497 - Public Enemy - Yo! Bum Rush the Show

[csberry]

I'm far more familiar with Public Enemy's subsequent albums It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and Fear of a Black Planet. I think that familiarity with those albums kinda taints my view of this album. Yo! Bum Rush the Show is one of those albums that does more to introduce a band/artist with a ton of potential. Songs like "You're Gonna Get Yours," "Miuzi Weighs a Ton," and "Rightstarter (Message To a Black Man)" display the PE that I know from later tracks. This album isn't the soundtrack for a riot as the next two albums PE would release, but you see the foundation of the group here.

Are "Too Much Posse" and "M.P.E." just a more aggressive version of Cool Moe Dee? That's the feeling I get now when listening. Why is that the case? Chuck D doesn't seem quite as revolutionary in his delivery as he's trying to make his rhymes. Terminator X's sampling on this album is more pedestrian; there isn't quite as much chaotic switches in samples and layers upon layers of music and vocal samples.

I must confess that I found the repeated use of "public enemy" in more than half of the songs as a bit lazy. It comes across more as the chest-thumping of an MC and not the battle cry that Chuck D and Flavor Flav would soon let explode. Had the vocals had less echo on them and maybe giving Chuck D's voice a boost on the low end would help on tracks where the sound of the vocals sound hollow.

Maybe it's just best to consider this a transitional record for Public Enemy, but one that lays the foundation for the albums that would detonate on the music scene shortly thereafter.

Songs I knew I liked: "Miuzi Weighs a Ton"

Songs I didn't know but now like: "Rightstarter (Message to a Black Man)"

Songs I can go the rest of my life without hearing again: "Timebomb," "Too Much Posse," and "Megablast."

Comments

[wc-helmets.livejournal.com]

Terminator X's sampling on this album is more pedestrian; there isn't quite as much chaotic switches in samples and layers upon layers of music and vocal samples.

Completely get what you're saying here. I always thought "Welcome to the Terrordome" had a hint of Industrial/Metal to it. Reminds me of "Corrosion" by Ministry for some reason.