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Public Enemy
Artist: Public Enemy
Hometown: Long Island, N.Y.
Venue: Auditorium Shores, 7:45 p.m. Friday
Pre-show buzz: Undisputedly one of the most important hip hop acts in the history of rap music.
Best Chuck D quote of the evening: “Asking for a record deal is like asking for a plantation owner to take you back into slavery.”
High point: Chuck D and Flavor Flav delivering the one-two, back-to-back punch of “Welcome to the Terrordome” and “Bring The Noise” while Professor Griff and the S1Ws — clad in desert camoflauge Army fatigues — step danced while brandishing samurai swords.
On point: Despite Flavor Flav’s success in the strange world of reality television, he was still the spot-on court jester to Chuck D’s acerbic vocal acrobatics.
Low point: Cutting classic songs short after racing through one or two verses and a chorus is inexcusable, even if your back catalog is as large as Public Enemy’s. Medleys are for suckers.
Post-show buzz: 20 years on, Public Enemy still enlightens like few bands of any genre ever have.
Afterthoughts: Chuck D’s polemical rhymes felt apropos — now more than ever — as he and Flavor Flav addressed the current war in Iraq, presidential malaprops and the condition of oppressed people of color all over the world. A new Public Enemy album — with the original Bomb Squad producing — is long overdue.
Personal to Chuck D: Please, “bring that beat back.”
Comments
By Nate
March 17, 2007 12:16 PM | Link to this
Honestly, the mood of the crowd was one of boredom, and the repetitive rants of “f” Bush, “f” Cheney, “f” Rice, and “f” Blair were at best unclassy and not entertaining. Politics aside, I will never support a classless act like I saw last night.
By marcus
March 19, 2007 11:06 AM | Link to this
nate is rather silly. that show was great, the crowd was very, very into it, and Bush, Cheney, and Blair all deserve much worse than a razzing from a rap group.