Track Listing
1. Countdown to Armageddon
2. Bring the Noise
3. Don't Believe the Hype
4. Cold Lampin With Flavor
5. Terminator X to the Edge of Panic
6. Mind Terrorist
7. Louder Than a Bomb - (remix)
8. Caught, Can We Get a Witness?
9. Show em Whatcha Got
10. She Watch Channel Zero?!
11. Night of the Living Baseheads
12. Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos
13. Security of the First World
14. Rebel Without a Pause
15. Prophets of Rage
16. Party For Your Right to Fight - (remix)
| Details | | Playing Time: | 58 min. | | Producer: | Carl Ryder, Hank Shocklee | | Distributor: | Universal Distribution | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | AAD |
Album Notes
Public Enemy: Chuck D, Flavor Flav (vocals); Norman "Terminator X" Rogers (scratches); Professor Griff (background vocals); The Security Of The First World.
Additional personnel: Eric "Vietnam" Sadler, Hank Shocklee (programming); Johnny Juice Rosado (scratches); The Black To The Future Sample Stars (background vocals).
Engineers include: Nick Sansano, Matt Tritto, Chris Shaw.
Recorded at Greene Street Recording, Chung King House Of Metal, New York, New York, Sabella Recording, Roslyn, New York & Spectrum City Studios, Hempstead, New York.
The title says it all. In 1988, when this album was released, Public Enemy's music cut with a wholly revolutionary edge. Rarely has fear, anger, paranoia and anxiety been so masterfully compressed onto a record's grooves. The Bomb Squad's artistry is the keynote to the hard, lean delivery, while Chuck D's supremely pointed lyrics leave no stone of the black experience unturned. It is not comfortable listening, but on tracks such as 'Don't Believe The Hype', 'Night Of The Living Baseheads' and 'Rebel Without A Pause' the listener is left in no doubt that they are facing a fantastically potent force.
Editorial Reviews
Included in Spin's list of the Top Ten College Cult Classics - ...In any context, a revolutionary work...
Spin
Included in Vibe's 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century
Vibe (12/01/1999)
Included in AP's 10 Essential Political-Revolution Albums
Alternative Press (11/01/2000)
...Responsible for the angriest polemic since The Last Poets....[They] revolutionized the music, using up to 80 backing tracks in the sonic assault....to these ears PE sound like the greatest rock'n'roll band in history.
Mojo (06/01/2000)
Included in AP's 10 Essential '80s Albums.
Alternative Press (08/01/2001)
10 (out of 10) - ...the greatest hip-hop album ever....this wasn't merely a sonic triumph. This was also where Chuck wrote a fistful of lyrics that promoted him to the position of foremost commentator/documentor of life in the underbelly of the USA....
NME (07/15/1995)
Bloody Essential - ...I hadn't believed it could get harder [than YO! BUM RUSH THE SHOW]. Or better....It was like being beaten over the head in four/four time with a skip...
Melody Maker (07/22/1995)
Ranked #6 in AP's list of the 'Top 99 Of '85-'95' - ...After IT TAKES A NATION OF MILLIONS TO HOLD US BACK, rap couldn't just be stupid and boom and yelp--it had to have production values and 'relevance'...
Alternative Press (07/01/1995)
Ranked #9 in NME's list of the 'Greatest Albums Of All Time.'
NME (10/02/1993)
Ranked #5 in NME's list of The 50 Greatest Albums Of The '80s - ...[IT TAKES A NATION...] drags punk, rock, and hip-hop screaming towards the end of the century....Definitive...
NME (09/25/1993)
5 Stars - Indispensable - ...the greatest rap album of all time, a landmark and classic....
Q (09/01/1995)
Ranked #12 in Rolling Stone's 100 Best Albums Of The Eighties survey.
Rolling Stone (11/01/1989)
Ranked #47 in Q's Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime
Q (10/01/2001)
Ranked #1 in Vibe's Top 10 rap albums.
Vibe (06/01/2002)
10 (out of 10) - ...the greatest hip-hop album ever....this wasn't merely a sonic triumph. This was also where Chuck wrote a fistful of lyrics that promoted him to the position of foremost commentator/documentor of life in the underbelly of the USA....
NME (07/15/1995)
Bloody Essential - ...I hadn't believed it could get harder [than YO! BUM RUSH THE SHOW]. Or better....It was like being beaten over the head in four/four time with a skip...
Melody Maker (07/22/1995)
4 stars out of 5 - Packed full of loud, obnoxious classics....You really should own this by now.
Q
...NATION OF MILLIONS lived up to its hype and then some...
Spin (12/01/2003)
Ranked #48 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums Of All Time - ...Loud, obnoxious, funky, avant-garde, political, uncompromising, hilarious...
Rolling Stone (12/11/2003)
Spin Included in Spin's list of the Top Ten College Cult Classics - ...In any context, a revolutionary work...
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