Album dossier / 1988

It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back

Public Enemy · Hip-Hop/Political Rap

Public Enemy's sophomore album was recorded in 1987-88 at Chung King Studios, Greene St. Recording and Sabella Studios in New York, built around production crew The Bomb Squad's 'Wall of Noise' -- Hank Shocklee dug through a collection of more than 10,000 records to layer dense samples, sirens, and found-sound scratches into a chaotic sonic backdrop. Chuck D has said the group set out to make hip-hop's answer to Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On,' pairing that maximalist production with pointed, sociopolitical lyrics on 'Bring the Noise' and 'Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos'; the blueprint for the album was reportedly sketched on the tour bus during 1987's Def Jam tour alongside De La Soul and Stetsasonic, who were separately writing their own classic records at the same time. It reached #42 on the Billboard 200, went platinum, and was voted the best album of 1988 in The Village Voice's influential Pazz & Jop critics' poll.