Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos

The Work:
Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos

The Artist:
Public Enemy

Description:
A song about a young man who is given a draft letter but refuses to go fight for a "white" America. He is imprisoned for his defiance, and while in prison he hatches a plans a prison break with the help of a pre-VH1 Flava-Flav and the S1Ws, a paramilitary organization that was associated with Public Enemy at the height of their popularity.

Purpose:
It's a pop song; at the most basic level, its purpose is the same as any other commodity...to sell. However, Public Enemy, particularly Chuck D, have always maintained a certain amount of artistic credibility. You have to believe they were going for something more here. The message is about anger and despair in the African-American community. The song itself is like a story from a graphic novel; Chuck D uses vivid imagery throughout to convey a sense of wild bravado. It's a song about big acts committed by big personalities as they battle evil forces.

What Works:
Just about everything, from the piano sample to Flava-Flav's nonsensical ramblings (does he do anything else?), here muted and moved to the background so that they sound like the musings of Chuck D's insane alter ego. The images are particularly vivid: "The joint broke from the black smoke" or, "I got a raw deal, so I'm lookin' for the steel." Even the coda, repeated over a thumping, fuzzy baseline, has resonance, as it points to the song's ultimately hopeless ending: "death row, what would a brotha know?"

What Doesn't:
Nothing. Not a thing. Some think the Geto Boys' "Mind Playing Tricks on Me" is the greatest rap song of all time. I'll take this one.

Verdict:
A groundbreaking song from a groundbreaking group that sounds better today in your iPod than it did back in the day when you bumped it in the cassette deck of your Ford Escort GT (hey, it had a spoiler).

Welcome to SnitCrit

Welcome. The title is supposed to be a play on "litcrit", or is it "chicklit?" I can't remember. Anyway, we're going to review all sorts of things and then post those reviews here so that literally millions of people can ignore them.

Hopefully we'll be a little more engaging that those snarky people on the VH1 specials. Actually, I think the girl with the blonde hair and the cat glasses is so un-compelling that she's compelling. Or rather, the fact that she's actually on my TV seems important to me. She's like a Lisa Loeb who can't sing. They bill her as a comedian, so she must be funny. Maybe she's funny to women. Maybe she's appealing on one of those esoteric feminine wavelengths that I cannot actually perceive, the comedic equivalent of a dog whistle.

At her shows I'll bet the men in the audience are bored. They check their watches, they play with their cell phones, but they can't leave because their girlfriends and wives are laughing like crazy.

I don't know. There's something about that girl with the blonde hair and cat glasses. She was on an episode of CYE, playing a receptionist. Not very exciting and yet, there she was. She was there. Somebody had to play the receptionist, and she was picked. How does she keep getting picked? Maybe she's an expert in getting picked. Maybe she stands out in a crowd. Maybe it was a talent she discovered in grade school and has been cultivating ever since.

Was there something in her rice cake commercials that I missed?