When examining the history of political Hip-Hop it doesn’t get much more influential than rap group Public Enemy. The group features hard-hitting lyrics from emcee Chuck D, comedic levity from hypeman Flavor Flav, and a heavy musical attack that rivals any rock group from the Bomb Squad production team.
The group’s genesis took place in 1985 when Carlton Ridenhour (aka Chuck D) met William Drayton (aka Flavor Flav) at Long Island’s Adelphi University. Around that same time, he connected with future Bomb Squad members Hank Shocklee and Bill Stephney while DJing at the student radio station WBAU. The group’s first official release as Public Enemy was their 1987 debut album Yo! Bum Rush the Show.
Yo! Bum Rush the Show was an important album in the development of socially conscious Hip-Hop. They followed it up in 1988 with one of the most important protest albums of all time, the landmark It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Chuck D has stated that Public Enemy was trying to create the hip-hop version of Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On. Like that album, it is a timely masterpiece that sadly remains relevant. The album includes “Don’t Believe the Hype” a pointed critique of media propaganda. It also included the literary masterpiece “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos”, a gripping tale of an imprisoned draft dodger who is planning a prison break.
In 1989, director Spike Lee approached Chuck D to compose a tune for Lee’s influential 1989 film Do The Right Thing. This resulted in the modern-day black empowerment protest anthem “Fight The Power“. The song was also included in their classic 1990 album Fear of a Black Planet. The album was heavily influenced by Dr. Frances Cress Welsing’s 1970 essay, The Cress Theory of Color-Confrontation and Racism (White Supremacy). Highlights include “Burn Hollywood Burn” a scathing exposé on negative black stereotypes in movies and “911 Is a Joke”, which features lead vocals and lyrics by Flavor Flav and is in reaction to the poor response to emergency calls in black neighborhoods. Chuck D previously referred to rap music as “the Black CNN” and Fear of a Black Planet is an excellent example of black journalism.
They followed that up in 1991 with Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black. The album featured their collaboration with thrash band Anthrax, a reworking of the It Takes a Nation… track “Bring The Noise”. As expected the album hits hard politically. For example “Shut ‘Em Down” discusses how big companies profit from the black community but don’t give anything back, while “By the Time I Get to Arizona” protested State Governor Evan Mecham’s decision to cancel Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
After an impressive streak of four excellent albums, the band continued to soldier on. One of the highlights included recording the 1998 soundtrack of the Spike Lee film He Got Game. The album included the title track, which incorporated Buffalo Springfield’s socially conscious classic “For What It’s Worth”. Another notable moment was in 2007 when they released the album How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul???, which included the UK hit “Harder Than You Think,” which happens to be their most streamed song on Spotify. The lyrics reference their earlier tunes and expose those “who pose as heroes and take advantage of blacks.”
In 2020 they released their 15th album What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down?, their first album on Def Jam since 1998’s He Got Game. Public Enemy continues to contribute to the expanding canon of protest songs.