Words by Jesse Hagen
“…Not the jackass or the elephant.”
I remember all the elements that had me instantly transfixed the first time I ever sat and listened to It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back. The urgent bark of Chuck D’s lyrical sermon. The dense frenzy of the Bomb Squad’s production. Flavor Flav’s perfection of the hypeman role.
However, the first time I heard any Public Enemy song was under circumstances that I’m a little more ashamed of. To preface the story, I’m a little young in comparison to the rest of the Crew. That said, I hope my age makes it a bit more acceptable that my first encounter with a PE song came while I was controlling a virtual Kareem Campbell in “Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 4.”
The song, for those not privy to Mr. Hawk’s sophisticated line of extreme video games (or their soundtracks for that matter) was “By The Time I Get To Arizona,” an indisputable barnburner of a Public Enemy song. An aggressive backhanded slap aimed at the state of Arizona, whose state government refused to recognize Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a holiday.
To me, the song is a middle-finger-in-the-air revolution, rolling down the hot pavement of a Southwestern highway at 50 miles an hour. Not frantic at all, but the kind of pace that begs for an appropriate gangster lean, one hand gripping the steering wheel, letting the top down slowly and unleashing an auditory lashing via a gargantuan set of car speakers.
Who says summer music can’t have a conscience?
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Download — Public Enemy- “By The Time I Get to Arizona”
Celly_Cel-Heat_4_Yo_Azz
Xzibit-Weapons_Of_Mass_Destruction
Camron – I Hate My Job (Promo CDS)
Kelis-The_Hits
VA-Change_Is_Now-Renewing_Americas_Promise
VA-Stax-The_Soul_Of_Hip-Hop
Rogiérs – The Remix/Reject
![[avatar]](http://p.uproxxcdn.com/global/images/default-avatar.jpg){kind=avatar}
![[image]](http://cdn.tss.uproxx.com/TSS/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2011/12/Vnasty-main-150x74.jpg)
![[image]](http://cdn.tss.uproxx.com/TSS/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2011/11/aretha-franklin-main-150x82.jpg)
WOW, it took you until the new millennium to recognize the importance P.E. had on the culture, industry, country & WORLD!!!
Better late than never, way to go Jesse!!
+offtopic:
that new cam’ron leaked last night, but its only the clean version, if anyone is interested let me know and i will post the link i had….
Enh, there’s a whole generation of cats that were like 2 when PE dropped their last relevant album. Is it their fault for being born late…or PE’s for losing momentum?
Moi? I was a PE stan. One of the few groups I can recall all the relevant dates & info about @ request.
I know i need a daily funk post, ASAP…hopefully a little nina simone….
I need it man, just gimme a small hit of that funk….
I doubt very much if any of these new era artists will have the type of pop and cultural impact that Public Enemy did. It was a perfect storm.
That’s what I’ve been saying all along, you had to be there, that was the era, the hip hop explosion, once it ran its course it can never be repeated or emulated.
Still though, you will always have the classic Public Enemy recordings, even though it’s not at the beginning of their era, I’ve always been partial to the Pete Rock remix of Shut Em Down.
I’m prob late but Drake isn’t with Universal Motown?
Jesse..you aint alone..hell the first time i heard Nas was during the Oochie wally phase, and he still managed to become my favorite MC
@Bull, I think Drake has officially signed with Interscope Records.
I got you beat, I remember Bring the Noise with Anthrax from Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2.
BASS!
It’s Takes A Million . . . came out 5 days after my 9th B-Day. I uncle got it for me. I learned every word. That’s when Albums (Giant Wax CDs) came with lyrics. It’s probably the most important Hip-Hop Album Ever
@Phillmatic, true say indeed. Some musical scribes regard it as the greatest Hip Hop album of all time, I wouldn’t go that far, but it sure is near enough the cream of the crop.
Not a single jam nowadays comes close to the following and it dropped circa 20 years ago. The Bomb Squad and their wave of chaotic but organised sound waves, truly revolutionary at the time. Just go ask Madonna why her love was so darn justified.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PaoLy7PHwk
Chuck D will become the Sly Stone of our era. Future generations will know the name but not the music.
I doubt very much if any of these new era artists will have the type of pop and cultural impact that Public Enemy did.
==================================
Kids today don’t want any kinda meaning or subtext to the music. They want mindless entertainment & that’s why there will never again be a group as impactful as PE.
@Ampgeez, they want everything handed on a plate, yeah? Ah, the youth of today! :P :)
I think a certain hope might be that a younger listener opens doors to further listening by stumbling upon a group like Public Enemy via a blog like this and it cascades from there.
Sometimes fresh seeds can be planted into the soil of the mind of listener like that and it begins to grow from there.
Wishful thinking on my part, I know the reality isn’t always like that, but still you can never say never.
Pete Rock dissecting what is pound for pound the greatest remix (in my humble opinion) Public Enemy’s ‘Shut Em Down’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iye_TTVN4lk
“I think rap need a new PE/to fight the power and be free/n’ try to bring the light like GE”
- Styles P “The Thrill Is Gone”
^
I smiled when I first heard that line.
It Takes A Nation = Classic album in any genre
@ Paw
co-signature on the Shut Em Down RMX. Sumn very hypnotic about those horns.
man just d/loaded fear of a black planet and it takes a nation of millions to re-visit PE’s classic catalog!!
*cough* Immortal technique *cough*
@ Trill: Thanks! Ninjaz acting as if music with messages is dead. Whateva, please…
Who really listens to Technique?
There was a whole movement behind Public Enemy, who were signed to Def Jam, the premier Hip-Hop label at the time.
Let’s be real.
Second most important group in Hip-Hop history right behind Run-Dmc..”It Takes a Nation..”easily a classic…
No disrespect to Immortal Technique, but c’mon. We can all “just name” a group w/ a political stance, but who’s fcukin’ w/PE?
Who really listens to Technique?
=================
What too many syllables for you Amp? I kid, i kid
No disrespect to Immortal Technique, but c’mon. We can all “just name” a group w/ a political stance, but who’s fcukin’ w/PE?
==============
I was merely responding to those people that were acting as if music w/ a political stance doesn’t exist.
As much I love PE, don’t discredit the current generation. They’re just in need of something diff than the previous generations were. Obviously, we needed Blackness & the pride associated w/it. This group, they got that. Now they seem to want to freedom to define themselves & their artists represent that musically. It’s why you’ve got artists who have the freedom to try so much shit.
Who really listens to Technique?
There was a whole movement behind Public Enemy, who were signed to Def Jam, the premier Hip-Hop label at the time.
Let’s be real.
_______________________________________
Well put Ampgeez.
Artists like dead prez and Immortal Technique still doing the political/message based rap thing, however, Public Enemy was a whole different level altogether.
Was it their bonafide rock n roll aura like presence that appealed to the masses? I guess so, but the sound pieces concocted by The Bomb Squad, Rick Rubin etc was pretty darn cutting edge too and Chuck D with his conscience flow it was all good and of course Flavor Flav, one of the most distinctive and memorable personalities of the whole, yeah bwoyyyyy!!!!!!
As for the current generation, is there any particular angle that they are struggling with or are keen to address to the listener? Somehow, I sense the masses, the radio and the labels would not show much support for a conscience emcee like they did back around 1987-91 era. But I’m always willing to be proven wrong.
Who really listens to Technique?
There was a whole movement behind Public Enemy, who were signed to Def Jam, the premier Hip-Hop label at the time.
Let’s be real.
_______________________________________
Well put Ampgeez.
Artists like dead prez and Immortal Technique still doing the political/message based rap thing, however, Public Enemy was a whole different level altogether.
Was it their bonafide rock n roll aura like presence that appealed to the masses? I guess so, but the sound pieces concocted by The Bomb Squad, Rick Rubin etc was pretty darn cutting edge too and Chuck D with his conscience flow it was all good and of course Flavor Flav, one of the most distinctive and memorable personalities of the whole, yeah bwoyyyyy!!!!!!
As for the current generation, is there any particular angle that they are struggling with or are keen to address to the listener? Somehow, I sense the masses, the radio and the labels would not show much support for a conscience emcee like they did back around 1987-91 era. But I’m always willing to be proven wrong.
Hmm, having given it more careful thought, whilst they might not be the new era, NAS ‘Untitled’ and The Roots ‘Game Theory’ are both stellar political/conscience album efforts. Critically acclaimed, not mega sales, but decent enough so I suppose there are artists out there still bearing the torch.
I bought the “Welcome to the Terrordome” CASSINGLE in 1990, and it remains one of my favorite songs ever. I was 12, white, and living in Maine, but P.E. honestly helped awaken my half-asleep political conscience/consciousness, which led to reading X and Chomsky and Seale, etc., plus all of my “real-world” activities. In five years I plan to be a human-rights lawyer, and Chuck D was one of a few influences from my pre-teen years who started me on this path. How many rappers have ever partly inspired anything like that?
It appears I was born just a few months after It takes a nation… was released. Once I finalize the time portal I plan to go back and experience what that era was like. But I do believe (and have hope) for the new generation. People are definitely expanding their creativity, and a lot of bullshit gets produced as a consequent but we can let that go by the wayside and enjoy the new vibes.