Public Enemy
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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. ...
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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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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, ...
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 ...
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 ...
Report by RJ Smith, L.A. Weekly, 8 March 1990
The LAPD drops in on Public Enemy at the PALACE ...
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 ...
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 ...
Live Review by Damon Wise, Sounds, 7 April 1990
IT WAS the night for it. Circling the massive stage pitched in the middle of the unfeasibly large Arena, Digital Underground were doing whuttheyliked and ...
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 Alan Light, Rolling Stone, 17 May 1990
Brothers From a Black Planet ...
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 ...
Report and Interview by Alan Light, Rolling Stone, 23 August 1990
Public Enemy goes high profile, headlining one of rap's biggest tours ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
Report and Interview by Alan Light, Rolling Stone, 23 January 1992
RAP'S TOP GROUP FOCUSES ON GOLD BRAINS, NOT GOLD CHAINS ...
Report and Interview by J.D. Considine, Alan di Perna, Musician, February 1992
The biggest style of the last decade has a problem with attitudes. By J.D. Considine ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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! ...
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' ...
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. ...
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 ...
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 ...
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 ...
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. ...
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
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