Public Enemy “Can’t Do Nuttin’ For Ya Man”

sfilzen — Wed, 16 Mar 2022 17:19:12 +0000

Public Enemy “Can’t Do Nuttin’ For Ya Man” 1990. Def Jam Recordings. Today, March 16th, is Flavor Flav’s birthday (b. William Jonathan Drayton Jr., 1959) so I’m taking this 12″ single from Public Enemy’s amazing 1990 album Fear of a Black Planet out for a spin. “Can’t Do Nuttin’ For Ya Man” was the last single from the record, released in October 1990 (I’m not sure that it charted). The 12″ has two remixes of the track on Side A: the “U.K. 12″ Powermixx” and the “Dub Mixx,” both remixed by S.P. Jervier. Side B has two remixes of “Get the F— Outta Dodge” – the “Escapism 1991” and the “Censored Escapism Radio Version” mixes. “Get the F— Outta Dodge” appears on Public Enemy’s 1991 album Apocalypse 91…The Enemy Strikes Black and is a song “about apartheid in America, in the form of noise pollution laws which are designed so that you can’t drive your car through a white neighborhood with your system playing loud. And I’m saying when the s–t gets that crazy, you’ve just got to get the f–k out of town. I got stopped a while back for playing my system too loud, ’cause I was a black guy riding through a white neighborhood in a jeep.” (Chuck D, Melody Maker). Also on the B-side is the “Extended Censored Fried to the Radio Version” of the excellent non-single track from Fear of a Black Planet “Burn Hollywood Burn,” one of my favorite songs from the album.

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Public Enemy “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back”

sfilzen — Tue, 25 Aug 2020 19:28:51 +0000

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 🤷‍♀️

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Public Enemy “Can’t Do Nuttin’ For Ya Man”

Public Enemy “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back”