By Buck 65
It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back by Public Enemy is the one you always see on lists, but for me, Yo! Bum Rush The Show is the one. No record has ever completely exploded my skull like this behemoth. It's more stripped down than Nation Of Millions which leaves more room for the beats to pulverize and Chuck D's voice to dominate. It's very clean, which gives us a good look at some of the ugliest sounds ever recorded. And the turntable work of Terminator X is like being attacked by an ax-wielding Mike Tyson. I heard this record for the first time shortly after it was released back in 1987 and - pardon my French - it FUCKED ME UP! I've been walking around in a daze ever since. And I have devoted my life to trying to make music that might scramble someone's brain the way this album did mine.
It starts perfectly with "You're Gonna Get Yours." Another suitable title would be "Consider Yourself Warned." It's as if they're saying to the universe, "I'm going to kick your ass right now!" It's a song about a 98 Oldsmobile, of all things. But it's also essentially a prequel to NWA's "Fuck The Police" and it's easily just as furious. There's something kinda post-punky about the drum track in this song. It's not really funky, like pretty much all hip hop was at the time. It's jittery-stutter-y: as if the kicks, snares and hi-hats all belong to separate songs. And throughout the song, a creepy guitar loop eats its tail like an ouroboros with yellow eyes.
Jumping ahead to "Rightstarter," the kick drums in the verses come from the palsied hand of Terminator X and end up sounding like a elephant throwing a high-speed temper tantrum. It's just SO nasty! It's a highlight of a very turntable-heavy album (it's fitting that the group is huddled around a turntable on the album cover), which is a big part of the appeal for a scratch-addict, like myself. But the cuts never feel wanky on this album. Even when they fly at us in a multi-layered blitz, they always play a smart musical role. It's tasteful chaos. Next is "M.P.E." When I first heard this, I had never heard a hip hop song this slow. But the hallmark of this song is the god-forsaken noise that drones behind the drum track like corrugated steel being cut with a circular saw. It's the most awful/powerful sound I've ever heard. I'd love to know where they found this sound or how they made it. When you play this song on your stereo, a torrent of sparks flies out of your speakers. I once listened to this song on repeat for two hours and went blind for a week. Things don't get any easier on the title track, which follows. The piano sounds like it's being played with a sledge hammer. The drums sound like a machine that was designed to pull your arms off. This song is possessed by demons with dental equipment. "Raise The Roof" is Public Enemy firing on all cylinders. This song sounds like a satanic lobotomy being performed. I get images of evil clowns and Solid Gold dancers getting struck by lightning. It's evil! It sounds like Terminator X is malfunctioning, but in a good/terrifying way. "Megablast" is the last waltz at a prom for crackheads. Yo! Bum Rush The Show ruined my life. It's slick, but it's ugly. It's a lot of jarring noise, but very musical at the same time. It's terrifying but I can't stop laughing. You can't dance to it, but you feel like you'll get murdered if you don't. It's heavier than any metal album and punker than punk. Nothing I've ever heard has had a more profound effect on me. This record kills me. Buck 65 – September 2010 ### Before I ever heard Public Enemy, I was a fan of Run D.M.C. and loved their marriage of hip hop and hard rock guitars on songs like "Rock Box", "King Of Rock" and "Raising Hell." So then comes along the second song on Bum Rush, "Sophisticated Bitch." It's like those Run D.M.C. songs, but... meaner. It's slower and colder. It uses the same drum track as "Friends" by Whodini, but this time the message is: "I don't want to be your god damn friend. Bitch."
Then comes "Miuzi Weighs A Ton" for Christ's sake! I still don't have words for the all-out punishing heaviness of the hook in this song and I probably never will. It's a barrage of wrecking ball drums, scratches from the hand of Satan and Flavor Flav daring me to "get down" to the most un-danceable song ever devised. Only Crispin Glover on steroids and weeping uncontrollably could accommodate the cruel request. Just before the 4:00 mark, you're convinced it couldn't possibly get heavier, but then, somehow it does with what sounds like hammers on your grave. And what's happening in the verses is a nightmare of noise and teeth and sarin gas. Then, to top it all off, Flav comes back at the end of the track to rub our noses in it and boast about how PE is the baddest-ass mutant militia from Hell's half acre - as if we needed to be reminded.
The first song on side 2 is "Public Enemy No. 1" which features what is perhaps my favorite use of a sample in hip hop history. The song samples "Blow Your Head" by Fred Wesley and the JB's and uses one sustained note from an old analog synth that runs almost continuously through the entire song. It's just one buzzing note held for almost five minutes. But somehow it's the most sinister thing you've ever heard in your life. Hearing it, you're given the feeling that something is wrong - terribly wrong! Something is about to explode. Or maybe something is boring a whole through your forehead as you listen to Chuck D's micro-slapback-delayed instructions which makes him sound like he comes from the future, so there's no point in disobeying. You're being brainwashed by various techniques including electrocution.
Being a philistine, my favourite PE record is Apocalypse '91. I smell you on this estimation of the debut very pungently, though.
Posted by: rap legend Jesse Dangerously | 09/07/2010 at 03:29 PM