Thug Radio

Albums
Public Enemy - Yo! Bum Rush The Show
Public Enemy - It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
Public Enemy - Fear Of A Black Planet
He Got Game
Public Enemy - Classic: Universal Masters Collection
Public Enemy - There's A Poison Goin' On (Re-release)
Public Enemy - Power To The People & The Beats: Public Enemy's Greatest Hits
Public Enemy Featuring Paris - Rebirth Of A Nation
Chuck D - The Autobiography Of Mistachuck

Singles
Moby & Public Enemy - Make Love Fuck War (Single)

Also Featured On...
Bulworth
CB4
George Clinton - Hey Man... Smell My Finger
De La Soul - The Grind Date (Flava Flav)
Ice Cube - AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
Ice Cube - Kill At Will (Chuck D)
Ice Cube - Featuring... (Chuck D)
Immortal Technique - Bin Laden (Single) (Chuck D)
Janet Jackson - janet. (Chuck D)
Bob Marley - Chant Down Babylon (Chuck D)
Mo' Money
One Million Strong (Chuck D)
Paris - Sonic Jihad
Paris Presents: Hard Truth Soldiers Vol. 1
Pharoahe Monch - Y'all Know The Name (Chuck D)
- Rave Un2 The Joy Fantastic (Chuck D)
Prince Paul - Politics Of The Business (Advance) (Chuck D)
Schoolly D - Funk 'N' Pussy (Chuck D)
Snoop Dogg - Tha Blue Carpet Treatment Mixtape (Flavor Flav)
Snoop Dogg - Unreleased Heat Rocks (Flavor Flav)
The Source Presents Hits From The Vault Vol. 1: The Pioneers
Street Fighter
Thug Radio Mixtape 14: Ridin' (Chuck D)
Thug Radio Mixtape 15: Hard As Steel
Thug Radio Mixtape 16: Bang On 'Em
Thug Radio Mixtape 18: Raw Shit
Viva La Revolución Volume I: Get Up, Stand Up (Thug Radio Mixtape)
Wu-Tang Clan - Iron Flag (Flava Flav)
Wu-Tang Clan - Protect Ya Neck (Thug Radio Mixtape) (Flava Flav)

Bio From All Music Guide
Public Enemy rewrote the rules of hip-hop, becoming the most influential and controversial rap group of the late '80s and, for many, the definitive rap group of all time. Building from Run-D.M.C.'s street-oriented beats and Boogie Down Productions' proto-gangsta rhyming, Public Enemy pioneered a variation of hardcore rap that was musically and politically revolutionary. With his powerful, authoritative baritone, lead rapper Chuck D rhymed about all kinds of social problems, particularly those plaguing the black community, often condoning revolutionary tactics and social activism. In the process, he directed hip-hop toward an explicitly self-aware, pro-black consciousness that became the culture's signature throughout the next decade. Musically, Public Enemy were just as revolutionary, as their production team, the Bomb Squad, created dense soundscapes that relied on avant-garde cut-and-paste techniques, unrecognizable samples, piercing sirens, relentless beats, and deep funk. It was chaotic and invigorating music, made all the more intoxicating by Chuck D's forceful vocals and the absurdist raps of his comic foil Flavor Flav. With his comic sunglasses and an oversized clock hanging from his neck, Flav became the group's visual focal point, but he never obscured the music. While rap and rock critics embraced the group's late-'80s and early-'90s records, Public Enemy frequently ran into controversy with their militant stance and lyrics, especially after their 1988 album, It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, made them into celebrities. After all the controversy settled in the early '90s, once the group entered a hiatus, it became clear that Public Enemy were the most influential and radical band of their time.

Chuck D (born Carlton Ridenhour, August 1, 1960) formed Public Enemy in 1982, as he was studying graphic design at Adelphi University on Long Island. He had been DJing at the student radio station WBAU, where he met Hank Shocklee and Bill Stephney. All three shared a love of hip-hop and politics, which made them close friends. Shocklee had been assembling hip-hop demo tapes, and Ridenhour rapped over one song, "Public Enemy No. 1," around the same time he began appearing on Stephney's radio show under the Chuckie D pseudonym. Def Jam co-founder and producer Rick Rubin heard a tape of "Public Enemy No. 1" and immediately courted Ridenhour in hopes of signing him to his fledgling label. Chuck D initially was reluctant, but he eventually developed a concept for a literally revolutionary hip-hop group — one that would be driven by sonically extreme productions and socially revolutionary politics. Enlisting Shocklee as his chief producer and Stephney as a publicist, Chuck D formed a crew with DJ Terminator X (born Norman Lee Rogers, August 25, 1966) and fellow Nation of Islam member Professor Griff (born Richard Griffin) as the choreographer of the group's backup dancers, the Security of the First World, whom performed homages to old Stax and Motown dancers with their martial moves and fake Uzis. He also asked his old friend William Drayton (born March 16, 1959) to join as a fellow rapper. Drayton developed an alter-ego called Flavor Flav, who functioned as a court jester to Chuck D's booming voice and somber rhymes in Public Enemy.

Public Enemy's debut album, Yo! Bum Rush The Show, was released on Def Jam Records in 1987. Its spare beats and powerful rhetoric were acclaimed by hip-hop critics and aficionados, but the record was ignored by the rock and R&B mainstream. However, their second album, It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, was impossible to ignore. Under Shocklee's direction, PE's production team, the Bomb Squad, developed a dense, chaotic mix that relied as much on found sounds and avant-garde noise as it did on old-school funk. Similarly, Chuck D's rhetoric gained focus and Flavor Flav's raps were wilder and funnier. A Nation of Millions was hailed as revolutionary by both rap and rock critics, and it was — hip-hop had suddenly became a force for social change. As Public Enemy's profile was raised, they opened themselves up to controversy. In a notorious statement, Chuck D claimed that rap was "the black CNN," relating what was happening in the inner city in a way that mainstream media could not project. Public Enemy's lyrics were naturally dissected in the wake of such a statement, and many critics were uncomfortable with the positive endorsement of black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan on "Bring the Noise." "Fight the Power," Public Enemy's theme for Spike Lee's controversial 1989 film Do the Right Thing, also caused an uproar for its attacks on Elvis Presley and John Wayne, but that was considerably overshadowed by an interview Professor Griff gave The Washington Post that summer. Griff had previously said anti-Semitic remarks on-stage, but his quotation that Jews were responsible for "the majority of the wickedness that goes on across the globe" was greeted with shock and outrage, especially by white critics who previously embraced the group. Faced with a major crisis, Chuck D faltered. First he fired Griff, then brought him back, then broke up the group entirely. Griff gave one more interview where he attacked Chuck D and PE, which led to his permanent departure from the group.

Public Enemy spent the remainder of 1989 preparing their third album, releasing "Welcome to the Terrordome" as its first single in early 1990. Again, the hit single caused controversy as its lyrics "still they got me like Jesus" were labeled anti-Semitic by some quarters. Despite all the controversy, Fear Of A Black Planet was released to enthusiastic reviews in the spring of 1990, and it shot into the pop Top Ten as the singles "911 Is a Joke," "Brothers Gonna Work It Out," and "Can't Do Nuttin' for Ya Man" became Top 40 R&B hits. For their next album, 1991's Apocalypse 91...The Enemy Strikes Black, the group re-recorded "Bring the Noise" with thrash metal band Anthrax, the first sign that the group were trying to consolidate their white audience. Apocalypse 91 was greeted with overwhelmingly positive reviews upon its fall release, and it debuted at number four on the pop charts, but the band began to lose momentum in 1992 as they toured with the second leg of U2's Zoo TV tour and Flavor Flav was repeatedly in trouble with the law. In the fall of 1992, they released the remix collection Greatest Misses as an attempt to keep their name viable, but it was greeted to nasty reviews.

Public Enemy was on hiatus during 1993, as Flav attempted to wean himself off drugs, returning in the summer of 1994 with Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age. Prior to its release, it was subjected to exceedingly negative reviews in Rolling Stone and The Source, which affected the perception of the album considerably. Muse Sick debuted at number 14, but it quickly fell off the charts as it failed to generate any singles. Chuck D retired Public Enemy from touring in 1995 as he severed ties with Def Jam, developed his own record label and publishing company, and attempted to re-think Public Enemy. In 1996, he released his first debut album, The Autobiography of Mistachuck. As it was released in the fall, he announced that he planned to record a new Public Enemy album the following year.

Before that record was made, Chuck D published an autobiography in the fall of 1997. During 1997, Chuck D reassembled the original Bomb Squad and began work on three albums. In the spring of 1998, Public Enemy kicked off their major comeback with their soundtrack to Spike Lee's He Got Game, which was played more like a proper album than a soundtrack. Upon its April 1998 release, the record received the strongest reviews of any Public Enemy album since Apocalypse '91: The Enemy Strikes Black. After Def Jam refused to help Chuck D's attempts to bring PE's music straight to the masses via the Internet, he signed the group to the web-savvy independent Atomic Pop. Before the retail release of Public Enemy's seventh LP, There's A Poison Goin' On..., the label made MP3 files of the album available on the Internet. It finally appeared in stores in July 1999. After a three-year break from recording and a switch to the In the Paint label, Public Enemy released Revolverlution, a mix of new tracks, remixes, and live cuts. The CD/DVD combo It Takes a Nation appeared in 2005. The multimedia package contained an hour-long video of the band live in London in 1987 and a CD with rare remixes. The new album New Whirl Odor also appeared in 2005. - Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Chuck D's Bio From All Music Guide
As the founder of Public Enemy, Chuck D. is one of the most colossal figures in the history of hip-hop, not to mention its most respected intellectual. He redefined hip-hop as music with a message, and his strident radicalism ushered in an era when rap was closely scrutinized for its content; although rap's primary concerns have changed over the years, its status as America's most controversial art form has only gotten stronger since Public Enemy hit the scene. Chuck D. was born Carlton Douglas Ridenhour in Roosevelt, Long Island, on August 1, 1960. His parents were both political activists, and he was a highly intelligent student, turning down an architecture scholarship to study graphic design at Long Island's Adelphi University. While in school, he put his talents to use making promotional flyers for hip-hop events, and went on to co-host a hip-hop mix show on the campus radio station with two future Public Enemy cohorts, Bill Stephney and Hank Shocklee. Under the name Chuckie D, he rapped on Shocklee's demo recording, "Public Enemy No. 1," which caught the interest of Rick Rubin at Def Jam. In response, the now simply named Chuck D. assembled Public Enemy, a group designed to support the force of his rhetoric with noisy, nearly avant-garde soundscapes.Public Enemy debuted in 1987 with Yo! Bum Rush The Show, a dry run for one of the greatest three-album spans in hip-hop history. Released in 1988, It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back was acclaimed by many critics as the greatest hip-hop album of all time, and was instrumental in breaking rap music to white, alternative rock audiences. Fear Of A Black Planet (1990) and its follow-up, Apocalypse '91...The Enemy Strikes Black, consolidated Public Enemy's position as the most important rap group of its time. There were storms of controversy along the way, most notably Chuck D.'s endorsement of the polarizing Muslim minister Louis Farrakhan, and group member Professor Griff's highly publicized anti-Semitic slurs. But on the whole, Public Enemy's groundbreaking body of work established Chuck D. as one of the most intelligent, articulate spokesmen for the black community. He became an in-demand speaker on the college lecture circuit (much like his peer KRS-One), and was frequently invited to provide commentary on TV news programs.

Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age (1994) found the group's status slipping, and the following year Chuck put PE on hiatus while planning its next move. In the meantime, he released his first solo album, The Autobiography of Mistachuck, in 1996, and published the book version of his autobiography the following year. He reconvened Public Enemy for the soundtrack to Spike Lee's 1998 film, He Got Game, and the following year left Def Jam over the label's refusal to allow him to distribute Public Enemy music via free Internet downloads. Signing with the web-based Atomic Pop label, Chuck became an outspoken advocate of MP3 technology, and made 1999's There's A Poison Goin' On... the first full-length album by a major artist to be made available over the Internet (it was later released on CD as well). He continued his lecturing into the new millennium and made regular appearances on the Fox News Channel as a commentator. Even if Public Enemy never recaptures the popularity or vitality of its glory years, Chuck D.'s legacy is secure enough to keep him a respected voice on the American cultural landscape. - Steve Huey

Flavor Flav's Bio from All Music Guide
Chuck D's comic foil in the pioneering rap group Public Enemy, Flavor Flav was born William Drayton on March 16, 1959. A classically trained pianist, he was rapping under the alias MC DJ Flavor when he first met graphic design student Carlton Ridenhour, who under the name Chuck D formed Public Enemy in 1982; following the release of their 1987 debut LP Yo! Bum Rush The Show, the group emerged as the most important act in hip-hop if not all contemporary music, brilliantly fusing socially conscious, politically charged rhymes with chaotic cut-and-paste productions to forever reshape the direction of not merely rap but rock as well. As the cartoonish counterpoint to Chuck's authoritarian presence, Flavor Flav essentially invented the role of the rap sidekick, innovating the absurdist delivery later borrowed by everyone from Busta Rhymes to Ol' Dirty Bastard; with his gold teeth, clownish sunglasses, and omnipresent clock dangling from his neck, Flavor also became PE's visual focus, taking lead vocal duties on hits including the classic "911 Is a Joke." Even as Public Enemy's influence waned in the mid-'90s, Flavor Flav continued to make headlines for his frequent run-ins with the law; he also worked on his long-awaited solo album, reportedly delivering two completed records to Def Jam which the label rejected on both occasions. A full-length titled It's About Time was set to be released on the Lightyear imprint in late 1999, but it never surfaced. - Jason Ankeny

Terminator X's Bio from All Music Guide
Best known as the innovative DJ of Public Enemy, Terminator X (born Norman Rogers) also pursued a secondary solo career beginning in 1991. His debut, Terminator X & the Valley of the Jeep Beets, was not a radical departure from his work with PE and consisted largely of dance tracks, although there were some vocal contributions from Andrew 13 and Sister Souljah. Prior to the release of his second solo album in 1994, Terminator X suffered two broken legs in a motorcycle accident from which he recovered. Super Bad featured appearances by Grandmaster Flash, Kool Herc, and the Cold Crush Brothers. - Steve Huey

Professor Griff's Bio from All Music Guide
Professor Griff (born Richard Griffin) was the minister of information for Public Enemy until June of 1989. He gave a controversial interview to The Washington Post that included comments deemed anti-Semitic by many. In the ensuing furor, Chuck D eventually fired him from Public Enemy and even briefly disbanded the group, only to re-form them. Griff formed his own band, the Asiatic Disciples. The results were mixed, the slant predictably Islamic and Afrocentric on efforts like 1998's Blood of the Profit. - Ron Wynn

Official Sites: Public Enemy, ShutEmDown.com & Guerrilla Funk Recordings