Public Enemy have signed with Def Jam Recordings, and have announced a new album planned for release on September 25. The rap group will return to the label after two decades with What you Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down. Public Enemy had released their first five studio albums via Def Jam Recordings.
The group’s leader, Chuck D, made statement about Public Enemy choosing to return to their original label after two decades when the announcement was made on Friday, with Flavor Flav adding that it felt “cool to be home.”
“Cultural Institutions are important,” Chuck D said. “Being an integral art of one is an honor bestowed and to uphold. Public Enemy songs are forever sonic prints in the sands of time. And it’s time – it’s necessary- to bring the noise again from a place called home. Def Jam.”
Public Enemy released the first single off the upcoming album, “State of the Union (STFU)” last month, the song critiquing Donald Trump and backing the Black Lives Matter movement. The group also re-released their 1989 track “Fight the Power,” with the new version featuring Nat, Black Thought, Jahi, YG and Rapsody with verses honoring George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
The upcoming album will be the followup to 2017’s Nothing Is Quick in the Desert, and will be Public Enemy’s sixth release via Def Jam. The group had appeared to have fired Flavor Flav this past April, the firing then revealed to have been hoax.
Chuck D has also formed the group Enemy Radio, the group performing at political rallies without Flavor Flav. So far, Enemy Radio has made appearances at a Bernie Sander’s rally this past March and for Rock the Vote’s virtual show this past June. Enemy Radio also released the song, “Food As A Machine Gun” shortly after the group’s official formation in April.
Photo credit: Marv Watson
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