Editing Public Enemy (section)

==Legacy==
Public Enemy made contributions to the hip-hop world with sonic experimentation as well as political and cultural consciousness, which infused itself into skilled and poetic [[rhymes]]. Critic [[Stephen Thomas Erlewine]] wrote that "PE brought in elements of [[free jazz]], hard [[funk]], even [[musique concrète]], via [its] producing team the Bomb Squad, creating a dense, ferocious sound unlike anything that came before."<ref>{{cite web|author=Stephen Thomas Erlewine |url=http://www.allmusic.com/album/it-takes-a-nation-of-millions-to-hold-us-back-mw0000196315 |title=It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back – Public Enemy &#124; Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards |website=[[AllMusic]] |access-date=April 19, 2014|author-link=Stephen Thomas Erlewine }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.guitarplayer.com/article/fight-the-presets/Jun-06/20956 |title=Electric & Acoustic Guitar Gear, Lessons, News, Blogs, Video, Tabs & Chords |website=GuitarPlayer.com |access-date=April 19, 2014}}</ref> Public Enemy held a strong, pro-black, political stance. Before PE, politically motivated hip-hop was defined by a few tracks by [[Ice-T]], [[Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five]], [[Kurtis Blow]] and [[Boogie Down Productions]]. Other politically motivated opinions were shared by prototypical artists [[Gil Scott-Heron]] and [[the Last Poets]]. PE was a revolutionary hip-hop act whose entire image rested on a specified political stance. With the successes of Public Enemy, many hip-hop artists began to celebrate [[Afrocentricity|Afrocentric]] themes, such as [[Kool Moe Dee]], [[Gang Starr]], [[X Clan]], [[Eric B. & Rakim]], [[Queen Latifah]], [[Jungle Brothers|the Jungle Brothers]], and [[A Tribe Called Quest]].

Public Enemy was one of the first hip-hop groups to do well internationally. PE changed the Internet's music distribution capability by being one of the first groups to release [[MP3]]-only albums,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/topics/infoart/public-enemy/index.html|title=Transcriptions Topics: Artists of Information: Public Enemy and MP3|date=May 9, 2003|access-date=October 4, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030509235039/http://transcriptions.english.ucsb.edu/archive/topics/infoart/public-enemy/index.html|archive-date=May 9, 2003|url-status=dead}}</ref> a format virtually unknown at the time.

Poet and [[hip-hop]] artist [[Saul Williams]] uses a sample from Public Enemy's "Welcome to the Terrordome" in his song "Tr[n]igger" on the ''Niggy Tardust'' album.  He also used a line from the song in his poem, ''amethyst rocks''.

Public Enemy helped to create and define "[[rap metal]]" by collaborating with [[Living Colour]] in 1988 ("[[Funny Vibe]]"), with [[Sonic Youth]] on the 1990 song "[[Kool Thing]]", and with New York [[thrash metal]] outfit [[Anthrax (American band)|Anthrax]] in 1991. The single "[[Bring the Noise]]" was a mix of semi-militant [[black power]] lyrics, grinding guitars, and sporadic humor. The two bands, cemented by a mutual respect and the personal friendship between Chuck D and Anthrax's [[Scott Ian]], introduced a hitherto alien genre to rock fans, and the two seemingly disparate groups toured together. Flavor Flav's pronouncement on stage that "They said this tour would never happen" (as heard on Anthrax's ''[[Live: The Island Years]]'' CD) has become a legendary comment in both rock and hip-hop circles. Metal guitarist [[Vernon Reid]] (of [[Living Colour]]) contributed to Public Enemy's recordings, and PE sampled [[Slayer]]'s "Angel of Death" half-time riff on "She Watch Channel Zero?!"

The [[Manic Street Preachers]] track "Repeat (Stars And Stripes)" is a remix of the band's own anti-monarchy tirade by the Bomb Squad of whom [[James Dean Bradfield]] and [[Richey Edwards]] were big fans. The song samples "Countdown to Armageddon" from ''[[It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back]]''. The band had previously sampled Public Enemy on their 1991 single "[[Motown Junk]]." Other rock bands that have cited Public Enemy and the Bomb Squad as influences include [[My Bloody Valentine (band)|My Bloody Valentine]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Pearis |first=Bill |date=October 29, 2013 |title=an interview with Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine |url=https://www.brooklynvegan.com/an-interview-wi-86/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240119171031/https://www.brooklynvegan.com/an-interview-wi-86/ |archive-date=January 19, 2024 |access-date=October 6, 2024 |website=[[BrooklynVegan]] |quote=Well I’m very pleased to be beside Public Enemy, they were a very big influence on us.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/classic-tracks-my-bloody-valentine-only-shallow|title=CLASSIC TRACKS: My Bloody Valentine 'Only Shallow'|website=Soundonsound.com|access-date=October 4, 2019}}</ref> [[...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=Taylor |first=Katherine Yeske |date=July 22, 2022 |title=…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead: If You Want Blood, You Got It |url=https://rockandrollglobe.com/indie-rock/and-you-will-know-us-by-the-trail-of-dead-if-you-want-blood-you-got-it/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240613181203/https://rockandrollglobe.com/indie-rock/and-you-will-know-us-by-the-trail-of-dead-if-you-want-blood-you-got-it/ |archive-date=June 13, 2024 |access-date=October 6, 2024 |website=Rock & Roll Globe |quote=We were always influenced by our heroes, whether it's [[Kate Bush]] or Public Enemy or [[Sonic Youth]].}}</ref> and [[Quicksand (American band)|Quicksand]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hill |first=Stephen |date=November 9, 2017 |title=Quicksand's track by track guide to new album Interiors |url=https://www.loudersound.com/features/quicksands-track-by-track-guide-to-new-album-interiors |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230425104246/https://www.loudersound.com/features/quicksands-track-by-track-guide-to-new-album-interiors |archive-date=April 25, 2023 |access-date=October 27, 2023 |website=Louder |quote=Also, I think you hear the hip-hop influence on Quicksand here, I haven’t mentioned that, but we were influenced by Public Enemy as much as we were [[Led Zeppelin]] or [[Jane’s Addiction]] or [[Fugazi]]. I like that that influence is still there.”}}</ref>

The revolutionary influence of the band is seen throughout hip-hop and is recognized in society and politics. The band "rewrote the rules of hip-hop", changing the image, sound and message forever.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/public-enemy-mn0000856785/biography|title=Public Enemy – Biography & History|website=[[AllMusic]]|access-date=December 12, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/8463262/public-enemy-it-takes-a-nation-of-millions-to-hold-us-back|title=Public Enemy Talks 'It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back' on Its 30th Anniversary|magazine=Billboard|access-date=December 12, 2018|date=June 30, 2018}}</ref> Pro-black lyrics brought political and social themes to hardcore hip hop, with stirring ideas of racial equality, and retribution against police brutality, aimed at disenfranchised blacks, but appealing to all the poor and underrepresented.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/ballad-boombox-what-public-enemy-tells-us-about-hip-hop-race-and-society-180962095/|title=The Ballad of the Boombox: What Public Enemy Tells Us About Hip-Hop, Race and Society|first=Lorraine|last=Boissoneault|website=Smithsonian|access-date=December 12, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.dallasweekly.com/arts_and_entertainment/article_2f281b60-4b8f-11e2-8185-0019bb30f31a.html|title=The Undying Influence of Public Enemy|author=Jihad Hassan Muhammad|newspaper=[[The Dallas Weekly]]|access-date=December 12, 2018|archive-date=February 6, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180206115338/http://www.dallasweekly.com/arts_and_entertainment/article_2f281b60-4b8f-11e2-8185-0019bb30f31a.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Before Public Enemy, hip hop music was seen as "throwaway entertainment", with trite sexist and homophobic lyrics.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8945572/Public-Enemy-Prophets-of-Rage-how-the-hip-hop-group-rescued-rap.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8945572/Public-Enemy-Prophets-of-Rage-how-the-hip-hop-group-rescued-rap.html |archive-date=January 11, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=Public Enemy: Prophets of Rage – how the hip hop group rescued rap|first=Andrew|last=Pettie|date=December 9, 2011|access-date=December 12, 2018|website=Telegraph.co.uk}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Public Enemy brought social relevance and strength to hip hop. They also brought black activist [[Louis Farrakhan]] to greater popularity, and they gave impetus to the [[Million Man March]] in 1995.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hiphopdx.com/news/id.30696/title.russell-simmons-says-public-enemy-changed-everything-about-black-america|title=Russell Simmons Says "Public Enemy Changed Everything About Black America"|date=September 17, 2014|website=HipHopDX.com|access-date=December 12, 2018}}</ref>

Members of the Bomb Squad produced or remixed works for other acts, like [[Bell Biv DeVoe]], [[Ice Cube]], [[Vanessa Williams]], [[Sinéad O'Connor]], [[Blue Magic (band)|Blue Magic]], [[Peter Gabriel]], [[LL Cool J]], [[Paula Abdul]], [[Jasmine Guy]], [[Jody Watley]], [[Eric B & Rakim]], [[3rd Bass]], [[Big Daddy Kane]], [[EPMD]], and [[Chaka Khan]]. According to Chuck D, "We had tight dealings with [[MCA Records]] and were talking about taking three guys that were left over from [[New Edition]] and coming up with an album for them. The three happened to be Ricky Bell, [[Michael Bivins]], and [[Ronnie DeVoe]], later to become [[Bell Biv DeVoe]]. [[Ralph Tresvant]] had been slated to do a solo album for years, [[Bobby Brown]] had left New Edition and experienced some solo success beginning in 1988, and [[Johnny Gill]] had just been recruited to come in, but [he] had come off a solo career and could always go back to that. At MCA, Hiram Hicks, who was their manager, and Louil Silas, who was running the show, were like, 'Yo, these kids were left out in the cold. Can y'all come up with something for them?' It was a task that Hank, Keith, Eric, and I took on to try to put some kind of hip-hop-flavored R&B shit down for them. Subsequently, what happened in the four weeks of December [1989] was that the Bomb Squad knocked out a large piece of the production and arrangement on [[Bell Biv DeVoe]]'s three-million selling album ''Poison''. In January [1990], they knocked out ''Fear of a Black Planet'' in four weeks, and PE knocked out [[Ice Cube]]'s album ''[[AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted]]'' in four to five weeks in February."<ref>''Fight The Power'', pp. 236–237</ref> They have also produced local talent such as [[Son of Bazerk]], [[Young Black Teenagers]], [[Leaders of the New School]], Kings of Pressure, and True Mathematics—and gave producer [[Kip Collins]] his start in the business.

The influence of the band goes also beyond hip-hop in a unique{{citation needed|date=May 2019}} way,  indeed the group was cited as an influence by artists as diverse as [[Autechre]] (selected in the [[All Tomorrow's Parties (festival)|All Tomorrow's Parties]] in 2003), [[Nirvana (band)|Nirvana]] (It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back being cited by [[Kurt Cobain]] among his favorite albums), Moby (also selected ''It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back'' as one of his favorite albums),<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://thequietus.com/articles/13423-moby-favourite-albums-baker-s-dozen?page=11|title=The Quietus &#124; Features &#124; Baker's Dozen &#124; Corrupting Sonic DNA: Moby's Favourite Albums|website=[[The Quietus]]|date=September 24, 2013 |access-date=October 5, 2021}}</ref>  [[Nine Inch Nails]] (mentioned the band in [[Pretty Hate Machine]] credits), [[Björk]] (included [[Rebel Without a Pause]] in her [[The Breezeblock]] Mix in July 2007), [[Tricky (rapper)|Tricky]] (did a cover of [[Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos]] and appears in Do You Wanna Go Our Way ??? video), The Prodigy (included Public Enemy No. 1 in [[The Dirtchamber Sessions Volume One]]), [[Ben Harper]], [[Underground Resistance]] (cited by both [[Mike Banks (musician)|Mad Mike]] and [[Jeff Mills]]), Orlando Voorn, [[M.I.A. (rapper)|M.I.A.]], [[Amon Tobin]], Mathew Jonson, [[Aphex Twin]] (Welcome To The Terrordome being the first track played after the introduction at the [[Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival|Coachella Festival]] in April 2008), [[Rage Against the Machine]] (sampling the track in their song "Renegades of Funk"), and [[Porcupine Tree]]'s ''[[Fear of a Blank Planet]]''.