#497 - Public Enemy - Yo! Bum Rush the Show

Yo! Bum Rush the Show debuted in 1987 and propelled Chuck D., Flava Flav, and the rest of Public Enemy to hip-hop glory. Twenty-three years later, the albums influence on the path rap and hip-hop would take remains evident, but something has been lost in translation over the years. Yo! Bum Rush the Show, like most of its fellow late 80’s and early 90’s hip-hop brethren, likens itself to Mickey Rourke’s face in that it has not aged well at all. What was, at that point in 1987, a lyrical overload hammering a political and social message has become an album full of ho-hum rhymes and Flava Flav doing what he does best…spitting nonsense.

The aspects of this album that are still as good as they were so long ago are the creative beats and wonderful samples courtesy of The Bomb Squad. I especially love the sample during the breakdown in “Miuzi Weighs a Ton.” Also, Chuck D’s aggression and intensity behind his rhymes are something to be praised for the music it would later inspire. It’s hard to imagine the anger in any rapper from Eminem to Rage Against the Machine’s Zack de la Rocha without Chuck D. Not to mention the fusings of rap, rock, heavy metal, and jazz spanning the albums of either artist.

Aside from the lackluster rhymes, which I understand were an innovation in their own right and responsible for the edgier and arguably more creative rhymes of present day, the only complaint I have towards this album regards Flava Flav. I don’t understand his role in Public Enemy. It took half the album before he ever added anything that resembled a rhyme scheme. Instead, he concerns himself mainly with being the designated hype man for Chuck D’s bravado. Maybe, I just don’t understand what a hype man brings to the table at all, other than being an annoyance similar to hearing Funkmaster Flex on every single rap song you illegally downloaded ten years ago. Flava Flav’s only shot at dignified glory comes during “Too Much Posse” when he finally gets his time to shine and pulls it off with a dose of swagger.

All in all, I can respect what Public Enemy and more importantly their debut album did for the blossoming rap and hip-hop art form and community, but again, given the artists we have now, this album is not incredibly listenable. Besides “Sophisticated Bitch,” which I first encountered while watching Jackass, the album does not contain one track that was instantly identifiable or able to get stuck in my head prompting further listens. That being said, due to its innovation and future influence, the album deserves a spot on the list, but not above ZZ Top’s Tres Hombres. The fact that it is I find as ridiculous as Flav’s line of work after Public Enemy.

d.

I really had high expectations and Enemy kinda left me hanging this time. Not a bad CD by any means and certainly ahead of its time. This album really shows why Chuck D was the real draw. Flava Flav serves no purpose here and the beats are generally only decent. Sophisticated Bitch sounds like someone found the track left over from a RunDMC session and told Chuck to go to town.

That’s the real problem for me. You have such a captivating voice spitting verses that still resonate today and you weigh it down with heavy-handed beats and weak scratching. I have almost no complaints from a lyrical perspective aside from a few lines that are pretty dated. But through so much here it really feels like Chuck D is dragging everyone behind him like a Ferrari with the emergency brake on. It really makes some songs drag. After the first three minutes we already knew, your Uzi weighs a ton. Did we need a full five and a half minutes?

Some songs break the mold though. "Timebomb" has a sparse beat, mostly drums and a sweet organ lick. Everything just bounces along so smoothly, a great track. "Too Much Posse" is all drums and Flav and is probably his best performance. I know "911 is a Joke" is a classic, but his actual ability to ride the rhythm was never better than right here.

There’s a lot more disappointment to come though. "Public Enemy No. 1" is just annoying. The phaseshift on the bass is so grating, I found I was actually clenching my jaw the whole time. The repetition of the word ‘one’ on every chorus comes across as lazy and obnoxious. The title track has three 8 bar verses over four minutes and twenty seconds. What’s the point?

I just don’t feel like I listened to a whole cohesive album. No flow from one track to the next at all. There are individual songs that stand out, but even when they line up in the track order the jump from one song to the next is distracting. It’s like the phone ringing mid-lovin’. No matter how good it is, it takes you out of the rhythm. Man, I hate saying this, but I just feel let down by P.E. right now….

-The Fat Man