Chuck D

The sole solo album by the great, booming voice of Public Enemy isn't so much an autobiography as a catalogue of what pisses him off, although for this dissenter-for-life, that may indeed constitute his story. Over bare, soulful backing tracks that avoid an overload of samples or Flavor Flav, the former Carlton Ridenhour --that's "the commissioner" to you, kid --takes aim at hip-hop's violent infighting and coldhearted materialism, exploitive media, drugs, and those "modern-day Stepin Fetchits" ignorant of the heritage of black radicalism. One track is a simple list: "No Land Cruisers, no drug users/ . . . No Negroes with egos/No mo' shows callin' women bitches and hos." Easy targets, maybe, but what is he going to talk about, finding renewable energy sources? (BEN SISARIO)

From 2004's The New Rolling Stone Album Guide