Public Enemy - Rebirth of a Nation: Album Review

Public Enemy, Rebirth of a Nation (Guerilla Funk, 2005)
For this, their 10th or 15th album, Public Enemy teamed up with "multitalented" hip-hop artist Paris. You may remember him from the song "Bush Killer" from way back in the first of many Bush administrations. He produces all of the songs on here and probably rhymes on all of them, too. Or at least most of them.

RAW SHIT

It took me a while to get into this because it sounds nothing at all like Public Enemy, and - like literally everyone else that's ever lived - it's not like I would normally listen to Paris.

HARD RHYMIN'

I guess there was that one song he was on on Revolverlution - for the 8 people that bought that - but that was different because it sounded like PE and just happened to feature Paris. This would be sort of the opposite in that it sounds like Paris featuring PE.

RISE

How does Paris sound, then? Like a dude with a old ass Casio keyboard, basically. I remember his older shit being more sample-oriented, but maybe I shouldn't trust my memory as much. Rhyme-wise, I can hear the slightest bit of 2Pac in his delivery, but again who knows.

CAN'T HOLD US BACK

It'll be interesting to see the reaction this gets from the 8 people who end up picking this up. When I first heard it, I was like, "Huh?" but now it's my shit. As far as shit released in the past couple of years, I would compare it dead prez's RBG. It's not "good" in the classical sense of the term, but it's very angry and didactic, which is my thing.

HARD TRUTH SOLDIERS

Speaking of which, one or maybe both of the dudes from dead prez guests on this. Paris "guests" on pretty much every track on here, Cuban Linx-style. Flava Flav has his own track as usual, but otherwise he doesn't pop up as much as you'd like him to.

HANNIBAL LECTURE

He must have been too busy banging Sylvester Stallone's freakishly tall and old-looking ex-wife. Question: Was there a Public Enemy song called "Hannibal Lecture" before or am I just retarded?

REBIRTH OF A NATION

Also, who wants to guess how much Kanye West's greatest influence Professor Griff gets paid for these PE albums? I think he rhymes on this track, but again I could be mistaken.

PUMP THE MUSIC, PUMP THE SOUND

I should mention that the scratches on here are pretty solid throughout, though it's not always clear who's actually doing the scratching. I notice Chuck D shouting out DJ Lord, but then Flava Flav will all of a sudden say something about Terminator X, who I thought retired to grow chickens or some shit

MAKE IT HARDCORE

Maybe Flava Flav is just like one of those bums who's now only capable of saying a few different things like, "I have no legs!" or "Answer your telephone!"

THEY CALL ME FLAVOR

Speaking of Foofy Foo, or whatever it was Brigitte Nielsen was calling him, this would be his one requisite solo track. It's awesome just like all the rest of them, even if does lend credence to my above theory.

PLASTIC NATION

It's been quite some time since Chuck busted out with one of these "Women Are Worthless (Except for You Know)" tracks. This would be up there with "She Watch Channel Zero" if the beat was any good.

COINSEQUENCES

Get it? Coin-sequences. Not like a combination "coins" and "consequences," but "coincedent" and "consequences." OK, this wasn't a very good idea at all.

INVISIBLE MAN

I'm pretty sure this was on There's a Poison Going On, but with a better beat.

FIELD NIGGA BOOGIE (XLR8R REMIX)

This is the same bassline from that dumbass Neptunes "Lapdance" song. I can't get past that. Sorry.

COMMENTS: Like I said before, this is my shit, though I'm kind of hesitant to recommend it to anyone else. I just get the feeling people are going to listen to it and be like, "What the fuck is this bullshit?" which was actually my reaction upon first hearing it. This is a lot more of a Paris album than it is a PE album.

BEST TRACKS: Who knows. It all kinda sounds the same anyway.