Public Enemy mix up two of the most brilliant albums in hip-hop history for a sweat-fest to remember.
It was obvious 21 years ago that Public Enemy’s Fear Of A Black Planet was a sonic and lyrical landmark in the history of hip-hop, and listening to it over two decade later, it still is.
Rap smartest instigators hit a packed-out Corner Hotel to revisit the album in another Don’t Look Back-style event that every classic act seems to be putting on nowadays. Thing is, this was no nostalgia trip, as evidenced by the walloping beat of ‘Brothers Gonna Work It Out’ that absolutely shook the floor.
Why the hell don’t hip-hop artists make beats like this anymore? I've got a lot of love for minimalism but Fear Of A Black Planet is pure maximalism. Despite their age, Public Enemy pounded the fans with three heaving, squealing stone-cold classics in a row to open up: ‘Brothers...’, the manic Flavor-led ‘911 Is A Joke’ and then ‘Welcome to The Terrordome’.
Keeping on track-for-track up until ‘Pollywanacraka’, dual S1Ws marching to the beat, Chuck and Flav mixed in the occasional booming cut from their equally-essential It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back.
My 13-year-old self would’ve been overjoyed, and my 33-year-old self was just as riled by the incendiary riot raps and abrasive apocalypse jams. The crowd went especially bananas for the shenanigans, particularly ‘Bring the Noise’ (no doubt rock-centric punters with fond memories of the Anthrax team up) and Flav’s “Yeeeeaaaaaahhh boyyyyyy” trademark.
To many it was a dream come true to hear these songs booming at them, for over two hours. Thing is, they dodged a couple of tracks that might’ve been a little sketchy philosophically, particularly ‘Anti-Nigger Machine’ and the Ice Cube-featured ‘Burn Hollywood Burn’. And apart from the obvious stagecraft of call and response, too much of the time was spent indulging their band and three crowd-sourced MCs who were inevitably going to be embarrassing.
But when you have an arsenal of such incredibly rousing hip-hop anthems, it’s hard to go wrong. The songs were the stars, and it was a cavalcade of monstrous hits. No amount of yelling and begging for hands in the air can angry up the blood and get the arms flying like ‘Cold Lampin’ With Flavor’ or ‘She Watch Channel Zero’.
The show was an exhausting, joyful rage. Flavor was far more lucid than anyone expected (actually crowd surfing through an entire song). Chuck was quietly authoritarian. The crowd was electric. The two albums are classic.
