Very groundgreaking and second most influential rap group after Run D MC and I don't even like rap too much.

from long island, and were pioneers

YEYAH

Saw in Concert with U2 in Vegas. yea...I said U2. Public Enemy opened.

The ridiculous (Flavor Flav) meets the sublime(Chuck D) in hip hop

Never really a fan because flava Flav is an idiot

love the stuff they did with anthrax

Flavor Flave is still looking for love and and is still the #1 enemy

3

not my favorite musically....FLAAAAVOR FLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAVVEEEE! YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAA BOOOOOOOOOOYYYYYYYY!

Im sorry i gotta do it.....

FlAVOR FLAAAAAAVVEEEEE

Yea BOOOYYeeeeee

Public Enema. End of story.

ground-breaking.  way ahead of their time.  I can't think of a modern equivalent.  

plus, i still like listening to these guys.  "sophisticated b!tch"...  the title says it all.

louiethe20th, you are missing out.

Racists . Spewers of hysterical , paranoid claims that have never been close to proven true . Supporters of farrakhan , and other black racists . Spewers of tired,worn out , blame-Whites/jews-for-everything-but-ourselves propaganda. Brainless,blustering blowhard thugs, with NOI support. Worthless.The Spinal Tap of rap.

The best and only truly important rap act because they had a purpose and that wasn't to shoot coppers, deal drugs, f**k white chicks and drive Mercs. Pretty much every rap act since PE sucks big time, because they're identikit, unoriginal and bang on about ho's, bling and getting laid. Pathetic feckers the lot of em. PE were angry, militant and dangerous. In Chuck D they had somebody clued up and smart. Same can't be said for the coke snorting/pushing b*st*rds around these days.

You know, at one point I might have wished you idiots rating this a one were born in some other time period. However, I realized if you were born 100 years ago, instead of being morons on internet sites, you'd be pulling on your white hoods and setting Christ aflame.

All rappers are the public enemy!!!

chuck d is a great rapper....and fear of a black planet is a great album.....flava flav is a little too out there for me......also, don't forget it takes a nation of millions

There was a point to PE unlike the gangsta sh*t of NWA or the materialistic bling attitude of Snoop and Ludacris. So, their politics scared white middle America. Good. Their beats were massive and the Bomb Squad made original in yer face soundscapes to Chuck D's rhymes. 'Fear of a black planet' ,'It takes a nation..'and 'Apocalype 91..' are sheer energy and attitude.

The first album was the best...

My all time personal favorite rap group. It's sad that 95% of today's rap is all about materialism and misogny. Along with KRS-one, PE was a political group trying to make a difference. Nation of millions and FOABP were outrageously good. Their embrace of Farrakhan always turned me off, but other than that, I wish they would come back so I could listen to rap again.

Why can't all rap be like this? Public Enemy is one of the only rap groups ever to actually sing with a distinct purpose. They showed great promise from their 1987 debut, Yo! Bum Rush the Show. PE's follow up, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, is not only the definitive rap album, but one of the top 20 ever released of any genre. Just a hair below the level of Nation of Millions are Fear of a Black Planet and Apocalypse '91. Throughout their career spanning more than a decade, they espoused the views of black nationalism, citing Minister Farrakhan as a prophet and quoting Malcolm X. Musically along with politcally/socially, PE is a superior band, using the intelligent raps of Chuck D combined with the comical Terminator X and the production of The Bomb Squad. Some examples of their best songs include Fight the Power, 9-1-1 is a Joke, Don't Believe the Hype, and the theme from He Got Game. Public Enemy was a band that tried to start a new kind of civil rights movement by encouraging their hip-hop generation. It really is too bad that today's rap is not nearly as good as that of Public Enemy. They are the greatest rap group to ever form.

Pioneers. P.E. took hip-hop in a more positive direction and made it more cool at the same time. Yo bum rush the show blew my mind in 89.

For starters- I am white. I can't stand rap. But the only 2 albums I own from this genre are by Public Enemy. Incredible and underrated. . .postive songs that make you think. How many rap acts have ripped them off/copied their act? More intelligent fans out there who know more about the subject might know better than me. All I can say is, PE was one of those musical experiences I never forgot. This includes my initial experiences in rock, jazz, and classical (believe it or not). . .I never thought I would put rap in this list but PE did the job. They are artists in the true sense of the word.

Ellajedlicka21 is right...all rap ought to sound like this. But the fact that it is indeed rap automatically makes me hesitate to give Public Enemy five stars. I probably would give thewm three, but they do not deserve to be only #30 on this list. I have a lot of respect for them because of the way the censors and far right politicians have chased them. I have seen several interesting interviews with Chuck D., and unlike the majority of these (c)rap stars, he has an open mind, knows what he is doing, and can and should be idolized, as opposed to that retarded bigot Eminem, for young black (or even white) teenagers. This is probably the only rap band who has ever known exactly what music is, and I have to take off my hat to them for this. Take care, everyone!

One of the first groups to try enlightening a generation of hip hop fans.

Powerful, at times scary, beats and rhymes. PE was gangster rap with a cause and a message. Unfortunately, the cause and the message seemed to have been missed by those groups to follow in this genre (Snoop, Dr. Dre, etc.)

my personal favorite

It doesn't get more powerful than Chuck D belting out Black Steel. PE is definitely one of the acts which put rap on the map. It's good to see Chuck D continuing to fight the power in the music industry with his work in promoting the online distribution of music.