10 Perfect Hip-Hop Albums With No Bad Songs
2. It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back - Public Enemy
For the longest time, hip hop music was just known as the soundtrack to parties in the inner city. Since most of the greatest beats were just coming from people looking to have a good time, there was never that many people looking to actually say something with their lyrics. When Public Enemy came out with It Takes a Nation of Millions, you would have sworn the door had been blown off its hinges.
Though the characteristics of hip hop were all there, the delivery of Chuck D was a lot more vicious than what you saw from people like Run DMC. Looking to use his mic as a platform, most of the songs on here like Rebel Without a Pause speak to something far more serious than party jams. Taking on a more serious tone, songs like Bring the Noise were the start of rappers reaching out and commenting on the injustices happening in their community 24 hours a day.
And this was just the tip of the iceberg too, with Public Enemy going on to write Fight the Power a few years later and even inspiring the future generations of social change like Rage Against the Machine. This wasn't just a party vibe anymore. This felt like Chuck was reaching through the speakers and speaking directly to you.