No One Broadcasts Louder Than…

There’s very little dispute about the importance of Public Enemy to Hip Hop, the only debate is their ‘relevance’ in modern day Hip Hop.

That debate is pointless though. Seriously, what the fuck are you bandwagon jumping motherfucks talking about?

Have all the issues PE were speaking about in 88 gone? Does inequality not exist anymore? Are Governments the world over not corrupt anymore?

The reality is that PE are probably more ‘relevant’ now then they’ve ever been.

In the 80’s and early 90’s shit was a lot more overt, Thatcher and Reagan didn’t give a flying fuck about hiding their objectives or their methods in comparison to the modern regimes in the UK and the USA.

The problem is most of you just don’t care do you?

Even after all the shit that’s happened in these early days of the new millennium, you just don’t care or have fallen into the mindset of “well there’s nothing I can do about it”.

Be honest with yourself you know that statement is true, I know because it’s partially true of myself.

That’s where the supposed lack of ‘relevance’ comes from along with the mindset of “music is to dance to not raise a fist in protest” or for netheads to textually masturbate over flows and clever word play rather than the actual content or meaning of the lyrics. Artists can rhyme positively about anything from domestic violence to selling crack to their community, that’s apparently more ‘relevant’ than Chuck giving his point of view on politics.

Defensively you’ll all say “They’ll never make another album like ‘It Takes A Nation’ again. Nothing could compare to the impact that made.” You’d be right, doesn’t mean that their new music isn’t any good though does it?

No Kanye, Just Blaze, (insert today's hot super producers name here) haven’t produced anything on the album. Does that mean it’s wack?

For those not stuck in the band wagon jumper mindset and who judge a record on its own merits rather than how many daps it’ll get in the Hip Hop press or from the nets large community of elitists then give ‘New Whirl Odor’ a listen.

I’m not going to preach about it being the album of the year because it’s not. Is it worth your money? Hell yeah and not just because it’s PE.

Music’s there to be enjoyed, whether that’s to dance or to relax to but at the same time it’s also a form of communication. All artists communicate through their music; it doesn’t have to be political to have a ‘message’ or a meaning. Every record you listen to has a message, whether you consciously take note of the message or not, it’s there. With PE as usual you can’t help but notice it. Whether you want to think about what they’re saying or not is another matter…

There are no revolutionary ideas here. Addressing being poor and political corruption are hardly new concepts but it’s still something that deserves to be talked about and discussed by the people it affects, i.e. the majority of us.

Sonically the album is, in parts, reminiscent of the Bomb Squad style of production although still lacking the wall of sound (wait two years and you’ll hear that again… If the album notes are to be believed.)

Chuck is still the same Chuck, which is a good thing. Would you really want Chuck to be even trying to compete with the likes of Ghostface or Jay-Z in terms of his flow and word play? Fuck no. Chuck isn’t a wack MC though and while he may not be up on the metaphors and silky smooth flows his uniqueness continues to add to the PE experience.

With the album comes a DVD, which is actually enjoyable to watch unlike many other ‘free’ DVDs that come with albums. There are 4 music videos and 3 documentaries along with some pictures and shit… Not worth buying the album solely for but an interesting addition.

The advance has been on the net for a while now and no doubt all those who were interested have already checked it out, for the rest of you give it a listen if only to break the monotony of a lot of modern Hip Hop, especially the MTV endorsed Hip Hop and also the generic ‘underground’ stuff that’s out there now.

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Tags - Hip Hop, Public Enemy