Enemy Radio
Loud Is Not Enough
SpitSLAM Record Label Group
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It is always a good time for a politically charged Public Enemy album. Nearly four years of mind-numbing corruption and general awfulness in our government has created the perfect environment to hear some of Chuck D’s righteous furor. So, it’s a shame that a damn good album by Enemy Radio, an off-shoot of Public Enemy, is being overshadowed by what seems to be an elaborate publicity stunt.

Even though it seems like it was ten years ago, it really was the beginning of March 2020 when it looked like Public Enemy was facing a crisis. After a seemingly bitter spat involving a performance at a Bernie Sanders rally, Carlton “Chuck D” Ridenhour booted William “Flavor Flav” Drayton from the group after the latter refused to appear at the show. Flav apparently objected to the Sanders’ campaign using the name “Public Enemy” and the group’s likeness to promote a rally for the presidential candidate where Enemy Radio was to perform, which prompted Flav’s lawyer to take legal action, much to Chuck’s chagrin.

The result is what appeared to be an acrimonious split, and the divide garnered the group a lot of attention. Or at least what amounts to a lot of attention during the last of the pre-COVID-19 days on this planet. Chuck D and Flav sniped back and forth at each other across social media, with Chuck questioning Flav’s commitment and Flav insisting that he couldn’t be fired. Very soon Public Enemy was trending on Twitter, late night talk show hosts were cracking jokes about the conflict, and rappers past and present weighed in with their opinions.

Then, around midnight EDT on April 1st, Chuck D revealed that the whole thing had been an April Fools’ Day joke. Or a commentary on the how media reports “viral” stories involving negativity. The phrasing and framing switched up a bit from interview to interview.

Chuck D explained to a number of outlets, including Talib Kweli on his “People’s Party” podcast (in an episode actually taped in early March), he had gotten the idea for the whole thing after watching a YouTube video about the Orson Welles’ Wars of the Worlds radio drama in 1938, in which many listeners became convinced that they were listening to a broadcast of a real alien invasion. Hence, he sought to create publicity for Loud Is Not Enough though fabricating conflict between the two, deciding to make himself the antagonist.

“I’m not saying it's a hoax,” Chuck D said. “I’m saying that the original intention is to get your attention.” Chuck has said that Flav, who “doesn’t know Bernie Sanders from Barry Sanders from Colonel Sanders,” wanted to keep the ruse going until Coachella, where the two would reunite in front of tens of thousands. But in the meantime, he let everyone know to check out Enemy Radio’s Loud Is Not Enough, which would feature Flav on the first single, “Food Is a Machine Gun.”

Unfortunately, apparently no one told Flav that this was all a hoax. He soon tweeted to Chuck that “I am not part of your hoax” and “there are more serious things in the world right now than April Fools’ jokes and dropping records.”

It’s all vaguely confusing and ill-timed and none of it is landing well. It’s impossible to know how this whole thing would have been received if the world wasn’t about to collapse, but I personally doubt there are circumstances where this would go over well.

Honestly, Loud Is Not Enough deserves better. It’s a solidly made and executed album, signifying a back-to-basics approach by Chuck and the crew. It’s raw, confrontational, thoughtful, and poetic, like the best work by the seminal collective.

Enemy Radio is composed of Chuck D, DJ Lord Aswod, and Oakland-based rapper and educator Jahi Torman. It’s supposed to signify a return to Public Enemy’s “two turntables, a mic, and a massive sound system” roots. Jahi has known the crew since 1999 and has recorded music with the crew since the mid-2010s; he’s the frontman for PE2.0, the “next generation” of Public Enemy.

Sonically, Loud Is Not Enough is more Yo! Bum Rush the Show (1987) than Fear of a Black Planet (1990). The beats, produced entirely by David “C-Doc” Synder (a.k.a. the Warhammer), still feel like they’d fit on a Public Enemy album, but they’re often more stark, while still hitting hard. In terms of subject matter, Chuck D and Jahi stay true to their conscious roots, seeking to inspire others to action, as well as educate the younger generation. The project is tight and compact, running at about 32 minutes, but the crew says a lot in a short time period.

The album begins with “2020,” where Chuck and Jahi describe the pressure-cooker of greed and inequality that continues to build in this country and across the globe. Over spare guitar licks and keys, they caution against ignoring increasing signs of unrest. Jahi speaks directly to the oppressed, rapping, “If you not at the table, then you on the menu / And watch these algorithms tryna get up in you.” Meanwhile Chuck warns the wealthy, “Where you gonna be when your money ain’t gold no more and the poor come storming at your door?”

“Last Stand Caravan” channels the mid-’80s Run-DMC pastiche, as the high BPM drum-track pounds and DJ Lord scratches buzzing electric guitars. Chuck and Jahi deliver boisterous verses, giving the song a live on-stage feel. Later, “Same God” bursts through the speakers like a rogue radio broadcast, with Chuck rapping in short ,clipped phrases about global unrest and appealing for peace in the Middle East and across Africa.

If Chuck had hoped to use the aforementioned “Food Is a Machine Gun” as proof that Public Enemy was back together, it seems a little like false advertising. Flav appears on the song in the loosest sense, adding occasional ad-libs to the dancehall-influenced track. The song itself is still pretty good, with Chuck and Jahi detailing the dangers of processed sugar, additives and pesticides, GMOs, “fast food industrial sit downs,” and all the diseases and conditions that go along with not eating healthy.

On “STD,” both Chuck and Jahi assail the continued use of the n-word in the Black community. “Like pork, I don’t eat it or say it,” Jahi announces as ragged guitars blare. It’s one of the entries on Loud Is Not Enough that comes close to feeling like a late ’80s Public Enemy recording. “Born Woke” best recaptures P.E.’s golden era sound, channeling aural chaos through a wall of samples and distorted vocals. “I was born to deliver in these hard times,” Chuck proclaims with his opening lines. “Got the crowd rocking to these sick ass rhymes.”

“Man Listen” is probably the best song on the album and one of the better high concept tracks that Chuck has undertaken. He and Jahi split the song into four quarters of a basketball game, continually trading four-bar verses, explaining the importance of learning to grow, mature, and develop as a person. “Man, listen twice and speak once; a jewel for you,” Jahi raps. “Men are judged not by what they say but what they do.” Chuck really shines in the “third quarter” of the song, recognizing that he has more years behind him than ahead, yet still being comfortable with his age. He raps, “I’m clear of who I am and what the hell I’m not / For these grown ears to hear, not chasing what’s hot.”

The album ends on a fairly melancholy note with “The Kids Ain’t Alright.” It’s fairly pessimistic in its outlook on the future, with Chuck lamenting as he watches this generation’s youth fall into traps set by society. Daddy-O, of Stetsasonic fame, ends the song by decrying the decay of the culture surrounding hip-hop music. “We called Latifah ‘Queen’; you call Megan ‘bitch,’” he notes.

Just as much as any other time in Public Enemy’s existence, the culture needs Chuck D. He’s older and wiser, but still able to examine threats to the oppressed with potent messages and delivery. I’m certainly hoping that as time goes on, whatever viral marketing idea Chuck used in the hopes of hyping Loud Is Not Enough fades into the background, so that the album itself can get the respect it deserves.

Notable Tracks: “Born Woke” | “The Kids Ain’t Alright” | “Last Stand Caravan” | “Man Listen”

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