Public Enemy vs. NWA

[Corpsey]

Although, as with the chronic and Doggystyle it's got amazing production... Dr Dre made being bad sound fucking great.

 

[Mr. Tea]

My knowledge of hip-hop is extremely scant but I fucking love PE and would say Chuck D might be my favourite MC. I think his whole fundamentalist preacher-cum-drill sergeant act is just great. Can see why luka doesn't dig him so much, though - Chuck D as rap's answer to Jeremy Paxman?

Of course there's more to Public Enemy than Chuck D. We could have a thread all about Flava Flav by himself, I'm sure. A real living cartoon, that one.

 

[Corpsey]

From a political pov it's obvious that they'd never make a biopic of public Enemy ala "Straight outta Compton". Cos NWA were offensive and said fuck the police but they weren't really radical at all, in fact they presumably helped Stoke racial fear/hatred of black people living in areas like Compton - I'm wary of saying this but I wouldn't be surprised if that was the perception that someone like Chuck D would have towards them and gangsta rap.

I feel bad about posting this. I'm not sure I should even speculate about such things. But there is obviously a schism between radicalism and nihilism to discuss here.

 

[version]

I find efil4zaggin a profoundly depressing album. I suppose it's just deliberately shocking and silly, really, but it still comes across as the most retrograde sort of music imaginable. I guess it set the tone for the Chronic and Doggystyle, though - nihilistic in the main, with the odd pause for reflection.

I love the intro.

 

[version]

Of course there's more to Public Enemy than Chuck D. We could have a thread all about Flava Flav by himself, I'm sure. A real living cartoon, that one.

Don't forget The Bomb Squad. The beats are the best thing about PE, imo.

 

[Mr. Tea]

Don't forget The Bomb Squad. The beats are the best thing about PE, imo.

Oh yeah, musically it sounds fresh as a daisy even today.

Interesting point about Chuck being the rap version of a rock singer. I saw them play at a festival a few years ago and in addition to Chuck, Griff and Terminator X (no Flav, unfortunately), they literally had a full rock band on stage - guitarist, bassist and drummer.

It was still a great show, just not really what I was expecting.

 

[sufi]

Vietnam vets were directly responsible for injecting a strain of fascism into American life I think. That is the sense I got from watching Rubble Kings. This synergised with street gangs on the one hand and crypto religious orders like NoI on the other.

d'ya think the same is occurring with Iraq/Afg vets here and in US?
sadlty i think it is

 

[sufi]

I was always with NWA - they had a whole moral panic happening when they first came out
whereas PE were always a bit more obviously playing at militancy NWA were just bad lads with dirty mouths

the start of straight outa comption is a hugely intimidating

 

[sufi]

didnt realise PE got their first album out before nwa
has someone been pissing about with their wikipedia?

Their debut album, Yo! Bum Rush the Show, was released in 1987 to critical acclaim. The album was the group's first step toward stardom. In October 1987, music critic Simon Reynolds dubbed Public Enemy "a superlative rock band"

 

[luka]

d'ya think the same is occurring with Iraq/Afg vets here and in US?
sadlty i think it is

Hadn't occurred to me. What have you noticed?

 

[forclosure]

funny i thought you lot would be more NWA in here but i guess because of the hardcore ting explains why Public Enemy get preference

PE is a great example of how so much of the old rap stalwarts that NY old heads love to bang on about the importance of are actually from Long Island

Not only that but like i think of PE in the same way as Iron Maiden in that because they never stopped making music its affected them for better and for worse, theres alot of old rock guys who talk about how Nation of Millions was like "black punk" to them who dont want to admit that there was a point where it became really uncool to listen to em

 

[forclosure]

on that note any Son of Bazzerk fans here? or people who made the gamble and gave Professer Griff"s solo stuff a spin?

also lets not forget Sista Soulja was controversial for a moment lol

 

[forclosure]

Luka saying PE dont have no deep cuts when really the "deep cuts" is probably everything they made after 91

 

[luka]

Deep cuts that are actually good I meant

 

[yyaldrin]

Vietnam vets were directly responsible for injecting a strain of fascism into American life I think. That is the sense I got from watching Rubble Kings. This synergised with street gangs on the one hand and crypto religious orders like NoI on the other.

saw this yesterday. couldn't believe some of those bronx gangs were sporting swastika's and other nazi symbology and had their own "gestapo" troops.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

Gotta be NWA for me. philosophically it's PE ofc (besides Professor Griff etc obv), and the production is way more fwd>>, but NWA just holds up better.

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

I was always with NWA - they had a whole moral panic happening when they first came out
whereas PE were always a bit more obviously playing at militancy NWA were just bad lads with dirty mouths

idk "playing" at militancy - well for Chuck D at least - but the rest of this I totally agree with

 

[padraig (u.s.)]

I do think it's also wrong to retroactively impart political overtones to NWA that didn't really exist

but has ever been any rap to equal it for evoking a particular time and place so urgently and perfectly?

even the masturbatory biopic couldn't bungle the basic power of their story

also Ice Cube and Dre each went on make classic, massively influential albums in their solo careers

whereas no one from PE has done anything of note (musically at least, idk what they're doing with their lives) since 1991 or so

 

[catalog]

The film was on telly the other day and I caught the first half hour. There's a bit very early on, where cube goes to yellas house and Dre is there doing some mixing, just chopping up a line, again and again. I thought that was really good music.