3 Dope Songs from Public Enemy: The Hard Rhymer Never Lets Up

As we celebrate Public Enemy being inducted into the Hall of Fame tonight.. We wanted to remind people of some of their work.. What they have on deck is impressive.. These were some of the songs I really dug.. Enjoy..

So Whatcha Gonna Do Now This is one of my favorite songs from Public Enemy.. It was off the Muse Sick in Our Message album and sadly was overlooked by a lot of folks..  This song spawned one of  the first videos to show a Black President…15 years before Obama takes office..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhKqsIe283c

You can’t really talk about Public Enemy without making mention of this classic song ‘By the Time I get to Arizona‘. The video to this song sent shock waves throughout the country as the group depicted themselves killing two Senators and Governor  who opposed the Martin Luther King Holiday in Arizona.. The resulting controversy had critics calling rap and Public Enemy violent and a bad influence on kids.. Others said Dr King wouldn’t have like the video.. Those of us who tired of Arizona’s out right racism cheered the group on…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrFOb_f7ubw

Burn Hollywood Burn brought together 3 legends, Big Daddy Kane, Ice Cube and Chuck D who killed in both subject matter (Black stereotypical images in Hollywood and their performance.. This is a must for anyone who is a student of Hip Hop… It’s what made the so called Golden Era so powerful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DhQGH6CbKhw

I know I said 3 Dope Songs, but I’m gonna toss this bonus cut in from Terminator X‘s album called Buck Whyling. Although known throughout New York for her activism.. Lisa Williamson became known to us as Sister Souljah and is the star of this video..She later went on to do her own album with production from the Bomb Squad … I wish PE and Souljah had done more songs together.. She was and still is a force to be reckoned with and her voice was able to cut through the noise like Chucks.. I don’t think America and maybe even the group itself was ready for that pairing..

On another note Terminator X’s album was butter.. he had a number of dope songs and was the first to pay tribute to Hip Hop pioneer Kool herc by actually having him do a song for the album.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHBwwdegvSc

Lastly what y’all know about this song and rarely seen video? I’ll let it speak for itself.. I remember when the group performed this outside the GOP convention..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGFj7ypDfXQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am9BqZ6eA5c

A must see is this documentary about Public Enemy Prophets of Rage

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fM_VXPZqBg

Greatest Posse Cut of All-time: Juice Crew’s Symphony vs Wu-Tang’s Triumph-Who wins?

Been having a heated debate about the greatest pose track of all time… There’s been lots of landmark cuts to choose from like Main Source‘s Live at the BBQ which featured a young Nas among others..

You had Craig Mack‘s Flava in Ya Ear which featured notables like Notorious BIG, Busta Rhymes and LL to name a few..

Of course we had Tribe Called Quest‘s  Scenario which featured Leaders of the New School and the late Kid Hood.  But at the end of the day you gotta narrow it down to two tracks..

One of my favorites is Heavy D‘s slept on track .. A Buncha Ni— which featured among others Guru and a young Notorious BIG who made his debut

Juice Crew.. The Symphony which features Big Daddy Kane, Kool G Rap, Craig G and Master Ace. When that song dropped in ’88 Hip Hop changed for the better. Everyone had to step up their lyrical game. The careers of all those featured took off and almost all featured on that song were immortalized within the Hip Hop annals …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbsPTkwqWCI

It would be almost 10 years before another quintessential posse cut would come along on par with the Juice Crew. In ’97 the Wu Tang Clan dropped Triumph where all 9 members of Wu-Tang including Capaddona came along and like the Juice Crew before them changed the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=isumZjs3dKA

its always been a Hip Hop fantasy to speculate as to what would happen if the Juice Crew squared off w/ Wu-Tnag in a lyrical battle.. Who would match up with who? How would things go down? Juice Crew’s Symphony vs Wu-Tang’s Triumph.. Which is the Greatest of all-time?

Diggin in the Crates… 3 Songs by MC Hammer that Folks Slept On that are Nice

Been digging in crates and listening to a lot of jams that were either forgotten about or totally overlooked..Here’s a few from the one and only MC Hammer who is now an official spokesperson for the City of Oakland.. This is one of my favorite songs from MC Hammer… He teamed up with Tha Dogg Pound and they delivered this banger and many slept on it. It was the Head Hunters album.. which had songs like Pumps in the Bump.. and It’s All Good..

This cut here is called Sleeping on a Master Plan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uGxqOnZcF5o&feature=plcp

This next song is off the hard to find Family Affair album.. Hammer came at things on a Gospel tip.. I recall when Hammer brought this to the radio station..and he had just started doing a Gospel show at KMEL.. He had some unreleased tracks from Death Row he remade and gave a gospel spin..This cut is called Never Without You..

This next song has an interesting history.. Its one of those unreleased tracks that was remade to a gospel song.. The original cut featured him with Big Daddy Kane and 2Pac..It was called Too Late Playa.. We had copies of that original track but was asked not to play them because Hammer felt the message wasn’t right..he eventually remade the track and did this song called Big Man, a song that talks about domestic violence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYZnwEG9b_0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WEsZjaMG7kk