Remember when Public Enemy was supposedly breaking up and they were on the outs? That was all a marketing scheme / April Fool’s Joke (as they admitted) and we now know why. The iconic hip-hop group is releasing an album What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down, via Def Jam next month. It will be their first on Def Jam in over two decades. Time has likely healed past wounds and differences between the two parties.
"Cultural Institutions are important. Being an integral part of one is an honor bestowed and to uphold,” says Chuck D. “Public Enemy songs are forever sonic prints in the sands of time. And it’s time – it’s necessary – to bring the noise again from a place called home. Def Jam. Fight The Power 2020.”
Flavor Flav adds, “Def Jam is like the house we grew up in. It’s cool to be home.”
They have been putting out plenty of music in the past few decades however. This is follow up to their 2017 album Nothing Is Quick In The Desert and this will be their 15th studio album.
Earlier this summer, Public Enemy released “State of the Union (STFU),” produced by DJ Premier. They also released a 2020 remix of “Fight the Power” featuring Nas, Rapsody, Black Thought, YG, Jahi and Questlove that was premiered at the BET Awards. The video spliced together footage of protests against the murders of George Floyd, Breona Taylor and countless others with performances by those artists in different locations.
What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down will be released on September 25 and it can't come a day sooner given the fuckery this nation is in right now. Some good protest music is very necessary.
