Fear Of A Black Planet

Public Enemy: Chuck D [Carlton Ridenhour]; Flavor Flav (vocals); Terminator X (scratches); Professor Griff, Brother James I, Agent Attitude, James Bomb, Brother Mike.

Additional personnel: Ice Cube, Big Daddy Kane (vocals); Branford Marsalis (saxophone); Paul Shabazz (programming); Wizard K-Jee (scratches).

Engineers include: Rod Hui, Chris Shaw, Kirk Yano.



Recorded at Greene Street Recording, New York, New York; The Music Palace, West Hempstead and Spectrum City Studios, Long Island, New York.

If Public Enemy's two previous albums had ruffled feathers, Fear Of A Black Planet set out its stall to exploit mainstream fears. Again, the title spoke volumes. This time they raged just as hard, but their political consciousness had grown. Professor Griff had been ejected from the band for his anti-Semitic stance, and much of the album's atmosphere is created by the bunker mentality of resultant clashes with the press. The siege mentality only underscores the group's hard-nosed, cut-and-paste sample technique and the eloquence of Chuck D. 'Fight The Power' still bites harder than just about any other track in rap's history.

What the critics say...

Rolling Stone (5/13/99, p.70) - Included in Rolling Stone's "Essential Recordings of the 90's."
Rolling Stone (5/17/90) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...Public Enemy has never aimed for anything less than a comprehensive view of contemporary black America...FEAR OF A BLACK PLANET complements this ambition with stunning maturity and sophistication..."
Spin (9/99, p.116) - Ranked #2 in Spin Magazine's "90 Greatest Albums of the '90s."
Entertainment Weekly - "...most powerful rap group..." - Rating: A
Q (12/99, p.68) - Included in Q Magazine's "90 Best Albums Of The 1990s."
Q (2/91) - 4 Stars - Excellent - Recommended by Q as one of the five best rap albums of 1990 and ranked as one of the Fifty Best Albums of 1990. - "...scalding attack on white supremacy..."
Q (9/95, p.132) - 5 Stars - "...achieved the near impossible by being every bit as good as its predecessor. The music was Public Enemy's now-familiar scream but was augmented with a percussive tinge that reflected the ever greater Afrocentricity..."
Melody Maker (7/22/95, p.35) - Bloody Essential - "...slower, denser...funky. And it was a masterpiece....It's beyond perfect, built like a platinum beehive and stuffed with cordite--The Bomb Squad's last hands-on job for PE before they took on the task of...Ice Cube..."
NME (Magazine) (10/2/93, p.29) - Ranked #37 in NME's list of the `Greatest Albums Of All Time.'
NME (Magazine) (7/15/95, p.47) - 10 (out of 10) - "...where do you go once you've made the greatest hip-hop album ever? Unbelievably, you consolidate that with an equally splendid follow-up....This time the sounds were softened slightly with flashes of `real' instrumentation but the content remained as astonishingly tough and intelligent as before..."