The hottest cats on Def Jam in the 80's & 90's in my opinion, Public Enemy (Chuck D, Flava Flav, Terminator X, Professor Griff, Dj Lord, the S1W & Sister Souljah) are timeless. Any group that can fuse such politically loaded lyrics with a diss boastful mindset will always be timeless. No-one did it like PE. They're unique beats, political Panther tied lyrics and absolutely insane cuts and samples shot these guys to stardom in 1987 with their first release, 'Yo! Bum Rush the Show!'. This was the first 12" vinyl I ever bought, and I'm glad such a big moment for me went to such a deserving group. With Terminator X on the beat (unbelievable scratch techniques on first album) and Chuck D on main mic supported by Flava, the hits kept on coming throughout the 80's and 90's. The group struck gold with Public Enemy #1 (which formed the idea for the name of the group). Chuck put the tape out to promote the Radio station he worked for at the time WBAU. Rick Rubin @ Def Jam was responsible for signing PE up to the still developing Def Jam Records list.
Following the foot steps of Grandmaster Flash and KRS-One, PE's political, social & cultural consciousness came out in their poetic rhymes. Critic Stephen Thomas Erlwine stated that "PE brought in elements of free jazz, hard funk and even music concrete, via it's producing team The Bomb Squad, creating a dense, ferocious sound unlike anything that came before". Their first album was followed up by the bomb, 'It Takes a Nation Of Millions to Hold Us Back', which is still regarded as the group's best achievement as artists. It was rated #2 in Spin Magazine's Top 100 Albums from 1985-2005. To this day the dense, sample heavy album is highly regarded in hip-hop culture. 'Fear of a Black Planet' released in 1990 is the last of the group's infinite albums. The album was deemed anti-semitic, in that there was constantly references to Jews being the source of the world's problems, therefore it created a lot of controversy and differing opinions and critiques towards the group. I don't even think Chuck gave a shit because I still hold 'Welcome to the Terrordome' as PE's best track (I'll leave that for a single post), even if it does mess around with some very touchy topics. PE went on to release 9 more albums, but the first 3 are the ones that are highly regarded by anyone who knows hip-hop.
I don't really know why I posted PE on this blog, but in a way they created they're own type of alternative style. They don't fit into the jazzy laid back styles that I normally put up, but they have a certain quality that this blog cannot be missing out on. PE were unique and some of the clear pioneers of the style that they created. Even if bootleggers try to steal the Bomb Squad sound, they will always fail. I'll post up a few classic tracks from their first 3 albums that put me in a good mood whenever I listen to them.
Enjoy, Peace.
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