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229. Public Enemy "Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos"
Chuck D, the lead rapper and visionary behind Long Island hip-hop collective Public Enemy ambitiously referred to rap music as "Black America's CNN." Through, much of their heyday, PE's work was clouded by controversy surrounding ugly anti-Semitic statements from peripheral member Professor Griff, who was ousted from the group. And that's a shame since there was plenty of interest going on here. Firstly, their willingness to bring confrontational Black nationalist politics into popular music was an act of braveryin the Reagan/Bush era. And they were no boring propoganda house organ either. As Chuck said in an interview "This is Music, too. If I'm going to reach the people, I better come up with some smackin' rap jams."
And he does not disappoint. Anyone who thought that rapping was merely 'talking in rhyme' ditched that idea after hearing PE. On this graphic depiction of a prison riot, Chuck creates a whole new kind of vocalizing, his voice booming like an angry Old Testament God come to to wreak vengeance, over an ominously plodding beat and an piano loop that's pure tension. The tension often seems to be in the vocalist character's* personality, the conflict between sophisticated detached analysis and pure raw anger that's always been present in the best of PE's work. Flavor Flav, rather than his usual comic relief, provides vocal interjections that sound more like an advance man radioing in from dangerous territory. One thing is for sure, after these guys rap music, indeed all of popular music, was never the same.
*Chuck has often refferred tho the members of the group as characters, which is echoed by the use of persona in their work. The larger than life aspect of many of them makes me wonder if they were comix-inspired. He's never mentioned being a comic buff in interviews, but I'll bet he is.
Chuck D, the lead rapper and visionary behind Long Island hip-hop collective Public Enemy ambitiously referred to rap music as "Black America's CNN." Through, much of their heyday, PE's work was clouded by controversy surrounding ugly anti-Semitic statements from peripheral member Professor Griff, who was ousted from the group. And that's a shame since there was plenty of interest going on here. Firstly, their willingness to bring confrontational Black nationalist politics into popular music was an act of braveryin the Reagan/Bush era. And they were no boring propoganda house organ either. As Chuck said in an interview "This is Music, too. If I'm going to reach the people, I better come up with some smackin' rap jams."
And he does not disappoint. Anyone who thought that rapping was merely 'talking in rhyme' ditched that idea after hearing PE. On this graphic depiction of a prison riot, Chuck creates a whole new kind of vocalizing, his voice booming like an angry Old Testament God come to to wreak vengeance, over an ominously plodding beat and an piano loop that's pure tension. The tension often seems to be in the vocalist character's* personality, the conflict between sophisticated detached analysis and pure raw anger that's always been present in the best of PE's work. Flavor Flav, rather than his usual comic relief, provides vocal interjections that sound more like an advance man radioing in from dangerous territory. One thing is for sure, after these guys rap music, indeed all of popular music, was never the same.
*Chuck has often refferred tho the members of the group as characters, which is echoed by the use of persona in their work. The larger than life aspect of many of them makes me wonder if they were comix-inspired. He's never mentioned being a comic buff in interviews, but I'll bet he is.
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