machine is the debut album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released October 20, 1989, on TVT Records. Pretty Hate Machine is compiled of reworked tracks from the Purest Feeling demo, as well as tracks recorded after its recording...
credits), Björk
Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir , known as Björk , is an Icelandic singer-songwriter. Her eclectic musical style has achieved popular acknowledgement and popularity within many musical genres, such as rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical and folk...
(included Rebel Without a Pause
Rebel Without a Pause
Rebel Without a Pause is a single by hip hop group Public Enemy from their groundbreaking 1988 album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. The title is a spoof of Rebel Without a Cause, a 1955 drama movie.-History:...
in her The Breezeblock
The Breezeblock
The Breezeblock was a weekly radio programme on BBC Radio 1 that premiered on 17 February 1997 and focused on electronic music. The show's earliest broadcasts were unmixed and featured individual songs, some of which were recordings of live sessions from BBC's Maida Vale Studio...
Mix in July 2007), Tricky
Tricky
Tricky is an English musician and actor. As a producer and a musician, he is noted for a dark, rich and layered sound and a whispering sprechgesang lyrical style. Culturally, Tricky encourages an intertwining of societies, particularly in his musical fusion of rock and hip hop, high art and pop...
(did a cover of Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos
Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos
"Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" is a song by the American hip hop group Public Enemy from their second album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back...
and appears in Do You Wanna Go Our Way ??? video), Prodigy (included Public Enemy No. 1 in The Dirtchamber Sessions Volume One
The Dirtchamber Sessions Volume One
Prodigy Present: The Dirtchamber Sessions Volume One is a 1999 solo mix album by Liam Howlett of The Prodigy , and it was initially produced for BBC Radio 1's mix show The Breezeblock....
), Ben Harper
Ben Harper
Benjamin Chase "Ben" Harper is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae and rock music and is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live performances and activism. Harper's fan base spans several continents...
, Underground Resistance
Underground Resistance
Underground Resistance is a musical collective from Detroit, Michigan, in the United States of America. They are the most militantly political example of modern Detroit Techno, with a grungy, four-track musical aesthetic and a strictly anti-mainstream business strategy...
(cited by both Mad Mike and Jeff Mills
Jeff Mills
Jeff Mills is an American techno DJ and producer.-Career:Starting in the early 1980s, Mills, using the name "The Wizard", was a recurring guest DJ on "The Electrifying Mojo" radio show on WJLB...
), Orlando Voorn, M.I.A.
M.I.A. (artist)
Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam , better known by her stage name M.I.A. , is an English singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, painter and director of Sri Lankan Tamil descent. Her compositions combine elements of hip hop, electronica, dance, alternative and world music. M.I.A...
, Amon Tobin
Amon Tobin
Amon Adonai Santos de Araújo Tobin , known as Amon Tobin, is a Brazilian musician, composer and producer of electronic music. He is described as a virtuoso sound designer and is considered to be one of the most influential electronic music artists in the world...
, Mathew Jonson and Aphex Twin
Aphex Twin
Richard David James , best known under the pseudonym Aphex Twin, is an Irish-born electronic musician and composer described as "the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music"...
(Welcome To The Terrordome being the first track played after the introduction at the Coachella festival in April 2008).
In September of 2009, VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...
aired a show called "100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs" where Public Enemy earned the number one spot with their hit song, Fight the Power
Fight the Power
"Fight the Power" is a single by American hip hop group Public Enemy. First released on the soundtrack for the film 1989 Do the Right Thing, a different version was released on the group's third studio album, Fear of a Black Planet . The single reached number one on Hot Rap Singles and number 20 on...
.
The groups last album to date is How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?
How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?
How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul??? is the tenth studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released August 7, 2007 on Slam Jamz Recordings in the United States. Its release coincided with the 20th anniversary of their career...
. Public Enemy's single from the album was "Harder Than You Think
Harder Than You Think
"Harder Than You Think", was the first single from Public Enemy's 2007 20th anniversary album How You Sell Soul To A Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?.The song was featured in Eric Koston's segment in the 2007 skateboarding video "Fully Flared"...
".,The repercussions of Public Enemy are felt to this day. Public Enemy showed that hip-hop was not, as Alan Light
Alan Light
Alan Light is an American journalist who has been a rock critic for Rolling Stone and the editor-in-chief for both VIBE and Spin....
says, "just a silly novelty, a fleeting fad."
Pop culture
- Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" plays a central role in Spike Lee's 1989 film "Do the Right Thing." In addition to opening the film with the actors dancing to the song, Character "Radio Raheem" carries his beat-box everywhere listening to the same song, prompting one character to ask if he ever listens to anything else. Radio Raheem acts surprised and explains "It's Public Enemy!"
- The song "Power of Equality" by the Red Hot Chili PeppersRed Hot Chili PeppersRed Hot Chili Peppers is an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles in 1983. The group's musical style primarily consists of rock with an emphasis on funk, as well as elements from other genres such as punk, hip hop and psychedelic rock...
makes a reference, saying, "I got tapes I got CDs, I got my Public Enemy." The band have also performed segments of Public Enemy's You're Gonna Get YoursYou're Gonna Get Yours"You're Gonna Get Yours" is a 1987 single by hip hop group Public Enemy from their debut album Yo! Bum Rush the Show . Chuck D references the Oldsmobile 98 automobile in the song's lyrics. It peaked at number 88 on the UK Singles Chart.M|A|R|R|S sampled the song on their 1987 song "Pump Up the...
as an intro to their song Give It AwayGive It Away"Give It Away" is a song by the American rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was released in September 1991 as the lead single from the group's fifth studio album, Blood Sugar Sex Magik. The music was written by guitarist John Frusciante and bassist Flea during a jam session months prior to the...
at concerts. - John Connor in the 1991 movie Terminator 2: Judgement Day wore a Public Enemy t-shirt for the majority of the film.
- Part of NOFXNOFXNOFX is an American punk rock band from Los Angeles, California .The band was formed in 1983 by vocalist/bassist Fat Mike and guitarist Eric Melvin. Drummer Erik Sandin joined NOFX shortly after. In 1991 El Hefe joined to play lead guitar and trumpet, rounding out the current line-up...
song Franco Unamerican says "I´m watching Michael Moore expose the awful truth, I´m listening to Public Enemy and Reagan Youth."
Controversy
In 1989, in an interview with Public Enemy for the Washington Times, the interviewing journalist, David MillsDavid Mills (writer)
David Eugene Mills was an American journalist, writer and producer of television programs. He was an executive producer and writer of the HBO miniseries The Corner, for which he won two Emmy Awards, and the creator, executive producer, and writer of the NBC miniseries Kingpin.-Early life:Mills was...
, lifted some quotations from a UK magazine in which the band were asked their opinion on the Arab-Israeli conflict. Professor Griff’s comments apparently sympathized with the Palestinians
Palestinian people
The Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
and was accused of anti-Semitism
Anti-Semitism
Antisemitism is suspicion of, hatred toward, or discrimination against Jews for reasons connected to their Jewish heritage. According to a 2005 U.S...
. According to Rap Attack 2, he suggested that "Jews are responsible for the majority of the wickedness in the world" (p. 177). (In turn a quote from The International Jew
The International Jew
The International Jew is a four volume set of booklets or pamphlets originally published and distributed in the early 1920s by Henry Ford, an American industrialist and automobile manufacturer....
) Shortly after, Ridenhour expressed an apology on his behalf. In an attempt to defuse the situation, Ridenhour first fired Griffin. He later rejoined the group in the album Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age
Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age
Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age is the fifth studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released August 23, 1994 on Def Jam Recordings in the United States. The album debuted at number 14 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling 56,000 copies in its first week...
. In the late 1990s, he rejoined the band, and Ridenhour and Griffin took on a side project, the rap rock
Rap rock
Rap rock is a cross-genre fusing vocal and instrumental elements of hip hop with various forms of rock. Rap rock is often confused with rap metal and rapcore, subgenres that include heavy metal-oriented and hardcore punk-oriented bands, respectively....
outfit Confrontation Camp
Confrontation Camp
Confrontation Camp is an American rap rock group consisting of Kyle Jason and Public Enemy members Chuck D and Professor Griff. The group's debut album, Objects in the Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear, was released on Artemis Records on July 25, 2000.- Sources :*, Rolling Stone *[ Allmusic]*,...
.
In his 2009 book, entitled Analytixz, Griff criticized his 1989 statement: "to say the Jews are responsible for the majority of wickedness that went on around the globe I would have to know about the majority of wickedness that went on around the globe, which is impossible... I'm not the best knower. Then, not only knowing that, I would have to know who is at the crux of all of the problems in the world and then blame Jewish people, which is not correct." Griff also said that not only were his words taken out of context, but that the recording has never been released to the public for an unbiased listen.
The controversy and apologies on behalf of Griff spurred Chuck D to reference the negative press they were receiving. In 1990, Public Enemy issued the single "Welcome to the Terrordome", which contains the lyrics: "Crucifixion ain't no fiction / So-called chosen frozen / Apologies made to whoever pleases / Still they got me like Jesus". These lyrics have been cited by some in the media as anti-Semitic, making supposed references to the concept of the "chosen people"
Chosen people
Throughout history and even today various groups of people have considered themselves as chosen by a deity for some purpose such as to act as the deity's agent on earth. In monotheistic faiths, like Abrahamic religions, references to God are used in constructs such as "God's Chosen People"...
with the lyric "so-called chosen" and Jewish deicide
Jewish deicide
Jewish deicide is a belief that places the responsibility for the death of Jesus on the Jewish people as a whole.This deicide accusation is expressed in the ethnoreligious slur "Christ-killer." As a part of Second Vatican Council , the Roman Catholic Church under Pope Paul VI issued a declaration...
with the last line.
In a letter to the editor, Leo Haber alludes to criticism by New York Times writer Peter Watrous of the group's supposed homophobia
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
.
Reviewers John Alroy
John Alroy
John Alroy is a paleobiologist born in New York in 1966 and now residing in Sydney.-Area of expertise:Alroy specializes in diversity curves, speciation, and extinction of North American fossil mammals and Phanerozoic marine invertebrates, connecting regional and local diversity, taxonomic...
and David Wilson said that Fear of a Black Planet contained "homophobic babbling" which challenged politically correct
Politically Correct
Politically Correct may refer to:*Political correctness, language, ideas, policies, or behaviour seeking to minimize offence to groups of people-See also:*Politically Correct Bedtime Stories, book by James Finn Garner, published in 1994...
thinking.
Zoe Williams
Zoe Williams
Zoe Williams is a British columnist and journalist.-Early life:She attended the independent Godolphin and Latymer School girls school and read Modern History at Lincoln College, Oxford.. Her parents separated in 1976 and formally divorced 20 years later.-Writing:Williams writes forThe Guardian and...
defended Public Enemy against charges of homophobia:
- If you look at the seminal black artists at the start of hip-hop, Public Enemy and Niggaz With Attitude, you won't actually find much homophobia. The only recorded homophobic lyric in Public Enemy's canon was: "Man to man/ I don't know if they can/ From what I know/ The parts don't fit"
Public Enemy have also been supporters of Nation of Islam
Nation of Islam
The Nation of Islam is a mainly African-American new religious movement founded in Detroit, Michigan by Wallace D. Fard Muhammad in July 1930 to improve the spiritual, mental, social, and economic condition of African-Americans in the United States of America. The movement teaches black pride and...
Supreme Minister Louis Farrakhan
Louis Farrakhan
Louis Farrakhan Muhammad, Sr. is the leader of the African-American religious movement the Nation of Islam . He served as the minister of major mosques in Boston and Harlem, and was appointed by the longtime NOI leader, Elijah Muhammad, before his death in 1975, as the National Representative of...
, who has been controversial for his commentary which is often interpreted as being black nationalist
Black nationalism
Black nationalism advocates a racial definition of indigenous national identity, as opposed to multiculturalism. There are different indigenous nationalist philosophies but the principles of all African nationalist ideologies are unity, and self-determination or independence from European society...
, homophobic
Homophobia
Homophobia is a term used to refer to a range of negative attitudes and feelings towards lesbian, gay and in some cases bisexual, transgender people and behavior, although these are usually covered under other terms such as biphobia and transphobia. Definitions refer to irrational fear, with the...
, and anti-Semitic.
Band members
- Chuck DChuck DCarlton Douglas Ridenhour , better known by his stage name, Chuck D, is an American rapper, author, and producer. He helped create politically and socially conscious rap music in the mid-1980s as the leader of the rap group Public Enemy.- Early life :Ridenhour was born in Queens, New York...
– MC (1987–present) - Flavor FlavFlavor FlavWilliam Jonathan Drayton, Jr. , better known by his stage name Flavor Flav, is an American rapper and television personality who rose to prominence as a member of the rap group Public Enemy...
(William Drayton) - hype manHype manA hype man in hip hop music and rapping is a “backup rapper/singer who is also responsible for increasing an audience's excitement with call-and-response chants” according to The Hilltop and author Grant Barrett....
, occasionally lead vocals - Khari WynnKhari Wynn-External links:*...
- Music Director - DJ LordDj LordDj LORD , is a DJ and turntablist. In 1999, Dj LORD joined the hip-hop group Public Enemy on their 40th World Tour replacing Terminator X. Soon after, Dj LORD had his own performance segment within the Public Enemy show. While DJ battles and hip hop has been at the foundation of his career, Dj...
(Lord Aswod) - DJDisc jockeyA disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys... - Professor GriffProfessor GriffProfessor Griff is an American rapper and spoken word artist. He is a member of the hip hop group Public Enemy and head of the Security of the First World.-Early years in Public Enemy:...
Former members
- Terminator XTerminator XNorman Rogers is a retired American DJ, best known for his work with rap group Public Enemy, which he left in 1999...
(Norman Rogers) - DJ, producer, Big Casper (Tracy Walker), Brother James (James Norman), Brother Roger, The Interrorgator (Shawn K Carter), Crunch,Jacob shankle AKA (big Jake) - The Bomb Squad
-
- Hank Shocklee (James Henry Boxley III)
- Keith ShockleeKeith ShockleeKeith Matthew Boxley , better known as Keith Shocklee or Wizard K-Jee, is an American hip hop producer and DJ. He was an original member of Public Enemy and The Bomb Squad...
(Keith Boxley) - Eric "Vietnam" Sadler
- Gary G-WizGary G-WizGary Rinaldo , better known by the name Gary G-Wiz, is an American record producer and composer. Most known for being a member of the hip hop production team The Bomb Squad, G-Wiz is a longtime Public Enemy producer and contributed to many albums including: Apocalypse 91.....
(Gary Rinaldo) - Kerwin "Sleek" Young
- Professor Griff (Richard Griffin)
- Johnny "Juice" RosadoJohnny JuiceJohnny "Juice" Rosado is a DJ, music producer, audio engineer, arrangement, musician, composer, and consultant. He is an original member of The Bomb Squad in the band Public Enemy...
-
- Brian HardgrooveBrian Hardgroove-References:...
- bassist
Discography
- 1987: Yo! Bum Rush the ShowYo! Bum Rush the Show* Q magazine - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...a stunning opening...just the first, in retrospect almost shy, step on a remarkable journey...a hard, droning extension of the basic drum`n'scratch Def Jam template that had served LL Cool J and the Beastie Boys so well."* Melody Maker - Recommended - "It...
- 1988: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us BackIt Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us BackIt Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is the second studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released April 14, 1988, on Def Jam Recordings. Recording sessions for the album took place at Chung King Studios, Greene Street Recording, and Sabella Studios in New York City...
- 1990: Fear of a Black PlanetFear of a Black PlanetFear of a Black Planet is the third studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released April 10, 1990, on Def Jam Recordings and Columbia Records. Production for the album was handled by the group's production team The Bomb Squad, who expanded on the dense, sample-layered sound of the...
- 1991: Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black
- 1992: Greatest MissesGreatest MissesGreatest Misses is Public Enemy's first compilation album released in 1992. It features new tracks and re-mixes of previously released songs .-Track listing:#"Tie Goes to the Runner"#"Hit Da Road Jack"#"Gett Off My Back"...
- 1994: Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess AgeMuse Sick-n-Hour Mess AgeMuse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age is the fifth studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released August 23, 1994 on Def Jam Recordings in the United States. The album debuted at number 14 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling 56,000 copies in its first week...
- 1998: He Got GameHe Got Game (soundtrack)He Got Game is the sixth studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released April 21, 1998 on Def Jam Recordings in the United States. It also serves as the soundtrack companion album to Spike Lee's 1998 film of the same name and is the group's last album for the Def Jam label. The album...
- 1999: There's a Poison Goin' OnThere's a Poison Goin' OnThere's a Poison Goin' On is the seventh studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released July 20, 1999 on Atomic Pop Records in the United States. Its title is adapted from the title of Sly & the Family Stone's album There's a Riot Goin' On...
- 2002: RevolverlutionRevolverlutionRevolverlution is the eighth studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released July 23, 2002 on Koch Records in the United States. The album debuted at number 110 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart...
- 2005: New Whirl OdorNew Whirl OdorNew Whirl Odor is the ninth studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released in the U.S. on November 1, 2005. The title name for the album is a pun for New World Order. The song "MKLVFKWR" features the artist Moby....
- 2006: Rebirth of a NationRebirth of a NationRebirth of a Nation is the tenth studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy and Paris, released on March 7, 2006. The album was Mixed and mastered at Data Stream Studio in San Francisco, Ca.-Album information:...
(with ParisParis (rapper)Oscar Jackson, Jr. , better known by his stage name Paris is an American rapper from San Francisco, California, known for his highly charged political and socially conscious lyrics...
) - 2007: How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul??? is the tenth studio album by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released August 7, 2007 on Slam Jamz Recordings in the United States. Its release coincided with the 20th anniversary of their career...
- 2012: Most of Our Heroes Don't Appear on a Stamp
Further reading
- Young Rick- cofounder/ cowriter of lyrics*Chuck D with Yusuf Jah, Chuck D: Lyrics of a Rap Revolutionary, Off Da Books, 2007 ISBN 0-974-94841-1
- Chuck D with Yusuf Jah, Fight the Power, Delacorte Press, 1997 ISBN 0-385-31868-5
- Fuck You Heroes, Glen E. Friedman Photographs 1976-1991, Burning Flags Press, 1994, ISBN 0-9641916-0-1
External links
- Official website
- Discography at DiscogsDiscogsDiscogs, short for discographies, is a website and database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. The Discogs servers, currently hosted under the domain name discogs.com, are owned by Zink Media, Inc., and are...
- Live performance of Public Enemy
- Chuck D Interview: Intellectual Vietnam (Part One)
- Chuck D Interview: Intellectual Vietnam (Part Two)