Backspin: Public Enemy — It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988)

Public Enemy’s sophomore album embodied the Armageddon of 1988 and helped solidify hip hop as a statement, a culture, and a movement. (97/100)

1988 was a hell of a year for hip-hop. But for urban America more broadly, it was a year of hell. The culmination of Reaganomics and the crack epidemic collided to unleash a torrent of violence, addiction, incarceration and despair. Being uniquely of the American inner city experience, hip-hop had never shied away from difficult topics, but Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back was different. It didn’t just talk about the struggles of the day like Grandmaster Flash & the Furious 5’s “The Message,” or decry injustice like Run-DMC’s “It’s Like That.” It embodied the Armageddon through a barrage of frenetic beats, abrasive sonic dissonance, and urgent rhyming, all the while galvanizing resistance and laying a blueprint for the fight.

Against a backdrop of wailing air raid sirens, the simmering intro, “Countdown to Armageddon,” informs listeners that “you’ve been warned.” It’s little preparation for the full bodied assault that “Brings the Noise” unleashes upon the speakers. If the traditional album opener is a table-setter, “Bring the…