Thug Life Army

In the late 80s, the revolution wasn’t televised, it was on record--and those records were made by hip-hop’s legendary rap group Public Enemy. When it comes to social and political consciousness, Public Enemy was the most influential and controversial rap group of the time--and those recordings remain rap music’s most influential ever made. Now the most extensive gathering of its revolutionary best has been compiled on POWER TO THE PEOPLE AND THE BEATS: Public Enemy’s Greatest Hits (Def Jam/UMe), released August 2, 2005.

Produced in association with Chuck D, leader and co-founder of Public Enemy, POWER TO THE PEOPLE AND THE BEATS: Public Enemy’s Greatest Hits features 18 selections, each digitally remastered, ranging from 1987’s "Public Enemy No. 1" to 1998’s "He Got Game." Spanning each of the group’s first six albums and with 11 of its 12 rap charters (all six R&B Top 40s), and an insightful essay by Harry Allen, POWER TO THE PEOPLE AND THE BEATS: Public Enemy’s Greatest Hits is the definitive retrospective of Public Enemy’s original groundbreaking recordings.

Chuck D’s serious intensity and Flavor Flav’s comic relief debuted on the fledgling Def Jam label founded by Rick Rubin and Russell Simmons with 1987’s Yo! Bum Rush The Show and its "Public Enemy No. 1." But it was the group’s next album, the platinum, #1 R&B It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back (1988), which dropped the bomb.

Produced by sonic destroyers The Bomb Squad, "Bring The Noise," "Don¹t Believe The Hype" (#18 Rap), "Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos" (#11 Rap), "Rebel Without A Pause" and "Night Of The Living Baseheads" exploded with new sounds and new subjects for the new art form.

The incendiary 1990 album Fear Of A Black Planet then set the standard for the rap conscience. A #3 R&B charter, the platinum album also cracked the pop Top 10, led by the anthem "Fight The Power," a #1 Rap/#10 R&B track which featured saxman Branford Marsalis and was the theme to Spike Lee’s cinematic masterpiece on morality, Do The Right Thing.  The disc spun off four other classic rap hits: "Welcome To The Terrordome" (#3 Rap/#15 R&B), "911 Is A Joke" (#1 Rap), "Brothers Gonna Work It Out" (#22 Rap) and "Can’t Do Nuttin’ For Ya Man" (#11 Rap).

1991’s gold Apocalypse 91...The Enemy Strikes Black charted even higher--#1 R&B/#4 pop--and POWER TO THE PEOPLE AND THE BEATS: Public Enemy’s Greatest Hits includes its gold single "Can’t Truss It" (#1 Rap/#11 R&B) as well as "Shut Em Down" (#1 Rap/#26 R&B) and "By The Time I Get To Arizona." Greatest Misses (1992), which went gold, #4 pop and #10 R&B, contributes "Hazy Shade Of Criminal" (#12 Rap) and the Jam Master Jay and Chy-Skillz "JMJ Telephone Tap Groove" remix of "Louder Than A Bomb" (the original was heard on It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back). In 1994 the gold Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age (#14 pop/#4 R&B) yielded "Give It Up" (#5 Rap/#30 R&B/Top 40 pop) and "What Kind Of Power We Got?" POWER TO THE PEOPLE AND THE BEATS: Public Enemy’s Greatest Hits concludes with "He Got Game," featuring Stephen Stills, the #10 R&B/#26 pop title track from the 1998 movie.

At the close of 1999, The New York Times named Public Enemy’s music to their list of the “25 Most Significant Albums of the Last Century” and in Spring 2005 The US Library of Congress included Fear of a Black Planet in a list of 50 recordings worthy of preserving in the National Recording Registry. Most recently, Spin magazine chose two PE albums for their “100 Greatest Albums (1985-2005)” list, with It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back coming in at #2 (sandwiched between Radiohead and Nirvana) and Fear of a Black Planet at #21.

Today, Public Enemy is still making thought-provoking music and remains one of the most revered names in not just rap, but in all of music. It is here at Universal, that Chuck D will lead a roll out of several reissued and repackaged material under the PUBLIC ENEMY ARCHIVE SERIES tag. This will be followed by a unprecedented PE box set, a first for a single act in the genre.