CD: "Fear of a Black Planet" by Public Enemy; Def Jam Records

Release: March 20, 1990

Style: Rap

My take: In its heyday, Public Enemy was the most vocal and influential rap group on the scene. With its 1988 album "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back," the trio of Chuck D, Professor Griff and Flavor Flav exploded on to the mainstream with perhaps the most potent and revolutionary rap album in history. It was filled wall-to-wall with gritty, politically driven lyrics backed up with innovative background music, and Public Enemy became spokesmen fighting against black oppression and opening the eyes of suburban America.

After the release of "Nation," Public Enemy was the center of a controversy because of Griff's anti-Semitic comments that received exposure nationwide. Subsequently, Griff was released from the band and Chuck D, Flavor Flav and their production team The Bomb Squad moved on, releasing "Fear of a Black Planet" in 1990.

With "Planet," Public Enemy shifted its focus from lyrics to expanding its musical scope while still keeping its political priorities intact. This change in gears resulted in a rap record that is very dense and heady while achieving high listenability and getting its message across in a strong way.

Adding to the appeal of "Planet" is its all-encompassing approach with driving funk and beats, seductive grooves, use of dub reggae and liberal use of sampling from both obscure and recognizable sources. Keep in mind this is before laws limiting it were passed, so musicians had carte blanche to sample as much as they wanted. Musically, it's as solid an offering as you can find in rap music, perhaps any genre.

Lyrically, Chuck D, Enemy's primary songwriter, remains angry, persuasive and focused, with Flavor Flav counterbalancing the record's consistent ire with his own sense of humor as best displayed on "911 is a Joke." Chuck D walks the line of homophobia in "Meet the G that Killed Me," attacks the entertainment industry's stereotyping of blacks on "Burn Hollywood Burn" and constructs aural chaos on "Welcome to the Terrordome." But he is never any better than on Enemy's most famous song to date: "Fight the Power," the song that launched rap into a higher plateau with its powerful lyrics and a music video directed by Spike Lee.

Overall, "Fear of a Black Planet" is heavy and layered enough for fans to listen to it many times over and discover something new every time. Political outcry in rap music has since been replaced by more materialistic focuses, and Chuck D and Flavor Flav have been demoted to C-list celebrity status, which is truly unfortunate. Still, they will always be remembered for bringing a whole new genre to the masses and for their magnum opus, "Fear of a Black Planet."

Jeremy Castillo is a student at Windward Community College.