Public Enemy: Classic or Dud?

Time for me to exit, Terminator Brex-it.

KEXP in Seattle is playing every (discernible) recording sampled on Nation of Millions right now:

https://www.kexp.org/

That album is at least 80% the soundtrack to Wattstax don't @ me

rebel without @ pause

death row, what @ brother know

I watched this BBC documentary yesterday : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMCvWeWnsJw
It's pretty cool and reminded me how much I loved that band when I was a teenager (the release of "Fear Of A Black Planet" remains one of the great musical moments in my life !).
I had never thought about the fact that they never went the "bitches, Hos, bling" route and watching Griff talking about their project, it appears obvious.
Also the Griff/Flav relationship was pretty wild and you wonder how they managed to make it work for such a long time...

Is there a good book about them ?

I’ve read two books and neither came close to the Wax Poetics cover story (#17, 2006) on the Bomb Squad

Thanks, I will check it out !

The Whiney book about Nation is good.

Yeah, I have just ordered it !

"Fear of a Black Planet" still rules - relistening right now. I'm not gonna pretend it fully sustains for its hour-plus, but tracks 1-5 remain one of the most thrillingly paced/sequenced runs on any record, and track for track it keeps up the pace at least through the title track.

Talk to me about the future of Public Enemy


https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/public-enemy-flavor-flav-bernie-sanders-960272/

I'm kind of bummed about this. Like of course Flavor Flav has some weird ass political views that don't line up with the rest of the group. You have to let him be who he is.

future of Public Enemy Radio got a

He's left/been fired/not bothered to turn up before, he'll be back

"Like of course Flavor Flav has some weird ass political views that don't line up with the rest of the group."

Chuck D's remarks suggest this doesn't have anything to do with Flavor Flav's political zeal, but rather lack thereof.

I suppose after all this time and his many antics, they're pretty used to handle him...
He'll be back after the elections !

Also that Flav’s substance abuse has once again made him a difficult employee.

xpost

I think Mario’s post “Flavor Flav has some weird ass political views that don't line up with the rest of the group” must have been confusing Flavor Flav with Professor Griff.

nah, he said a bunch of pro-Trump nonsense during the 2016 campaign. but it's from being an a) apolitical b) idiot, not ideology.

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/89254744_555480721988677_325032658125979648_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&_nc_sid=8024bb&_nc_ohc=vK9C_rPzHZQAX-58sML&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.xx&oh=f7edf2f55c3c3e3e233fe9731c0fdba7&oe=5EFB08C4

I'll throw my support behind "Muse-Sick-In-Our-Mess-Age" too. It's no groundbreaking landmark, but I have to disagree with anyone putting down the fine and funky production. It's like a B+ album.

I always have a soft spot for Muse-Sick, it came out right as I was starting my freshman year in college and it was one of the few cassettes I had with me for the first few months before I upgraded to a Discman.

hahaha xxp

Muse Sick's probably my third favourite after Nation and Black Planet.

lmao hate to see politics ruin Public Enemy

ppl underrate Yo! Bum Rush the Show

yeah I ignored it for years

otoh this bangs
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYblg4i2HD8

head and shoulders above the album though, one of their all-time greatest

nb Bum Rush is good

Muse Sick over Bum Rush and Apocalypse 91 is a pretty good challop

I only listened to Muse Sick maybe once when it came out, and my reaction was that it was such a weak follow-up to Apocalypse 91 (which I love/loved). Wasn't there a big deal made that it cut down on the number of samples and introduced more instruments?

Nation of Millions > Fear >>> Bum Rush >>> Apocalypse 91 >>> Greatest Misses >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Muse Sick > ...those guys are still around? Oof.

That seems right but I’d flip Apocalypse 91 w/ Bum Rush

i would flip fear and nation but yeah pretty otm

He Got Game is ok

I haven't listened to "He Got Game" in a while but yeah, not bad at all. It sounded like PE becoming comfortable with getting old (or at least settling into their role as the wise elders of rap). They even threw in a warbly Stephen Stills for crissakes.

Working with Stephen Stills was enough of an aesthetic crime to almost justify retroactive cancellation of their entire body of work. Had it been David Crosby, irrevocable perma-cancellation, zero possibility of parole.

Had it been Neil Young it woulda been dope

Like I'm sad we didn't get our "Keep on Rappin in the Free World"

Stephen Still's Manassas has some ill jawns

Muse Sick over Bum Rush and Apocalypse 91 is a pretty good challop

it the only op i got

I’ve probably listened to “Give It Up” more than any other single PE track

"Hazy Shade of Criminal" is top shelf PE, I rate it as high as Nations.

I shall listen to it again!

Wasn't there a big deal made that it cut down on the number of samples and introduced more instruments?

Apocalypse '91 was actually the turning point (a downturn afaic) in the Bomb Squad's production:

According to Hank Shocklee, around this time, the disks for every track they had been working on for the past four to five years had been stolen. As a result, they had to rush to re-create their music and to put out their album in a timely manner. Shocklee admitted that it was impossible to completely recover what they had lost, saying "once you lose all your data, it's very difficult to get that data back...you may get some of it back, but you'll never get the complete set. You won't even know what the complete set is, because there's data in there you didn't really know you had." In retrospect, he believed the loss "stunted [Public Enemy's] growth. We never really recovered after that. We was on a roll—I was on a roll, and to lose that material set me back so hard." As a result, the sound was a little leaner than the dense production of their previous albums, and live musicians became a prominent element as well.

By '94 and Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age they sounded like most every other rap act that was using 8-bar drum loops and single-source samples.

and like, those albums aren't bad, but they are a pale imitation of the hyperactive density of the first three

CSN&Y was worthless without Neil Young, Stills and Crosby's solo careers were awful, but the Byrds and Buffalo Springfield were truly great bands, and "For What It's Worth" was Stills's song, so that work has my eternal respect.

Re: the lost disks, I heard that story too. It's heartbreaking, but at the same time, I don't want to exaggerate the negative impact it may have had on PE's work. I actually like the production on "Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age," but for me the lyrics and delivery really made it a lesser PE album.