Public Enemy

Public Enemy formed in Roosevelt, New York in 1985, after Chuck D and Flavor Flav met at Adelphi University on Long Island. Their debut album, Yo! Bum Rush the Show, appeared in 1987, followed a year later by It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, the first hip-hop record to top The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll.

Built around Chuck D's authoritative delivery, Flavor Flav's foil role, DJ Terminator X and the production team known as the Bomb Squad, their records layered sirens, dense sample collages and hard drum programming beneath lyrics addressing racism, media, incarceration and American political life.

Fear of a Black Planet (1990), Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black (1991) and Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age (1994) extended that run, and together with It Takes a Nation of Millions these albums are widely treated as foundational to politically engaged hip-hop. Public Enemy has since released eleven further studio albums, including the soundtrack to He Got Game and a collaboration with Paris, Rebirth of a Nation, plus 2025's Black Sky Over the Projects: Apartment 2025.

Chuck D and Flavor Flav remain the group's only constant members; Professor Griff left in 1989, returned in 1998, and departed again later, while DJ Lord replaced original turntablist Terminator X that same year. Public Enemy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013 and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at the 62nd Grammy Awards, and the group has continued to record and tour for close to four decades.