By: Geoff Topley
Public Enemy | website |
Public Enemy. The undisputed greatest hip-hop band of all time. Still going strong, the mainstay members of Chuck D and Flavor Flav have a combined age of 109. This is pointed out forcefully during the double live album Live from Metropolis Studios, a concert session set up for a lucky few fans, set to be released as a DVD/CD package. My focus will be solely on the CD of the gig, no doubt the visual experience would make for excellent viewing, the CD is a tour de force whip through most of their biggest ‘hits’. As an avid fan of Public Enemy since 1989 (A number! Another summer! Sound of the funky drummer!), still eagerly snapping up every release, the opportunity to pen some words on my heroes is undeniably an honour.
I witnessed the modern day Public Enemy live experience (with full band) 12 years ago in Belfast and to this day I kick myself for somehow managing to retire from the show early. (They didn’t come on until after eleven, I had an early start). So I have first-hand knowledge of the power this band create, they only operate on full blast, there is no room for slack. Possessed of an unmistakeable and powerful voice, Chuck’s rap delivery has never waned or faded. Perhaps the speed of word has minutely reduced, but I re-iterate his age and the huge amount of energy he generates onstage with cohort Flav, youthful and exuberant as ever.
There’s always a big build up to a Public Enemy show and stage entrance sound collages with hype men whipping up a frenzy. On this occasion, the ‘Intro/Lost in Rebirth’ falls a little flat as the audience is minimal in number (only 125 lucky fans got to see this show). Ripping into ‘Miuzi Weighs a Ton’ from the first album, the old school groove is augmented with live drums. They follow up with a soul sampling call to get going ‘Get up Stand Up’, Chuck’s rapping as venomous as ever.
The first ‘hit’ to be rolled out is ‘Rebel Without a Pause’, that infamous kettle whistling sample overseeing the live instrumentation while Chuck and Flavor trade lines with impeccable timing. This version is fiery and super funky with so much going on, you can really feel the tremendous energy on stage. Flavor endeavours to get some call and response going, but as happens a few times, the crowd are lacklustre and don’t feed back what he wants. On ‘911 is a Joke’ I get the impression Flavor can’t be trusted to deliver his lines on his own as the original vocals appear to be on the backing track. If that is the case, there was no need as Flavor hits every word on cue.
Chuck D called our current world state in 1988 with ‘Welcome to the Terrordome’. The furious pile driving fucked up hoover sample lords over this raging slab of pre-world-fall-apart predictive rhymes. Bordering on metal, the performance catches up with Chuck who incorporates a direct order to turn down the air conditioning and still makes it sound like part of the tune. Freestyling over some frenetic drumming, this exemplifies how the band have transformed as a live act over the years.
Overlaying live instruments over the recorded version’s sampled grooves works to great effect, especially on ‘Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos’. It allows Chuck and Flavor to ad lib and interact with the audience, though the two minutes of Flavor agitating does seem to drag on forever. No doubt, in the actual gig, this wasn’t noticeable. Highlighting his inability to hold a note for very long, Flavor warbles along, but you forgive him this as its very much part of his character and charm. You barely notice the backing drop out as the band take over the groove, but it does get a tad muso. During ‘Show ‘Em Whatcha Got’ Chuck berates the audience for not having enough energy, pointing out that he is 54 and Flavor is 55. As if to emphasise this, there’s a mental/metal version of ‘Bring the Noise’, delivered at breakneck speed and augmented with Anthrax style metal guitar chops.
The swinging classic that is ‘Don’t Believe the Hype’ is glorious with added funky live guitar elastic bass and percussive breakdowns. When the backing drops out the band effortlessly take up the groove. Chuck lets out an earthy laugh when he encourages an audience member to do “some Oasis shit”. Then the mighty groove of ‘Can’t Truss It’ raises the roof with extra drums. Oh to have been there!
Fired up and bursting with energy from minutes 1 to 8, the insistent and addictive groove of ‘Fight the Power’ is seamlessly transformed into a James Brown Soul Power workout resplendent with funky chicken grease guitar. It must have been a massive let-down for Chuck when the audience miss their cue to shout “Beast!” after a short freestyle Chuck rap. Enraged, Chuck bellows “Come the FUCK ON!”. There’s a quick blast through ‘Can’t do Nuttin’ for Ya Man’, a Flavor tune ’31 Flavors’ before the slow swinging groove of ‘Shut ‘Em Down’ slams the show to an end, the band bringing a furious metal overload.
Live from Metropolis Studios contains some excellent pumped up versions of their classics mixed with extended jams. It’s a curious release in as much as the audience really let themselves down by refusing to party and you have to wonder why this is. It’s hard to keep up with Public Enemy releases these days as they are as prolific as ever but the distribution of their music isn’t as high profile. The recent recorded output doesn’t have the same noise and rage as the early albums and the message mightn’t be put across as aggressively, but for me, this band are the go-to guys every time I discuss hip-hop with anyone who’ll listen. Public Enemy. Very much number one.
