Public Enemy -- Hipster Music

Apocalypse 91. . . The Enemy Strikes Back

I remember waiting for this album at our university's "Midnight Madness" sales. It went on sale the same day as Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion. Looking at the line snaking around the student center, it wasn't immediately evident who was there for what album. It seemed PE had been adopted by white kids galore, and in a lot of cases those same students who were there for GnR were there for the PE album also. It's ironic then that this is he most political album these guys had put out; the most whitey hating. So goes music. For me this album was a bit of a letdown. Gone was the sonic attack of "Terrordome" and in its place, a bit of a throwback to Yo! Bumrush the Show and It Takes a Nation of Millions and its bombast.

Fear of a Black Planet

What a way to usher in the 90s. These were the days of anger and genuine concern. Bloods and Crips were still in the news every day. We were only a couple years from the height of that violence, the LA Riots, and things seemed in flux. It's not only because I was myself in flux, graduating high school and packing for the East Coast and college that this album managed to capture a lot of the turmoil around me and the world at large. I believe I almost spit out my drink the first time I heard "Welcome to the Terrordome." It's just a swirl of craziness and aggression and to this day makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. Even with its blatant anti-Semitism, I can't fault the thing, as it's just a stream of consciousness rant against everything. These are people who have the audacity to sample themselves, for Christ's sake. It's a bouillabaisse of hate spewed at everyone, even blacks themselves. Wow. Whereas It Takes a Nation of Millions still looked inward somewhat--often talking about themselves in context--this album is outward facing, looking at society at large. "Burn Hollywood Burn" is an indictment on the film business and its subjugation of blacks, "911 is a Joke" about the differential treatment of poor people when it came to public services and "Fight the Power" just sums up everything this album is about.

Greatest Misses

It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

One of the best and most important albums of all time. This thing is just so fierce and relentless in its assault on the senses that you can't help but sit up and take notice. Anything that could unite groups of white teens behind a message of black power and make them memorize entire songs filled with complicated lyrics filled with attacks on the white establishment has to be something special. I speak not only about myself, of course, but friends and foes alike. Yeah, I was the douchebag white kid with a P.E. t-shirt my freshman year of college. I used to wear it to my private all-boys high school my senior year, so what could the harm be in wearing it to college? Man, that lasted about one week. I realized there are people that had more than the amazing music in mind when listening to this stuff. To me, the message was clear (but not applicable), but it was the sheer power of Chuck D's voice and Terminator X's driving rhythms and samples that just drew me in. I can still recite "Don't Believe the Hype" and "Night of the Living Baseheads" by heart and still love the hell out of those songs. The first time I heard this it blew my mind. Thinking of it today in the context of what existed back then I still can't believe it exists. And, in parting, I will leave you with the most oft written letter of my college career:

Dear Mr. D -

We're suckers. We want you for our Army--or whatever.

Regards,
The Government

Muse Sick-n-Our Mess Age

There's a Poison Going On

Yo! Bum Rush the Show

Like the Beastie Boys' Licensed to Ill, Yo! Bumrush the Show is a debut that is great in its own right, but doesn't necessarily represent what the artist is or would eventually become. That may have to do with Rick Rubin being at the controls, or it may just have to do with a group trying to find its bearings. Whatever the case, this is a much more stripped down Public Enemy, all boom and bass and bragging about how "bad" they are. The thing is here, that with Chuck D. pushed way up front, the album has some immediacy and strength that a lot of other rap albums at the time didn't. After all Chuck is the power behind the group, his voice the siren call. This is best shown on "Miuzi Weighs a Ton" and "Timebomb." He's the scary black man who just needs to mention his uzi and not necessarily brandish it to scare the crap out of white America. There's an intelligence (if such a thing can be said) behind the swagger. The production has a funny echo about it, and I don't recall hearing another album in my many years of listening that sounded quite like it. It's as if the group is in a large industrial space or something, but I'm sure is just a recording trick where there's a lag between left and right and whatever. Anyway, it sounds pretty awesome.