Library Rock's Backpages

Public Enemy

Public Enemy

88 articles

Free articles

Public Enemy: Fear of a Black Planet ; Professor Griff and the Last Asiatic Disciples: Pawns in the Game

Review by Ira Robbins, Request, 15 April 1990

IN THE 1960s, youthful poets, inspired by radical politics and Woody Guthrie, took up acoustic guitars to deliver topical commentary in a folk music setting. ...

List of articles in the library

By date | By writer | Most recently added

Hip Hop Wig Out '87: Public Enemy – Def Not Dumb

Interview by Frank Owen, Melody Maker, 21 March 1987

In the first of a series of reports from New York, Frank Owen steals the rhythm of the moment as he surveys hip hop's newest ...

Public Enemy: Yo! Bum Rush The Show (Def Jam DEF 450482)*****

Review by James Brown, Sounds, 4 April 1987

SHARPSHOOTERS ...

Dawn of the Def

Overview by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 9 May 1987

The wit and wisdom of DEF JAM as captured in the NME. From Rick Rubin as hipster to Beastie Boys as Sex Zeppelin and beyond. ...

Public Enemy: The Enemy Without

Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 16 May 1987

PUBLIC ENEMY are the latest hard rap attack from Def Jam's box of tricks, but very different from all that's gone before. Toting Uzi machine ...

Def Jam: Don't Knock The Rock – Rap It

Report by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 1 June 1987

Mark Cooper on how Def Jam crossed over punk with rap, white with black, and stayed cool with both sides ...

Public Enemy: Rebels With a Cause

Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 10 October 1987

They understand Malcolm X and they dig James Brown. Right now PUBLIC ENEMY are making all the noise and SEAN O'HAGAN is ready to take the rap. ...

Public Enemy: Strength to Strength

Interview by Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, 17 October 1987

PUBLIC ENEMY PLAY BRITAIN IN NOVEMBER AND SIMON REYNOLDS TAKES A LONG HARD LOOK AT THE SURVIVALIST PHILOSOPHY BEHIND SOME OF THE TOUGHEST NOISE OF ...

LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Eric B & Rakim: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 7 November 1987

SOFA, SO GOOOOOOD! ...

Public Enemy: Shoot-Out In The Fantasy Factory

Interview by Jon Wilde, Melody Maker, 28 November 1987

Public Enemy have been hailed as hip hop's hardest hardliners. Jonh Wilde joined them on tour to discover the sense and nonsense behind their no-holds-barred ...

Public Enemy/Eric B And Rakim: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, 12 December 1987

PUBLIC NUISANCE ...

Public Enemy

Interview by Chris Heath, Smash Hits, 15 December 1987

Chuck D. and Griff of Public Enemy tell Chris Heath about their hit single 'Rebel Without A Pause' and explain why they're "deadly serious" about ...

Public Enemy: Westwood Plaza, UCLA, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Danny (Shredder) Weizmann, L.A. Weekly, 4 March 1988

THE IRONY being that I had to ditch Afro-American History to see Public Enemy play for free, sponsored by the Black Student Alliance, I think ...

Public Enemy: Hummingbird, Birmingham

Live Review by Stuart Maconie, New Musical Express, 21 May 1988

DON'T BELIEVE THE HYPE! ...

Public Enemy: Too Black Too Strong

Interview by Jack Barron, James Brown, New Musical Express, 21 May 1988

PUBLIC ENEMY — simply the most creative rappers around? Or a dangerous game with the politics of race? JAMES BROWN and JACK BARRON lay it ...

Public Enemy: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (Def Jam DEF 462415); Muddy Waters: Hoochie Coochie Man (Epic 461186)

Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 16 July 1988

Fast and furious ...

Public Enemy: It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back (Def Jam) ****1/2

Review by Mat Snow, Sounds, 16 July 1988

RICK RUBIN is white, Jewish and, on Public Enemy's second album here under scrutiny, steel-reinforces his reputation as today's greatest producer of rebel rock. ...

Public Enemy: Rockin' The Joint

Interview by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, 22 September 1988

The incendiary rappers preach black self-sufficiency at New York's Riker's Island. But are they prisoners of their own racist doctrine? By Michael Azerrad ...

Run DMC, Public Enemy et al: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Jack Barron, New Musical Express, 15 October 1988

LONDON BRIDGE is falling down, Big Ben has struck one minute to midnight and had his hand's burned. And all is not well in this ...

Pop Will Eat Itself (and Public Enemy): Scrapping With Rap

Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 29 October 1988

AS DEF JAM'S happy rap panto rolls through Europe, Pop Will Eat Itself and Public Enemy are getting on fine. Unfortunately the hordes of Belgian ...

Pop Will Eat Itself: Scrapping With Rap

Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 29 October 1988

As DEF JAM'S happy rap panto rolls through Europe POP WILL EAT ITSELF and PUBLIC ENEMY are getting on fine. Unfortunately the hordes of Belgian ...

Public Enemy: Ackerman Ballroom, UCLA, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 10 March 1989

Public Enemy Raps the System ...

Public Enemy and Guns N' Roses: Busted Axl

Report by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 22 August 1989

FORTY-EIGHT hours in the feeding-cycle of New York City. There were Uzis, Public Enemy regrouping, and a clique of blond babes orbiting Axl Rose at ...

Talking Loud & Saying Nothing: The Electricity of Afrocentricity

Report and Interview by Chris Bourke, Rip It Up (New Zealand), December 1989

SUMMER IN THE city, New York City, and the place smells. Hot times, an expected high of 90 today, and more than the back of ...

A Schism Divides Black Pop Radical Rappers And Soul Stars – Or The Street Vs. The Sweet

Comment by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 31 December 1989

MYRIAD GENRES and subgenres make up the world of pop music, some complementary, some clashing. Look around, and you'll find heavy metal, hard rock, post-modern, ...

U.S. Rap: Listen Up!

Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, January 1990

RAIN IS STREAMING down in sheets on the Long Island suburb of Hempstead but, inside Public Enemy's headquarters, the group's leader Chuck D is just ...

Public Service: Public Enemy

Interview by Frank Owen, Spin, March 1990

With their third album, Fear of a Black Planet, about to be released, Public Enemy proclaims the death of European predominance. Pop goes Afrocentric for ...

Public Enemy: Beat Cops

Report by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 8 March 1990

The LAPD drops in on Public Enemy at the PALACE ...

Rapped in Black

Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 5 April 1990

An Africa-shaped pendant has become the new badge of honour for American rappers, reports Mark Cooper ...

Rapped in Black

Report and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 5 April 1990

An Africa-shaped pendant has become the new badge of honour for American rappers, reports Mark Cooper ...

Public Enemy: Fear of a Black Planet (Def Jam 466281 1)

Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 13 April 1990

THERE HAS been an all-round upping of the ante in the rap stakes since Public Enemy released the classic, It Takes a Nation of Millions ...

Public Enemy: Fear Of A Black Planet (Def Jam 466281)

Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 20 April 1990

Complex persecution ...

Public Enemy: Fear of A Black Planet

Review by Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, 21 April 1990

BACK IN BLACK ...

Public Enemy: Fear of a Black Planet (Def Jam/Columbia)

Review by Tim Riley, The Boston Phoenix, 22 April 1990

Their Own Worst Enemy? Fear of a Black Planet; seductive music, muddled message ...

Public Enemy: Fear Of A Black Planet

Review by Lloyd Bradley, Q, May 1990

PUBLIC ENEMY ARE one of the last, relevantly active crews from the second wave of hip hop that included Run-DMC, LL Cool J, Mantronix and ...

Public Enemy: Fear of a Black Planet (Def Jam/Columbia)

Review by Richard C. Walls, Musician, July 1990

Talkin' 'Bout a Revolution — Public Enemy Gets Tough ...

Public Enemy's Tour de Force

Report and Interview by Alan Light, Rolling Stone, 23 August 1990

Public Enemy goes high profile, headlining one of rap's biggest tours ...

Public Enemy: Confrontation

Report and Interview by Mark Dery, Keyboard, September 1990

"Elvis was a hero to most But he never meant shit to me you seeStraight up racist that sucker wasSimple and plain ...

Black Rock & Roll

Essay by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 4 October 1990

RJ Smith on Living Colour and pop's buried history ...

Material World: Professor Griff

Interview by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 3 November 1990

REAL NAME Richard Griffin ...

Professor Griff: Putting America On Trial

Interview by Push, Melody Maker, 3 November 1990

In the past year, Professor Griff has been thrown out of PUBLIC ENEMY, accused of being a racist, a Jew-hater and an American-basher. PUSH talks ...

Public Enemy: Black Appeal in the Hour of Power

Report and Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 3 November 1990

JAMES BROWN catches PUBLIC ENEMY'S spectacular show in San Diego and speaks to CHUCK D. ...

Public Enemy, EPMD, The Intelligent Hoodlum, The Afros: Docklands Arena, London

Live Review by Barbara Ellen, New Musical Express, 17 November 1990

DOCK OF THE BOYEE ...

Public Enemy: Fightin' The Hype

Interview by Nick Hasted, Deadline, 1991

A WEEK AGO the Brixton Academy, jammed to its shadowy rafters, waited to listen to Public Enemy. ...

Public Enemy and Professor Griff: Divide and Conquer

Interview by Damon Wise, Sounds, 31 March 1991

Public Enemy have long been regarded as the most innovative band on the rap scene, a band whose all-important attitude has often verged on destruction. ...

Hank Shocklee: Rebel With A Cause

Interview by Jeff Lorez, Blues & Soul, 2 April 1991

"Yo Jeff, man, I'm sorry, what can I say? I wanted this interview to happen as much as you did, but Hank's just too busy ...

In Rap's Hometown, an Icy Reception

Report by Rob Tannenbaum, The New York Times, 28 April 1991

THE MARQUEE'S experiment with rap concerts didn't last long. The small club, in the Chelsea section of Manhattan, usually presents alternative-rock bands. But after the ...

Hank Shocklee: Turntable Terrorist

Interview by Mark Kemp, Option, May 1991

WHEN NEW YORK hiphop filtered down from Harlem and the Bronx into the suburbs of Long Island around the turn of the last decade, a ...

Ebony, Ivory and the Blues

Comment by Barney Hoskyns, The Times, 20 May 1991

Barney Hoskyns on the continuing power struggle between black and white influences in popular music ...

Anthrax and Chuck D: Noise From The Black Stuff

Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 22 June 1991

Five years after Run DMC's groundbreaking rap reworking of Aerosmith's 'Walk This Way', rock is finally repaying the compliment with ANTHRAX'S astonishing take on Public ...

Anthrax: Bohemian Rapsody

Interview by Neil Perry, Melody Maker, 22 June 1991

When metal meets rap in the form of ANTHRAX and CHUCK D, there's bound to be some trouble. NEIL PERRY hears about the fight for ...

Public Enemy

Interview by Simon Reynolds, Melody Maker, 12 October 1991

What’s the bond between rap and metal? What’s the ‘black holocaust’? Why are Public Enemy angrier than ever? SIMON REYNOLDS meets CHUCK D to discover ...

Public Enemy: The Boy-Ees are Black in Town

Interview by James Brown, New Musical Express, 12 October 1991

1991, and PUBLIC ENEMY — purveyors of The Noise — are busy flexing their new, improved mainstream muscle. Fresh from 'that' Anthrax collaboration, Chuck 'n' ...

Public Enemy, Anthrax: Brixton Academy, London

Live Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 14 January 1992

Breaking the sound barrier: Andy Gill sees Public Enemy and Anthrax split the bill ...

Read My Apocalypse: Public Enemy/Anthrax: The Apollo, Manchester

Live Review by Paul Lester, Melody Maker, 18 January 1992

IF POWER is a turn-on and intelligence is an aphrodisiac, then Public Enemy are surely one of the sexiest groups on the planet. ...

Loving The Alien In Advance Of The Landing

Essay by Mark Sinker, The Wire, February 1992

"IN THE MEANTIME," he said, speaking relentlessly but mesmerically softly, as gurus will, "I finally went to Chicago. I determined not to be a musician ...

Public Enemy Number 1

Profile and Interview by Kodwo Eshun, i-D, August 1992

Five years on, the Black Panthers of rap are still in your face. They've lost none of their controversial power, as their recent argument with US presidential ...

Public Enemy and U2: The Chuck and Bono Show

Interview by Max Bell, Vox, December 1992

When U2's tour brought Public Enemy to the Deep South, where segregation is still an issue, Chuck D did his best to pour napalm on ...

Anthrax: Rap Metal Dealers

Interview by Keith Cameron, New Musical Express, 22 May 1993

Once upon a time, there was a super-competent trad-thrash band with a poodle-headed singer. They boldly entered the rock/rap crossover zone, collaborating with the cred-worthy ...

Public Enemy: Muse Sick N Hour Mess Age

Review by Mark Cooper, Q, 1994

BY RIGHTS, THEY should be out of here. Hip hop may be black folks’ news channel, as Chuck D likes to point out, but today’s ...

Public Enemy: The Dogma Pound

Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 6 August 1994

PUBLIC ENEMY were once unerring occupiers of the moral high ground, but guns, drugs, liquor and arrests have shown them to be as fallible as ...

Flavor Flav: Coke Adds Strife

Interview by John Harris, New Musical Express, 13 August 1994

While PUBLIC ENEMY have been lying low for the past two years, errant rapper FLAVOR FLAV has been having very personal, and very public problems ...

Public Enemy: Muse Sick N Hour Mess Age (Def Jam)

Review by Mark Cooper, Q, September 1994

BY RIGHTS, they should be out of here. Hip hop may be black folks' news channel as Chuck D likes to point out but today's ...

Public Enemy: White Light, Black Noise

Interview by Kodwo Eshun, i-D, September 1994

PUBLIC ENEMY USED TO BE THE BIGGEST, FIERCEST RAP ACT IN THE WORLD. THEN GANGSTA SILENCED THEIR RIGHTEOUS RANTS. NOW THEY'RE BACK WITH A STARTLING NEW ...

Ice Cube & Public Enemy: Patinoire De Malley, Lausanne

Live Review by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 17 September 1994

Yodel, Bum Rush The Show ...

Public Enemy: The Greatest Rap Band In The World... Ever!

Interview by Neil Kulkarni, Melody Maker, 15 July 1995

PUBLIC ENEMY are still the fastest, fiercest, radicalest hip hop act on the planet, still trying to right wrongs, fight the power and change the ...

Robert Wyatt: Invisible Jukebox

Interview by Mike Barnes, The Wire, December 1995

Every month we play a musician a series of records which they're asked to identify and comment on — with no prior knowledge of what ...

Russell Simmons: Def Shepherd

Interview by Dele Fadele, New Musical Express, 9 December 1995

Yeah Boyee! DEF JAM, the record label that put the ROCK in hip-hop and brought you the likes of Public Enemy and Beastie Boys, is ...

Public Enemy’s Back Pages

Retrospective by Ian Fortnam, Vox, 1996

WITH INDIEDOM firmly in the grip of the inane and the insipid, the doleful delinquents of 1986 were in dire and desperate need of a ...

Public Enemy: He Got Game

Review by David Stubbs, Uncut, July 1998

Slam funkers: sixth release from rap collective once called "the greatest rock'n'roll band on the planet". ...

Public Enemy, Cypress Hill et al: Smokin' Grooves Tour, Key Arena, Seattle

Live Review by Everett True, Melody Maker, 12 September 1998

TOKE THAT AND PARTY! ...

Hip Hop Don't Stop

Overview by David Bennun, Hot Air, 1999

A LITTLE over two minutes into The Fugees' 1996 hit 'Ready Or Not', the voice of Lauryn Hill is thrown into relief by a brief ...

Public Enemy: Pride & Prejudice

Retrospective and Interview by Lloyd Bradley, MOJO, November 1999

A TRIPLE X PRODUCTION STARRING CHUCK D, FLAVOR FLAV, PROFESSOR GRIFF AND THE PUBLIC ENEMY POSSE IN AN EPIC ROMANCE OE MAYHEM, OUTRAGE AND CULTURAL ...

Public Enemy: New Trinity, Bristol

Live Review by Keith Cameron, The Guardian, 29 May 2000

THOUGH THEY NO longer dominate hip hop as they did 10 years ago, it's worth remembering that, before Public Enemy, rap was not an instinctively ...

Public Enemy: 'Fight The Power'

Retrospective by Johnny Black, Blender, September 2002

Vital statistics on Public Enemy's 'Fight The Power' ...

Public Enemy: Revolverlution

Review and Interview by Stephen Dalton, Uncut, January 2003

Eighth album from rap renegades is a 21-track jumble of new tracks, live performances and fan remixes. ...

Rhymin' And Stealin'

Retrospective and Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, September 2003

Back in 1986 hip hop entered a golden age — lyrical revolution, sonic innovation, and individuality — that gave rise to such rap legends as ...

The Public Enemy Remix Project's 'Bring the Noise' b/w 'Give It Up'

Review by Carol Cooper, The Village Voice, 26 September 2007

ALTHOUGH TECHNO (and its subsequent sub-genres) is now associated more with its white European exponents than its black American progenitors, Ultra Records' new series of ...

Clash's top ten hip-hop albums, EVER...

Guide by Mike Diver, Clash, 6 April 2009

WITH RADIO 1 presently celebrating 30 years of all things hip-hop – check out Trevor Nelson's page for more – we at Clash figured: why ...

The hip-hop heritage society

Report and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 7 October 2010

Why aren't Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions and other classic hip-hop acts lovingly reissued in the same way as other genres? Because guardians of rap's ...

Public Enemy at Rikers Island

Retrospective and Interview by Amy Linden, Red Bull Academy Magazine, April 2013

IT'S DIFFICULT for a generation raised on Carrie and the girls, luxury condos and cabs that have no problem taking you to Brooklyn to wrap ...

Public Enemy: It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

Review by Angus Batey, New Musical Express, 26 October 2013

REGULARLY CITED AS one of the greatest albums ever made more or less since the day it was released, perhaps the most striking aspect of ...

When Ice Cube Was Hardcore

Retrospective by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 6 December 2013

ON THE HEELS OF RECENT ICE CUBE AND PUBLIC ENEMY ALBUM RE-RELEASES, MICHAEL A. GONZALES RECALLS WHEN ICE CUBE WAS HARD ...

Still Smokin': 30 Years of Crack's Influence on Pop Culture

Essay by Michael A. Gonzales, Ebony, 2 May 2014

With Showtime announcing John Singleton's upcoming Snowfall series, crack cocaine's sway on pop culture continues to grow ...

Public Enemy: It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back/Fear Of A Black Planet (Deluxe Editions)

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, February 2015

BOTH THE music industry and the media have a way of attaching such an air of historical significance to certain records that it's easy to ...

Gods of Rap: Manchester Arena, May 11

Live Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, August 2019

Believe the hype: Public Enemy, Wu-Tang Clan and De La Soul deliver a hip-hop masterclass ...

Chuck D: "The presidency aged Obama – what will it do to Biden?"

Interview by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 13 July 2020

The hip-hop pioneer talks about the ongoing protests in America, the forthcoming presidential election and how to face down the KKK. ...

Top 10 Gigs

Memoir by Paul Wellings, Louder Than War, June 2021

10. The Good, The Bad And The Queen, Rock Against Racism 30th anniversary, Victoria Park, London. 2008 I went to the original RAR gigs and ...

see also Professor Griff

see also Chuck D

see also Flavor Flav

RSS

back to LIBRARY

COPYRIGHT NOTICE