Public Enemy

Public Enemy, which shares this bill with the Flobots, is entering new territory with each passing day. Throughout the twenty years since the release of 1987's Yo! Bum Rush the Show, the group has remained a going concern — a claim no other major hip-hop collective can make. Of course,...

By Michael Roberts

October 25, 2007

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Public Enemy, which shares this bill with the Flobots, is entering new territory with each passing day. Throughout the twenty years since the release of 1987's Yo! Bum Rush the Show, the group has remained a going concern — a claim no other major hip-hop collective can make. Of course, PE's circumstances have been severely diminished over time. As leader Chuck D acknowledges in notes to the new disc How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul!???, he often hears from people "asking when are we gonna put the next album out when they haven't peeped the last five." Nevertheless, the latest long-player is a credible piece of work — musically inconsistent and occasionally susceptible to angry-man-shaking-his-fist-on-the-porch excess, but also smart and passionate. Chuck D doesn't expect to experience the sort of mass success he enjoyed back in the day, as he makes plain in an extended Q&A accessible at blogs.westword.com/backbeat. Yet Public Enemy's still in the game, and that's an achievement in and of itself.

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Michael Roberts began his career with Westword in 1990 as music editor. In 1999, he took on a new role, full-time media reporter, as author of a column called The Message. In 2008, he became the lead writer for Westword's news blog, The Latest Word, a position he held until January 2023. Michael continues to freelance for Westword, covering everything from business to sports and the media; he also contributes to Jazziz, a national music magazine. He holds a bachelor's degree from what is now Colorado Mesa University and master's degrees from the University of California, Los Angeles, and Northwestern University.

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