You know, it actually pains me to give this a three star rating. It's better than that. Pi perhaps? 3.62 stars, maybe? It ain't quite a FOUR but it's bloody PUBLIC ENEMY!!
Let me start with why I still deeply appreciate this album. Because I'm old enough (31) to remember rap before it became soulless, mindless, directionless, impotent, arbitrarily aggressive. I grew up on rap and loved it. It was a vital artform and there were so many guys out there with interesting stuff to say. IT PAINS ME NOW TO SEE WHAT IT'S BECOME. The current conveyor belt of slaptards that roll out albums now with all the same themes, near identical covers, coming from uniformly empty heads, ugh, it just pains me.
And this album gives the finger to all that.
For that, Chuck D, I thank you. When you listen to the lyrics, this album identifies the sheer stupidity in rap today with an ease comparable to explaining that 2 + 2 = 4. But once upon a time, they made albums addressing issues, huge ones, tackling them with a grandiose sense of revolution!! Why this now? Well, because it's necessary. Guys like Chuck and KRS need to reclaim hip hop from the pimps and hos who are perpetuating a very embarassing characature of it. Chuck is still one of the finest MCs, the lyrics are still solid, the message is still vital. Thank you, PE for refusing to disappear.
Now, here's why this isn't a 5 star album: because I remember It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back. Because I remember Fear of a Black Planet. The production on those albums just couldn't be touched back then. I still remember clearly the day I bought It Takes a Nation and got it home. I listened to it and it floored me as few albums ever have. I listened to that tape beginning to end three times nonstop on my bed with headphones on. The album would end and I just had to go through it again. I was absolutely stunned. The beats and production, I'd never heard anything like it. Think of songs like "Bring Tha Noise," "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos," "Welcome to the Terrordome." Think of the production on "War At Thirty Three and a Third," and remember just how insane it was. Lyrics aside, THE SOUND was just as revolutionary. It was fast, it was noisy, it was complicated.
This album makes me miss The Bomb Squad's production. It's a good album, but it lacks what made "Nation" one of the best rap albums of all time. The beats just feel a bit generic. Sigh. And OK, if you can't get the old production team in ... well, surely there is something that could have been done? Bugger, imagine if El-P was turning the knobs in the studio, designing the sonic chaos that made PE so awesome, the foundation for Chuck to rant over. Yeah, I'd probably sell a kidney for that album.
Chuck D, I still thank you. Thanks for creating an album all those years ago that really deserves credit as a milestone marker in my life. Please, don't stop now, hip-hop still needs guys like you more than ever.
Public Enemy dropped a real banging CD. Uncompromising and in your face with raw lyrics. Chuch D, which I believe is one of the most underated M.C.'s in history, unleashes raw fury on the track "Harder Than You Think" and No. 7 "Can You Hear Me Now." Yes I can hear you Chuck even if everbody else can not. The ninth track "Flavor Man" is Flavors solo, way too noisy, annoying composition. I've heard Flav on other PE records hold his down much better. The 10th song Chuck D follows Flav's joint with the straight up commentary on the social & political issues of today. The 11th track "Escapism" is a throw back song that sounds like it could of dropped in the 60's complete with a tough saxophone by Daddy G, what a beat. The 15th track "See Something Say Something" is hot, and, Chuck displays his flow over some unusual old style beats, the base is in place "All those players driving Lexus's & hummers were taught by teachers defending Colombus." (Deep).
The 16th song "The Land Whinning Road" acknowledges 20 years in the struggle, it's pretty solid too. I must say track 18 is horrible it seems like the banging tracks are minus Flav. Except for (3). This was a great CD but probably would have been better with a little less Flav. This CD goes 19 tracks deep, maybe too many songs, 14 would have been good. But to hear Chuck D blazing the light of Truth in his lyrics, has made me change my outlook on the current Hip Hop landscape.
I've been a PE fan since their first album and usually buy their latest release out of respect. Admittedly, I think their stuff has been on the decline for some time and so I was pleasantly surprised by this album. As a whole, it's really good. If you're a long time PE fan, you'll be glad you bought this. I am.
Throw away all cds of so called "new school" rappers and get this to replace all that commercialized anti-n&&&a garbage. This is what's up. They're back, they're still the best. Step off clowns. Recognize one of the last true procurers of the true spoken word of the hip hop culture. Oh yeah, YOU NEED this album. PERIOD.
Public Enemy is once again doing it the right way! Bringing the beats back! Hip Hop the way it was meant to be. Good message. Good music. Get inspired. Listen and learn.
