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Public Enemy

A Long Island hip-hop group built around Chuck D, Flavor Flav and the Bomb Squad, whose dense, political records of 1988 to 1991 put rap on critics' year-end lists.

Origin
Roosevelt, New York, United States
Years active
1985-present
Genres
hip hop, conscious hip hop, hardcore hip hop
Labels
Def Jam, Columbia

Roosevelt

Public Enemy formed in 1985 around Carlton Ridenhour, known as Chuck D, and William Drayton, known as Flavor Flav, who met at Adelphi University on Long Island. Chuck D worked at the university radio station WBAU and made the early record Check Out the Radio with his crew Spectrum City. The production team the Bomb Squad was made up of the Shocklee brothers, Hank and Keith, and Eric "Vietnam" Sadler. Professor Griff took the title Minister of Information, a DJ named Terminator X joined, and the S1Ws, the Security of the First World, served as the group's security detail. Hank Shocklee came up with the name.

Rick Rubin of Def Jam was won over by the single Public Enemy No. 1 and spent two years courting the group before it signed. The debut, Yo! Bum Rush the Show, came out in March 1987, and the group began as an opening act for the Beastie Boys.

The Bomb Squad records

For the second album the group set out to make the hip-hop equivalent of Marvin Gaye's What's Going On, and to play faster than before because of the live shows. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back was made in about 30 days at a cost of an estimated $25,000, and came out in June 1988. It opened with Bring the Noise and held Rebel Without a Pause. It sold half a million copies in its first month and went to number one on the Top Black Albums chart. It was the first hip-hop album to top The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop poll of critics.

In 1988 Spike Lee asked for a song for Do the Right Thing, and the result was Fight the Power. That spring Professor Griff gave an interview to The Washington Times in which he said Jews were responsible for most of the world's wickedness. Chuck D announced Griff's dismissal on 21 June 1989, and the group was for a time reported to have disbanded. Griff later rejoined, denied holding antisemitic views and apologized. Def Jam's Bill Adler said the row partly fueled the writing of Fear of a Black Planet, released in April 1990. The Bomb Squad built it from perhaps 150 to 200 samples, and it carried Welcome to the Terrordome and Flavor Flav's 911 Is a Joke. It sold two million copies in the United States and reached number 4 in the United Kingdom.

Apocalypse and after

Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black arrived in October 1991 and went straight to number four on the Billboard 200. Hank Shocklee said the disks holding years of unfinished tracks had been stolen, and the album was rushed and leaner, with live musicians. It held By the Time I Get to Arizona and a version of Bring the Noise with Anthrax, with whom the group toured. In 1992 they headlined the second day of the Reading Festival.

Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age followed in 1994 with the single Give It Up, their only American top 40 hit. Terminator X retired by 1998 and DJ Lord took his place. The soundtrack He Got Game, made for another Spike Lee film, came out in 1998 with Griff and the Bomb Squad back.

Legacy

Public Enemy were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013 and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Robert Hilburn wrote in 1998 that their first four albums were the most acclaimed body of work by a hip-hop act, and Stephen Thomas Erlewine called them the most influential and radical band of their time. The Library of Congress added Fear of a Black Planet to the National Recording Registry in 2004.

They kept recording and touring. Their sixteenth studio album, Black Sky Over the Projects: Apartment 2025, appeared on Bandcamp in June 2025, and Fight the Power has closed their concerts.

Members

Records

Songs

Anthrax, Run-D.M.C., Beastie Boys, Ice Cube, Sonic Youth

Where to go next

Official

Reference

Writing and criticism

Sources

  1. Public Enemy (band), Wikipedia
  2. It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back / Fear of a Black Planet, Pitchfork (2014-11-25)
  3. Public Enemy, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
  4. National Recording Registry: titles with descriptions and essays, Library of Congress
  5. Public Enemy, Public Enemy