Possibly, Army of Millions was incredibly well timed, I’d say there’s an argument that Bum Rush was a more important album, it probably sewed more seeds than AOM. Not sure if PE get the credit they do if they dropped AOM 6 months later.
Nation of Millions you mean ? And yeah Bum rush the show was a better album. I first heard PE back in 1985/86 when Dave Pearce used to do a Rap show on GLR (Greater London Radio). They just had that massive sound and hearing Chuck D and Flav for the first time was something else. There were a lot of good Rap acts back then, LL cool J, Run DMC, BDP, EPMD, Biz Markie etc, but PE brought that sound out of NYC and into the bedrooms of white British kids, they were responsible for Hip Hop becoming heard on the radios across the world and it was probably the first time that people (myself included) had ever heard a version of black history from a black man's perspective.
Would also mention that credit goes to the Beastie Boys too. When Licenced to Ill dropped in 1986, again it was like nothing people had heard before. I fell in love with the Roland 808 after hearing that album.
Public Enemy always been the only hip hop band I've ever followed as such. I owned It Takes a Nation of Millions before I went for that NewYork trip and Fear of a Black Planet hand just been released so was everywhere. They can be hit and miss, not all of their stuff is that good, but Chuck D has the voice of hip hop for me. LL Cool J was at the top the tree at that time too, Mamma Said Knock You Out was No.1 or thereabouts.
I got into hip hop really early through that Dave Pearce rap show, and loads of kids on the estate where I lived were into body popping and breakdance, there used to be loads of lads with their roll of lino outside the flats on saturday mornings lol. LL Cool J was a big name in those early days, and I can't live without my radio and rock the bells were massive. But LL took a lot of flack from Hip hop heads when he released I need love as people accused him of going soft.
Man Parrish, remember Dave Pearce used to play this in the background on the rap show, it took me years to find out what the actual track was.
Yeah that’s the one. I think that album arrived at the right time, don’t get me wrong it was a great album but I don’t think they’d have been given anywhere near as much credit if they’d turned up later with it. I wasn’t long born at the time so can’t comment on how it affected the music industry back then, but I think they arrived on the scene around the same time as Erik B and Rakim and Paid In Full preceded Nation Of Millions. In terms of the product the two albums are on a level for sure. PE get a lot of plaudits for being groundbreaking artists but there were many back then all coming through with incredible new stuff. I’d say Wu-Tang have left a bigger impression on the genre with an album that is undeniably the greatest piece of hip hop ever created by any group.
