Public Enemy: Classic or Dud?

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There's REM, and then there's the rest of college rock. All the rest are pretenders.

The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 13:36 (eighteen years ago) link

There's The Pretenders, and then there's all those other Scottish bands.

N_RQ, Wednesday, 28 September 2005 13:39 (eighteen years ago) link

I love PE, but hiphop is too big and diverse for them to be the end-all of it.

In what possible way (aside from broadest generalities) is A Tribe Called Quest trying to do what PE does, for example?

There's ATCQ and there's the rest of rap. All the rest are pretenders.

Austin Still (Austin, Still), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 13:57 (eighteen years ago) link

I will murder your with nothing more than a ballpoint pin if you do not like P.E.

Thank you.

PappaWheelie B.C., Wednesday, 28 September 2005 13:58 (eighteen years ago) link

THINGS I LOVE ABOUT THAT NEXT-TO-LAST POST:
1. Public Enemy and A Tribe Called Quest as the two major touchstones of hip hop, hello freshman year of high school.
2. Talking about "what A Tribe Called Quest is trying to do" in the present tense when they broke up like 50 years ago.
3. It allows me to be a snarky asshole about something that I probably only know a tiny bit more about than Austin.

n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 14:01 (eighteen years ago) link

Whatever, pile on if you must. My hyperbole is just a way of saying after a frustrating 15 years of listening to hip-hop post-PE, nothing's come close to "Baseheads," "Fight the Power", etc. Nothing. And as great as Nas, Wu-Tang, Dre, etc. are, there's just something in those early PE tracks that is entirely missing from everything else.

Keith C (lync0), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 14:03 (eighteen years ago) link

even Just Ice?

N_RQ, Wednesday, 28 September 2005 14:07 (eighteen years ago) link

Jebus, N/A, I used ATCQ because they were rough contemporaries, not because I've heard nothing since (anyway, the major touchstones of hiphop my freshman year of high school were Run DMC and um, Aerosmith.)

Austin Still (Austin, Still), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 14:07 (eighteen years ago) link

there's just something in those early PE tracks that is entirely missing from everything else.

That something = SONIC FURY. Did you ever hear Son of Bazerk?

The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 14:10 (eighteen years ago) link

Boy did they love "Funky Drummer".

gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 14:10 (eighteen years ago) link

PE that is. But I'm sure Son of Bazerk did too.

gygax! (gygax!), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 14:10 (eighteen years ago) link

No, I haven't Dan. And yeah, the 'sonic fury' is a big part of it, but it's also the rapping, the lyrics, their use of samples, even the militancy (fake or not)--all together I feel it's just something very singular and hasn't been repeated.

Keith C (lync0), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 14:21 (eighteen years ago) link

X-Clan!

The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 14:24 (eighteen years ago) link

Early Latifah!

The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 14:24 (eighteen years ago) link

Gravediggaz!

The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 14:39 (eighteen years ago) link

There's Public Enemy, and then there's the rest of hip-hop. All the rest are pretenders.
-- Keith C (lyncounio...), September 28th, 2005. (lync0)

dumb.

I love Public Enemy. Son of Bazerk is good too!

NWA had SONIC FURY...sometimes! Sonic fury isn't everything though....Special Ed didn't have Sonic Fury, but Youngest in Charge, whoo what a great album!

M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 14:59 (eighteen years ago) link

Found a copy of the new compilation Freedom to the People and the Beats recently and have been playing the hell out of it. This stuff completely holds up....even the not-as-celebrated later singls like "Give it Up" and "He Got Game" still sound great.

Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 15:15 (eighteen years ago) link

Yeah, Power to the People and the Beats is pretty fantastic, not least for its little track-listing surprises--I heard it playing in a record store, REALLY LOUDLY, a few weeks ago, and was impressed by a) the appearance of "Prophets of Rage" b) how un-squared-off and violently abrasive everything sounded.

Douglas (Douglas), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 15:44 (eighteen years ago) link

I'm sorry Alex, but "He Got Game" is almost as terrible as the movie from whence it came.

n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 15:45 (eighteen years ago) link

It's like the anti-PE.

n/a (Nick A.), Wednesday, 28 September 2005 15:46 (eighteen years ago) link

one year passes...

"Here we go again!"

Ned Raggett, Monday, 9 July 2007 18:51 (sixteen years ago) link

"Turn it up!"

nicky lo-fi, Monday, 9 July 2007 19:20 (sixteen years ago) link

I went to the beach, the ground was all sandy

Edward III, Monday, 9 July 2007 19:42 (sixteen years ago) link

(upward shifting saxophone squeal from "The Grunt")

Oilyrags, Monday, 9 July 2007 19:45 (sixteen years ago) link

I just bought that JB's album this week! Boy was I surprised when that snippet came through my speakers.

sleeve, Tuesday, 10 July 2007 00:05 (sixteen years ago) link

I know! I always figured it was some kind of electronic gear abuse - a soundboard feeding back or some shit.

Oilyrags, Tuesday, 10 July 2007 00:16 (sixteen years ago) link

I went to the beach, the ground was all sandy

Actually, it's "I got to the beach, the ground was all sandy/Girlies on my jock like ants on candy." And so, so unfair that Flav's solo tracks (except for "911 Is A Joke") didn't make the best-of.

unperson, Tuesday, 10 July 2007 02:00 (sixteen years ago) link

the lyric is genius. you can say just about anything, my mind will supply the punchline, and it will still sound good:

I got shot up, the ground was all sandy...
I went to mcdonald's, the ground was all sandy...
your mamma's a bitch, the ground was all sandy...

truly one of the all-time great rap images.

Edward III, Tuesday, 10 July 2007 02:41 (sixteen years ago) link

one month passes...

Seriously? No discussion anywhere of the new album?

lukas, Saturday, 11 August 2007 04:01 (sixteen years ago) link

How You Sell Soul To A Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul is possibly their worst album title, which is saying something.

mulla atari, Saturday, 11 August 2007 22:35 (sixteen years ago) link

Seriously. If they'd put out one single record with a good title in the last ten years, I'd get all excited and interested and buy it, instead of thinking "another insanely convoluted unfunny pun? oh Chuck." and avoiding.

I did buy the Make Love Fuck War single though.

energy flash gordon, Sunday, 12 August 2007 02:46 (sixteen years ago) link

1. "How You Sell Soul To A Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul"
2. "Black is Back"
3. "Harder Than You Think"
4. "Between Hard and a Rock Place"
5. "Sex, Drugs & Violence" (featuring KRS-One)
6. "Amerikan Gangster" (featuring E.Infinite)
7. "Can You Hear Me Now"
8. "Head Wide Shut"
9. "Flavor Man"
10. "The Enemy Battle Hymn of the Public"
11. "Escapism"
12. "Frankenstar"
13. "Col-Leepin"
14. "Radiation of a Radiotvmovie"
15. "See Something, Say Something"
16. "Long and Whining Road"
17. "Bridge of Pain"
18. "Eve of Destruction"
19. "How You Sell Soul (Time is God Refrain)"

generic titles

marmotwolof, Sunday, 12 August 2007 03:27 (sixteen years ago) link

two months pass...

How You Sell Soul To A Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul is possibly their worst album title, which is saying something.

oh, chuck d-paws.

Eisbaer, Monday, 15 October 2007 05:29 (sixteen years ago) link

Classic or dud, Chuck D calling his band "Confrontation Camp?"

Great music, too bad about the fluffery of the racist, crackpot Nation of Islam

dally, Monday, 15 October 2007 10:05 (sixteen years ago) link

The best thing Chuck D ever did was Forthright MC.

Dom Passantino, Monday, 15 October 2007 11:10 (sixteen years ago) link

have not heard this at all!!

Tracer Hand, Monday, 15 October 2007 11:33 (sixteen years ago) link

I vote "Classic", of course.

"Fear Of A Black Planet" is the best Rap album I've ever heard. I essentially stopped buying Hip-Hop records after that came out, because ... well, what was the point? No one was ever going to top it.

Riot Nrrrd™, Monday, 15 October 2007 13:06 (sixteen years ago) link

FAKE

Dom Passantino, Monday, 15 October 2007 13:10 (sixteen years ago) link

How You Sell Soul To A Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul is possibly their worst album title, which is saying something.

They will never top Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age, nor will anyone else.

The Reverend, Monday, 15 October 2007 14:52 (sixteen years ago) link

It's bad, but it's not nearly as bad as Revolverlution, which is just stupid.

Alex in NYC, Monday, 15 October 2007 16:40 (sixteen years ago) link

seven months pass...

they were great last night.

The Real Dirty Vicar, Monday, 26 May 2008 14:51 (fifteen years ago) link

god I'd love to see them.
my uncle told me he saw 'em back in like '86 or something in Minneapolis, one of only a few white people there. when the firt beat dropped the entire place jumped to it in unison and knocked the needle off the record. they had to stop and be like, "ummm, we're gonna don this again, and you can all dance, but don't every body jump at once alright?"

RabiesAngentleman, Monday, 26 May 2008 15:21 (fifteen years ago) link

*"don this again"

RabiesAngentleman, Monday, 26 May 2008 15:22 (fifteen years ago) link

I think they were the only black guys there last night. People were really into it, though, and they claimed they always love playing my town.

The Real Dirty Vicar, Monday, 26 May 2008 15:49 (fifteen years ago) link

WAIT. What does this entire thread MEAN?
Are you going to throw away Public Enemy based on one or two debatably good or bad albums or what? I'm seriously confused. For sure they are classic and not 'everyone likes them' but if you're gonna say oh NWA or Public Enemy which is better, people'd be more likely to say Public Enemy. They may not be all that relevant any more but STILL.

VeronaInTheClub, Monday, 26 May 2008 17:11 (fifteen years ago) link

who cares if their influence hasnt been that pronounced? they made some of the best rap records and were one of the best groups EVER - isnt that enough? people are unfairly cruel/cynical when it comes to PE, like theyre judging all their achievements through the prism of modern hip hop.

titchyschneiderMk2, Monday, 26 May 2008 17:21 (fifteen years ago) link

PE are heroes, a lot of PE boosters, not so much.

Noodle Vague, Monday, 26 May 2008 17:23 (fifteen years ago) link

WAIT. What does this entire thread MEAN?
Are you going to throw away Public Enemy based on one or two debatably good or bad albums or what? I'm seriously confused. For sure they are classic and not 'everyone likes them' but if you're gonna say oh NWA or Public Enemy which is better, people'd be more likely to say Public Enemy. They may not be all that relevant any more but STILL.

-- VeronaInTheClub, Monday, 26 May 2008 18:11 (8 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

http://www.stanford.edu/group/sfs/ssff/2007ssff/sockpuppet2.jpg

Dom Passantino, Monday, 26 May 2008 17:25 (fifteen years ago) link

Not one of mine.

Noodle Vague, Monday, 26 May 2008 17:27 (fifteen years ago) link


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