Cmon, get down: Chuck D and Flavor Flav have resurfaced to deliver an all-Public Enemy album again, following the all-star guest appearances of their last outings. And they deliver a fiery critique of society, racist government, Big Tech, AI and chatbot love affairs, ageism, and the (CBS-owned) 1973 Yankees. But hip hop, OG hip hop, is here to save us, just like it saved those damned Yankees and the Bronx. This summer needed this release, and it’s right now pay-what-you-will on Bandcamp.
If you needed to hear Public Enemy right now, here you go. It seems we’re missing the Bomb Squad on this one; instead, this is “sequenced” by C-Doc, aka David Snyder, who’s been working with them since New Whirl Odor. (That reminds me I need to look up what Johnny Juice and Hank Shocklee are up to these days.)
“We haven’t much time…”
Vinyl is now on preorder; I see what they did on the marketing. Smart.
This album has the energy of a live show; you can almost feel how each number would come across in a setlist. There’s a return to some of the 80s rhymes and style, but also some rock roots, so it should then come as no surprise that they’re touring along Guns N’ Roses – two 1985 acts joining up again.
Johnny Juice told me in an interview years ago that he’d gone back to MC in the park in the Bronx, just to reach new audiences. That meant he had to capture attention just like they did back in the day. Chuck D and Flavor Flav don’t come across to me as old men yelling at clouds; this is vulnerable, honest. It speaks to their generation and younger generations. They actually talk in lyrics about what it means to age, interweaving their own health with the sickness of the nation around them.
(Side note: also worth reading Chuck D on BLM and the Dre allegations.)
What excites me about this in particular is how hip hop and rap traditions have spread. So, for instance, you can hear Palestinian rapper ABUL3EES (ابوالعيس) from Jerusalem broadcasting from here in Berlin. That’s live on Refuge Worldwide Wednesday, July 1st, 5 pm Berlin time / 11 am in the Bronx. All of these talents will collide across generations and time zones. Having new messages from the elders means so much.
From the previous outing, they talked about that inter-generational connection.
Oh, and since I brought them up, as I write this, the Yankees are 0.578 and top of the AL East.
Feature photo courtesy the artists; photo by Sanjay Suchak.