Public Enemy's Apocalypse 91 gets a 35-year second look

Angus Batey published an essay at 7:57am on 1 October 2026 marking 35 years of Public Enemy's fourth album, Apocalypse 91: The Enemy Strikes Black. The piece argues the record is almost always overlooked.

The reason is the two albums before it. It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back keeps turning up near the top of all-time lists, and Batey calls Fear Of A Black Planet the better of the two follow-ups to the group's 1986 debut, Yo! Bum Rush The Show. Both absorb the attention that might have gone to the fourth. Batey's line on Apocalypse 91: it is "a true killer."

Batey also notes Chuck D was 26 when the group emerged.