BEST OF/20TH CENTURY

Public Enemy: Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Keith Shocklee, Hank Shocklee, Eric "Vietnam" Sadler, Terminator X, Professor Griff. Additional personnel includes: Anthrax, Sister Souljah. Producers include: Hank Shocklee, Carl Ryder, Eric "Vietnam" Sadler, Anthrax, Gary G-Wiz. Compilation producer: Dana Smart. All tracks have been digitally remastered. Photographers: Lisa Haun; David Corio. When Public Enemy appeared in the mid-1980s they shredded the map of urban music and redesigned one so expansive, complex, forward thinking, and full of political ire that its routes will probably be valid forever. The 20th CENTURY MASTERS compilation gives an overview of P.E.'s significance via a small sampling (11 tracks) from the band's oeuvre. While such a collection can't compete with the integrity of albums like IT TAKES A NATION OF MILLIONS TO HOLD US BACK and FEAR OF A BLACK PLANET (both of which are required listening), THE BEST OF brings together some of P.E.'s best studio moments. And superb moments they are. In addition to their militant political stances (P.E. advocated the philosophies of separatist leaders like Louis Farrakhan), the group was musically revolutionary. Assisted by the Bomb Squad, the production team that gave P.E. their trademark avant-rap sound, Flava Flav's absurdist raps, Terminator X's cutting and scratching, and Chuck D.'s intense, utterly original poetic commentary resemble nothing heard before or since in popular music.