Artist.......: Public Enemy
Album........: Live au Festival Garorock
Label........: n/a
Genre........: Rap
Catnr........: n/a
Source.......: DVBS
Rip.date.....: 2009-11-08
Str.date.....: 2007-04-08
Quality......: 179kbps/48.0kHz/Joint Stereo
Url..........: http://www.publicenemy.com/
track title time
1. Show'em Watcha Got
2. Night Of The Living Baseheads
3. Welcome To The Terrordome
4. Bring The Noise
5. What A Fool Believes
6. Son Of A Bush
7. Shut Em Down
8. Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos
9. He Got Game
10. Can't Hold Us Back
11. Bring That Beat Back
12. Can't Truss It
13. Revolution
14. 911 Is A Joke
15. Sucker Mc
16. Lord
17. Flavor
18. Griff
19. Give It Up
20. Don't Believe The Hype
21. Rebel Without A Pause
22. Arizona
23. Fight The Power
Runtime 87:39
Size 112.40
Release Notes:
Performed : April 08, 2007 (France / Marmande)
Public Enemy rewrote the rules of hip-hop, becoming the
most influential and controversial rap group of the late
'80s and, for many, the definitive rap group of all time.
Building from Run-D.M.C.'s street-oriented beats and
Boogie Down Productions' proto-gangsta rhyming, Public
Enemy pioneered a variation of hardcore rap that was
musically and politically revolutionary. With his
powerful, authoritative baritone, lead rapper Chuck D
rhymed about all kinds of social problems, particularly
those plaguing the black community, often condoning
revolutionary tactics and social activism. In the process,
he directed hip-hop toward an explicitly self-aware,
pro-black consciousness that became the culture's
signature throughout the next decade.
Musically, Public Enemy was just as revolutionary, as
their production team, the Bomb Squad, created dense
soundscapes that relied on avant-garde cut-and-paste
techniques, unrecognizable samples, piercing sirens,
relentless beats, and deep funk. It was chaotic and
invigorating music, made all the more intoxicating by
Chuck D's forceful vocals and the absurdist raps of his
comic foil, Flavor Flav. With his comic sunglasses and an
oversized clock hanging from his neck, Flav became the
group's visual focal point, but he never obscured the
music. While rap and rock critics embraced the group's
late-'80s and early-'90s records, Public Enemy frequently
ran into controversy with their militant stance and
lyrics, especially after their 1988 album It Takes a
Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back made them into
celebrities. After all the controversy settled in the
early '90s, once the group entered a hiatus, it became
clear that Public Enemy was the most influential and
radical band of their time.
Chuck D (born Carlton Ridenhour, August 1, 1960) formed
Public Enemy in 1982, as he was studying graphic design at
Adelphi University on Long Island. He had been DJing at
the student radio station WBAU, where he met Hank Shocklee
and Bill Stephney. All three shared a love of hip-hop and
politics, which made them close friends. Shocklee had been
assembling hip-hop demo tapes, and Ridenhour rapped over
one song, "Public Enemy No. 1," around the same time he
began appearing on Stephney's radio show under the Chuckie
D pseudonym. Def Jam co-founder and producer Rick Rubin
heard a tape of "Public Enemy No. 1" and immediately
courted Ridenhour in hopes of signing him to his fledgling
label.
Chuck D initially was reluctant, but he eventually
developed a concept for a literally revolutionary hip-hop
group -- one that would be driven by sonically extreme
productions and socially revolutionary politics. Enlisting
Shocklee as his chief producer and Stephney as a
publicist, Chuck D formed a crew with DJ Terminator X
(born Norman Lee Rogers, August 25, 1966) and fellow
Nation of Islam member Professor Griff (born Richard
Griffin) as the choreographer of the group's backup
dancers, the Security of the First World, who performed
homages to old Stax and Motown dancers with their martial
moves and fake Uzis. He also asked his old friend William
Drayton (born March 16, 1959) to join as a fellow rapper.
Drayton developed an alter ego called Flavor Flav, who
functioned as a court jester to Chuck D's booming voice
and somber rhymes in Public Enemy.
Public Enemy's debut album, Yo! Bum Rush the Show, was
released on Def Jam Records in 1987. Its spare beats and
powerful rhetoric were acclaimed by hip-hop critics and
aficionados, but the record was ignored by the rock and
R&B mainstream. However, their second album, It Takes a
Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, was impossible to
ignore. Under Shocklee's direction, PE's production team,
the Bomb Squad, developed a dense, chaotic mix that relied
as much on found sounds and avant-garde noise as it did on
old-school funk. Similarly, Chuck D's rhetoric gained
focus and Flavor Flav's raps were wilder and funnier. A
Nation of Millions was hailed as revolutionary by both rap
and rock critics, and it was -- hip-hop had suddenly
became a force for social change.
As Public Enemy's profile was raised, they opened
themselves up to controversy. In a notorious statement,
Chuck D claimed that rap was "the black CNN," relating
what was happening in the inner city in a way that
mainstream media could not project. Public Enemy's lyrics
were naturally dissected in the wake of such a statement,
and many critics were uncomfortable with the positive
endorsement of black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan on
"Bring the Noise." "Fight the Power," Public Enemy's theme
for Spike Lee's controversial 1989 film Do the Right
Thing, also caused an uproar for its attacks on Elvis
Presley and John Wayne, but that was considerably
overshadowed by an interview Professor Griff gave The
Washington Post that summer. Griff had previously said
anti-Semitic remarks on-stage, but his quotation that Jews
were responsible for "the majority of the wickedness that
goes on across the globe" was greeted with shock and
outrage, especially by white critics who previously
embraced the group. Faced with a major crisis, Chuck D
faltered. First he fired Griff, then brought him back,
then broke up the group entirely. Griff gave one more
interview where he attacked Chuck D and PE, which led to
his permanent departure from the group.
Public Enemy spent the remainder of 1989 preparing their
third album, releasing "Welcome to the Terrordome" as its
first single in early 1990. Again, the hit single caused
controversy as its lyrics "still they got me like Jesus"
were labeled anti-Semitic by some quarters. Despite all
the controversy, Fear of a Black Planet was released to
enthusiastic reviews in the spring of 1990, and it shot
into the pop Top Ten as the singles "911 Is a Joke,"
"Brothers Gonna Work It Out," and "Can't Do Nuttin' for Ya
Man" became Top 40 R&B hits. For their next album, 1991's
Apocalypse 91...The Enemy Strikes Black, the group
re-recorded "Bring the Noise" with thrash metal band
Anthrax, the first sign that the group was trying to
consolidate their white audience. Apocalypse 91 was
greeted with overwhelmingly positive reviews upon its fall
release, and it debuted at number four on the pop charts,
but the band began to lose momentum in 1992 as they toured
with the second leg of U2's Zoo TV tour and Flavor Flav
was repeatedly in trouble with the law. In the fall of
1992, they released the remix collection Greatest Misses
as an attempt to keep their name viable, but it was
greeted to nasty reviews.
Public Enemy was on hiatus during 1993, as Flav attempted
to wean himself off drugs, returning in the summer of 1994
with Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age. Prior to its release, it
was subjected to exceedingly negative reviews in Rolling
Stone and The Source, which affected the perception of the
album considerably. Muse Sick debuted at number 14, but it
quickly fell off the charts as it failed to generate any
singles. Chuck D retired Public Enemy from touring in 1995
as he severed ties with Def Jam, developed his own record
label and publishing company, and attempted to rethink
Public Enemy. In 1996, he released his first debut album,
The Autobiography of Mistachuck. As it was released in the
fall, he announced that he planned to record a new Public
Enemy album the following year.
Before that record was made, Chuck D published an
autobiography in the fall of 1997. During 1997, Chuck D
reassembled the original Bomb Squad and began work on
three albums. In the spring of 1998, Public Enemy kicked
off their major comeback with their soundtrack to Spike
Lee's He Got Game, which was played more like a proper
album than a soundtrack. Upon its April 1998 release, the
record received the strongest reviews of any Public Enemy
album since Apocalypse '91...The Enemy Strikes Black.
After Def Jam refused to help Chuck D's attempts to bring
PE's music straight to the masses via the Internet, he
signed the group to the web-savvy independent Atomic Pop.
Before the retail release of Public Enemy's seventh LP,
There's a Poison Goin' On..., the label made MP3 files of
the album available on the Internet. It finally appeared
in stores in July 1999.
After a three-year break from recording and a switch to
the In the Paint label, Public Enemy released
Revolverlution, a mix of new tracks, remixes, and live
cuts. The CD/DVD combo It Takes a Nation appeared in 2005.
The multimedia package contained an hourlong video of the
band live in London in 1987 and a CD with rare remixes.
The new album New Whirl Odor also appeared in 2005. The
"special projects" album Rebirth of a Nation -- an album
with all rhymes written by Bay Area rapper Paris -- was
supposed to be released right along with it, but didn't
appear until early the next year. The odds-and-ends
collection Beats and Places appeared before the end of
2006. Featuring the single "Harder Than You Think," How
You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul???
arrived in the summer of 2007.