Throwback Thursdays: Public Enemy
Thursday, September 15, 2011 at 8:49AM
Larry in 911, Chuck D, Flava Flav, Public Enemy, Throwback Thursdays, Video

If you only know Flava Flav from his embarrassing reality TV career you're missing out.  Public Enemy remains one of the most relevant ensembles in hip-hop.  Led by the militant teacher, Chuck D and his cartoon-esque clown of a sidekick, Flav - the group transformed the face of the genre.  They still put on one of the best live shows in hip-hop.  Chuck D usually led the attack on every track with few acceptions (see "Cold Lampin" and below, "911 is a Joke") with Flava Flav tossing in his trademark ad libs like, "Yeeeeaaah Boy!".

The emergency phone number "911" was invented in 1968 but didn't reach wide usage until the 80's.  On this track, Flav recounts the pains of the inner city and how they struggled to get the same emergency attention as folks in better neighborhoods.  Dig it.

 

 

 

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