Public Enemy - It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

I was grooving to Yo! Bum Rush The Show! when I was in high school. I remember rewinding You're Gonna Get Yours on my walkman on some family trip.

On a historic trip to New York in 1988, I saw a vision that would change my life forever.

As I walked up the stairs to get out of the subway, I saw a huge poster of Chuck D and Flavor Flav behind bars and the title of one of my most important albums of all time.

Public Enemy was the enemy of the public. Their Uzi weighed a ton and they had too much posse. What were they doing behind bars and why was Chuck D still so militant in that photo? I remember standing in a trance looking at that photo every time we would pass through the subway. They would have to call me away from it.



When we got back home, I got a vinyl copy of It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back from Dutchy's Record Cave. One day, I was playing the record on the family stereo and wanted to change sides. Unfortunately, the record slipped from my hands and before hitting the floor, it got scratched by one of the metallic knobs of the receiver. I will leave it up to you to determine which side got scratched. Whichever you choose, you understand the magnitude of what happened. I bought another copy while on a trip to Toronto, but don't remember what happened to it. I bought a CD copy a few years ago.



Never have I had so many opportunities to own a hip hop album. One day, while walking to my place, I noticed a bunch of vinyl and CDs in boxes on the sidewalk. I walked away with a Master Of Reality by Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin's second album, and you can guess which else.

I've got that one in plastic among my other records now.

For those unfamiliar with the classic album, Montreal's BBAM! Gallery will play Public Enemy's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back from beginning to end on Friday, October 24 from 7:00pm to 10:00pm.  A dissertation and cultural perspective by presented by special guest host Darcy MacDonald. Beverages and snacks included in $15 admission price.


The Suite Delight new time slot is Tuesday morning 2-3am EST on www.ckut.ca & 90.3 FM.

If you haven't already, please make yourself familiar with the link below for more of your favorite show and mine.

Click here to download podcasts.

The Suite Delight - 2014-08-12 by Dj Solespin on Mixcloud

The Suite Delight - 2014-01-14 by Dj Solespin on Mixcloud

Ice Cube

I was never the biggest West Coast hip hop fan. I didn't care for the profanity. They lacked the lyrics I was looking for and got from East Coast hip hop. 

Ice Cube managed to change my mind with his debut. The Bomb Squad were involved with the album, which cushioned the blow so to speak, but I learned to appreciate Ice Cube as an artist. He outdid himself on Death Certificate.



Who would have thought Ice Cube would do the equivalent of Marvin Gaye by recording a concept album? Death Certificate dealt with topics affecting the Black community like gang violence and took time to reveal the truth about his days with NWA. I almost never went a day without hearing that album. This was Ice Cube at his most self-reflective and I was on his side up until Bootlegs & B-Sides.

I was moving away from hip hop by the time Ice Cube`s music was Westside Connection focused.  I would need to sit down with those albums and songs to know how I feel about them. 

The Suite Delight new time slot is Tuesday morning 2-3am EST on www.ckut.ca & 90.3 FM.

If you haven't already, please make yourself familiar with the link below for more of your favorite show and mine.

Below are some playlists of podcasts to bring you up to speed.  Click here to download them and more.

The Suite Delight - 2014-05-13 Playlist:

1. Ice Cube - Check Yo Self (Remix) feat. Das-Efx
2. Kurious - Baby Bust It
3. De La Soul - Breakadawn
4. Gang Starr - Code of the Streets
5. Souls of Mischief - That's When Ya Lost
6. Del - Mistadobalina (Remix)
7. Snoop Dogg - Ain't No Fun (If The Homies Can't Have None)
8. Keith Murray - Incredible feat. LL Cool J
9. Jay-Z - (Always Be My) Sunshine featuring Babyface & Foxy Brown
10. Queen Latifah - Latifah's Had It Up 2 Here
11. The Roots - Adrenaline
12. Poor Righteous Teachers - Rock Dis Funky Joint
13. Digable Planets ‎– 9th Wonder (Blackitolism)
14. Camp Lo - Luchini (This Is It)

N.W.A.

As proven many times on this blog, I was never the biggest West Coast hip hop fan.

I didn't care for the profanity. I felt they lacked the lyrics, flavors and vibes I was looking for and got from East Coast hip hop.

NWA were the epitome of gangsta rap, even more so than Ice-T because there is strength in numbers after all. By the time I learned about the supergroup, I knew they were a force to be reckoned with. To give them credit, my fascination with clans, posses, crews and cliques quite possibly started with the West Coast gangsta rappers.



Straight Outta Compton was no album to be seen with or heard playing in the presence of parents for fear of them cutting off the hip hop music pool circulating in the high school hallways.

I believe the Express Yourself 12” single has one of the images that has stuck with me to this day. Working from memory, Express Yourself was the album’s only radio friendly track. NWA & The Posse are seated at what looks like bleachers of a baseball/football field. Among that mob are about half a dozen eventually-will-be-hip-hop-legends. Dr. Dre and DJ Yella were part of California pioneer hip hop group World Class Wrecking Cru. MC Ren was quite the lyricist. Ice Cube was the quintessential angry young man. Eazy-E was a legend in his own time and group. 



The breakup of NWA shook me. My stubborn rationale was that the West Coast hip hop supergroup would dominate their market up to today but alas that was not the case. As with most group breakups, I was saddened by the news and tried to make sense of it. I found myself having to claim a set among West Coast MCs that I otherwise would not have thought much more than necessary about.

The post-breakup NWA album was an interesting listen. There were a few elements I picked up after hearing it a few times. With Ice Cube absent, MC Ren must have felt he had to further step up as a lethal lyricist. For whatever reasons, I feel the most impact from Ice Cube’s departure from Dr. Dre. As cathartic as the album is, the production reveals itself for Dre’s anger and hurt over the dissolution of the supergroup. Ironically in some cases, the production quality resembles that of The Bomb Squad whom Ice Cube employed for his 1990 debut and the Kill at Will EP.

By 1992 the split was evident with MC Ren, Ice Cube and Eazy-E 
releasing solo records. Dr. Dre would go on to release a classic album of his own that will eventually be written about here.  

I was too East Coast to care more than I had to about Eazy-E. 

  

I did care about his unfortunate death. He didn’t have the lyrics or flavor I needed but I knew he was a hip hop legend.

The California crew are potential Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees.