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Release date: 01/06/2009

With Yo! Bum Rush the Show, Public Enemy introduce a new kind of bravado that's not just directed at other players and sucker MCs but is an out-and-out middle-finger challenge to the whole world, as these serious brothers roll right over you in a slow-moving convoy of 98 Oldsmobiles ("You're Gonna Get Yours"). PE crowd these tracks with disparate sounds that move your butt while they buzz from every channel. Despite their serious posturing, you'll be grateful for the sloppy bass line in "Timebomb" and Terminator X's brilliant tone experiment, "Public Enemy No. 1." Yo! isn't PE's masterpiece, but it's a truly standout album, a warning shot for the full-scale assault they would later initiate on It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. --Todd Levin

Track listing