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Excellent cd in mint condition.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
The public enemy albums are better but this is a decent 'best of' Buy this if you need a taster of some old school hip hop/rap.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
have enjoyed the cd
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Sound Old school
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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 and 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 call. It's all purely subjective of course. For instance why no "Shut Em Down" or "Night of the Living Bassheads"? , buts that just my opinion so overall 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 all 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 and simmering anger with an edge of righteous zeal and 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 and 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. Occasionally 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, and 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 and 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.Read full review
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