Apocalypse '04

"1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9/What I use in the battle for the mind/I hit it hard/Like it supposed/Pullin no blows to the nose" - Public Enemy, Shut 'Em Down [buy the album] It started earlier this year. In the brief few weeks when Air America radio was available in Los Angeles and you could hear Chuck D's tired and frustrated voice over the airwaves during Unfiltered. It continued when Chuck D took over TRIO over the summer for a weekend and hit with PE concert films, some of his favorite films, and the documentary on The N Word. Then Flava Flav came on the scene with The Surreal Life and a return to prominence and interest by his very odd but highly watchable relationship with Brigitte Nielsen. It came to a head yesterday as De La Soul's outstanding The Grind Date features Flav doing his hype man routine ("Come on Down!") on a track and a Chuck D sample earlier in the album met with the Soundtrack of Friday Night Lights is replete with classic PE tracks from 1988's It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (and a Welcome to the Terrordome cue cheat) followed with me finally watching VH-1's 30 Years of Hip Hop special and getting PE history in the third installment. Public Enemy is back, once again, bass in your face! With our current political climate, though, I shouldn't be shocked. With 4 white male millionaires battling each for the top political office and never broaching the subject of race except for subtle jabs at the third world in debates we need someone with a megaphone shining a light at what's really going on for the poor, downtrodden, and predominantly brown segments of our country. Our political landscape is such that anger isn't allowed. Howard Dean gets smacked in the court of public opinion for being angry and animated. George Bush chomping at the bit to get out his misguided points is seen as problematic. Bah! Give me some fire, some animation, some heart, some feeling, some meaning. Party for your right to fight. Strike fear in the hearts of those seeking to deny or limit your voice. Become Public Enemy No. 1. Come on Down! Bring the Noise!