isbell@athena.mit.edu (Charles L Isbell) (06/18/91)
What up, homemade?
Since we've been arguing about the various PE albums, I've decided to
settle it objectively (that is, what I say goes):
This time: _Fear of A Black Planet_ by Public Enemy
Next time: _Seminar_ by Sir Mix-A-Lot
New Jacks: _One For All_ by Brand Nubian
_Breaking Atoms_ by Main Source
(Ice-T, Terminator X, De La Soul, and _maybe_ NWA)
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Distinctiveness: Muchness.
Dopeness Rating: Dope, dope, dope, dope. Oh yeah, did I mention that it's
dope?
Rap Part: Dope+. The lyrics are stupid-dope-tight.
Sounds: Dope+. New Age Bomb Squad. There's more variety in this
album than in _Nations_.
Message: Politically minded.
Tracks: 20 tracks at 63 minutes.
Profanity: I think there's a bit, but not much. Let you parents listen
to it.
_Fear of A Black Planet_ is the latest of three albums released by
Public Enemy. Although some might argue about whether this one is better
than either _Yo! Bum Rush The Show_ or _It Takes A Nation of Millions To
Hold Us Back_, I would guess that many would agree that this is a better
_album_ than most in that it works as an _album_ rather than a series
of very good individual songs.
Since the time of _...Nations..._, Public Enemy has lost Professor Griff...
sorta. But they still have Chuck D, Blackman and Lyrical Terrorist;
Flavor Flav, The Joker; Terminator X, The Assault Technician; as well
as the S1W's (Brother James I, Agent Attitude, James Bomb, and Brother
Mike). Professor Griff is listed in the cover, but I'm not sure how
he contributes to PE anymore. All I know is that he is banned from
public interviews as a spokeman for the group.
Whatever.
We begin our tour of the Black Planet with a glance at the front
cover. What a dope poster that would make. If you could judge a
CD by it's cover, I could stop here.
Barring that, let's look at the first cut. "Contract On The World Love
Jam" is an instrumental. It's relaxed and short. Throughout the
track, we hear samples of comments and questions about PE. In particular,
we hear a comment about the group's future.
"Some group of terrorists."
"The lyrics have been rather controverisal."
"The future of the group is in doubt."
We follow this with "Brothers Gonna Work It Out." The guitar riff is,
as if you couldn't tell, from Prince's "Let's Go Crazy." It sounds dope.
If you're into such things, you might want to find the extended remix of
this track, as it is really, really good. In addition to the dope sounds,
PE refuses to let us forget that they are about dope lyrics.
"History shouldn't be a mystery
Our story's real history
Not his story.
"You can't say you don't know what I'm talkin' 'bout
But one day the Brothers gonna work it out"
From here we jump to a Flav solo. "911 Is A Joke," while in some ways
a very serious diatribe on the failures of 911, it is also played for
laughs in a way only Flav can. So the lyrics flow and so do the sounds.
Hmmmm. Well, from now on the sounds and the lyrics are dope unless I
say otherwise, okay?
"Late comings with the late comin' stretcher
That's a body bag in disguise ya'll I betcha."
"Incident At 66.6 FM" is another instrumental. This time the samples
come from some radio talk show that PE did. I don't know if you'll
play this at a party, but it fits well with the album.
"You know the White media is upset
at some of the things you're saying."
"And when I see someone who's wearing one of their shirts
I think they're scum, too."
"Welcome To the Terrordome" is the single that they released several
months before the album in the midst of all the criticism coming out
of that Griff debacle. I think the song is angry in a way that reflects
all that, but what do I know?
"Sad to say I got sold down the river
Still some quiver when I deliver."
This is followed by "Meet The G That Killed Me," a very short bit
about AIDS and "Pollywannacracka." I don't know WHO the hell is
doing the vocals on this track and I'd really like to know. This
track fools you into to thinking it's trying to say one thing but
ends up saying something else.
"The only thing a Brother like you
can do for me is pay my rent."
"I need somebody with a BMW,
a CPA and a condo like me."
"Get it together."
This track, like a few others on the CD, has a short instrumental
just tacked on at the end. This makes it a bit hard to record a
single song sometimes, but you can look at it as more tracks than
you thought you'd bought. Or not.
Onward to "Anti-Nigger Machine." Half of this song is proceeded
by a random instrumental subtrack. I wonder why they didn't give these
things separate tracks. I dunno. Anyway, other than that's it's a
nice bit.
"To blow your mind time some say
it's nothing worse than a verse
to hear some nigger curse."
"Once they didn't give a f*ck about what I said
Now they listen and want my head."
"Burn Hollywood Burn" is one of the catchiest tracks on the CD,
featuring Ice Cube and Big Daddy Kane.
"Hollywood or would they not
make us all look bad like I know they had
But some things I'll never forget
So step and fetch this sh*t."
"...word to muther
let's check out a flick that exploits the color."
"For what they play Aunt Jemima is the perfect term
even if now she's got a perm."
It's back to solo PE with "Power To The People." This is an interesting
track in that he _talks_ it more than _raps_ it. Considering how fast
the sounds are mixed in on this one, I'm sorta surprised that it works.
But it does. Quite well. This is another track-with-extra-instrumental.
"It's a Black thang so you've got to understand."
We continue the dopeness with "Who Stole The Soul?" This is another
good solid track.
"Plain and simp
The system's a pimp
But I refuse to be a ho'
Who stole the soul?"
"They say I'm wrong for singin' a song
without solutions
All the dancers answer questions."
"40 acres and a mule Jack
Where is it? Why'd you try to fool the Black
It wasn't you but you pledge allegiance
to the red white and blue
sucker that stole the soul"
The title track isn't quite as impressive, but it's pretty damn good.
The lyrics remain tight, but the sounds are merely dope-. What can
you do?
"Don't get mad
I don't need your sister
(but supposin' she said she loves me)
would you still love her
or would you dismiss her?"
Next PE decides to almost formally apologize to the women for all
the sexist comments made by male rappers in the last ten years.
They ask for the genders to work together in "Revolutionary
Generation." Remember those cute little kids who did "Unconditional
Love" with Donna Summer? The Somthingoranother Youth or something?
Anyway, since I know you all missed them, you can rejoice that
the "this generation" sampled voice is from them. Eddie Murphy makes
a good appearance here, also.
"You cannot count my mama's tears
it's not the past, but the future
she fears."
"Not to heed the warning crack of dawn
Or is it the dawn of crack?"
Flavor Flav gets to solo twice on this album. "Can't Do Nuttin' For Ya
Man" is funny as hell although it almost seems out of place. I mean
I like it, but it's placed in an interesting spot.
"I can't do nuttin' for ya man
Go lean on Shell's answer man
I can't do nuttin' for ya man
You jumped out of the jelly into a jam."
Ahhhh, "Reggie Jax." Of the twenty tracks gracing this CD, this is
the only one I don't like. It's just too damn slow. Chuck seems like
he speaking thru peanut butter. Ick. Well, it's very short anyway.
And it's followed by "Leave This off Your Fu*ckin Charts" (the
"*" is theirs, not mine), a dope mix. I still wonder why this
got it's own track and almost none of the others did.
"I never tried to pretend
to have an accent that I never had"
Then there's "B Side Wins Again." This sounds like it was recorded live.
Was it? Anyone know?
"And the sucker on the right gets cynical
'cause the record's to the left and political."
I like it, too, BTW. It sounds wierd, tho'.
I don't find myself listening to "War at 33 1/3" (or "B Side Wins Again")
tho' I can't imagine why. This is one of the best things about Catch Up
Reviews: I get to rediscover my older CD's.
"Check I wreck you guess yes
All the bullsh*t
Now that's progress"
The last two tracks are "Final Count of the Collision Between Us And
teh Damned," a very short instrumental and a remix of "Fight The
Power" from Spike Lee's _Do The Right Thing_. This is the "Elvis"
repeated-three-times-non-cursing version.
"'Cause I'm Black and I'm Proud
I'm ready and hyped, plus I'm amped
Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps."
And that's the end of the album. In short, whether this is better or
worse than _Nation_, it is a fine example of dopitivity in action. Go
buy it now.
Oh, before I go, let me mention that there's a brief two or three second
conversation ending the last track that returns us to the beginning of
the album:
"'Talk to me about the future of Public Enemy'
'The future of Public Enemy gotta....'"
On that note, I shall end my review.
And that's just one Black man's opinion--what's yours?
Peace.
"May you live in interesting times."
-old Chinese curse
--
Don't just adopt opinions, | \ / | Charles Lee Isbell
develop them. | \/ | Homeboy from hell, living axiom and
------------------------------| /\ | anonymous absolute ruler of the cosmos
MIT has no opinions to adopt. | / \ | isbell@athena.mit.edu, isbell@ai.mit.edu