John Morrison's Culture Corner on World Cafe
World Cafe
A look back at Public Enemy’s ‘It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back’
If you were driving around your city in 1988, chances are that at some point, you heard Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.
Setlist
Jun
28
Public Enemy
- "Countdown to Armageddon"
- "Bring The Noise"
- "Rebel Without a Pause"
- "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos"
World Cafe correspondent John Morrison says the album was huge.
“It was like getting kicked in the face, but you heard it on every block and every corner in 1988,” Morrison says. “They absolutely stood out amongst a great class of hip-hop artists.”
In this edition of The Culture Corner, Morrison digs deep into that seminal album, which celebrates its 35th anniversary today. It’s one of his personal favorites and one of the most influential hip-hop records of all time. He’ll get into what made it such a standout then – and why it still stands out today.