#15 Public Enemy, 'It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back' (1988)
Previously #48
The second studio album by Public Enemy was intended by the group to be the Hip Hop equivalent of Marvin Gaye’s ‘What’s Going On,’ an album noted for its strong social commentary on the plight of the African-Americans. This record is where the lines of pigeon-holed genres become blurred for me. By definition, it’s a Hip Hop record; there’s rapping, sampling, beats etc. But at its very core, it’s Punk. Similar to artists like The Clash and Sex Pistols, it’s angry, it’s a call to arms and it’s revolutionary. On ‘Bring The Noise,’ Chuck D criticizes the critics for not embracing Hip Hop, “Music that the critics are blasting me for/They'll never care for the brothers and sisters” but promises it’s a genre that’s not going away – “Rock with some pizzazz, it will last. Why you ask?/Roll with the rock stars, still never get accepted as.”
‘Don’t Believe The Hype’ is a socio-political statement about systemic racism; “The minute they see me, fear me/I'm the epitome, a public enemy/Used, abused without clues/I refused to blow a fuse/They even had it on the news/Don't believe the hype.” The rest of the album follows a similar rhetoric. On ‘Rebel Without A Pause,’ Hank Shocklee, the leader of P.E.’s production crew, sampled the glissando sax from ‘The Grunt’ by The J.B.’s, James Brown’s iconic backing band. The result is the signature whistling sound throughout. The song was complete with a sample of Brown’s ‘Get Up Offa That Thing.’ Like hundreds of Hip Hop songs throughout history, the beat’s foundation was built on Brown’s ‘Funky Drummer,’ although, instead of sampling it, Flavor Flave recreated it on a drum machine. “Yes, the rhythm, the rebel/ Without a pause, I'm lowering my level,” Chuck D took inspiration from Rakim’s pioneering rapping, but added vitriol and intent. ‘Prophets Of Rage’ (also the title of their later supergroup with Rage Against The Machine members), begins with the Richard Pryor-sampled line “You're quite hostile/I got a right to be hostile, man, my people are being persecuted!” And that sums up the overall theme of the record. Public Enemy set out to make an album with a strong social commentary and not only did they succeed, the exceeded all expectations. Last time around this album was the only Hip Hop album in the Top 100, making it the highest ranking too. Things are quite different thing time around with the Top 100 being peppered with Hip Hop, and the influence of this record is felt throughout those entries. This record preceded the Black Lives Matter movement by decades and its message is more relevant today than ever. The same way Punk artists challenged authority and brought about change through their music, so too did Public Enemy with ‘It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.’
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