46. Fear of a Black Planet - Public Enemy 1990
The impact this album has had since its release is astonishing. It is arguably the most important album in this entire list. The shadow it cast over music, society and politics (especially in America) is undeniable. Public Enemy's founder-in-chief, Chuck D is nothing short of a genius. This album was the center piece of what is now seen as the "Golden age of Hip-Hop", and while there were many incredible Rap albums that were released in those years, none did what 'Fear...' set out to do. While the likes of NWA, Ice Cube, Ice-T, Geto Boys, Naughty by Nature etc, were trying to get across their message of how much the Afro-American community struggles to be seen as equal in the U.S., they were doing it very differently to Public Enemy. The majority of the Hip Hop community were almost resigned to how middle-class America viewed them, and just exploited the stereotype, and although revolutionary in their own way, they, somewhat, watered down what they were trying to say with shades of misogyny and stories that sounded like they were gloating about how much money they were making and how many violent encounters they had survived. This of course was not the intent of the likes of Ice Cube and Ice-T. It was entertainment while still wanting to tell the self-important, white American right wing, that they were making money from being the 'violent, savage, drug dealing, gun toting niggers' they so reviled. The funny thing is that these suburban families teenage children were buying their records, by the truck load! Public Enemy did things a bit different. Chuck D wanted to be taken seriously as a black, American man, who was intelligent, well read and not prepared to let sleeping dogs lie. Such was the strength of his convictions and depth of his words that he, not only, was taken seriously, but found himself as a Hip Hop version of Martin Luther King. That may sound ridiculous, but you only have to scratch the surface regarding 'Fear of a Black Planet', to understand what this album has done. Sonically speaking, the album is also a class act.The production team of the Bomb Squad, assisting Chuck D, Flavor Flav and DJ Terminator X, to achieve an multi-layered wall of sound style that the band had started to explore on their previous record. Samples from Funk, Soul, Blues, Rock, Jazz and Motown as well as media samples together with some great instrumental performances make up, what is at first, an overwhelming listen, but with repeated listens, it just gets better and easier to digest. Not only did the message of this collection make an indelible mark, but the production techniques and the contrast in style between the two M.C.'s, Chuck D and Flavor Flav, were also copied and used as a blueprint to so much that followed.