If the title of
Rebirth of a Nation
consciously recalls the title of
Public Enemy
's 1988 masterwork,
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back
, that shouldn't be taken as indication that the music on
Rebirth
is a revival of the dense sound of
Nation
as masterminded by
the Bomb Squad
. Nevertheless,
is certainly a throwback to the sound of the golden age, when
hardcore rap
was not defined solely by the sonics or subjects of
gangsta rap
, and that's a deliberate move on
PE
's part -- they want to re-create the sound of the time, but not the sound that was identified with them, and in order to do that they've entered into a full-fledged collaboration with
Paris
, who produced and wrote all of
. This is the first time that
Chuck D
did not have a hand in writing either the music or the words on a
album (he did write some verses on four songs on the record), which is initially disarming, since he's always been the sound and vision of
. But he explains the project clearly in his liner notes, comparing the album to
Muddy Waters
' psychedelicized
blues
on
Electric Mud
--
Muddy
may have been reluctant to work in a
rock
setting, but it was an artistic challenge, and
Chuck
wanted
to take the same kind of risk. Even if all
fans may not be pleased with the results,
isn't nearly as divisive as
to
isn't as big a stretch as
Chicago blues
to psychedelia, after all, and they have an audience more willing to go along with change, which this certainly is. But change is often welcome for artists, nowhere more so than for
, whose last album,
New Whirl Odor
, was their first to feel truly tired, something that
can not be called. Not that it's especially daring sonically --
did construct this as a self-consciously old-school record, dropping in samples of old
records and adhering to the sound of 1990 -- but the group, particularly
, sounds engaged by the project, which at the very least makes for a listen that's more gripping than its immediate predecessor. And if the sound of the record is a throwback,
' subjects are nervy and politically charged, directly addressing the state of the world in a way few records do in 2006. All of this makes
an admirable effort -- perhaps the music gets a little monochromatic, but that's merely a byproduct of its narrowly targeted goals, and as a whole, it's an ambitious and successful artistic detour for
. Besides, it's hard not to be impressed by a record that sounds like a blast from the past while playing like a news bulletin from today -- not an easy trick to pull off, but
and
manage it with
. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine