Public Enemy: New Whirl Odor : Music Reviews : Rolling Stone

Album Reviews

More than a decade past their heyday, Public Enemy are still bringing the noise. On New Whirl Odor, their first album since 2002, Chuck D plows forward, his bulldozer flow rumbling over a spacious boom-bap. High-impact tunes such as the title track combine classic PE ruckus and Wu-Tang-style streetscapes, with dusty samples serving as counterpoints to Flavor Flav's nonstop needling. On the so-so "Makes You Blind," part-time Air America commentator Chuck hates on the usual targets -- the mass media and the Prez -- and his rhymes often play like impromptu lectures, mixing heavy-handed preachifying with lax wordplay and stray references to Allah and Planet of the Apes. "Check What You're Listening To," however, is right on the money: Over a breezy funk loop, Chuck picks up the pace and nimbly assaults new-school hip-hop, showing he's got a few righteous moves.