Editing Public Enemy (section)

===1985–1987: Formation and early years===
[[File:Public Enemy.png|thumb|Public Enemy's official logo]]
Public Enemy was formed in 1985 by Carlton Ridenhour ([[Chuck D]]) and William Drayton ([[Flavor Flav]]), who met at [[Adelphi University]] on [[Long Island]] in the mid-1980s.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} Developing his talents as an [[Master of Ceremonies|MC]] with Flav while delivering furniture for his father's business, Chuck D and Spectrum City, as the group was called, released the record "Check Out the Radio", backed by "Lies", a social commentary—both of which would influence RUSH Productions' [[Run-DMC|Run–D.M.C.]] and [[Beastie Boys]].<ref>Chang 2005, pp. 239, 241–242.</ref> Chuck D put out a tape to promote [[WBAU]] (the radio station where he was working at the time) and to fend off a local MC who wanted to [[freestyle battle|battle]] him. He called the tape ''Public Enemy #1'' because he felt like he was being persecuted by people in the local [[Subculture|scene]].{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} This was the first reference to the notion of a [[public enemy]] in any of Chuck D's songs. The single was created by Chuck D with a contribution by Flavor Flav, though this was before the group ''Public Enemy'' was officially assembled.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} Around 1986, Bill Stephney, the former Program Director at WBAU, was approached by Sam Mulderrig, who offered Stephney a position with the label.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} Stephney accepted, and his first assignment was to help fledgling producer [[Rick Rubin]] sign Chuck D, whose song "Public Enemy Number One" Rubin had heard from [[Doctor Dré|Andre "Doctor Dré" Brown]].{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}

According to the book ''The History of Rap Music'' by [[Cookie Lommel]], "Stephney thought it was time to mesh the hard-hitting style of Run DMC with politics that addressed black youth. Chuck recruited Spectrum City, which included Hank Shocklee, his brother Keith Shocklee, and Eric "Vietnam" Sadler, collectively known as [[the Bomb Squad]], to be his production team and added another Spectrum City partner, [[Professor Griff]], to become the group's Minister of Information. With the addition of Flavor Flav and another local mobile DJ named [[Terminator X]], the group Public Enemy was born".{{citation needed|date=November 2020}} According to Chuck, The S1W, which stands for Security of the First World, "represents that the black man can be just as intelligent as he is strong. It stands for the fact that we're not third-world people, we're first-world people; we're the [[Recent African origin of modern humans|original]] people".<ref>Chuck D. and Yusuf Jah, ''[[Fight the Power (Public Enemy song)|Fight the Power]]'', p. 82.</ref> Hank Shocklee came up with the name Public Enemy based on "underdog love and their developing politics" and the idea from Def Jam staffer Bill Stephney following the [[Howard Beach racial incident]], [[Bernhard Goetz]], and the [[death of Michael Stewart]]: "The Black man is definitely the public enemy."<ref>Chang 2005, p. 247.</ref>

Public Enemy started out as opening act for the Beastie Boys during the latter's ''[[Licensed to Ill]]'' popularity.{{citation needed|date=November 2020}}