"The messages on 'Black Planet' are no less potent than they were on 'Nation of Millions' or even Public Enemy’s 1987 debut, 'Yo! Bum Rush The Show.' 'Black Planet' is more interested in concentration, fitting the group’s big ideas into precise and elaborate containers for maximum impact. 'Nation of Millions' was buckshot; 'Black Planet' was a sniper bullet. It was also the last hurrah for the Golden Age of sampling, an intricately produced album that took full advantage of massive walls of sound to unearth rap from the space where rock, funk and jazz collide. But more than anything, 'Fear of a Black Planet' is the result of a group that nearly lost control of its narrative wrestling it back from the clamped jaws of white entitlement. Public Enemy fought the power and won."