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Air Hoodlum - Public Enemy



     
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Air Hoodlum Lyrics


Yo, Chuck, where you at, G?
I think he went upstairs, y'know
A very furious mixture of noise
What Public Enemy producer Hank Shocklee calls
'Music's worst nightmare'{Hey, he's a good kid}Air Hoodlum
Check the elevation
Air Hoodlum
Check the elevation{ Player, that can leap, with the best of them}Risin' up in the 'Velt, Strong Island, New York
The hood, in case you did not know my base
There was a ballplayer who had all the skills
Wit the pill to pay the piper, plus all the billsMick his first name, Mack the awesome game
Practiced in the heat, in the rain or in pain
Mick so quick, at six foot six
Down to be picked by anyone but the CelticsOh, what a handle could score from the floor
With people bangin' on him or even hangin' on him
But what he did best, above all the rest was{A player that can leap, with the best of them
{As a high school phenom, the Skywalker himself
I felt he could do to make this an effective basketball team}Grades nine an' ten, Mickey Mack was all that

But in class, his ass sat way in the back
How I know? 'Cause I know, I used to flow wit the bro
He didn't mind I used to read him his own headline'Cause he could not read 'em, his school wouldn't need 'em
If the lines wouldn'ta went like this
Mickey Mack jumped over the candlestick
His stack was his stats but his D was still whack
Grades eleven an' twelve, he found the wrong clientle an' all
Durin' class, he would dribble in the hallBut never got in trouble in school, but the trouble was
It was cool if your brain was just another bubble
As long as he could score fiddy-two
Get thirty-three rebounds, fuckin' aroundTeams lost to him, he went right through 'em
Division, county, state, that's three, count 'em
Championships for a small town bro
That's bound to go pro{He gets free, turn on the jumper, good
Streak of lightning when he breaks loose
We all felt in our hearts we could win this ballgame
They just required me to have the game that I did}{I'm just, that's all I, that's all I, that's all I can say
That's all I can say, he hauled down fifteen rebounds
And kept the ball away from everybody
Then he had a triple double, a sensational player}SATs didn't matter 'cause he was all that
You know, the pat on the back
He was always in the news, you gotta know what it means
It means revenue an' I'm tellin' youI saw cars an' Gs come to our school, please
Approach hell with the principal, where's the coach?
Went to college four years wit a scholarship
An' won the championshipBut when it came to his life, he didn't care
'Cause he took it to the air{Cross and a hook, he scores, he's fouled
From the far corner, breaks West and here's the jumper, good
There's the jumper, it's not gonna go, rebound batted back)The fall began when Mickey Mack fell
Hell, ripped his knee, drafted last by personnel
Oh, how he loved the game, it was fantastic
Until he was cut an' couldn't stickTimes got tighter an' tighter
he had an attitude, was rude, so he turned into a fighter
School wouldn't give him the job that he needed
Assistant to the assistant coach, they didn't need itThen he resorted to a stick up kid
Ski-mask an' gat but this game he wasn't good at
An' the drugs on the side
Police ambushed his ride, another homicideHe was over, ghost, y'know
Hometown hero but now a zero
To those hypocrites who ripped him blind
For his skills without the will to develop his mindForever in the news the community views him
Only as Air Hoodlum{I don't understand it, the kid coulda been another Jordan}

Enjoy the lyrics !!!
Public Enemy, also known as P.E., is a seminal Golden Age era Hip-Hop group known for their densely layered production and politically charged lyrics demonstrating their interest in the concerns of the African American community.

PE formed in Long Island, New York, in 1982 around a WBAU radio show as Spectrum City. After one less-than-successful single, they regrouped and signed to the still developing Def Jam record label after Rick Rubin heard Chuck D freestyling on a demo. Their debut, ‘Yo! Bum Rush The Show’, was released in 1987 to mild critical acclaim, although the Hip-Hop climate changed dramatically due to sampling during the time of release. As a response, they went on to release the revolutionary ‘It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back’ in 1988, which performed better in the charts than their previous release, and included the hit single ‘Don’t Believe the Hype’.

Slightly less militant than their previous releases Public Enemy’s, ‘Fear Of A Black Planet’ was officially recognised as being the most successful and influential of the Public Enemy recordings when, in 2004, it became one of 50 recordings, chosen that year by the Library of Congress, to be added to the National Recording Registry. Sales-wise it was the most successful of any of their albums to date. It included the powerful and controversial singles ‘911 is a Joke’ (which criticized emergency response units for taking longer to arrive at emergencies in the black community than those in the white community), and ‘Fight the Power’, which is considered by many to be the group’s premier self-describing anthem. The song is considered to be amongst the most popular and influential in Hip Hop history and was the theme song for Spike Lee’s landmark film ‘Do The Right Thing’.

Public Enemy are to be considered musical pioneers for a broad variety of reasons. For instance, Terminator X elevated DJing to a refined art. Some of his most innovative scratching tricks can be heard on the track ‘Rebel Without A Pause’. PE’s production team, ‘The Bomb Squad’, offered up a web of innovative samples and beats; critic Steven Thomas Earlewine declared that PE “brought in elements of free jazz, hard funk, even musique concrète, via their [production] team, the Bomb Squad, creating a dense, ferocious sound unlike anything that came before.”

PE revolutionized the rap world with their political, social and cultural consciousness. These themes became infused into skilled and poetic rhymes with jazzy backbeats. They are recognised as the first Hip Hop group to make extended world tours, leading to huge popularity and influence within the Hip Hop communities of Europe and Asia. They also changed the internet’s music distribution capability by being the first group to release MP3 albums, a format virtually unknown at the time.

Public Enemy, in keeping with their ‘pioneer’ status, also helped to form and define the so-called ‘crossover’ genre of music (heavy rock music spliced with hip hop) by collaborating with New York thrash metal outfit Anthrax in 1991. The single ‘Bring The Noise’ was a remarkable potpourri of semi-militant pro-black lyrics, grinding guitars and sporadic humour. The two bands, cemented by a mutual respect, and the personal friendship between Chuck D and his Anthrax counterpart Scott Ian, introduced a hitherto alien genre to rock fans.

During the seemingly unlikely tour of Anthrax and Public Enemy, Flavor Flav made his famous pronouncement onstage that “They said this tour would never happen” (heard on Anthrax’s Live: The Island Years CD). This has become something of legendary significance in both rock and rap circles. There is some justification for the theory that without this unlikely musical partnership, bands such as Rage Against The Machine and Linkin Park would not have existed, and the genres of rap rock, nu metal and their related offshoots might have never developed.

Members of Public Enemy

Chuck D
Real name: Carlton Douglas Ridenhour
Role: Group leader, lyricist, main vocalist, and artwork
Birthdate: August 1, 1960

Flavor Flav
Real name: William Jonathan Drayton, Jr.
Role: Lyricist, vocalist, hype-man, and comic relief.
Birthdate: March 16, 1959

Professor Griff
Real name: Richard Griffin
Role: Head of S1W, liaison between PE and S1W, road manager. Ensured that the chaotic Flavor Flav was available when needed. Occasional vocalist and/or producer, plays drums at live shows.
Birthdate: August 1, 1960 (the same as Chuck D)

Terminator X
Real name: Norman Rogers
Role: DJ, Producer
Birthdate: August 25, 1966

Dj Lord
Real name: Lord Aswod
Role: DJ, Producer

The following are a part of The Bomb Squad, the revolutionary production group which is closely associated with (and sometimes considered a part of) Public Enemy:

Hank Shocklee
Real name: Hank Boxley
Bill Stephany
Keith Shocklee
Eric “Vietnam” Sadler
Chuck D - often listed as a member of the Bomb Squad under the pseudonymn “Carl Ryder”, a shortened form of his real name.

The S1W’s are sometimes considered a part of Public Enemy, as well.

There are three other groups named Public Enemy:

2) The first Public Enemy, an Oi!/punk band formed in 1984 who released one LP album (England's Glory) and one 7 inch (Skinheads). This band was never white supremacist and has no connection to the "revived" Public Enemy:

3) White Power group from the UK, formed by Paul Burnley (of No Remorse). Released 3 CDs: “Paul Burnley Is The Real Public Enemy”, "There is only one..." and “Archives”.

4) Public Enemy was a Hardcore/Punk group from Tuscon, Arizona.

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Public Enemy