#27 It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back by Public Enemy
The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time
- 2025 Album Rank
- 27
- 2011 Album Rank
- 44
- Total Points
- 1713
- Year Released
- 1988
- Billboard 200 Chart Peak
- 42
- Weeks at #1
- N/A
- RIAA Sales Certification
- 1,000,000 (Platinum)
- Buy Album
- Apple Music Amazon
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back Album Details
Released in April 1988, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is one of the most revolutionary albums in hip-hop history. Public Enemy, led by Chuck D's thunderous voice and radical political vision, crafted a dense, confrontational, and sonically overwhelming record that permanently changed the sound and potential of rap music. With production by The Bomb Squad, the album is an unrelenting barrage of layered samples, distorted beats, noise, and funk, all built to match Chuck D's militant calls for Black empowerment, social justice, and resistance.
The album is structured like a sonic assault, not just in its themes but in its sequencing and pacing. Tracks like Bring the Noise, Don't Believe the Hype, and Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos are furious manifestos set against an ever-shifting backdrop of sirens, screeches, breakbeats, and political samples. Flavor Flav provides chaotic counterpoint to Chuck D's gravity, offering comic relief and unpredictability. As both a radical political statement and an avant-garde production feat, the album set the blueprint for hip-hop as a vehicle for dissent and cultural revolution.
Interesting Facts about It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us
- The album's title was inspired by a line from a speech by Malcolm X and also nods to a lyric in The Isley Brothers' song Fight the Power (Part 1).
- Much of the album was designed to replicate the energy of Public Enemy's live shows, hence the interludes and soundbites that mimic a concert atmosphere.
- Chuck D considered the album to be their Sgt. Pepper's, a statement work aimed at expanding what hip-hop could do both musically and politically.
- The Bomb Squad built the tracks using a wall-of-sound approach: hundreds of samples layered into chaotic but precise sonic collages. Due to later copyright crackdowns, an album like this would be virtually impossible to release today.
- Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos tells the fictional story of a draft resister who breaks out of prison. It features a haunting piano loop sampled from Isaac Hayes' Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic.
- Rebel Without a Pause introduced the high-pitched squeal of a looped James Brown sample (from The Grunt by The J.B.'s) that became emblematic of the group's sound and was groundbreaking in its intensity.
- Flavor Flav was initially brought in to balance Chuck D's seriousness, but his persona became central to the group's identity. His track Cold Lampin' with Flavor is a rare solo moment on the album.
- The song Terminator X to the Edge of Panic samples Queen's Flash and highlights the DJ as a central force in the group's live and studio presence.
- Bring the Noise was later re-recorded with Anthrax in 1991, one of the first high-profile rap/metal crossovers.
- The group insisted on releasing It Takes a Nation... as quickly as possible after their debut so they wouldn't lose momentum. The urgency is reflected in the album's pacing and content.
- Despite its radical politics and confrontational style, the album was a critical and commercial breakthrough, reaching No. 42 on the Billboard 200 and topping the R&B chart, a landmark for politically conscious rap.
- In 2003, the Library of Congress added the album to the National Recording Registry, recognizing it as culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant.
- The album was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2020 for its cultural and historical significance.
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back Track List
- Countdown to Armageddon
- Bring the Noise
- Don't Believe the Hype
- Cold Lampin' with Flavor
- Terminator X to the Edge of Panic
- Mind Terrorist
- Louder Than a Bomb
- Caught, Can We Get a Witness?
- Show 'Em Whatcha Got
- She Watch Chennel Zero?!
- Night of the Living Baseheads
- Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos
- Security of the First World
- Rebel Without a Pause
- Prophets of Rage
- Party for Your Right to Fight
