There's A Poison Goin' On

Public Enemy | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (July 20, 1999)
• Original Release Date: 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Atomic Pop
• ASIN: B00000J0VP
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #129,080 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #34 in Music > Indie Music > Rap & Hip-Hop > East Coast
  • #67 in Music > Indie Music > Rap & Hip-Hop > Gangsta & Hardcore

Track Listings

1. Dark Side of the Wall: 2000

2. Do You Wanna Go Our Way???

3. LSD

4. Here I Go

5. 41:19

6. Crash

7. Crayola

8. First the Sheep Next the Shepherd?

9. World Tour Sessions

10. Last Mass of the Caballeros

11. I

12. What What

13. Kevorkian

14. Swindlers Lust

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best PE albums in a long, LONG time, August 21, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: There's A Poison Goin' On (Audio CD)

I'm hearing a lot of static from a lot of people who claim to be long time PE fans about this album not meeting their expectations. If you're a true PE fan who's not sure about buying this album because of the lukewarm attempts like Muse Sick, rest assured...this album is ILL!!!

The beats are without a doubt some of the best Terminator's come up with. You can definitely see how they've evolved since the days of "You're Gonna Get Yours", but they're definitely original and definitely all Enemy.

As always, the rhymes and lyrics are sharp and on point. Chuck's hasn't been this raw since Apocalypse. Even Flava made me proud with "41:19". It was a serious joint that was a complete turn around from He Got Game's "Shake Yo' Booty" (which I thought was kinda whack).

Anyone who gave this album a bad review has been listening too close to all the commercial garbage that so-called "MC's" have be dumping on us for the past few years. Granted, if you're not into PE's rough politics and hard, energetic, old- school beats, stay the hell away, but if you're down for the cause, get this album. In a time when cat-in-the-hat rappers rule the industry, albums like this restore my faith in true Hip Hop.

Peace.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Don't call it a comeback -- He Got Game was tight, too, June 9, 2000

By 

Andrew Miller (Kansas City, MO) - See all my reviews

This review is from: There's A Poison Goin' On (Audio CD)

With the release of "There's A Poison Goin' On," Public Enemy became the first platinum-selling group to release a new album on an Internet-based label. The group's leader, Chuck D, toured the nation, urging artists to bypass the established record-label power structure through the use of technology. Now, months after the album debuted on computer screens, "Poison" has made its way into the traditional marketplace. With the hype about the Internet-only status of the record starting to die down, it's time to focus on the music, which is as futuristic and innovative as the album's digital distribution. Chuck D raps that his style "parallels the brain of Cobain," and "Poison" might be the most brilliantly caustic album since "In Utero." The lyrics focus on Public Enemy's disenchantment with the recording industry, with songs such as "Do You Wanna Go Our Way?" and "Swindler's Lust" taking sharp jabs at the band's former label, Def Jam. Chuck D has plenty of venom left in his arsenal for commercialized rap, claiming to be "the reverse of jiggy" and attacking "crime rhymes" and soulless love songs. However, Public Enemy has more than music on its mind. "First the Sheep, then the Shepherd" mixes a wishful-thinking look at human cloning with a haunting space-age beat, while "I" contains eloquent observations about substance abuse, the prison system and welfare reform. On the album's most surprising track, "41:19," Chuck's hyperactive sidekick Flavor Flav sheds his jester persona and delivers a scathing diatribe against police brutality Musically, the group still brings the noise, albeit in a more subtle manner. The horns and sirens that defined Public Enemy's sound a decade ago have been replaced by simmering ambient beats, psychedelic guitars and sparse Wu-Tang-style keyboards. When dissected sound-by-sound, newcomer Tom E. Hawk's beats are staggeringly complex, with dozens of overlapping loops, scratches and vocal samples. Yet taken as a whole, the finished products are smooth and seamless, providing support for the powerful lyrics without distracting from them. Perhaps the most memorable line from "Poison" is Chuck D's "they said I'd never work in this town again," which is spoken in character as the distraught homeless hero of "I" but which could also serve as his reply to those who felt that he was committing commercial suicide by splitting with DefJam. With this stellar album and the group's status as Internet-music pioneers propelling the group back into the spotlight, Public Enemy has proven that this calculated risk was anything but a misstep.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Classic, August 10, 2005

By 

D Bourgie "[e-mail]" (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: There's A Poison Goin' On (Audio CD)

Public Enemy's seventh album is a classic. It is one of my favorite albums by them. Chuck D's lyrical attack has never been better. The production is on top. This album was originally released online which finally kicked PE off Def Jam. It would later be released and i'm glad. There are alot of good political songs. Favorites include Are You Gonna Go Our Way???, LSD, Here I Go, Crash, Crayola, First The Sheep Next The Shepherd?, Last Mass Of The Caballeros, What What, Kevorkian, and Swindlers Lust. Highly Highly Recommended.