Fear of a Black Planet Public Enemy Def Jam
It's difficult to listen to Public Enemy's third album today without one ear on the fuss it caused upon its release in 1990, and another on the worship that it has inspired in recent years.
Probably Public Enemy's most commercially successful record, Fear of a Black Planet has become a classic not only of music by black artists or even rap, but of popular music in general. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it 300th on its list of 500 greatest albums list. In 2005, Fear of a Black Planet was accepted for preservation by the Library of Congress alongside John Williams' soundtrack for Star Wars, Nirvana's Nevermind and Muddy Waters' I'm Your Hoochie Coochie Man.
Now the bad and the ugly. Shortly before the album's release, Professor Griff, the band's 'minister of information', made anti-Semitic remarks which were quoted in the Washington Post. The ensuing furor was furious enough for Public Enemy frontman Chuck D to fire Professor G (he returned some years after). The incident did inspire one of the group's finest and fieriest moments, Welcome to the Terrordom, which pours a little oil on the fire: 'Crucifixion ain't no fiction/So-called chosen frozen/Apologies made to whoever pleases/Still they got me like Jesus.'
Welcome to the Terrordome isn't alone in the scandal stakes. On Meet the G that Killed Me, Chuck D is guilty of a rare lapse in judgment when he indulges in some homophobic nonsense worthy of Axl Rose: 'Man to man/I don't know if they can/From what I know/The parts don't fit.' These are the exceptions; the rest is exceptional.
Chuck D (above left), Public Enemy's driving force and main MC, has never been better. His lyrics are impassioned, clever and crystal clear when expressing the rage and frustrations of the African-American community. Each song takes aim at a specific subject and usually hits a bulls-eye.