Fear of a Black Planet

Big problem I find with this album is how uneven it sounds. Like, You'll have tracks like "Welcome to the Terrordome" and then "Pollywanacraka" will turn the hype down, "Burn Hollywood Burn" and "Power to the People" and then the whole album becomes absolutely exhaustive until the immaculate closer.

The parts are good, but it's the sum that drives me crazy, and since we're rating the sum, it's meh.

I put this album up there with Scum's "Napalm Death" or the Sex Pistols' "Nevermind the Bollocks"... I'm on board with their politics, have huge respect for their influence on the genre, and love a lot of the artists that came after, deeply influenced by them...

But I don't actually like listening to this. Too cacophonous. None of the samples or beats really grip me.

Not my favorite kind of hip-hop. It's something about the beats being really fast and busy all the time. I don't think it's bad, but it's really not for me.

As this is the last Public Enemy album I have left on the list, I wanna take a second to rate the artist themselves. The influence PE contributed the hip hop scene was enormous, and the topics and issues they spoke openly upon was very bold for the time. Their ability to convey these important truths about society while blending them with great music is just amazing. That being said, this album was alright. It was definitely a very odd listen as some of the tracks tended to feel too long or just insane due to the crowds of noise and sound effects with all the news reports and whatnot making the songs feel less like actual songs. I definitely love the high energy, but sometimes the beats don't deliver to match the vibe. However the production is incredible, with the stereo mixing making the album feel huge. The material is still incredibly relevant, but the music just isn't developed in the best way. Very wild and interesting record, mid to low 3.

Fun tunes, but it suffers a little from the bloat of the CD era.

Whilst interesting in the variety of samples, interludes and snippets that make the album a very dynamic and energetic experience, it feels a bit too all over the place musically. The lyrics are hard-hitting and timeless.

7/10 [KEEP?]

4.1/5

Not really my genre, but this was impressive, bold, creative, and meaningful.

A classic from the ‘Scare Mainstream White America’ catalog.

Easy 5. First CD I ever had. Borrowed from the library on my mom's account, no less. Just couldn't return it and played it for years.

good album but the first one is better

I'm familiar-enough with a few tracks from this album, though I've never listened to it start-to-finish. I'm quite looking forward to this.

This is great. I'll be adding this to my listen of albums to listen to again.

Fight the power fr fr. Nice stuff! Actually thoroughly enjoyed this despite having low hopes due to it's genre. Great message, and without that stupid ego that you get in hip hop of the 90s. Good samples and all x

Like electricity, bolt of lighting right to the brain.

Although it might say my favourite genre is currently electronica, this was painfully repetitive to listen to. There were some good moments and the lyrics are still relevant today, but that doesn't mean much when you have to listen to what sounds like a dragged out 1 second loop over and over again.

For starters, Fear Of A Black Planet is "more" than It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, in most every way, but I don't know if that makes it a "better" album per se. But, the beats are more intricate and bombastic, the lyrics are more pointed and confrontational, and the flows are more natural and complex. However, it does seem a *little* less consistent, and a *little* less singular. On a first full listen, the beats are probably the thing here that stand out first. The Bomb Squad double down on the textural, collagic production of It Takes A Nation Of Millions... and provide a collection of beats that feel organic and chaotic and even noisy in a way that hasn't really been explored much in mainstream Hip-Hop since. And the energetic flows of Chuck D and Flavor Flav pair perfectly with the beats as they deliver some real lyrical depth here. A *lot* of the ideas here are still controversial and challenging in the contemporary political climate, down to the album title. I don't have the time or qualifications to completely break down the themes of Fear Of A Black Planet, but I will say that they are *very much* worth looking into. It's really an album that confronts the listener, asks you if it makes you uncomfortable, and invites you to contemplate why. I will say that there is a little homophobia on one of the skits here, which has aged really weirdly , especially in the context of Public Enemy's career which aspires towards being earnestly and radically pro humanity. But don't let this blemish distract you from the fact that Fear Of A Black Planet is a cuttingly smart, deeply astute, and justly angry album. I really did love this one. And the more time I spend with both this and It Takes A Nation Of Millions... the more I like them both. Fear Of A Black Planet is an utterly essential Hip-Hop classic, and as I spend time more time with Public Enemy's music, I think that either this or It Takes A Nation Of Millions... *will* eventually be a 5. What's stopping me now is really just the density of this thing, much of which I don't feel as though I fully appreciate. But this really is excellent.

FIGHT THE POWER!

Glorious hip hop that stays oh so, so relevant. Fantastic beats, funky rhymes, and just overall an amazing album that I -truly- needed to listen to before I died.

Blimey! I tried really hard to listen to the album in one go, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. Yes, it's much better than the egomaniacal, misogynistic, Tourette-like gangster rap albums I've listened to for the 1001 Albums project, but ultimately, the constant agitation, anger and brutality are unbearable. It's not music, but rather a series of battle cries.

Not a big fan of rap, but this one is at least nice. 2.25

Not for me.

I don’t get it. Wish I did….massive genre just leaves me cold.