Prolific American hip-hop group Public Enemy's Chuck D and Flavor Flav appear behind bars in a photograph by Glen E. Friedman on this sought after original Def Jam promotional poster for the 1988 release of their seminal second album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. Unapologetically and explicitly political, the group set out to make the hip hop equivalent to Marvin Gaye's What's Going On. The album charted for 47 weeks on the US Billboard 200, receiving widespread acclaim from critics, who praised the radical production techniques by the Bomb Squad and the socially and politically charged lyricism of lead MC Chuck D. In his review for Rolling Stone, David Fricke described the album as a Molotov cocktail of nuclear scratching, gnarly minimalist electronics and revolution rhyme and complimented its abrupt sequencing and violent sonic compression of rapid-fire samples, slamming-jail-door percussion, DJ Terminator X's tornado turntable work and Chuck D's outraged oratory. Already certified platinum by 1989, having sold over a million copies, It Takes a Nation was the highest ranking hip hop album, at number 48, on Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003.

Provenance

Excellent (A-)

Unfolded, conservation backed on linen. Prior to backing this poster had a faint diagonal crease through 'Public' and shooting target in upper portion and a couple of partial horizontal creases extending from right edge. Backing has smoothed and diminished these creases so that they are now virtually invisible. Image and colours excellent.