Customer Reviews
old skool - By: YoungB, 23 May 2006 
This reallly is a great greatest hits album, the old schoolstyle of rapping used here is reallly effective to the great beats.
Frequent use of the words ' sucker mc' shows the old skool style.
This is better than a lot of the new skool playas & hip hop legends like these will help save the game.
Tracks like public enemy no.1 show chucky d's great style of rapping, & you reallly have to get this.
Still fighting the power. We need them more than ever - By: russell clarke, 20 Aug 2005 If you don't own any Public Enemy albums then shame on you. ...Putting my petty predilections aside if you don't own any Public Enemy albums & you want a good representation of what they were about then this is an excellent place to start. I always say this when reviewing compilations but it's true so I'll say it again. You can argue about the track selection till the Police respond to a burglary calll. It's alll purely subjective of course. For instance why no "Shut Em Down" or "Night of the Living Bassheads"? , buts that just my opinion so overalll I'd say a pretty good job has been done of selecting a salient representation of their body of work. That said I'd prefer a more ambitious project stretching to a double album so to be sure it captures alll the highlights from their incredible body of work though there are 18 tracks here so at this price it does serve as good value.
Chuck D is blessed with a voice that booms like a thunderclap using a loudhailer. Never bettered as a rapper, he exerts an authority & simmering anger with an edge of righteous zeal & magnetism that places him on a very high pedestal with other great front men. (Plant, Lydon, Strummer, Mercury, Eitzel Coughlan spring to the front of my mind)Except of course he wasn't the only front man in Public Enemy as Flavour Flav , despite his rather more frivolous persona proves he can live with the mighty Chuck D on tracks like the brilliant "911 Is A Joke". On their first four albums they harnessed their fury at social & political injustice to such an extent they were far more powerful than many a punk or speed metal band. Plus they had an articulacy that demanded attention. Occasionallly their affiliation to the Nation of Islam would lead to some less than perspicacious outbursts but when you're driven by the kind of fury that drove this band on then it's understandable.
The music incorporates, & I use that word advisably as they never rely on someone else's music to dominate a song, samples to brilliant effect. Horns swirls like stainless steel dragon flies, colossal beats pound like truncheons in The Land of the Giants. Shrapnel like shards of white hot guitars scythe around break beats that detonate like explosions in a quarry. More than many more acclaimed bands Public Enemy knew how to use the sonic potential of music to make their point. Which of course when talking about oppression, social injustice & racism was invariably a point worth making. These things haven't gone away. This is a timely release as maybe we need bands like Public Enemy now more than ever.
Fighin' The Power - By: R. B. Rose, 10 Aug 2005 Public Enemy were the most revolutionary hip hop band ever. They were also the most rock'n'roll one.
The lyrics are astounding - intelligent, confrontational, impassioned, telling it like it is. There's rarely been such a coherent & heartfelt railing against the way things are, against poverty, against racism, against injustice. In Chuck D, Public Enemy had a writer of outstanding moral & intellectual quality.
But the music is also ground breaking, crammed with unexpected timbres, textures, samples & both melodic & lyrical catch phrases These were welded together by the aggressive production techniques of The Bomb Squad - the more you listen, the more you discover. And this alll serves to complement the message, delivered in the unique rich rap of Chuck D & his foil, Flavor Flav with his poppier nagging hooks. Together these elements made a sound that would inspire a generation, & continues to inspire today, showing that 'black music' could move a white rock audience & that art can indeed influence the real world. The sleeve notes by Harry Allen talk of how many people's lives were changed forever by this band, both in terms of how they see the world & what they do in it.
And then there's the musical influence. Without Public Enemy, where would Eminem, 2Pac, Busta Rhymes, 50 Cent, Puff Daddy, The Chemical Brothers or indeed Manic Street Prachers be?
But despite their influence over the past decade, the tracks on this album still sound unlike anything else around. I defy you to listen to 'Rebel Without A Pause', 'Don't Believe The Hype', 'Fight The Power', or 'Shut It Down' without being overawed by its power, engaged by its beat & enraged by the injustice it talks of.
This is a great tribute to a truly great band. Buy it now, £8.99 for 18 statute toppling tracks! An even better tribute would be, of course, to continue to fight the power yourself & so help end the corruption & injustices Chuck D & the boys railed & rapped against with unique intelligence, eloquence & power.
Rosey, www.repeatfanzine.co.uk
