Public Enemy's artistic and commercial winning streak continued with its third album, Fear of a Black Planet. While other East Coast rappers were content to boast and boast about their prowess on the microphone, Public Enemy always had a lot to say. From "Burn Hollywood Burn" (a brutally honest attack on racism in the film industry) to the optimistic "Brothers Gonna Work It Out," the politically charged rappers have no problem maintaining the level of excellence they reached on It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. A gut-level attack on incompetence in the 911 system, "911 Is a Joke" illustrates just how on-target PE could be — in fact, it should be stressed that the song precedes by several years the incident in which 911 operators in Philadelphia came under attack for doing nothing to help a youth who was being beaten to death. And once again, PE's producers, the Bomb Squad, provide a collage of samples that is as imaginative as it is bombastic. — Alex Henderson, AMG