Public Enemy Harder Than You Think?

paquelaspaquelas 206 Posts
edited August 2007 in Strut Central
anyone listening?your thoughts?

  Comments


  • roistoroisto 879 Posts
    Sad.

  • damn risto.
    im not not mad at it. pretty good.

  • roistoroisto 879 Posts
    damn risto.
    im not not mad at it. pretty good.

    Well, it's definitely better than anything they've done (that I've heard) in 13+ years, but I don't know...Chuck D sounds like he's rapping to a different track, off-beat but in a bad way. He seems to recycle his old rhymes and rhyme patterns a lot, which, while it does bring back memories of golden era PE, does not sound convincing at all in 2007. The beat is decent.

  • JuniorJunior 4,853 Posts
    damn risto.
    im not not mad at it. pretty good.

    Well, it's definitely better than anything they've done (that I've heard) in 13+ years, but I don't know...Chuck D sounds like he's rapping to a different track, off-beat but in a bad way. He seems to recycle his old rhymes and rhyme patterns a lot, which, while it does bring back memories of golden era PE, does not sound convincing at all in 2007. The beat is decent.

    Yeah I'm with roisto on this, like the beat but Chuck's rapping sounds slightly off - like he needs an extra word per line or the beat should be a little faster. Sounds more like a remix than the beat he originally laid down the rap to. Really not sure about that album title.

  • i feel you....tis no nation of millions

    title is kinda weird...especially with that question mark at the end
    lyrics harken back to an old formula...while not in its prime, it did remind me of something froim the good ol days. on this song, flavs whole routine is a rehash
    still, very listenable. i like the video (especially the uhaul truck)

    and the horns are dope.

  • i never got the fuffy fuffy thing. what did he ever do? even my brother who grew up listening to twisted sister, skid row and m??tley cr??e thought he was a retarded monkey.

  • i like that anthrax is in the video. great band!

  • roistoroisto 879 Posts
    The best thing about this track is that it inspired me to listen to "Public Enemy #1" for the first time in years.


  • JuniorJunior 4,853 Posts
    i feel you....tis no nation of millions

    title is kinda weird...especially with that question mark at the end
    lyrics harken back to an old formula...while not in its prime, it did remind me of something froim the good ol days. on this song, flavs whole routine is a rehash
    still, very listenable. i like the video (especially the uhaul truck)

    and the horns are dope.

    Yeah I am liking the horns - is this still a bomb squad affliated production? I must confess to never really having checked out a PE album properly since Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age but might give this a listen.

    Grope, Flavor's an absolutely integral part of what makes Public Enemy, the ying and yang aspect has always worked brilliantly for them IMO.

  • spelunkspelunk 3,400 Posts
    DOPE.

  • SoulOnIceSoulOnIce 13,027 Posts
    retarded monkey.


    classy!

  • Options
    i feel you....tis no nation of millions

    title is kinda weird...especially with that question mark at the end
    lyrics harken back to an old formula...while not in its prime, it did remind me of something froim the good ol days. on this song, flavs whole routine is a rehash
    still, very listenable. i like the video (especially the uhaul truck)

    and the horns are dope.

    I've watched this three times already, to me it's not bad at all.

    It looks like Chuck and Flav are just driving around Roosevelt and Freeport (their hometowns) all day in a Uhaul, every spot featured in there are local landmarks (Centennial Park, Tony's Bakery, the Community Center on Babylon Tpke, all that is within a mile from where I live but heavily segregated from me...don't get it twisted, we didn't grow up in the same neighborhoods at all even though they are right down the road). I even showed Paycheck that same parkway sign from the Terrordome 12" on his recent guided tour of Merrick and Freeport.

    Slightly off the topic, two friends of mine were students at Adelphi University and one was an art major. They were in the theater building and were looking around in some of the spare rooms that looked like they hadn't been used in years, and found one that had a bunch of old forgotten artwork in it that students left behind. They found a couple pieces with the name C.Ridenhour on them, done by Chuck D obviously. No word on how good they were though.

  • tonyphronetonyphrone 1,500 Posts
    [
    Slightly off the topic, two friends of mine were students at Adelphi University and one was an art major. They were in the theater building and were looking around in some of the spare rooms that looked like they hadn't been used in years, and found one that had a bunch of old forgotten artwork in it that students left behind. They found a couple pieces with the name C.Ridenhour on them, done by Chuck D obviously. No word on how good they were though.

    That is interesting. I'd love to see some of Mista Chuck's college paintings!

  • karlophonekarlophone 1,697 Posts
    i dig it. theyre just being PE on their own 2007 terms. no chance of competing with their heydey or with whats hot now so (it sounds to me) like theyre just doing their thing, which is a solid thing, just not the thing they once had (which wouldnt work in 2007 anyway - it would look age-inappropriate.)

    i do like those horns!

    and its funny how Flav's vox are all sampled/recycled. like, he said it all before, why not re-use exactly what he said?

    theyre showing heart and soul, if nothing else.

  • My friend just bought this CD, and it's pretty hit and miss, but I am realy feeling "Harder Than You Think".

    Anyhow, the CD comes with a dvd... kinda a little documentary about the tour they were on. It was actually pretty entertaining. The S1W's were seriously looking just like the spoof on that 3rd Bass video though... They were all out of sync with their dance moves...l not sure those dudes should be swinging swords if they're having a hard time staying synchronized... the martial arts forms looked ok though.

    Anyhow, I will always really really dig these guys.

    Peace...
    FNM

  • BurnsBurns 2,227 Posts
    Chuck's projection is that of a preacher, Martin Luther King Jr., or Malcolm X type level on this song. The reverb or somethin in it' making it sound like a speech. Pretty cool.

  • and the more i listen, more i like it.
    shit is knocking
    the acoustic guitar backing flav up is that cool calm before the storm of the horns

    chuck might as well be a preacher...he's a smart focused dude who has been in the game forever without compromising his values.

  • Surprisingly good!

    The preacher comment is on point. Chuck has always had that pulpit feel to his delivery, and this seems like a natural extension. It also sounds less awkward when I'm not watching the video.

    I wish they would have had the PE logo over the U in U-Haul for the whole video, instead of just the end. Makes most of it look like a U-Haul ad. I suddenly think U-Haul trucks are cool, and I have no reason why, aside from product association. They should be getting $$$ from those truck peoples.

  • The_NonThe_Non 5,691 Posts
    I always love to hear what Chuck gotta say, but this song is kinda weak. Flow is forgettable, beat is forgettable. I really wanted to like it too.

  • DocMcCoyDocMcCoy "Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,917 Posts
    Musically, the only thing letting it down is the drum programming, which sounds stiff and wooden. Otherwise, it sounds pretty good to me, even if it isn't seeing PE of old. The other tunes I've heard from the album seem to suffer from the same problems - the drums don't really swing, and the whole thing seems to be missing some of that old-school PE black-noise chaos. Is Gary G-Wiz still doing the beats? I read somewhere that the Shocklees new shit is more dubstep and grime influenced.

  • asstroasstro 1,754 Posts
    I dug the track, especially the horns. But I agree that it sounds like Chuck might have rhymed over a different track originally. It sounds like when you're goofing around and throw an accapella over random instrumentals until you find one that sort of fits. I'd still rather hear this than "Finding Forever" though...

  • karlophonekarlophone 1,697 Posts
    i rolled the dice and picked up the cd today, just curiosity and such.

    on the cd, the 'harder than you think' track sounds a lot better, to my ears. sounds like chuck actually rapped to this song, and he doesnt sound like hes choking on a wad of bubblegum. i put it on repeat and enjoyed the pseudo-flashback effect the song has. whatever it was that they were great at, they still are pretty good at, depending on the song. i think that youtube video did something odd with the audio.

    there are several other songs on this album that i really like. #16 and #17 are winners to me. #16 has Flava rapping about his (true? im assuming) experience of going to jail. Oddly serious yet in a flava way thats very funny and clever too. #17 is a slower song that had a lot of soul, sorta the righteous vibe they had when they did the "for what its worth" cover for 'he got game'. there were some other nice ones too, but the 19 song cd was about half 'ehh/whatever' id say. there was even a bit of chaotic bomb-squad-esque stuff going on in a few tracks, that odd 'repetitive noises but it sounds like music' style thats sorta a PE trademark. they even had KRS-one guest on a song and it actually didnt blow somehow!? Anyway, cut it down to a 10 song album and it would be pretty strong. (true for most 15-20 track cd's, no?)

    b/w

    it occurred to me, that because chuck raps about 'old school serious' stuff and doesnt go for (doesnt know?) the modern slang and street talk thats on most other hip-hop releases, PE appeals mostly to a 'non-street' audience. (...or always has??). Its odd - its like, PE doesnt feel threatening or subversive at all anymore, but instead of trying to change, theyre just staying themselves, which isnt really a bad look - you at least continue appealing to whoever you already had listening, as opposed to alienating them while getting clonned by the new school. or at least it seems this way to me.

  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    PE appeals mostly to a 'non-street' audience. (...or always has??).

    Nah

    P.E. has been "street" since day uno.

  • I think it's Johnny Juice doing most of the production now. To me it sounded like they did take flav's part in "public enemy #1" and used it for the chorus. I think the reason for the U-haul truck is back when chuck came up with the idea for doing the pe # 1 song, him a flav were in a truck together and flav was saying what would become his intro on the song. (i think thats the story)

  • They had a CD out a few years ago, (I can't remember the name, but it had 'son of a bush on it') that had some REALLY strong cuts on it.
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