By: Jarrod Horton
Staff Writer
5. Public Enemy
- 1987: Yo! Bum Rush the Show
- 1988: It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
- 1990: Fear of a Black Planet
- 1991: Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black
- 1994: Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age
- 1998: He Got Game
- 1999: There’s a Poison Goin’ On
- 2002: Revolverlution
- 2005: New Whirl Odor
- 2006: Rebirth of a Nation(with Paris)
- 2007: How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?
- 2012: Most of My Heroes Still Don’t Appear on No Stamp
- 2012: The Evil Empire of Everything
- 2015: Man Plans God Laughs
- 2017: Nothing Is Quick in the Desert
I kind of struggled with putting Public Enemy in this slot. My apprehension definitely was not based on accolades or influence. PE is not only one of the handful of Hip Hop groups in the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, but their album Fear of a Black Planet is preserved in the Library of Congress. In terms of influence, Public Enemy was at the forefront of bringing political and social awareness in Hip Hop. What made me hesitant to put them in my top five was the music. Of course their music is legendary, but honestly there are other groups who music I like better than PE. However this list is not just based on my musical taste. This is a countdown of who I believed had the best music, biggest influence and the most success as a Hip Hop group. Even with that said, I still listened to PE’s It Takes A Million to Hold Us Back album for more persuasion on their selection. And let’s just say that even though the album was released in 1988, it stills sounds fresh and dope. Not too many artists can or will say that about their music after 30 years.