Public Enemy – There’s A Poison Goin On

Artist: Public Enemy

Title: There’s A Poison Goin On

Label: Atomic Pop

Rating: 7.5/10

Chuck D. and Flavor Flav have been putting candy in our ears for more than a decade. With a mixture of fresh beats and political anthems, Chuck D. has picked right up where Nation of Millions and Fear Of A Black Planet left off.

The first single, “Do You Wanna Go Our Way???”, mixes meaning with hooks. Flavor Flav spreads the chorus thin while Chuck D. mixes you up with rhymes that grow against the grain of society. “Here I Go” boasts “I’m the reverse of jiggy,” and finds Chuck D. going off on the music industry and the suits that control it.

“41:19” reminds me a lot of “911 is a Joke”. Flavor Flav goes solo on this track as Terminator X gets his back, spinning a loop or two. Chuck D. breathes “Color me softly with that same old song” on “Crayola”, a song about the payola for the crappy pop and covers that seem to always find their way into the top 40 each and every week.

“I” is a dark track that finds Chuck D. walking through the ghetto wondering, “An eye for an eye in this country tis of thee/ now how the hell can I be free/ who’s this cat I’m lookin at/ cause I been lost so long without anybody knowin’.”

Public Enemy is back and Chuck D. isn’t backing down from anybody. With a new label and new tracks, Public Enemy won’t go away anytime soon. They are driving into the millennium headfirst, and leaving everyone else in the dust. Chuck D. is still angry and this time he is taking it out on whoever falls in his path.

+ rae gun