Since the New York band has been producing music for almost thirty-five years now, you may be wondering what all the fuss is about. Well, it’s quite simple – this is undoubtedly the best album they have released in a long time! Joined by a whole host of legends, Public Enemy isn’t just making old-school rap music for fans over the age of forty. In this new album, you can enjoy George Clinton bringing his crazy funk-rock energy to GRID (also featuring Cypress Hill), the return of the Beastie Boys and the 80’s rap-rock trio Run-DMC on Public Enemy Number Won, as well as the legendary Ice-T and PMD (half of EPMD) in Smash the Crowd.
Public Enemy - GRID (Animated) ft. Cypress Hill, George Clinton
PublicEnemyVEVOAlmost all of the tracks have transitions to remove any breaks between songs, giving the impression you’re in a train that’s going full steam ahead (except Go At It feat. Jahi). There’s not much to dislike about this album, from the calm and melancholic Blackat, a homage to a deceased friend, to the remix of Fight The Power which brings together a dream team of gangsters featuring Nas, Rapsody, Black Thought, Jahi, YG and Questlove from The Roots. Drawing on old-school sounds packed with heavy breakbeats and scratches and combining them with a deliberately organic sound, Public Enemy has produced a complete and passionately urgent album which is entirely relevant and far from stuck in the past.
