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It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back by: Public Enemy

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Average rating -

Rating: - Why the hell did I buy this CD?

Let's not beat about the bush. This album is a pile of tripe. Some prat with a silly watch and some other guy are angry and shout a lot instead of inspiring people to change things for the better.
Maybe I'm too white and middle class to get what they are trying to say but whatever my social and economic background I just couldn't find any redeeming qualities in this album.
Don't get me wrong I love Public Enemy's song "Fight the Power" but this album is just dire.

Rating: - Decent rap album from Public Enemy

Not as good as "Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age" but worth buying for every hip hop fan that wants little bit more than In Da Club or Jay-Z, Kanye West or gangsta nonsense.

Rating: - politics, great words,the best beats and THE FUNK -a timeless classic

Public Enemy - were staggering when they emerged back in the late 80's - in hip-hop's golden age of many musical + lyrical riches, but even with the other giants on the scene such as KRS-1, Tribe, De La Soul, ULtramagnetics, Gang Starr etc etc - P.E. probably eclipse them all and when compared to later huge hip-hop acts such as Wu-Tang: completely overshadowed them.

for anyone - who loves music with passion , intelligence, great beats , the funk and a message particularly for all dis-enfranchised minorities anwhere in the world. not just the afroamerican s for which P.E. rallied.
and for skinny whitey's like me who "just" love great righteous music.
try also P.E's- "Fear of a Black Planet" also : another bona-fide 5 star lp.

ESSENTIAL MUSIC.

Rating: - Bringing the noise....do believe the hype

Influential albums. Well there is The Velvet Underground and Nico( sold little but every one who heard it formed a band is the popular opinion) Never Mind the Bollocks Here's the Sex Pistols, Nevermind, Revolver Nuggets: Original Artyfacts From the First Psychedelic Era 1965-1968, Shaft: Original Soundtrack. Then there is the 1988 album from Public Enemy :"It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back".
Following on from their debut "Yo! Bum Rush The Show" ,in itself a notable album, this album took politicised rap to a whole new level. Along with N.W.A. ( whose rhetoric is more plainly aggressive, less socio-political and less lyrical) Public Enemy took the anger and disgust, at the way things were, of the original punk movement but allied it to the booming bass heavy rhythms of the burgeoning hop-hop movement. Sonically it's mighty but lyrically Chuck D ( still for my money the best hip hop vocalist) became the most vociferous and erudite commentator on life as part of the perceived social underclass in the U.S.
The now defunct music magazine "Melody Maker" likened listening to this album as "being beaten over the head in four/four time with a skip" and that's not a bad analogy of what it's like at all. Though in good way. Production team "The Bomb Squad" (Hank Shocklee and Carel Ryder) gave the sound a dense quality like all the instruments are coated in layers of code 5 lead and they also utilised up to 80 samples to create a multi-layered sonic palette comparable to a heavy guitar band using multiple overdubs.
The difference being that this music has a inherent funkiness way beyond the reach of most guitar based bands( unless you include a band like Chic) This is an album that could tear up the dance floor while tearing down the social barriers . It is profane, exciting ,visceral,apoplectic,uncompromising and quite brilliant . It takes the funk edge that crept into a lot of post punk music but ratchets the sound all the way up till the needles straining at the leash. It sounds like revolution but is in fact evolution of sorts. Taking the anti-establishment stance of punk and much post punk and putting it in the socio-economic climate for black Americans Public Enemy whip up a riveting cacophony , a righteous storm.
Along with Consolidated( far more liberal but still well worth hearing ) The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy the Def Jux roster and British rap artists like Fundamental and Blade, Public Enemy are one of the hip-hop bands who still sound fresh and relevant today. They sure do bring the noise. Do believe the hype.

Rating: - MOST INTELLIGENT RAP ALBUM EVER??

First bona fide Rap album I ever bought back in the late '80s. I confess, it was Thrash Metal veterans, Anthrax constantly banging on about them that convinced me!
Great album with perhaps the most intelligent lyrics ever written for a Rap cd - even though I don't agree with many of the opinions expressed, I respect them.
A production that was way ahead of the time, with great beats, basslines & samples, with a near perfect vocal balance between the intense and angry Chuck D and the more eccentric Flavor Flav. It's easy to see why this had appeal to the Metal crowd with it's heavy, urban tone, militaristic imagery and incendiary attitudes. Indeed, one track, She Watch Channel Zero features a sample of the riff from Slayer's Angel Of Death. EARLY crossover!
A great album that I'd recommend alongside Fear Of A Black Planet and despite it's background & personnel, it's a truly great 'Rock & Roll' album. Indeed, at it's time of release, the media were making direct comparisons between this and Sex Pistol's Never Mind The B*llocks, stating that both albums shared the same sensibilities!!

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