We “Bring the Noise” today for Public Enemy with the group’s 1987 smash, as Chuck D celebrates his 53rd birthday!
Drawing samples from James Brown’s “Funky Drummer” among several other then-old and new sources, producers The Bomb Squad (which included Chuck D himself) built a beat that had the immediate fit of a Public Enemy classic.
As Public Enemy’s legendary MC, Chuck D (@mrchuckd) is widely known not only for his powerful voice and Rap style, but also for his expressed views on social matters in the United States and around the world, and his views on Hip-Hop that are still heard and respected more than three decades after Public Enemy’s forming.
Dig Chuck D’s words on Hip-Hop in 2008, drawn from Wikipedia:
In an interview with the magazine N’Digo published in late June 2008, he spoke of today’s mainstream urban music seemingly relishing the addictive euphoria of materialism and sexism, perhaps being the primary cause of many people harboring resentment towards the genre and its future. However he has expressed hope for its resurrection, saying “It’s only going to be dead if it doesn’t talk about the messages of life as much as the messages of death and non-movement”, citing artists such as NYOil, M.I.A. and the The Roots as socially conscious artists who push the envelope creatively. “A lot of cats are out there doing it, on the Web and all over. They’re just not placing their career in the hands of some major corporation.”[16]
Also, check out a Flavor Flav interview from this week, in which Public Enemy’s world-class hype man Flavor Flav tells it like it is, from NME.com:
“I think the element of hip-hop left when rap music started being created on a slow tempo,” claimed Flavor Flav. “It’s just stayed there for years. Right now, a lot of rap music today is being created at very low tempos.
“There’s no more of that ‘Wave your hands in the air like you just don’t care’ – you know, something that makes you wanna get out there and breakdance,” he added. “Rap music has lost that element right now, mainly over in America. There’s not too many great hip-hop records out there, but there are some great rap records. Lil Wayne is making some great rap records, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Ludacris, Jay Z, Kendrick Lamar, 50 Cent, Snoop [Dogg] – everybody is making great rap records, but it’s not hip-hop.”
Bboy Music fans can certainly sympathize.
Meanwhile, for the Club and Party heads, dig Benny Benassi’s 2007 reinvention of “Bring the Noise”:
…and for those that really want to get wild, peep Public Enemy’s performance of “Bring the Noise” with Metal band Anthrax:
