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Public Enemy

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Long Island, New York, United States (1982 – present)

Public Enemy, also known as P.E., is a seminal Golden Age era Hip-Hop group known for their densely layered production and politically charged lyrics demonstrating their interest in the concerns of the African American community.

PE formed in Long Island, New York, in 1982 around a WBAU radio show as Spectrum City. After one less-than-successful single, they regroup and signed to the still developing Def Jam record label after Rick Rubin heard Chuck D freestyling on a demo. Their debut, ‘Yo! Bum Rush The Show’, was released in 1987 to mild critical acclaim, although the Hip-Hop climate changed dramatically due to sampling during the time of release. As a response, they went on to release the revolutionary ‘It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back’ in 1988, which performed better in the charts than their previous release, and included the hit single ‘Don’t Believe the Hype’.

Slightly less militant than their previous releases Public Enemy’s, ‘Fear Of A Black Planet’ was officially recognised as being the most successful and influential of the Public Enemy recordings when, in 2004, it became one of 50 recordings, chosen that year by the Library of Congress, to be added to the National Recording Registry. Sales-wise it was the most successful of any of their albums to date. It included the powerful and controversial singles ‘911 is a Joke’ (which criticized emergency response units for taking longer to arrive at emergencies in the black community than those in the white community), and ‘Fight the Power’, which is considered by many to be the group’s premier self-describing anthem.

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hip-hop, rap, hip hop, old school, political
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It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
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Fear of a Black Planet
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He Got Game
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Yo! Bum Rush the Show
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Top Tracks

1	Fight The Power full track	1,343
2	Bring The Noise	1,196
3	Don't Believe The Hype full track	808
4	Rebel Without A Pause full track	763
5	He Got Game	722
6	Welcome To The Terrordome full track	523
7	Night Of The Living Baseheads full track	461
8	Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos full track	435
9	911 Is A Joke	432
10	Louder Than A Bomb	389
11	Countdown To Armageddon	381
12	Harder Than You Think full track	363
13	Prophets Of Rage	353
14	Mind Terrorist	334
15	Terminator X To The Edge Of Panic	329

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Maste90 wrote:
yesterday evening

pelea contra el power!

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mathewjordan wrote:
Wednesday evening

saw them with The Roots in June. Truely EPIC.

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jameswebb09 wrote:
Tuesday evening

Public Enemy rap with brains, rap with attitude, raw, cutting edge, remarkable. Still sounds good 20 years on. Yo chuck show em what ya got!!!

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perkins_o1 wrote:
last week

i like.

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Thrashhard wrote:
last week

Best Hip-hop/rap group ever.

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Seversen3 wrote:
last month

Rap actually made sense back in the day.. Hear the drummer get wicked!

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dipsomaniac666 wrote:
last month

yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeah boiiiiiiiiii!! BASS!!!

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Requiemi wrote:
last month

Yeeeeaaaaah boyyyy!

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CountWasilij wrote:
last month

<3

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micheldd wrote:
last month

Fund their new album now: http://www.sellaband.com/news/52-breaking-news-public-enemy-now-fund-raising-on-sellaband

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Killtrocity wrote:
last month

Long live P.E.!

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size10 wrote:
last month

brothers! we need a revolution!

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BlueGhost60 wrote:
last month

SLAYER

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Biff_Bang_Pow wrote:
last month

Chuck D was a spokesman, a fucking legend. Hip hop needs to revert back to this, it sounds fucking top and there's meaning in the lyrics - deep fucking tunes with summat to say. Much respect to these, man. Much respect.

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DivineTheory wrote:
September 2009

Don't, don't don't, don't believe the hype

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Bolaxahc3 wrote:
September 2009

Public Enemy, Brazil loves you.

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xxxxdripdrip wrote:
September 2009

Sophisticated Bitch

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MidPhuck wrote:
September 2009

hahhha fight the power - do the right thing - radio raheem - 20 D energizers [utube it] LOL funniest shit eva

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canarino90 wrote:
September 2009

best hip hop band ever

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macijikralj wrote:
September 2009

-What you need is Jesus...Do you wanna go our way? -Don't believe the hype!!!!!!!!!!!!! -So whatcha gone do now? -Give it up,give it up,...yo! give it up!!!!!!!! SHUT THEM DOWN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Videos

Events

Nov 18 Public Enemy Lisner Auditorium, Washington DC, United States
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Dec 4 Public Enemy TBA, Lisbon, Portugal
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Dec 5 HARDSTYLERZ! Fenix, Sittard, Netherlands
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Recent Activity

ninie42000, trbiewa, parahuaco and 2 other people added Public Enemy to their libraries. 2 hours ago
DavyHTheGhost tagged Public Enemy with ‘hip-hop’. yesterday evening
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