Public Enemy “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” 1988. Def Jam. Today, August 25th, is Public Enemy’s Terminator X’s birthday (b. Norman Rogers, 1966) so I’m spinning their 2nd LP today (and for many other probably quite obvious reasons as well). It Takes a Nation of Millions went to #42 on the US charts and is considered by many critics and music publications as one of the best albums of all-time and certainly one of the most influential rap/hip-hop records ever. It’s filled with unflinching social and political commentary on the state of racism and is musically complex with, like, a gazillion samples that were “mixed with no automation, instead were recorded on analog tape and later painstakingly mixed by hand.” Most of the albums’s songs are by Bomb Squad members that including PE’s Chuck D., Eric Sadler and Hank Shocklee but dj Terminator X has one writing credit “Terminator X to the Edge of Panic.” It’s a great track and my other tops are, of course, the iconic singles “Don’t Believe the Hype” (#17 US Dance and #18 US R&B charts), “Bring the Noise” (#56 US R&B/Hip Hop chart, #14 UK), “Night of the Living Baseheads” (#62 US R&B chart) and “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos” (#11 US Rap chart). I also love the deeply funky “Caught, Can We Get a Witness?” and “Party For Your Right to Fight,” Public Enemy’s answer to the Beastie Boys hit song. According to the internet, Terminator X retired from music and at some point, maybe still, had an ostrich farm 🤷‍♀️