Public Enemy
Politically charged hip-hop pioneers from Roosevelt, New York.
Public Enemy is an American hip-hop group formed in Roosevelt, New York, in 1985 by Chuck D and Flavor Flav. They gained prominence for their political messages addressing American racism and the media. Their second album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, was the first hip-hop album to top The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll.
Quick Facts
- Origin
- Hempstead, New York, U.S.
- Genre
- East Coast hip-hop
- political hip-hop
- hardcore hip-hop
- progressive rap
- Years active
- 1985–present
- Label
- Def Jam
- Columbia
- PIAS
- Spinoffs
- Prophets of Rage
- Current members
- Chuck D
- Flavor Flav
- DJ Johnny Juice
- Brian Hardgroove
- Jahi
- S1W Pop Diesel
- S1W James Bomb
- Past members
- Professor Griff
- Terminator X
- DJ Lord
- Sister Souljah
- Davy DMX
- Khari Wynn
- T-Bone
Facts from the source article.
History
Public Enemy came together in 1985 when Carlton Ridenhour, known as Chuck D, and William Drayton, better known as Flavor Flav, crossed paths at Adelphi University on Long Island in the mid-1980s. While working for his father’s furniture delivery business, Chuck D sharpened his MC skills alongside Flav, and their early group, Spectrum City, put out a record called “Check Out the Radio” with a B-side titled “Lies,” a track that offered social commentary. Chuck D later made a tape to promote WBAU, the radio station where he was employed, and to ward off a local MC looking to challenge him. He named the tape “Public Enemy #1” because he felt targeted by people in the local scene, marking the first time the concept of a public enemy appeared in his music. This single featured Chuck D with help from Flavor Flav, but it came out before the group Public Enemy was officially formed. Around 1986, Bill Stephney, who had been the program director at WBAU, was contacted by Sam Mulderrig and offered a job at a label. Stephney took the position, and his first task was to assist producer Rick Rubin in signing Chuck D, whose track “Public Enemy Number One” Rubin had discovered through Andre “Doctor Dré” Brown. According to the book The History of Rap Music by Cookie Lommel, Stephney believed it was time to blend Run DMC’s hard-hitting style with political messages aimed at black youth. Chuck D then brought in Spectrum City, which included Hank Shocklee, his brother Keith Shocklee, and Eric “Vietnam” Sadler—together known as the Bomb Squad—as his production team, and added another Spectrum City member, Professor Griff, as the group’s Minister of Information. With Flavor Flav and a local mobile DJ named Terminator X, Public Enemy was born. The S1W, short for Security of the First World, was meant to show that black men could be both intelligent and strong, and that they are first-world people, the original people. Hank Shocklee came up with the name Public Enemy, drawing from underdog love and the group’s evolving politics, as well as events like the Howard Beach racial incident, the Bernhard Goetz case, and the death of Michael Stewart. Public Enemy began by opening for the Beastie Boys during the height of the latter’s Licensed to Ill fame.
Legacy
Public Enemy reshaped hip-hop with a sound that was both politically charged and sonically adventurous. Their production team, the Bomb Squad, wove together free jazz, hard funk, and musique concrete to create a dense, aggressive style that had no precedent. Before them, politically aware hip-hop was limited to a handful of tracks by artists like Ice-T, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Kurtis Blow, and Boogie Down Productions, with earlier influences from Gil Scott-Heron and the Last Poets. Public Enemy built their entire identity around a strong, pro-black political stance, and their success opened the door for a wave of Afrocentric artists including Kool Moe Dee, Gang Starr, X Clan, Eric B. & Rakim, Queen Latifah, the Jungle Brothers, and A Tribe Called Quest. They were also among the first hip-hop groups to achieve international success and pioneered digital music distribution by releasing some of the earliest MP3-only albums. The group’s influence extended to rock and metal. They collaborated with Living Colour in 1988, Sonic Youth in 1990, and Anthrax in 1991, helping to define the rap-metal genre. The single “Bring the Noise” blended militant black power lyrics with grinding guitars and humor. The friendship between Chuck D and Anthrax’s Scott Ian led to a joint tour, during which Flavor Flav’s declaration that “They said this tour would never happen” became a legendary moment in both rock and hip-hop. Metal guitarist Vernon Reid of Living Colour contributed to Public Enemy recordings, and the group sampled Slayer’s “Angel of Death” riff on “She Watch Channel Zero?!” Poet and rapper Saul Williams used a sample from “Welcome to the Terrordome” in his song “Tr[n]igger” and a line from it in his poem “amethyst rocks.”
Controversies
In a 1989 interview with The Washington Times, journalist David Mills pulled quotes from a UK magazine where Public Enemy was asked about the Arab-Israeli conflict. Professor Griff said that "Jews are responsible for the majority of the wickedness in the world," a line from The International Jew. Chuck D apologized for Griff's comments. On June 21, 1989, Chuck D held a press conference and announced Griff was fired from the group. A statement on June 28 from Def Jam Recordings and Rush Artists Management president Russell Simmons said Chuck D had broken up Public Enemy for an indefinite period. By August 10, Chuck D denied the group had disbanded and said Griff was rehired as "Supreme Allied Chief of Community Relations," a different role from his earlier title of Minister of Information. Griff later said he did not hold antisemitic views and apologized for his remarks. Several former collaborators questioned Chuck D's leadership and his role as a social spokesperson. In his 2009 book Analytixz, Griff criticized his own 1989 statement, saying it was impossible to know the majority of global wickedness and incorrect to blame Jewish people. He also claimed his words were taken out of context and that the recording was never released for an impartial hearing. The controversy led Chuck D to address the negative press in the 1990 single "Welcome to the Terrordome," which includes the lyrics: "Crucifixion ain't no fiction / So-called chosen frozen / Apologies made to whoever pleases / Still they got me like Jesus." Rock critic Robert Christgau called these lyrics antisemitic, seeing references to the "chosen people" in "so-called chosen" and to Jewish deicide in the final line.
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