THE 50(ISH) GREATEST ALBUMS OF ALL TIME
Public Enemy in a Private Estate
Album #35 : Public Enemy — Fear of A Black Planet
Ok, Here’s the deal — because these albums are chosen completely at random, the theme doesn’t always exactly match what I am doing that particular week. For example, this week I am on a family holiday in a large Manor House type place in rural Wiltshire. So, how do we link Public Enemy back to that? Any ideas?
Me neither.
Maybe we could have a look at the news instead, sometimes that helps as a prompt. Afghanistan and the refugee crisis. Maybe something to do with the refugee crisis and a ‘fear of a black planet’? Well, my views on that are pretty simple: I would hope to be welcomed into any other country if my home was no longer safe, so I will extend that welcome to others.
Hmm, still 350 words to go. Let’s face it; Public Enemy may well have fundamentally, arguably single-handedly, changed the course of hip hop and its core message, but they don’t fit every scenario. Yes, they are hip hop legends. But English countryside music they are not.
So, when I wanted to go for a leisurely countryside run, I faced a conundrum. Listen to this album again, in search of inspiration, or leave the headphones behind? Honestly, I didn’t really want to listen again but I was panicking. Then I thought; no, just do what you want. That’s what Public Enemy would’ve wanted, right?
The issue is, it soon became clear though that I didn’t actually want to go for a run. I had somehow forgotten that I’d actually done quite a lot of exercise already this holiday and my legs were quite sore. Also, I think the entire run was uphill. Or at least it felt that way.
Plus, I didn’t really know where I was going and had no glasses on. Nobody wants to run in glasses, that’s not cool — even when you’re not going to see anyone else it isn’t the done thing. What if I had bumped into a farmer?! He’d have thought I was an idiot. We can’t be having that. And so there was a lot of stopping and starting whilst I checked the route/got my bearings. ‘Cos gawping around aimlessly or having to run back on yourself every ten yards is definitely cooler than wearing glasses, right?
Anyway, I settled into the run I wanted to do without the music I didn’t want to listen to and it was good, the scenery was incredible and almost certainly wouldn’t have even improved by Flava Flav and Chuck D’s unique brand of controversial rap.
That’s said, I would have been grateful for the distraction when (and this is disgusting) my pre-run banana made a brief, reflux-y reappearance. I’ve always loved those foam banana sweets you get in pick n mix but never thought they tasted like real bananas, until now. It tasted EXACTLY the same. Think I’ll stick to foam shrimps for a bit. That was about halfway. The second half of the run was mostly nettles. At least they offered cover for any judgemental farmhands.
Generally, however, the run offered some incredible views and was definitely worth it. I made my decision to run free of music and I stand by it — I did what I wanted to do. Now I’m off for a lie down — not because I need to, but because I want to.
Thanks for reading — over the course of 2021, I’ll be reviewing 50(ish) of the greatest albums ever recorded. You can see the list here:
There is also a playlist featuring the best song from each album here.
