Apart from their 2001 installment in Universal's ongoing 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection series,
Public Enemy have not been given a career compilation prior to 2005's
Power to the People and the Beats: Public Enemy's Greatest Hits. That comp overlooked such major cuts as "Rebel Without a Pause" and "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos," plus it was sequenced in a non-chronological order.
Power to the People rights those two wrongs by including all of
PE's major songs from 1987-1998 -- which doesn't mean it's all their best music, of course -- presented in a chronological fashion, beginning with "You're Gonna Get Yours" and ending with "He Got Game." As such, it provides not only a useful summary of their groundbreaking work, it's also a bracing, exciting listen in its own right. Of course, each individual
Public Enemy recorded during the last ten years (as of this 2005 release) are worth hearing -- especially 1988's
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and 1990's
Fear of a Black Planet, which are two of the great works of art of the 20th century -- but for those who want a quick introduction to the greatest hip-hop group of all time, this fits the bill perfectly. [
Power to the People and the Beats was also released in a clean version, containing no profanity.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine