Public Enemy - 'New Whirl Odor' (Atlantic) Released 05/12/05

Public Enemy have always been one of the loudest dissenting voices in the usually apolitical hip-hop world of bling and bitches, though they’ve been disappointingly quiet so far throughout the turbulent post-9/11 years.  They’re still among the most acclaimed and respected rap groups around, but can ‘New Whirl Odor’ really show young pretender Kanye West who the original Bush-haters were?

After a few spins, you’d have to say “no”.  The group’s early strength was that the medium matched the message – incendiary lyrics were backed up with equally explosive beats.  Since the departure of cut-paste craftsman Terminator X, however, Chuck D and co seem to have lost the fire in their bellies.  There’s no sign here of the sonic inventiveness that makes 1988’s classic It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back the token ‘black’ record in those all-too-regular greatest albums polls.  Even so, Moby collaboration ‘MKLVFKWR’ is great, with the kind of chant-along sloganeering that’ll speak to clubbers and protesters alike.  Nonetheless, one can’t help but feel that it’s more down to the involvement of everybody’s favourite vegan than the New York crew themselves, especially given the unsubtle borrowing of the riff from Moby’s own ‘Bodyrock’.  Just further proof then, that while they used to claim to be “louder than a bomb”, on New Whirl Odor, Public Enemy would be lucky to drown out a party popper.

The music isn’t the only thing that’s suffered though.  It’s clear from his recent interviews that Chuck D still has things to say and scores to settle, but whether he can get them across on record or not is another matter.  Sure, he rails against the apathy of his generation (‘35 years old and stuck in an X-Box’), but that’s about the only worthwhile lyric on the disc.  ‘Makes You Blind’ even sees him resorting to badmouthing the obvious targets of “McDonald’s, MTV and Microsoft” like a teenager with a Che Guevara T-shirt and a copy of No Logo under his arm.  They’re far beyond teenagers though, so perhaps it’s time Public Enemy did let the young’uns have a go.