Public Enemy - Black Sky Over the Projects: Apartment 2025
by Kevin Wierzbicki
Flava Flav looked down at that big clock he wears on a chain around his neck and saw that it was time. Time, that is, for a new Public Enemy record! So he called up his fellow rapper Chuck D and they hit the studio to record the dozen cuts here on
Black Sky Over the Projects: Apartment 2025. Working in the "conscious rap" genre that they are widely given credit for pioneering, Public Enemy begins the set with "Siick," a Beastie Boys-like tune with some rocking guitars backing up the rhymes. It laments many of today's societal ills, specifically referencing climate change, AI, questionable media and of course off-the-rails politicians. Driving the viewpoint home is the song's big finish, a flourish worthy of a rock opera. It's not a coincidence that "Siick" leads into "Confusion (Here Come the Drums)," a cut where the guys namedrop themselves and celebrate their music; the notion is "yeah things are messed up but you can still rock out to Public Enemy!" And there's plenty of fun to be had here with the party anthem "C'mon Get Down," the Black Sabbath-informed groove "Evil Way," the delightfully weird "Sexegenarian Vape" and the self-congratulatory romp of "Public Enemy Comin Throoooo." The album ends with a commentary on a very serious problem that the country is facing, mass shootings, specifically on school campuses; "March Madness" is perhaps the hardest hitting song that Public Enemy has done in a long time.
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