Their 1987 debut, Yo! Bum Rush the Show, heralded hip-hop’s great leap forward, placing listeners squarely in the crosshairs (as embodied by the PE logo) of bristling, defiant jams like “You’re Gonna Get Yours.” 

 Nation of Millions is the band’s stone-cold masterpiece, and perhaps the first truly great hip-hop album. Basing their tracks on the noisiest James Brown samples they could find, Shocklee and his crew created beats that both screamed and rocked the boulevard. Tracks like “Prophets of Rage,”... 

 Fear of a Black Planet was more varied stylistically and more downtempo (“Pollywannacracka,” “Brothers Gonna Work It Out”), but its greatest tracks contain just as much lightning. “Can’t Do Nuttin’ for Ya Man” is a funky Flavor Flav showcase. “Fight the Power” found PE in a fi... 

 Rocked by controversy in ’91 (Griff’s anti-Semitic remarks led to his expulsion), PE was losing ground artistically and commercially by 1994’s Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age, but every PE release has something to recommend it. In 1999, Terminator X went on sabbatical to concentrate on his North ... 

 The CD/DVD combo The First London Invasion Tour 1987 is the most interesting of a handful of live albums, capturing a young Public Enemy on their first European tour.  

 The best-of Power to the People offers a decent overview of PE’s career, but casual fans would be better off with It Takes a Nation or Fear of a Black Planet.  

 How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul? also tanked commercially, but the revamped sound is heavier, tossing in all kinds of textures–including guitars–and Flav is even funnier than on Rebirth. Chuck goes after ganster rap and other shit that annoys him, and pulls off a ne... 

 During the 2000s, PE members stayed visible–Chuck D lectured on the college circuit and hosted a talk radio show, while Flava Flav became a reality TV superstar with Flavor of Love–but the group found time to put out four studio albums. Each one is strong in its own way, though the last two s...