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Public Enemy

3 articles on Public Enemy

• Public Enemy

  Source: Encyclopedia of African American History, 1896 to the Present: From the Age of Segregation to the Twenty-first Century

  Word Count: 781      Includes:  Bibliography

  Made up of Chuck D. (Carlton Ridenhour; b. 1 August 1960), Flavor Flav (William Drayton; b. 16 March 1959), Professor Griff (Richard Griffin; b. 1 August 1960), and Terminator X (Norman Rogers; b. 25 August 1966), the Long Island–based Public Enemy—also known as PE—has since 1982 been one of the most influential rap groups in the history of hip hop. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five demonstrated the potential of political rap with their single “The Message” (1982), but it was Public Enemy that provided the blueprint. PE's debut album, Yo! Bum Rush the Show, released on Def Jam records in 1987, was acclaimed by rap critics and ignored by the mainstream. The album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, released in 1988, was far

  With PE ...
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• Public Enemy

  Source: Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience, Second Edition

  Word Count: 530     

  One of the premier American rap music groups of the 1980s and 1990s. Public Enemy infused a Funk- and Soul-based sound with sound samples (electronic snippets of prerecorded music) and other sound fragments, such as traffic noise and police sirens. A political consciousness pervaded this multilayered sound, through Rap texts and through physical appearance: group members held fake automatic weapons and wore army fatigues and boots, projecting an image of black militancy. Public Enemy's strident lyrics were highly controversial, striking responsive chords with many people while drawing critical responses from many others.

  Public Enemy formed in Long Island, New York, in 1987, from the collaborations among lead rappers Chuck D (Carlton Ridenhour)Flavor ...
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• Public Enemy

  Source: Grove Music Online

  Word Count: 365     

  American rap group. While working with DJ Hank Shocklee at Adelphi University, Long Island, under the auspices of the college radio station manager Bill Stephney, Chuck D (Carlton Douglas Ridenhour; b Roosevelt, Long Island, NY, 1 Aug 1960) honed his rapping skills and formulated the concept of a rap group that would be musically experimental and commercially successful. With the addition of Flavour Flav (William Drayton; b Roosevelt, Long Island, NY, 16 March 1959) and ‘Minister of Information’ Professor Griff (Richard Griffin), they released their début album Yo! Bum Rush the Show (Def Jam, 1987). Their subsequent albums for the Def Jam label, particularly It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1989) and Fear of a Black Planet(1990), increased the collaged atmosphere of musical frenzy created ...
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