Album: Fear Of A Black Planet
Artist: Public Enemy
Artist: Public Enemy
Born: Long Island, New York
Released: March 1990
Genre: Hip Hop
Influenced: A Tribe Called Quest, Jay-Z, Prodigy, The Chemical Brothers, M.I.A.
On their third album, Public Enemy ratcheted up the sonic intensity and political rhetoric. This is not a record you can listen to passively and enjoy in the background, it demands your attention. More than 3 Feet High & Rising or the Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique, Fear Of A Black Planet has the most compelling use of samples in any hip hop record. What's most revolutionary to my mind is the use of contemporary radio and TV audio samples, which highlight racism in the American media. Chuck D is also at his most confrontational and lyrically inventive on this album, although he does skirt with controversy at times. The opening verse of Meet The G That Killed Me, "Man to man / I don't know if they can / from what I know / the parts don't fit", is just plain homophobia dressed up as concern about the AIDS virus. Another target for Chuck D's ire is Elvis Presley (and John Wayne, though I'll leave that reference aside, given this blog's focus on musical history), with the following Fight The Power verse, "Elvis was a hero to most / but he never meant shit to me you see / straight up racist that sucker was". Now, having done some research, it appears the origin of this accusation is an unsubstantiated allegation made in 1957 by a magazine called Sepia. Chuck D has since distanced himself from the remark, explaining that his intention was to point out that the heroes of White America (Elvis, John Wayne, etc) were not his, but unfortunately mud sticks. Many people still repeat the baseless "Elvis is racist" assertion unthinkingly. Personally, as talented as Elvis was as a performer, I think his only crime was not really of his doing; record labels and the media put him on a pedestal far above the likes of more innovative rock & roll pioneers like Little Richard and Chuck Berry.
Aside from these issues, Fear Of A Black Planet makes for compulsive listening and is arguably the pinnacle of the hip hop genre. Fight The Power, which was used to thrilling effect in Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing, is an uncompromising call to arms for African-Americans, while its use of James Brown's Funky Drummer (the same sample used by the Stone Roses on Fool's Gold) and other funk snippets makes it highly danceable. Welcome To The Terrordome and 911 Is A Joke were the other two high-profile singles released from the album, the first a sonic assault featuring some of Chuck D's most impressive rapping and the second Flavor Flav's inventive and entertaining criticism of police and ambulance response times to incidents involving African-Americans. Can't Do Nuttin' For Ya Man, another Flavor Flav track on the album, explores similar territory and advocates self-reliance ("It was you that chose your due / you built a maze you can't get through"). Although there are some dud moments on the record, like Pollywanacracka, these don't really detract from the overall impression that this is Public Enemy's most coherent album, raising issues like reparations and awareness of figures like Malcolm X (who, at that time, was relatively unknown). The record is suffused with the power of the civil rights moment, bringing politics and music together in a way that rarely happens successfully, with the feminist rallying cry Revolutionary Generation a particular potent example. More than any other album, Fear Of A Black Planet gave hip hop a musical legitimacy that it still enjoys to this day.
On their third album, Public Enemy ratcheted up the sonic intensity and political rhetoric. This is not a record you can listen to passively and enjoy in the background, it demands your attention. More than 3 Feet High & Rising or the Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique, Fear Of A Black Planet has the most compelling use of samples in any hip hop record. What's most revolutionary to my mind is the use of contemporary radio and TV audio samples, which highlight racism in the American media. Chuck D is also at his most confrontational and lyrically inventive on this album, although he does skirt with controversy at times. The opening verse of Meet The G That Killed Me, "Man to man / I don't know if they can / from what I know / the parts don't fit", is just plain homophobia dressed up as concern about the AIDS virus. Another target for Chuck D's ire is Elvis Presley (and John Wayne, though I'll leave that reference aside, given this blog's focus on musical history), with the following Fight The Power verse, "Elvis was a hero to most / but he never meant shit to me you see / straight up racist that sucker was". Now, having done some research, it appears the origin of this accusation is an unsubstantiated allegation made in 1957 by a magazine called Sepia. Chuck D has since distanced himself from the remark, explaining that his intention was to point out that the heroes of White America (Elvis, John Wayne, etc) were not his, but unfortunately mud sticks. Many people still repeat the baseless "Elvis is racist" assertion unthinkingly. Personally, as talented as Elvis was as a performer, I think his only crime was not really of his doing; record labels and the media put him on a pedestal far above the likes of more innovative rock & roll pioneers like Little Richard and Chuck Berry.
Aside from these issues, Fear Of A Black Planet makes for compulsive listening and is arguably the pinnacle of the hip hop genre. Fight The Power, which was used to thrilling effect in Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing, is an uncompromising call to arms for African-Americans, while its use of James Brown's Funky Drummer (the same sample used by the Stone Roses on Fool's Gold) and other funk snippets makes it highly danceable. Welcome To The Terrordome and 911 Is A Joke were the other two high-profile singles released from the album, the first a sonic assault featuring some of Chuck D's most impressive rapping and the second Flavor Flav's inventive and entertaining criticism of police and ambulance response times to incidents involving African-Americans. Can't Do Nuttin' For Ya Man, another Flavor Flav track on the album, explores similar territory and advocates self-reliance ("It was you that chose your due / you built a maze you can't get through"). Although there are some dud moments on the record, like Pollywanacracka, these don't really detract from the overall impression that this is Public Enemy's most coherent album, raising issues like reparations and awareness of figures like Malcolm X (who, at that time, was relatively unknown). The record is suffused with the power of the civil rights moment, bringing politics and music together in a way that rarely happens successfully, with the feminist rallying cry Revolutionary Generation a particular potent example. More than any other album, Fear Of A Black Planet gave hip hop a musical legitimacy that it still enjoys to this day.
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