Public Enemy made their first appearance in the music scene with their 1987 debut album Yo! Bum Rush The Show. The hip hop group would soon be thrust into the mainstream arena with the release of their second album It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, as their continued provocative style, messages and unique sound generated mass hype. Their unapologetic confrontation with white America as well as their desire to affect the minds of America’s black youth allowed for their continued musical success in 1990 after releasing Fear of a Black Planet. 

Before their rise to fame however, Public Enemy was officially formed in Long Island by Adelphi University students Carlton Ridenhour (Chuck D) and William Drayton (Flavor Flav).               Richard Griffin (Professor Griff) was soon recruited into the Public Enemy group as a minister of information and side man. Members of Chuck’s previous music group, Spectrum City, which included Hank Shocklee, Keith Shocklee, and Eric Sadler, further became the production team for Public Enemy under the name of The Bomb Squad. The Bomb Squad helped to craft the chaotic, spontaneous, and overwhelming sound associated with Public Enemy tracks. Their production involved the use of sound bites, looping, addition of atonal (having no musical key) sounds and the incorporation of various samples all in one track.  

Fear of a Black Planet has a disruptive quality that counters the cool smoothness of the imminent gangsta rap subgenre that has steered mainstream modern rap and hip hop into their current state. Right off the bat numerous music samplings can be heard in the first track on the album. This pattern of sampling, which was essentially an amplified version of what hip-hop groups were already experimenting with at the time, continues throughout the entire album to create an interesting mesh of sounds. The Bomb Squad shockingly used samples from 18 different songs to produce “Anti-Nigger Machine” and 19 different songs to produce “Welcome to the Terrordome.” In many instances, the combination of music samplings and recurring sporadic voice snippets produces a harsh and chaotic musical effect to complement the harsh truth behind the ideas present in Chuck D’s lyrics. The way Chuck bluntly delivers his lines combined with the nature and tone of his voice makes for a killer combination. 

Regardless of its fundamentally chaotic sound, Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet has proven itself to be a very dense and powerful album. The breadth and depth of topics discussed in the album are compelling to say the least. From the importance of decreasing crime within the black community to the acceptance of interracial relationships and peace amongst all peoples, the album refreshingly addresses topics related to race and society. The overall messages of the album are extremely progressive and empowering. Considering that Chuck D’s main goal in producing music was to reach out to fellow black and inner city youth, the messages within the music are meant to be progressive and inspirational.

The torrid social climate of 1980s New York was an important driving force of Fear of A Black Planet. As is indicated by its title, the album is very much a commentary on the black experience in America. Unlike, most hip hop artists at the time, Public Enemy shamelessly sheds light on relevant social issues, mostly those affecting the black community. The use of storytelling in the third person point of view and pre-recorded dialogue allow for dueling perspectives to be presented to the listener. Presenting all of these arguments allows for further discussion and reflection on the black experience in America and the true intentions of Public Enemy.

Public Enemy also mentally stimulates and informs the listener on the black experience in America with the deliberate use of certain phrases that function to intrigue the audience enough to seek further information on historical facts and contemporary news. Listeners are motivated to inquire about the meaning behind trigger phrases like “40 acres and a mule Jack,” as well as the background stories of individuals mentioned on the tracks such as Yusef Hawkins and Louis Farrakhan. The stories on these individuals could easily be left to perish if it wasn’t for their revival and relevance in Public Enemy’s songs. Exposure to overlooked concepts, phrases and individuals helps to promote overall awareness and understanding in curious young listeners.  It isn’t surprising that white and suburban youth would also latch onto the album and subsequent music styles it helped to cultivate.

Following the birth of hip hop culture in the South Bronx during the 1970s, there would ironically be an emergence of talented hip hop artists in Long Island nearly a decade later. The irony lies in both the calm suburban atmosphere of Long Island as well as the demographics of the island in comparison to contemporary South Bronx. Public Enemy for example, emerged out of Nassau County, a suburban and predominantly white region of Long Island. With that said, Fear of a Black Planet undoubtedly sounds like New York City. Together, the sound collages, samples, and rock-like undertones parallel the daily sounds of a typical busy New York City street. Considering Nassau County’s proximity to the city, it could very well be the case that Public Enemy was influenced by the city and desired to incorporate a vibrant, energetic and youthful New York City vibe into their music. This would certainly help them appeal to black youth in New York, given that New York had the greatest population of black people out of all the Mid-Atlantic states in 1990.

The rise of hip hop music groups from Long Island such as Eric B and Rakim, De La Soul, and Public Enemy is a testament to the ability of hip hop to rise and flourish even in conditions that differ from the norm.

(Street in Hempstead, Long Island near Chuck D’s High School)

All of these suburban artists were able to officially launch their music careers relatively quickly without too many obstacles in comparison to urban rappers, many of whom grew up in poverty. Rakim was able to respond to Eric B.’s search for New York’s top MC by using his roommates home studio. De La Soul members were able to release a successful debut album right out of high school given the resources they had. Before becoming an official group Public Enemy members had already known each other while running and producing music for a college radio station. Furthermore, during the creation of Fear of a Black Planet, the Bomb Squad was able to use the latest “devices such as the E-mu SP-1200 drum machine and sampler, the Akai S900 sampler, and a Macintosh computer to arrange samples and sequence tracks.” Many Long Island rappers simply had easier access to the necessary equipment to produce music and were connected to individuals that would further their music careers. This was a big advantage over artists who were trying to make it in environments lacking resources, connections and money.  Therefore, it is no surprise that many rappers do come from the middle class or suburban homes. Even in today’s society, some of the most influential young rappers like Kanye, Drake, J Cole, and Wiz Khalifa were all raised in middle class families and were supported in their musical aspirations. It is also interesting to note that they were all raised without their fathers in much of their childhood years. While their experiences would differ from rappers who were raised in more difficult environments, this unfortunate similarity is also a means of identifying with their fellow hip hop artists. Afterall, it is no secret that hip hop and rap music had originally formed out of oppression and struggle. In addition, the sense of isolation and subtle forms of discrimination faced by black people in predominantly white suburbs may have also pushed black suburban dwellers into further identifying with the black community and hip hop.

On a different note, the idea that black hip hop artists emerging out of middle class and suburban homes are anomalies, sheds light on the larger issue of housing segregation in the 1980s. Black people, regardless of class, simply did not have the same mobility as their white counterparts in choosing where they wanted to live. After the abolition of slavery in 1865 by the Thirteenth Amendment, African American people were subject to the Jim Crow Laws in the South while, de facto segregation continued in the North. Discriminatory housing practices such as racial steering, blockbusting, redlining and mortgage discrimination made it difficult for striving black people to be treated fairly. Racially restrictive covenants were used between 1920-1948 to bar African Americans from certain communities.These covenants were legal contracts imposed on buyers of property that prohibited the purchase, lease or occupation of a piece of property by a particular group of people, often African Americans.  A similar example of housing discrimination can be seen in the Levittown establishments in Long Island, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.  One important case being with the Myers family.

Not until the Civil Rights Act of 1964 followed by the Fair Housing Act in 1968 did it became illegal for African Americans to be discriminated against. The Fair Housing Act made it illegal to refuse to sell, rent to, or negotiate with a person because of their background. This act would ensure a fair housing market and protect the enjoyment of housing rights. The black middle class was thus finally able to have greater housing opportunities. By 1990 46.2% of Americans were living in the suburbs compared to 31.3% living in their central cities . The black population accounted for only 7% of the total suburban population. Even so, this was still an improvement, representing a 29% increase in the suburban black population between 1980 and 1990. While movement of the black middle class to better neighborhoods was vital towards promoting increased success in future generations, on the other hand this “black flight” also resulted in concentrated poverty. As better off black people moved out of predominantly black areas, the concentration of poverty in these areas increased. Concentrated poverty results in a vicious cycle of continued poverty, increased crime rates, low levels of education, weak family structures and increased health concerns.

Listening to this album was a great experience. Aside from the hip hop group originating in Long Island, the album is most definitely a New York album due to its ambitious and assertive attitude. The music is blunt, direct and “in your face,” forcing the listener to become more  socially conscious. There is notable reason behind the chaos of Fear of a Black Planet that has its roots in racial and social conflict. Furthermore, the sheer fact that Public Enemy members from the suburbs are the ones who are able to creatively discuss major issues affecting the black community, on an international platform, is astonishing. It is a reminder of the importance of housing mobility in the black community, especially after it had been inaccessible to so many black people for such a long time. Housing mobility, an issue Public Enemy barely discusses on the album, is ironically revealed as a major issue of this album’s time based on exactly where Public Enemy members were raised themselves.

Suggested Readings:

Foner, Nancy. “Introduction: Immigrants in New York City in the New Millennium.”In One Out of Three: Immigrant New York in the Twenty-First Century, edited by Nancy Foner, 1-34. New York: Columbia University Press, 2013.

Forman, Murray and Mark A. Neal. That’s the Joint!: The Hip-hop Studies Reader. New York: Routledge, 2004.

Light, Alan. The Vibe History of Hip Hop. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1999.