It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

About

<b>100 Best Albums</b> By 1988, hip-hop was already a decade and a half old. Still, even as certain artists or groups made great strides in breaking through industry barriers and into the mainstream consciousne, the genre remained largely misunderstood by outsiders as something other than the potent and meaningful art form it truly wa. Thankfully, Public Enemy was ready, willing, and able to take on that fight. Dogmatic MC Chuck D and rapping hype man Flavor Flav had already delivered a devastating opening salvo with 1987’s unambiguously confrontational debut <i>Yo! Bum Rush the Show</i>, putting Black nationalist politics and imagery at the forefront. By comparison, <i>It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back</i> felt like a veritable firebombing—a rap blitzkrieg led by a boisterous lyricist with a defiantly militant mindset. That revolutionary energy was palpable on “Bring the Noise” and “Don’t Believe the Hype,” seminal songs with hooks that sounded more like marching order. Even further down the tracklist, cuts like “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos” and “Rebel Without a Pause” hit as hard as what came before, the messaging as provocative and righteous as any on the album. .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

Start your shelf to read the full take →