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Bar none: Public Enemy changed hip-hop
music, and this compilation doesn't make you forget that. Their
controversial, militant stance was hard hitting when it comes
to addressing urban ills, racism, injustice, police brutality,
and politics is sorely lacking in the genre these days. Back
in the day, their philosophy was as revolutionary as it was shocking-it
was a wake-up call to America that things were profoundly wrong.
Their first album Yo Bum Rush the Show ignited the jolt
with You're Gonna Get Yours and Public Enemy No. 1. But it was
the albums It Takes a Nation to Hold Us Back and Fear
of a Black Planet that solidified the group's reputation
as the arm of hip-hop'social political and social conscience:
"911 Is a Joke," "Bring the Noise," "Don't
Believe the Hype," and "Fight the Power." The
Bomb Squad's in your face production packed a punch in the group's
glory years; Chuck D's booming authoritarian speech and Flavor
Flav's court jester rhymes complemented each other. Even as other
hip hop groups have eclipsed them in the later years, Public
Enemy still carried on adapting with the times (the soulful "Give
It Up," "He Got Game," featuring Stephen Stills,
whose Buffalo Springfield song "For What It's Worth"
is sampled on the latter track). For today's hip-hop stars, it's
all about 'me'; for P.E. the message was, it's all about 'us'
when it comes to survival.
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