PUBLIC
ENEMY
Originating in Long Island, New York, Public Enemy has been cited as an influence by a myriad of rap artists due to their usage of political rap messages that discuss the social struggles Black Americans dealt with. their second studio album, It Takes a Nation of millions to Hold Us Back (1988), has been ranked as #15 on Rolling Stone's Greatest Albums of All Time list, and all the songs presented below are featured on that album.
Who is public enemy?
"If you say that you love hip-hop, the question should be that since it's the voice of the voiceless, do you love the people that it comes from?" - Chuck D
Regarded as one of the greatest political rap groups of all time, Public Enemy's profound legacy on the rap genre and musical industry as a whole was due to their powerful lyricism which focused on activism and black pride.
New York and its plagues
Despite being on the opposite side of the country, New York and its popular cities, such as New York City, Long Island, and Brooklyn, also found themselves plagued with the same issues Compton, California was facing- crime, violence, unemployment, and the crack epidemic. As a result of Reagan's emphasis on trickle-down economics, New York's global and economical centers boomed while they increasingly lost blue-collar jobs twice as fast as the rest of the country. Due to the loss of blue-collar jobs, unemployment found itself to be a racial issue as well due to the clear discrepancy between unemployment rates for black and Latino minority groups and white people, as showcased by the graph below. Unemployment rates for black people were almost triple the unemployment rates of white people while unemployment for Latinos, which began to be tracked in 1986, was twice as much as the unemployment for white people. At the passage of Reagan's Anti-Drug Abuse Act in 1986, New York City had around 180,000 regular cocaine yet only two short years later, the state accounted for 600,000 regular cocaine users in the city at a cost of $500 million on the city's police department. Also in 1988, the state reported that around 38% of the murders were as a result of crack-related incidents. During this rise of violence, racially motivated crimes became the new norm in New York as seen by the murder of a black transit worker at the hands of 20 white men in 1982, the alleged assault of Tawana Brawley, a black teenager, at the hands of white police officers in 1987, and the infamous Central Park 5 case in which black and hispanic young men were wrongfully accused of raping a white female jogger in 1989 (Napoli & Sorrentino, The tumultuous 80s and Bensonhurst 2012).
"Rebel Without a Cause"
The song was released as a single from the studio album It Takes A Nation. The song's name is inspired by the film Rebel Without a Cause (1955). The song is an exemplar of Public Enemy's layered lyrics that incorporate social and political topics.
Analysis
Analysis
The original expression, “Rebel without a cause,” refers to someone who rages against authority.
Due to the vulgar and politically charged language in Public Enemy's rap, they recieved little to none radio play. Many Americans worried their music promoted violence and chaos.
Reference to the Black Panther Party, a political organization focused on Black nationalism, socialism, and armed self-defense, particularly against police brutality.
Public Enemy directly addresses their disapproval of then president, Ronald Reagan. Reagan's policies were particularly damaging to the lower-working class and minority groups, since he focused on funding the private sector.
Brothers and sisters
Brothers and sisters
I don't know what this world is coming to
Yes, the rhythm, the rebel
Without a pause, I'm lowering my level
The hard rhymer, where you never been, I'm in
You want stylin'? You know it's time again
D, the enemy, tellin' you to hear it
They praised the music, this time they play the lyrics
Some say no to the album, The Show
Bum Rush, the sound, I made a year ago
I guess you know, you guess I'm just a radical
Not on sabbatical, yes, to make it critical
The only part your body should be partyin' to
Panther power on the hour from the rebel to you
Ay yo Chuck, I don't understand this, man
Yo, we got to slow down man, you losin' them
Radio suckers never play me
On the mix, they just okay me
Now, known and grown, when they're clocking my zone, it's known
Snaking and taking everything that a brother owns
Hard, my calling card
Recorded and ordered, supporter of Chesimard
Loud and proud, kicking live next, poet supreme
Loop a troop, bazooka, the scheme
a rebel in his own mind
Supporter of my rhyme
Designed to scatter a line of suckers who claim I do crime
They on my time ticket
Ay yo, Chuck, they think we takin' shorts
Show 'em this is cold medina, man
Come on, kick it
Terminator X, Terminator X
Terminator X, Terminator
Yo Chuck, you gettin' 'em nervous
They can't handle this, they gonna break down
From a rebel, it's final on black vinyl
Soul, rock and roll coming like a rhino
Tables turn, suckers burn to learn
They can't disable the power of my label
Def Jam, tells you who I am
The enemy's public, they really give a damn
Strong Island, where I got 'em wilin'
That's the reason they're claiming that I'm violent
Never silent, no dope, getting dumb, nope
Claiming where we get our rhythm from
Number one, we hit ya and we give ya some
No gun, and still never on the run
You wanna be an S1, Griff will tell you when
And then you'll come again, you'll know what time it is
impeach the president, pulling out my ray gun
Zap the next one, I could be your Shogun
don't last a minute
Soft and smooth, I ain't with it
(Hardcore) raw bone like a razor
I'm like a laser, I just won't graze ya
Old enough to raise ya, so this'll faze ya
Get it right boy and maybe I will praise ya
Playing the role, I got soul too
Voice my opinion with volume
not what I am
(Rough) 'cause I'm a man
No matter what the name, we're all the same
Pieces in one big chess game
the voice of power
Is in the house, go take a shower, boy
P.E. a group, a crew, not singular....
"Night of the Living Baseheads"
Directed against the usage of crack, particularly in the black community, this song was used by Public Enemy to highlight the disruption that crack caused, and how the justice system was failing to do anything to successfully address the issue as this song was released in 1988- the same year the Reagan administration passed an updated version of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act. The amended Anti-Drug Abuse Act mandated a minimum five-year sentence for those with 5 grams of crack cocaine while someone with powder cocaine needed to have 500 grams for the same sentence which was highly problematic as crack cocaine tended to be correlated with poor black and other minority communities while powder cocaine tended to be used by rich, upper-class white people (Vagins, 2006).
Analysis
The introduction by Khalid Muhammad summarizes Public Enemy's sentiments regarding how black people have been robbed of their culture and autonomy which has led to some people losing themselves. In this song, the group discusses the crack epidemic which is destroying the black community.
Throughout this song, Public Enemy describes how those addicted to crack act like zombies and fiends and they criticize those who sell to members of their own communities and contribute to their deterioration.
Here it is
Bam!
And you say, Goddamn
This is the dope jam
But lets define the term called dope
And you think it mean funky now, no
Here is a true tale
Of the ones that deal
Are the ones that fail
Yeah
You can move if you want to move
What it prove
It's here like the groove
The problem is this, we gotta' fix it
Check out the justice, and how they run it
Sellin', smellin'
Sniffin', riffin'
And brothers try to get swift an'
Sell to their own, rob a home
While some shrivel to bone
Like comatose walkin' around
Please don't confuse this with the sound
I'm talking about BASS
I put this together to
Rock the bells of those that
Boost the dose
Of lack a lack
And those that sell to Black
Shame on a brother when he dealin'
The same block where my 98 be wheelin'
And everybody know
Another kilo
From a corner from a brother to keep another,
Below
Stop illin' and killin'
Stop grillin'
Yo, black, yo (we are willin')
4, 5 o'clock in the mornin'
Wait a minute y'all
The fiends are fiendin'
Day to day they say no other way
This stuff
Is really bad
I'm talkin' 'bout bass!
Yo, listen
I see it on their faces
(First come first serve basis)
Standin' in line
Checkin' the time
Homeboys playin' the curb
The same ones that used to do herb
Now they're gone
Passin' it on
Poison attack, the Black word bond
Daddy-O
Once said to me
He knew a brother who stayed all day in his jeep
And at night he went to sleep
And in the mornin' all he had was
The sneakers on his feet
The culprit used to jam and rock the mike, yo
He stripped the jeep to fill his pipe
And wander around to find a place
Where they rocked to a different kind of bass
"Party for Your Right to Fight"
Party for Your Right to Fight embodies Public Enemy's use of history to denounce the American government. The titular party references the Black Panther Party and the song describes the U.S. government's suppression of the party. Public Enemy vows to carry on the fight to end white supremacy as started by the Black Panthers.
[Interlude]
"Yeah, yeah" (Yeah, y'all!)
Party for your right to fight! (Yeah, y'all!)
"Yeah, yeah" (Yeah, y'all!)
Party for your right to fight! (Yeah, y'all!)
[Verse 1]
Power and equality, and I'm out to get it
I know some of you ain't with it
This party started right in sixty-six
With a pro-Black radical mix
Then at the hour of twelve
Some force cut the power and emerged from hell
It was your so-called government that made this occur
Like the grafted devils they were
[Interlude]
CLICK
HERE
This lyric references the Black Panther Party, which started in 1966. The song is referencing the destruction of the party by the U.S. govt.
J. Edgar Hoover, the director at the FBI, was known to track the actions of civil rights leaders such as MLK.
[Interlude]
"Yeah, yeah" (Yeah, y'all!)
Party for your right to fight! (Yeah, y'all!)
"Yeah, yeah" (Yeah, y'all!)
Party for your right to fight! (Yeah, y'all!)
[Verse 2]
J. Edgar Hoover, and he coulda proved to you
He had King and X set up
Also the party with Newton, Cleaver and Seale
He ended, so get up
Time to get 'em back (You got it)
Get back on the track (You got it)
Word from the honorable Elijah Muhammad
Know who you are to be Black (Boy)
[Interlude]"Yeah, yeah" (Yeah, y'all!)
Party for your right to fight! (Yeah, y'all!)
"Yeah, yeah" (Yeah, y'all!)
Party for your right to fight! (Yeah, y'all!)
[Verse 3]
To those that disagree, it causes static
For the original Black Asiatic man
Cream of the earth and was here first
And some devils prevent this from being known
But you check out the books they own
Even Masons, they know it
But refuse to show it, yo
But it's proven and fact
And it takes a nation of millions to hold us back