On Friday, my book about the greatest hip-hop group ever, Public Enemy: Inside the Terrordome, comes out. I am both excited and anxious. Because I have loved Public Enemy most of my life, it was intimidating to write about Chuck D, Flavor Flav and their cohorts. I was filled with a sense of responsibility: This was a book I had to get right.
Inside the Terrordome is what I call a critical biography. It covers the highlights of the band's career, but it also digs into the importance of the group and its albums. On that note, I'm particularly pleased with the amount of writing that goes into PE's post-heyday. (In other words, I cover the albums since Apocalypse 91, which is around the time that most fans dropped by the wayside. C'mon, Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age wasn't that bad.) Culturally, musically and historically, Public Enemy is major. I hope my book does them justice while, at the same time, discusses their low points and missteps.
In the meantime, you can enjoy an excerpt from the book over at Playboy. This section covers the making of the group's seminal 1990 album Fear of a Black Planet. And if you'd like to order Inside the Terrordome, you can do that right here through Amazon. Thanks so much.
