CHOCOLATE SNOWFLAKE taketh and she giveth away. What she gaveth to me were a pair of tickets to see Public Enemy at B.B.King’s over the weekend. She knows I’m an old school fool and she accompanied me to the E.P.M.D. reunion a few months back. And she knows there is two groups that I go batshit for – Wu-Tang and Public Enemy. Listening to them brings out the ancient backpacker inside of me that believed Hip-Hop was a force for change. Turns out that the only change that Hip-Hop was good for was putting change in the pockets of the old white men and the Tall Israelis.
Twenty years ago, If you had told me that we would be in a worse place collectively as a nation I wouldn’t have believed you. Does the residue of crack cocaine in our lungs make us impotent politically and socially? I’ve never seen so many leaders and artists and thinkers all so easily corruptible. I have given up on waiting for someone to speak to me and tell me how GOD wants me to live justly. I just let GOD tell me. GOD told me to have a good time at the concert.
Public Enemy still brings that heat boys and girls. They are still as inspiring to me as they were twenty years ago. The bass still hits you in the chest like a bump of that raw Peruvian. The horns still blare out thunder like a war siren. CHUCK D is still a prophet of rage, instead of using the microphone for profit. CHUCK D is not here selling you silly rags of clothing to put on your back. You will never, ever see CHUCK D’s name on the list for rap music’s top lyricists but no one can fuck with the english language the way he does it. No other rapper has that amount of knowledge of self and the infrastructure of supremacy. P.E. hasn’t lost a step and that’s a good thing since our world is filled with even more villains and cowards than it was twenty years ago.
I’m not going to review the show song by song by lyric. It was tremendous. X-Clan opened or P.E. and they were better than I remember. P.E. also has a band backing them up and these dudes are gritty. If they are performing in your neck of the woods go see them. This is the most hardbody Hip-Hop group on the planet. Instead of feeling like you don’t own enough jewelry or that your car isn’t the freshest, Public Enemy leave you feeling empowered that you can change this corrupt society with your participation. Right after the show was over I wanted to go and start a non-profit organization today or open up my own charter school. Knowledge is powerful like that. I implore you good folks to go get some.
Peace.
My homey from Angry Citizen took some great pics from the show like the one that heads this post. Click the link here and see for yourself.
I gotta congree about PE. Since the unfortunate death of JMJ I think they currently hold the mantle for best/most consistent hip-hop stage show of that era. I first saw them in ’87 at the Run’s House Tour at Nassau Colosseum and most recently saw them a year or so ago at Sneaker Pimps NYC. In the room filled with all-over print hoodies, asthmatic Nike Talk nerds, and wanna be cool guys, I was in the back being a one man zoo. My night was complete when Chuck said “I wanna give a shout to the big man in the back he knows wassup!” My love for PE, and the one rapper I would have followed in to the gates of hell as a teen were vaildated. Look forward to the concert review Dallas….
Ha! I was at that Sneaker Pimps show up inside the old Limelight. I was in the back smoking out with my peoples, the Beatnuts.
True story, I walked around that show with my pair of holy grail Nike Air Tech Challenges in a clear plastic box. There was this blacklight room in the venue and the neon strip on my shoes lit up inside of there.
^^^LOL… DP to think the places we’ve probably crossed paths and never knew it. I was in there getting my ’88 on with my Fila velour jacket, matching OG Fila classics, and the cables on. I remember hearing this group of kids talking about “Yo he musta just came home or something.” The hilarity. I got a pair of Tech’s in storage myself. Spring is coming and classic stunting season will have to be in effect as we bring lightskinned back…
Haven’t y’all figured it out yet. Lightskinned IS NOT coming back. Pour yourselves a drink, put on some DeBarge, and let it sink in.
Yo Dallas, what do you think about Viacom suing Google/Youtube?
Do you smell trouble brewing on the Internets?
Good to hear about PE still doing it.
But don’t worry about the DEVIL, d, don’t you know he’s dead?
^
wow look at that. sorry about the hypertext gone bananas.
what did cs taketh…
and when’s the fundraiser for the dallas penn old skool real school?
I have nothing but respect for Chuck D. I listened to him on the radio a few months back talking about this rap ish. Dude really stays true with it.
You’re right, never once did folks really worry about what they had when listening to PE, although I wanted a big ‘A’ Clock around my neck at one time or another.
this is when i acknowledge i may be the baby of the bunch. i was about 9 years old at PEs height of popularity. i was also in compton and mad at the world courtesy of NWA and PE.
this era reminds me of long gone days of optimism and self aware anger. at 9 i was ice grilling crackheads and shouting out eff da police. then i got whooped. in high school, i felt like i was doing it big and strengthening our people when i bought those “old school” cd’s. love and respect to public enemy. here’s me hoping we get back to basics and more aware soon. (pours a little martinelli’s out)
PE was the shit! Them, EPMD, RUNDMC(believe it or not) and the WU were/is among the greatest crews to ever RECORD a record. If any one could ever accuse me of being a stan, it would have been for PE (wit WU second). I remember when they filmed FIGHT THE POWER, every crew in Brooklyn was there, D’cept , Lo-Lifes, even the frigin A-Team showed they asses. But there it was still peace….
Great show Dallas…respect for the shout-out.
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