[Editor's Note: Public Enemy Month rolls on. First, let the music in the sidebar sock you in the mouth. Then, if you have tickets to their SOLD-OUT Vancouver show at the Commodore, high five yourself and laugh, point at and ridicule anyone that doesn't. And now some words from our sponsor...]
In addition to having one of the top three logos of all time, PE is responsible for one of the most commanding voices to ever grace a mic. Using said voice to shed light on the villainy of those that tell us what to do, and command a run of untouchable hip hop classics that changed the face of the genre. As you can tell, I obviously fuckin’ hate this man…
Chuck D – The Hard Rhymer. Public Enemy # 1. The Rhythm, The Rebel. In the late 80s, White America learned that there is nothing more dangerous than an angry, fearless, intelligent black man armed to the teeth with riotous rhetoric. And no one in rap is, or was, as intense. Maybe his disciple Ice Cube. At the start of Bring The Noise he asked, “Bass – How low can you go?” He already knew the answer. Not as low as he can go. Chuck is Bass. He’s the spine of PE, in addition to being the voice, brain and big, black fist. Borrowing a page from Method Man’s Wu-Tang/Voltron comparison – Without Chuck D, Public Enemy would be a bunch of detached limbs. And that’s just weird. Speaking of those limbs…
Flavor Flav – Every Batman needs a Robin. Every court, its jester. Cue William Drayton Jr. aka Flavor Flav. Though he can play 17 different instruments, including classical piano, he hides all of those talents at the very bottom of his clown shoe. Cutting Chuck’s thousand yard stare and Darth Vader-of-rap voice with hooks, energy, humour and strangeness in equal doses, Flav set the bar, and is rightfully the most famous hypeman in hip hop history. He did for the albums the same thing he did for Chuck, by breaking up the somberness with his own social satire on solo songs like 911 is a Joke. On stage and on record, Flavor Flav added perfect insult to Chuck-inflicted injury. When people are that close to you, however, they have the perfect vantage point to find a way to get under your skin and directly on your nerves. Apparently Chuck’s first words to Flav were, “You can’t smoke up here. You have to go outside.”
Terminator X – Known as much for his flat-top and shades as for his absolute mastery of the turntables, X used records like ninja stars, leaving beats bleeding out of your speakers and all over your flippy floppies. I get sad about the fact that he’s no longer in the group until I remember what he’s doing instead: Ostrich farming. For realsies. (That deserves either a ‘?’ or a ‘!’, but I’m not sure which.)
Professor Griff – The Minister of Information. Basically Chuck’s Don King, on record and in the media. Hates Jews and got fired by Chuck for it. He apologized publicly and was re-instated, but with a muzzle for the second go-round.
Sista Souljah – A frequent guest star, Souljah was made a full-time member, replacing Griff upon his firing. While I know her as the rambling reason most PE songs don’t really start until about a minute into the track, she is most famous for being criticized by Bill Clinton in a 1992 speech for having been quoted regarding the L.A. Riots as follows: “If black people kill each other every day, why not have a week and kill white people?”
The S1W (Security of the First World) – Public Enemy’s royal guard. The foursome basically formed a perimeter around the crew, stood in b-boy stances and packed 907 kilogram Uzis. So basically, they were cool-looking stage garnish.
The Bomb Squad – The motherfuckin’ architects. The Shocklee Brothers, Eric “Vietnam” Sadler, Gary G-Wiz and Carl Ridenhour were the team responsible for the Public Enemy sound. Hard-ass beats and whirling, squishy basslines. High-pitched horn stabs and diced-to-ribbons samples. They took the jalopy the rest of hip hop was skulking around in and stomped on that pedal. While Chuck is referring to a 98 Oldsmobile in You’re Gonna Get Yours, he’s also referring to the BPM (Beats Per Minute) of the songs. Nobody was really rapping at that tempo at that time. The pick up in speed drove up the intensity and changed the soundscape of rap forever. Oh yeah, Bomb Squad member Carl Ridenhour was actually Chuck D. What a lazy goat.
I’ve always been torn as to who the next most important member of PE is. Griff was like Chuck with no idea of where lines are drawn, often over-stepping them. Flav is the easy answer, as he’s the next most vocal, but his stock has dropped since he started doing reality shows and boning Brigitte Nielsen. (Funny that I find that shittier than his crack addiction years prior.) I would probably have to say The Bomb Squad. The all-out aural assault of their style of beat-making created the perfect chaotic landscapes for Chuck to stomp through.
Oh yeah, that logo I mentioned at the beginning? Contrary to popular belief, it is not a cop in the crosshairs. It’s a silhouette of LL Cool J’s sidekick at the time, E-Love. The artist? Oh, you might’ve heard of him. Carl something-or-other?
If you don’t know him, you can call him Mistachuck.
– Nuv
NEXT WEEK: THE ENEMY STRIKES BLACK! PUBLIC ENEMY MONTH CONTINUES…
