Conventional wisdom has it that in the ’70s rock and roll about died until punk came along and saved it—a debatable theory at best, given punk’s subsequent sellout. A stronger argument can be made that hip-hop/rap/ghetto music has prevented contemporary American popular music from becoming what it nearly became in the ’70s: overblown, Euro-trash-like foolishness. So if rap is the most important (and most fun) street-level art around, then Public Enemy has, since its conception, been the most important rap group around.

Apocalypse 91…The Enemy Strikes Black is PE’s current release, the follow-up to 1990’s Fear of a Black Planet. Together with 1988’s It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back, what we have is not only an amazing manifesto for black self-empowerment in America in the coming century, but also the best beats and raps being made. Imagine LL Cool J’s physical toughness and KRS-1’s intellect combined with a little of Ice Cube’s despair, and you’ve got your basic PE album.

These guys hit real hard. Apocalypse’s tunes focus on the black community itself. Fear focused on the problems that white people have with black folks’ blackness, but with angry monsters like “Nighttrain,” “I Don’t Wanna Be Called Yo Niga” and “1 Million Bottlebags,” Apocalypse sets its sights squarely on the problems black folks have with their blackness. There are fewer samples, less speed and a little less depth here than on Fear, but Millions, Fear and Apocalypse are really three chapters in the same amazing book that’s being written right under our noses. I’m glad I’m a-witnessin’ it.