PUBLIC ENEMY – SO WHATCHA GONNA DO NOW? (DEF JAM RECORDINGS/ISLAND RECORDS)
This was a surprise when it came out. As Public Enemy appeared to be mellowing and grounded despite adopting a more mid tempo riff this song still carries a lot of weight and intensity displaying that this act was very much still in the game.
Early menace in the record comes from the form of the whispered introduction before Chuck D is soon laying into an audience living out a hip hop lifestyle that is as much media invention as it is reality. Public Enemy never really got into the East Coast v West Coast nonsense, they were never gangsta and never pro-violence. As a result this generally made them the thinking man’s hip hop act.
“So Whatcha Gonna Do Now?” asks a lot of questions of the listener. I think the general tone of the song states that the band have matured and moved into a smarter place and now is the listener about to do so as well? Its all a very dark ride. Chuck D is going off.
Sinister horns beckon in the chorus the mantra of “rap, guns, drugs and money” gets thrown out as if it were a feasible reality. There is stench. More realistic however is “talking that Gat talk, walking that catwalk”. We see right through.
Following comes a more subtle “Drive By S##t” mix where the words are clearer even if the lessened backing is more hip. Said lessened backing then follows as an instrumental track. Not necessary.
The release ends with an airing of “Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos”, their classic cut from six years earlier on It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back. With it’s Isaac Hayes sample the inclusion of it here is somewhat curious. Was the intention to get it onto twelve inch vinyl? Was Chuck trying to comparing it to the work of now to question how far we have come (or rather not). At the end of the day there is no doubting the quality of the tune, only what it is doing here. Was Chuck envisaging an upcoming draft towards the Middle East?
Still it.
Thesaurus moment: clarity.
Public Enemy
Def Jam Recordings
This was a surprise when it came out. As Public Enemy appeared to be mellowing and grounded despite adopting a more mid tempo riff this song still carries a lot of weight and intensity displaying that this act was very much still in the game.
Early menace in the record comes from the form of the whispered introduction before Chuck D is soon laying into an audience living out a hip hop lifestyle that is as much media invention as it is reality. Public Enemy never really got into the East Coast v West Coast nonsense, they were never gangsta and never pro-violence. As a result this generally made them the thinking man’s hip hop act.
“So Whatcha Gonna Do Now?” asks a lot of questions of the listener. I think the general tone of the song states that the band have matured and moved into a smarter place and now is the listener about to do so as well? Its all a very dark ride. Chuck D is going off.
Sinister horns beckon in the chorus the mantra of “rap, guns, drugs and money” gets thrown out as if it were a feasible reality. There is stench. More realistic however is “talking that Gat talk, walking that catwalk”. We see right through.
Following comes a more subtle “Drive By S##t” mix where the words are clearer even if the lessened backing is more hip. Said lessened backing then follows as an instrumental track. Not necessary.
The release ends with an airing of “Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos”, their classic cut from six years earlier on It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back. With it’s Isaac Hayes sample the inclusion of it here is somewhat curious. Was the intention to get it onto twelve inch vinyl? Was Chuck trying to comparing it to the work of now to question how far we have come (or rather not). At the end of the day there is no doubting the quality of the tune, only what it is doing here. Was Chuck envisaging an upcoming draft towards the Middle East?
Still it.
Thesaurus moment: clarity.
Public Enemy
Def Jam Recordings
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