Track Listing

1. Contract On The World Love Jam
2. Brothers Gonna Work It Out
3. 911 Is A Joke
4. Incident At 66.6 FM
5. Welcome To The Terrordome
6. Meet The G That Killed Me
7. Pollywanacraka
8. Anti-Nigger Machine
9. Burn Hollywood Burn - Ice Cube, Public Enemy
10. Power To The People
11. Who Stole The Sole?
12. Fear Of A Black Planet
13. Revolutionary Generation
14. Can't Do Nuttin' For Ya Man
15. Reggie Jax
16. Leave This Off Your Fu*Kin Charts
17. B Side Wins Again
18. War At 33 1/3
19. Final Count Of The Collision Between Us And The Damned
20. Fight The Power

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10568 in Music
• Released on: 1995-07-13
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Explicit Lyrics
• Dimensions: .21 pounds
• Running time: 65 minutes

CD Description
If Public Enemy's two previous albums had ruffled feathers,Fear Of A Black Planet set out its stall to exploit mainstream fears. Again, the title spoke volumes. This time they raged just as hard, but their political consciousness had grown. Professor Griff had been ejected from the band for his anti-Semitic stance, and much of the album's atmosphere is created by the bunker mentality of resultant clashes with the press. The siege mentality only underscores the group's hard-nosed, cut-and-paste sample technique and the eloquence of Chuck D. 'Fight The Power' still bites harder than just aboutany other track in rap's history.

Customer Reviews

An all-time classic in any genre
I was never really into hip-hop/rap during the late 80's and early 90's...I was more of a metal/indie kid at the time. But then one day in mid-1990 I heard a tape of this album in a friend's car and its no understatement to say that it changed my life (or at least, my musical habits, which pretty well was my life at the time). Admittedly, it took alot of listening to get into it, but it was the sheer dynamism of the music that blew me away. Other reviewers have talked about the production, the samples, the lyrics, intelligence, attitude and invention - and they are all absolutely right. What also needs to be emphasised are the hooks - there are tracks on this album that, given time, will sink into your memory and stay there forever. It is, frankly, a staggering piece of work which makes the hackneyed posturing of punk (i.e. the Clash, to which PE get compared to alot in terms of "revolutionary" content) look sad, limp and reactionary in comparison.

If I had not heard this, I would never have been turned onto techno, soul, funk, rave (and of course, rap)...all the glorious genre's that a sad, white indie kid tended to avoid at that time. I suppose to listeners today, it might sound dated (in production terms) but then, so do The Beatles. Its one of my favourite albums ever and in my humble opinion, one of the all time classics. Put it this way, when I played it to a thrash metal-fixated friend of mine at the time and raved on about how it was the "rap equivalent of heavy metal", he just gave me a funny look and said "you've changed". I never saw him again. But he was right - I had changed. "Fear Of A Black Planet" was (and still is) that powerful.

As close as a 'concept album' as hip hop or P.E. could get.
As I review this retrospectively, a decade further on, I can recall the anticipation of its release, on import and then over here, which has not been matched by any other hip hop album since.It had a lot to live up to when inevitably contrasted with 'A nation of millions', but was none the less seminal for the advent of hip hop into the 90's and beyond. 'Welcome to the terrordome' set the scene as an uncompromising and inevitably controversial first release that proved in my opinion to be perhaps P.Es greatest hour. When hip hop needed credence and a cornerstone for a new decade, 'Fear of a black planet' provided just that, and P.E delivered the funk. The bomb squad were reaching unattained heights in the use of sampling, and Chuck D's lyrical dexterity was peaking, combining with genuinely provocative content, without the use of shock tactics for the sake of it. In essence, along with KRSONE, P.E were providing dynamic, socially relevant hip hop which transcened cliche and hype. Despite lacking the singular bombs of their former masterpiece, this album was certainly an almagamation of concepts, which remains innovative and classic today, and the production has stood the test of time, as well as any other album from that era. There was a feeling that P.E. would never again get as good as this, but this was enough to hold aloft as what the future was meant to sound like.

Way Ahead
This is one of the most uncompromising albums ever. Way ahead of its time, nothing in Hip Hop before or since has ever come close to matching the sheer intensity of the songs here. Probably one of the greatest albums ever but (as others here have noted) it's not an easy listen - so probably not for those wanting a nice happy melody!