Fear of a Black Planet

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.

fight the power

Of all the hip-hop albums I've listened as part of this project, I'd say this is my favourite (probably in some competition with the Beastie Boys). I really like the lyrics and the message. Good to listen to some hip-hop that is not ridiculously misogynistic, or stupidly violent,... also, they show you can have hip-hop songs with other words apart from the "n word". Really liked the overall concept. Songs I enjoyed: "911 is a Joke", "Welcome to the Terrordome", "Burn Hollywood, Burn", "Fear of a Black Planet", "Can't do Nuttin' For Ya, Man!" or "Fight the power" (best track for me; had to listen to "Killing in the name" by RATM after that one). 4 star for me (again, not a big hip-hop fan).

The hip hop albums on the list continue to be good. But kind of surprised how challenging this album is from a production point of view. It’s noisy, harsh in parts, a bit unusual to the usual polished/smooth production of the 90s hip hop albums.

Chuck D just has the most badass voice.
This one not quite as It Takes a Nation of Millions but still must hear for anyone who likes hip hop

Big boom box blasting beats, old school scratching, and hard hitting verses delivered with a relentless pummeling force. Incredible energy, glorious embrace of the haters, and perfection of the art of the hype man.

This is a really cool album, but I feel like I'm not the right person to listen to it or appreciate it fully.

I enjoyed this for the most part, but some of the samples got to be a bit irritating.

I think hip hop is at its absolute best at it's most political. Discovering albums like this is why I started this project. The only thing stopping me from giving it a 5 is things like the slight homophobia. But, given the politics of the rest of the album, I'd like to believe that was just a side effect of the time period and that the album would be much more queer friendly if it was released today.

Public Enemy er kult, men de er også en one trick pony. Beaten går hardt & monotont mens Chuck D rapper over med sin karakteristiske, lite varierte flow. Noen tracks stikker seg ut. På denne skiva er det Welcome to the Terrordome og Fight the Power – begge bestående av en usannsynelig mengde samples.

now this... this was fun

ovo je najbolje opisati, barem je meni takav doživljaj bio, kao hiphop inačicu rage against the machinea, premda je, dakako, ovaj album izašao prije nego što je ratm počeo s radom. a to u konačnici znači da je ovo predug, krindž, mjestimice dosadan i gdjegdje dosta naporan repniški album. barem meni

4/5. Though I am more of a “it takes a nation of millions to hold us back” kinda guy, Fear of a Black Planet is still a great rap album that mixes blunt and hard-hitting political lyricism with densely layered and aggressive production from the Bomb Squad. Also on a side note it is hilarious to me that there’s a line in Fight the Power that shit talks “Don’t Worry be Happy” by Bobby Mcferrin.

𝘍𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘰𝘧 𝘢 𝘉𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘗𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘵 is a forceful, sharply produced album, but it doesn’t carry the same explosive impact as 𝘐𝘵 𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘢 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘪𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. The Bomb Squad’s dense, sample-saturated sound is still impressive, yet the record feels a bit less focused and less urgent. It’s strong, no doubt — just not the knockout its predecessor was.

GIGANTESCO esse aqui cabulosíssimo. mto importante pro hiphop e pro movimento negro estadunidense

sem contar os beat lotadaço de sample bonito demais, putz. bão ddemais!!

Public Enemy again... Chuck D. claims that “Fear of a Black Planet” was "a deep, complex album". Objectively speaking, that's certainly an exaggeration, but it's certainly true when compared to its predecessor, “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back,” which I reviewed recently. The “development” essentially consists of the fact that the samples typical of PE are no longer used only selectively, but actually continuously. I can't say for sure whether this is an improvement. To my ears, the sound has changed from empty to intrusive; the sweet spot would probably have been somewhere in between.
What I did notice, however, are the samples based on distorted guitars, which point the way to the monumental Judgement Night soundtrack (are there actually people who have seen the movie?) three years later.
Where was Public Enemy when that was recorded?
Back to the topic: “Fear of a Black Planet” isn't particularly annoying for hip hop. However, it provides little justification for why two Public Enemy albums are on the list.

This album is full of annoying songs. Not all are annoying, but a lot of them are. Definitely brings the album down and it's not even that good to begin with. It's not boring. It's not entertaining either, though. At times, I wanted to like it, but most of the time I just wanted it to be over.

This is in your face rap oc the highest order.
This is very much the sound of rap of my youth that unmistakably Def Jam footprint across everything here. Lots of the music conjures a combination of street party with old school sampling and scratching with the lyrics delivering potent messages about the state of the world as they see it.
Welcome to the Terrordome is a classic, as is obviously Fight the Power.

Overall the album makes me very nostalgic for my youth when rap still felt very new as was pivotal in educating on the challenges faced by black Americans

I continue to be surprised by how much I appreciate a lot of late 80s/early 90s hiphop, and this was no exception. I enjoyed this album, even... and this really is a surprise given how much I've whinged about them on other albums... the skit-adjacent bits!

Fight the Power is obviously the standout here, but I liked a lot of this album. The style of sampling on albums like this is just so impressive to me and I appreciate that Public Enemy were outspoken about their politics and experiences.

Probably a 3.5, but on balance I'm rounding down not up. It was a close run thing though.

3/5