After 15 years in the business, Public Enemy are still going strong.

Probably one of the most influential and controversial rap groups of the Eighties, they built on Run DMC's street beats and the rhyming of Boogie Down Productions to pioneer a variety of revolutionary rap.

Rapping about social problems, particularly those plaguing the black community, they often condoned revolutionary tactics and activism.

In the process, hip hop moved towards a self-aware, pro-black consciousness that marked the next decade.

Musically, Public Enemy were just as radical. Their production team, the Bomb Squad, created dense soundscapes that relied on unrecognisable samples, sirens, beats and deep funk.

It was chaotic and invigorating music, made all the more intoxicating by Chuck D's forceful vocals and the absurd raps of his comic foil Flavor Flav.

With his oversized sunglasses and a clock hanging from his neck, Flav became the group's focal point. While critics embraced the group's records, Public Enemy frequently ran into controversy with their militant lyrics, especially after the 1988 album It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back.

More controversy was to follow with Chuck's positive endorsements of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in Bring the Noise and Don't Believe the Hype.

Fight the Power also caused an uproar for its attacks on Elvis Presley.

The band continued with Fear of A Black Planet and Apocalypse 91.

Their 2002 rap, Gotta Give the Peeps What They Need, was banned by MTV because the lyrics were deemed too political.

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