If you don't see numerous copies of this CD in every cheapy bin in your town, move away from your little shit town tomorrow. Don't even pack your panties. Just go. This is the sole solo CD by the leader of former rap sensations (and current has-beens) Public Enemy. Musically the mix is much less busy, hectic and violent than classic Public Enemy, generally comprised of one repeated musical sample with the occasional soundbite or scratching bit. But the samples are mostly catchy ones, thank goodness, much like the best of modern-day Public Enemy, which relies on the same formula. There are lots of unfamiliar voices rapping on here, leading me to believe that Mister D has invited several of friends to guest star, rather than studying for years to master a variety of different vocal inflections and using medical procedures to alter his larynx six or seven times throughout the course of the record. Sure, that's the way they would have done it in the old days, but with today's computer technology and the Internet, you can do almost anything. Except find pictures of naked women. You still can't do that, but with technology moving at an outrageous speed comparable to that of Bruce Jenner in the 1980 Olympic games, you can bet that a solution to this age-old problem is right around the corner. Hear our plea, Bill "Mastur" Gates and Steve "Hand" Jobs!
Lyrically, the album trashes talk shows for appealing to stupid people and making them even stupider, African-Americans who beat up other African-Americans, apathy and NYC mayor Rudy Giuliani, who is also attacked on the latest Agnostic Front album, although I'm going to go out on a limb here and surmise that Mister Charles Ridenhour and Mister Vinnie Stigma do not hang out, drink beers and admire other guys' legs together.
I live in NYC and I'm not happy to see Giuliani go. Supposedly the place was a hellhole before I got here, but since I arrived, he's really cleaned it up. Unless you attribute the cleanliness to my arrival. I must admit that I do p
Jesus fucking Christ. Warning: there's a weird bonus track on this CD that just came on and scared the living fuck out of me.
But that's not the issue. The point is that the album is plenty good, but has enough forgettable tracks with bland backgrounds to make you want to pull out your old copy of It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back.
Oh hell, did I say It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back? I of course meant The Beach Boys' Still Cruisin', featuring the hit single "Kokomo."