Public Enemy

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Public Enemy is an American hip hop group, formed in 1985 in Roosevelt on Long Island, New York. Chuck D and Flavor Flav met at university. Chuck D worked at a student radio station, and his tape Public Enemy Number One caught the attention of the producer Rick Rubin of Def Jam. Around him a group took shape with the production team The Bomb Squad of the brothers Hank and Keith Shocklee and Eric Sadler, DJ Terminator X, Professor Griff and the S1Ws, a uniformed bodyguard on stage.

Music and breakthrough

After the debut Yo! Bum Rush the Show (1987) came It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988), with Bring the Noise, Don't Believe the Hype and Night of the Living Baseheads. It was the first hip hop album to be chosen album of the year in the big critics' poll of The Village Voice. The Bomb Squad's sound was unprecedentedly full: layers of samples, sirens, scratches and noise, with Chuck D's deep, authoritative voice and Flavor Flav's funny exclamations as a counterweight. The lyrics dealt with racism, the media, drugs and the position of Black Americans.

Influence

Fear of a Black Planet (1990) became their most successful album. It contains Fight the Power, which became the theme tune of Spike Lee's film Do the Right Thing and is regarded as one of the most influential songs in hip hop history. Public Enemy turned rap into a political voice and has been in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2013.

Listening

• 
  Night of the Living Baseheads · Public Enemy, 1988
  Apple Music ↗

Discography

Studio albums

• 1987Yo! Bum Rush the Show
• 1988It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
• 1990Fear of a Black Planet
• 1991Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black
• 1994Muse Sick‐N‐Hour Mess Age
• 1998He Got Game (soundtrack)
• 1999There’s a Poison Goin On…
• 2002Revolverlution
• 2005New Whirl Odor
• 2005Rebirth of a Nation
• 2006Beats and Places
• 2007How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul???
• 2012Most of My Heroes Still Don’t Appear on No Stamp
• 2012The Evil Empire of Everything
• 2015Man Plans God Laughs
• 2017Nothing Is Quick in the Desert
• 2020What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down?
• 2025Black Sky Over the Projects: Apartment 2025

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Mixtape 6: Fear of a Black Planet^NL Reader

Mentioned in other articles

• Golden age hip hop GenrePublic Enemy piled up samples, sirens and scratches, De La Soul chose a playful tone, and the Wu-Tang Clan used lo-fi beats with samples from kung fu films.

See also

• Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black
• Muse Sick‐N‐Hour Mess Age
• How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul???
• Most of My Heroes Still Don’t Appear on No Stamp
• Golden age hip hop