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The 90 Greatest Albums of the ’90s

This article originally appeared in the September 1999 issue of SPIN. “You must be high.” We heard that a lot during the time we spent preparing this issue. Which is understandable. Pronouncing the 90 greatest albums of the ’90s is a somewhat presumptuous thing to do. When you’re measuring the music this decade is offering to history—the sounds we partied with, copulated to, fought about, and wept over—everyone has an opinion. That ours should be more valid than yours is debatable. But hey—it’s our magazine. What, then, you ask, constitutes “greatest”? Don’t even start. Suffice it to say that, after much heated discussion and countless veiled insults, it came down to the factors of both remarkable artistry and cultural shock value. Sometimes a record’s knock-you-off-your-Skechers impa...

5 Albums I Can’t Live Without: Masta Ace

Name Masta Ace Best known for Sittin’ On Chrome! Current city Northern New Jersey. Really want to be in Any place less racist than here! Excited about This hip-hop musical I’m writing and my next album with Marco Polo! My current music collection has a lot of ‘70s and ‘80s disco and soul. And a little bit of Hip hop. Don’t judge me for “Barbie Girl” by Aqua. Preferred format Streaming the last few years, because it’s convenient. [embedded content] 5 Albums I Can’t Live Without 1 Off the WallMichael Jackson CREDIT:CBS It reminds me of simpler times in my life, before Michael had pop success. 2 The Great Adventures of Slick RickSlick Rick 1988 is, in my opinion, the best year for hip-hop releases. This album beginning to end personifies that era! 3 Spirit and That’s the Way of the WorldEarth...

Public Enemy’s Chuck D Teams With Public Health Organizations To Raise Colorectal Cancer Awareness

HipHopWired Featured Video Source: Stand Up To Cancer / Stand Up To Cancer Hip-Hop icon Chuck D is letting it be known that injustice, oppression and the establishment are not the only things he’s a Public Enemy to—he’s also a soldier in the fight against colorectal cancer. Serving as an advisory board member of Hip Hop Public Health—”an organization dedicated to building health equity through the transformative power of music, art and science,” according to a press statement—Chuck D has joined forces with Stand Up To Cancer® to create a “health literacy initiative” by releasing a new song and animated video about the importance of colorectal cancer screening featuring and produced by the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer and PE frontman himself.  [embedded content] “There’s been an alarmin...

Public Enemy: Our 1988 Interview With Chuck D and Flavor Flav

This article originally appeared in the January 1988 issue of SPIN.  Critics don’t like them. Black radio stations won’t play them. But in less than a year Public Enemy has managed to sell 275,000 copies of their debut LP, Yo! Bum Rush the Show, and has toured the U.S. and Europe with L.L. Cool J. They hit the stage like an alliance of shock troop and rap group. Behind them stand the S1Ws (which stands for Security of the First World), their gun-toting, Muslim backup crew (the guns are unloaded). The music is hard and the message is strong—maybe too strong for some. Chuck D is the meat of the message, and Flavor Flav is the spice—the younger sidekick who tempers the militance. “You wear a clock to know what time it is. And when you know what time it is, that means you are aware. And w...

Public Enemy Drops New Video for ‘Grid’ Featuring Cypress Hill and George Clinton

In keeping with the dark lyrics of  Public Enemy’s single “Grid,” the group dropped an appropriately apocalyptic video featuring pals Cypress Hill and George Clinton. The clip includes footage from PE’s performance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Directed by David C. Snyder, the video for “GRID” is the latest from PE’s recent album, What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down? which saw the previously released “Public Enemy Number Won” video from the LP. The album marks the lineup’s return to Def Jam after a 20-year-hiatus. SPIN named Public Enemy its #9 artist of the last 35 years.  Read the homage here. We also spoke with Chuck D about when the group dropped their surprise new single in June and recently about the new album. Check out the “Grid” clip below: [embe...

The 35 Best Albums of the Last 35 Years

Let’s face it: With most “Best Albums” lists, you know the broad strokes of the ranking before you even click. Part of that predictability is understandable: Most iconic records earn their reputation. But these rankings shouldn’t be fossilized, and a shit-ton of amazing LPs have been shoved aside in the pursuit of maintaining the status quo. We didn’t ignore the unimpeachable on our list — you’ll see plenty of the staples you’ve come to expect. But we also hope we’ll spark your curiosity and encourage you to hunt for a title you may have missed over the last 35 years. 35. Bruce Springsteen – Tunnel of Love (1987) CREDIT: Columbia Records How does one follow up a rock album that recalibrates stadium sound systems and offers a stark look at hard times in America? With love songs, of course. ...

The Most Influential Artists: #9 Public Enemy

As part of our 35th anniversary, we’re naming the most influential artists of the past 35 years. Today, we’re at #9. From Long Island, New York, here are Public Enemy. CREDIT: Lynn Goldsmith/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images Formed around the nucleus of rappers Chuck D and Flava Flav, production collective the Bomb Squad and others, Public Enemy was conceived as a rap army: militant Black musicians hell-bent on bringing the harsh realities of African-American strife to a mostly unaware audience. Their sample-based sound was as jarring and impactful as Chuck’s megaphone bark was authoritative and Flav’s cartoonish squeal was absurdist — and it strived for a confrontational brio informed by history. (Their contemporaries in N.W.A. approached these matters from slightly different, more misogynistic...

Public Enemy Roll Back the Years With Beastie Boys, Run-DMC in ‘Public Enemy Number Won’ Video

Public Enemy recently released their first album with Def Jam in a number of years with What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down? They also recently teamed up with George Clinton and Cypress Hill to release the animated video for “Grid,” and now they’ve done the same thing for “Public Enemy Number Won.” Featuring the surviving members of both the Beastie Boys and Run-DMC, the video features archival performance footage along with posters from those early days. “The song is an homage to ‘Public Enemy No. 1′ and that moment in time,” Chuck D said in a statement. “The Beastie Boys and Run-DMC were playing it all the time and Rick Rubin kept coming at us to sign with Def Jam. So it’s my way of bringing it all back together again.” We recently spoke with Chuck D as part of our SPIN 35 cel...

Public Enemy Join Forces With Beastie Boys’ Ad Rock, Mike D and Run-DMC for ‘Public Enemy Number Won’ Video

Public Enemy’s first album with Def Jam in an eternity (OK fine, 20–plus years) is out now. Chuck D, Flavor Flav and company enlisted legends of the past and the stars of today for the recording. The group also leaned on their longtime pals for the release of their video for “Public Enemy Number Won.” Enlisting Beastie Boys’ Ad-Rock and Mike D and Run DMC, the video features vintage footage of the guys from Def Jam’s halcyon days. Check it out below. [embedded content] As usual, it wouldn’t be a Public Enemy clip without some political bent. “With less than a week to go before election day, we’re seeing record breaking early voting numbers across the country, and this effort is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to encourage voters to make their voices heard at their favorite sport...

Public Enemy Share Animated Video for ‘Grid’ Featuring George Clinton and Cypress Hill

Public Enemy dropped an animated video for “Grid,” the latest from PE’s recent album, What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down?, the group’s first album in over 20 years for their first label Def Jam. The video was directed by Ice the Endless, with background by ThatOneDudeZach and visual effects by RMELL and ARTJCON. Public Enemy group performed the song along with Cypress Hill and George Clinton on CBS’s special live broadcast of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert immediately following the first presidential debate in September. The song and vid is an excoriation of our screen-addicted society, with lyrics including “Communication breakdown it’s a take down / are you awake now or consumed by a fake clown? / World Wide Web keep the spiders fed / Looking at my feed, trolls everywhere...

Public Enemy Recruits Mike D, Ad-Rock, Run-DMC, George Clinton and More for New LP

Days after announcing their new album, What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down?, Public Enemy just revealed who they collaborated with on the new record. They definitely enlisted some heavy hitters. George Clinton will be featured on both “When the Grid Goes Down” and “Grid,” which also brings in Cypress Hill. Mike D and Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys and Run-DMC will be on “Public Enemy Number Won,” while Ice-T and PMD lent their voices to “Smash the Crowd.” Public Enemy previously released their collab with DJ Premier, “State of the Union (STFU),” and “Fight the Power: Remix 2020,” where they share the mic with Nas, Rapsody, Black Thought, Jahi and YG, while Questlove takes on the turntables. The updated version of “Fight the Power” premiered on this year’s BET Awards. Chuck D will a...

Public Enemy Return to Def Jam With What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down

A few months after surprise releasing their “State of the Union (STFU)” single that was produced by DJ Premier, Public Enemy has finally announced their new album, What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down, their first album for Def Jam in more than 20 years. “Cultural Institutions are important. Being an integral part of one is an honor bestowed and to uphold,” Chuck D said in a statement. “Public Enemy songs are forever sonic prints in the sands of time. And it’s time – it’s necessary – to bring the noise again from a place called home. Def Jam. Fight The Power 2020.” Flavor Flav added, “Def Jam is like the house we grew up in. It’s cool to be home.” Sharing the album art on Twitter, Chuck D also said, “Time is intensifying and folks are Tight. In this moment a Album ...

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