Japanese only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD - playable on all CD players) pressing. Universal. 2008.

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Public Enemy is not the kind of group that does compromise--either you own It Takes A Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back and its explosive follow-up Fear of a Black Planet in their entirety or you simply hate music. So use this all-too-brief primer merely as a map to find your way to the albums that actually shook the world, mixing blunt politics with hard-hitting beats and Chuck D's prophet-like zeal for affecting change. If nothing else, tracks like "Bring The Noise" and "Fight The Power" serve as timely reminders of how much power hip-hop can wield when not tripped up in name-calling and bitch-slapping (D famously dubbed the genre "CNN for black people"), while on "911 is a Joke" Flava Flav proves there's a fine-line between laughter and tears. --Aidin Vaziri

Tracks: You're Gonna Get Yours 4:05 / Sophisticated Bitch 4:30 / Miuzi Weighs A Ton 5:44 / Timebomb 2:54 / Too Much Posse 2:25 / Rightstarter (Message To A Black Man) 3:49 / Public Enemy No. 1 4:40 / M.P.E. 3:44 / Yo! Bum Rush The Show 4:25 / Raise The Roof 5:18 / Megablast 2:51 / Terminator X Speaks With His Hands 2:13

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Public Enemy's been pioneers in combining verbal acumen with technological advances, performance artistry and theatricality, thematic integrity and artistic control. In an era where mega-national corporations dominate the marketplace and many rappers prefer being popular to being relevant, Public Enemy remain vibrant and topical. They've also forged and maintained a creative legacy that has a timeless quality, yet gives listeners intricate and compelling slices of life from the various eras in which these songs were conceived. They are not entertainers or performers but scribes and commentators providing insight and information through rhymes and music that has uplifted and still inspires legions of fans. Standard Jewel Case with bonus DVD.