Fear Of A Black Planet Columbia MD

Fear Of A Black Planet

Public Enemy

Def Jam / Columbia Records, 1989

REVIEW BY: Sean McCarthy

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 10/15/1999

Coming off one of the last perceived, "dangerous" albums in thelast 20 years, It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back, Public Enemyhad to answer a lot of questions as the ninties were born.Professor Griff, a key member of the band, was kicked out of theband, reluctantly, after making anti-Semitic remarks. Gangsta rapwas quickly bum rushing suburban areas, threatening to dispelPublic Enemy's claim to be the "toughest" rap act alive. Andfinally, could they have the artistic clout to follow up one of themost heralded albums of the eighties?

The stakes were high and Fear Of A Black Planet more than lived up to its pre-releasehype. More importantly, it established itself as being one of themusical cornerstones of this decade. Public Enemy's musical versionof a B-2 bomber, The Bomb Squad layers guitar wails and recordscratches over the rally cry, "Brothers Gonna Work It Out," aperfect introduction for the next 50 minutes.

Playing out rap's version of Mick Jagger and Keith Richards,Flavor Flav and Chuck D take turns dominating an album full ofangry social commentary mixed with beats so slamming, you swear thealbum was a party along the lines of Funkadelic's Maggot Brain.

Flav's humor and Chuck D's assault-rifle style of lyricalbombast intersect often throughout "Fear." Ambulance service in theinner-cities gets fragged on "911 Is A Joke," and Hollywood getsrailed for it's portrait of minorities in "Burn Hollywood Burn."Both are hilarious, but the humor does not soften the hard hittingmessage.