In 1985 the hip-hop group Public Enemy is formed by Carlton "Chuck D" Ridenhour and William "Flavor Flav" Drayton in Long Island, New York. In 1979 Chuck D joins the Long Island group Spectrum City with Hank and Keith Shocklee, and the group got a slot on a local radio station in 1982 where Flavor Flav had a show. In 1984, Spectrum City releases the socio-conscious single "Lies" ("Check Out the Radio" as b-side) with the label Vanguard, the disappeared, although the group's tracks will influence the Rush Productions label groups Run-DMC and Beastie Boys.
In 1986, Chuck D signed with Rick Rubin and Def Jam, who had heard him on the demo "Public Enemy #1" that the young man had created with Flavor Flav to promote the radio station where he worked. To work with the label, Chuck D called upon Spectrum City, composed of the Shocklee brothers and Eric "Vietnam" Sadler, who would be known as the The Bomb Squad, as his production team and added Professor Griff as the group's Minister of Information. With the addition of Flavor Flav and local DJ Terminator X, Public Enemy was born, a name thought up by Hank Shocklee.
A springboard for what Public Enemy will be in the following years, when they will take over the hip hop scene with socio-political records. This effort is energetic and powerful, fun and a little bit irregular, although it remains rather distant from the socio-political direction taken by the group with subsequent efforts, remaining within the braggadocio.
Chuck D is equally impeccable and leaves nothing to be desired, Flavor Flav here offers some shots and a solo cut that lightens the rhythm, always strong for all listening thanks to a simple and powerful production of the Bomb Squad and Rick Rubin held close to Def Jam rock rhythms of Run-DMC and LL Cool J legacy. The effort stands out for its search for the absence of melody and pure and minimal hardness, deliberately raw, crude and merciless, a sound highlighted by the scratches of DJ Terminator X that lay out a musical carpet suitable for the gritty rap of Chuck D. The cover is iconic and features the group's logo, among other things.
The album's release was met with a very cold reception from specialized critics: although some critics claimed that the album was received with enthusiasm, in reality critics were wary of Chuck D's pro-black nationalist lyrics, and the album initially found success among reviewers only in the UK. Also avoided by radio stations due to its political themes, in retrospect it's considered one of the best hip-hop albums of the eighties. Despite numerous obstacles, the effort managed to make its way among the public and continued to rack up sales without stopping, entering the charts, becoming one of the best-selling hip-hop products of the 1988 season and selling hundreds of thousands of copies in the following years, obtaining the certification of gold record by the RIAA in 1994. Despite being clearly obscured in the discography of Public Enemy from the three subsequent works, it's indisputable that it's among the best debuts in the history of the genre.
Highlights: "You're Gonna Get Yours", "Miuzi Weighs a Ton", "Public Enemy No. 1", "Yo! Bum Rush The Show".
Rating: 8/10.
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