Tristan Kinnett September 1st, 2020 - 6:15 PM
Public Enemy have revealed the tracklist for their upcoming album What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down, out September 25 via Def Jam Recordings. The star-studded list includes Nas, YG, Rapsody, DJ Premier, Black Thought, Questlove, Cypress Hill, Run-DMC, Ice-T, George Clinton, remaining Beastie Boys members Mike D and Ad-Rock and more.
Their return to Def Jam for the first time since 1998 was celebrated with the projection of the Public Enemy logo on cultural landmarks like the Eiffel Tower in Paris and Parliament in London among other places. The band put out all of their famous early-career records on Def Jam, including It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Fear of a Black Planet and Apocalypse 91…The Enemy Strikes Back.
What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down is the follow-up to 2017’s Nothing is Quick in the Desert, their last album with Flavor Flav. Chuck D released an album as Enemy Radio this April while circulating rumors of a feud with Flav, but announced the feud was a hoax with the release of the album, Loud is Not Enough, which features Flav on one of the tracks. Chuck D said the hoax was a criticism of hip hop outlets being more likely to pick up traffic from negative news.
Two singles from the album have been released so far. “State of the Union (STFU)” is an anti-Trump call to action that came with a video featuring footage of police brutality. “Fight the Power: Remix 2020” is a reprisal of the 1989 classic with new verses from Nas, YG, Black Thought, Rapsody and Jahi. It also deals with asking for justice for George Floyd and Breonna Taylor.
What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down Track List
- “When The Grid Goes Down” ft. George Clinton
- “Grid” ft. Cypress Hill and George Clinton
- “State of the Union (STFU)” ft. DJ Premier
- “Merica Mirror” ft.. Pop Diesel
- “Public Enemy Number Won” ft. Mike D, Ad-Rock, Run-DMC
- “Toxic”
- “Yesterday Man” ft. Daddy-O
- “Crossroads Burning” (Interlude) ft. James Bomb
- “Fight The Power: Remix 2020” ft. Nas, Rapsody, Black Thought, Jahi, YG, Questlove
- “Beat Them All”
- “Smash The Crowd” ft.. Ice-T, PMD
- “If You Can’t Join Em Beat Em”
- “Go At It” ft. Jahi
- “Don’t Look At The Sky” (Interlude) ft. Mark Jenkins
- “Rest In Beats” ft. The Impossebulls
- “R.I.P. Blackat”
- “Closing: I Am Black” ft. Ms. Ariel
Photo Credit: Marv Watson
