I love so many of these early rap records. Intelligent, socially conscious lyrics, and a magpie-like approach to assembling their sounds. The tracks feature everything from James Brown to Slayer. As well as the music, spoken word and 'found-sound' samples are used. There's an odd high-pitched noise that runs throughout the different tracks that would have seemed odd at the time, but came to be used by a few 90s rap artists. Chuck D proclaimed that if Phil Spector invented the 'wall of sound' production approach, Public Enemy's Hank Shockley invented the 'Wall of Noise'.
It's a sign of how influential the album has been that other artists have likewise pilfered sounds and lines from this record, with artists ranging from Jurassic 5 to Weezer taking bits and pieces from them. The track "Prophets of Rage" would go on to give the name to the group that Chuck D would form with ex-members of Rage Against the Machine. That collaboration also prompted by the influence this group had on that band.
There's hardcore rap, rock/metal-rap and the brilliant subversion of the Beastie Boys hit with "Party for your right to fight". The mix of MCs works too, with Flava Flav adding a touch of levity to the otherwise intense verbal onslaught.
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