''Most of My Heroes Still Don't Appear on No Stamp'' is the eleventh

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

group

Public Enemy Public Enemy is an American Hip-hop, hip hop group formed in Roosevelt, New York, in 1985 by Chuck D and Flavor Flav. The group rose to prominence for their political messages including subjects such as Racism in the United States, American r ...

, released on July 13, 2012, by Slam Jamz. It was sold exclusively at the iTunes Store before its release to other retailers. It was released on CD on November 6. The album is the first of two albums that Public Enemy released in 2012, which

Chuck D Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960), known professionally as Chuck D, is an American rapper, best known as the leader and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav. Chuck D is also a me ...

described as "fraternal twins", along with '' The Evil Empire of Everything'', which was released on October 1, 2012. The album features guest vocals from

Brother Ali Ali Douglas Newman (born Jason Douglas Newman, July 30, 1977), better known by his stage name Brother Ali, is an American rapper, community activist, and member of the Rhymesayers Entertainment hip hop collective. He has released nine albums, ...

, Bumpy Knuckles,

Cormega Corey McKay, better known by his stage name Cormega, is an American rapper. Early life Cormega was born in Brooklyn and raised in Queens. He was childhood friends with Nas, Havoc and Capone, who all went on to become successful rappers. A ...

, and DMC. The title track "Most of My Heroes Still..." was produced and co-written by

Z-Trip Zach Sciacca (born July 22, 1971), better known as DJ Z-Trip, is an American DJ and producer. He is a pioneer of the mashup movement. He was the 2009 recipient of the "America's Best DJ Award". As a producer he has worked with artists across ...

. Upon its release, ''Most of My Heroes Still Don't Appear on No Stamp'' received positive reviews from music critics, who complimented its production and found its political lyrics relevant to contemporary times. The name of the album comes from the line "most of my heroes don't appear on no stamp", from " Fight the Power".

Critical reception

''Most of My Heroes Still Don't Appear on No Stamp'' received generally positive reviews from

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

editor

Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...

gave it four out of five stars and commended Public Enemy for "remain ngtrue to the sounds and sensibilities they laid out back in the late '80s", writing that "the music remains vital and vibrant, possibly because, despite some progress, things still haven't changed all that much and, in some respects, have gotten worse...and as long as Public Enemy's heroes remain consigned to the margins, they'll still make music as dynamic as this." Ray Rahman of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' complimented its production, particularly the "newer, weirder, and welcome musical elements" on certain tracks, and called the album "pretty damn great."

Consequence of Sound ''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. History ''Consequence of Sound'' was founded in Septem ...

's Matt Melis gave the album three stars and felt that "a few cuts recompletely out of left field", writing that "most of this record falls into tried-and-true PE formulas, but there's no dust or rust to be found on the album's top tracks."

MSN Music ''MSN Music'' was a part of MSN's web services. It delivered music news, music videos, spotlights on new music, artist information, and live performances of artists. The website also served as a digital music store from 2004 to 2008. History ...

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

gave it an "A−", indicating "the kind of garden-variety good record that is the great luxury of musical micromarketing and overproduction. Anyone open to its aesthetic will enjoy more than half its tracks." Christgau found it "pretty damn good" and felt that "preacher

Chuck Chuck () is a masculine given name or a nickname for Charles or Charlie. It may refer to: People Arts and entertainment * Chuck Alaimo, American saxophonist, leader of the Chuck Alaimo Quartet * Chuck Barris (1929–2017), American TV produce ...

needs

William Drayton William Drayton (December 30, 1776May 24, 1846) was an American politician, banker, and writer who grew up in Charleston, South Carolina. He was the son of William Drayton Sr., who served as justice of the Province of East Florida (1765–1780 ...

's nuttiness no matter how corrupt it's become, in part because its corruption is a corrective to all of Chuck's conceptualizing." He criticized that, although the album's "young beatmakers echo the old Bomb Squad whomp, the preacher has lost some boom vocally, and like his cadences, the politics are old-school", but "the times justify those old politics more than ever."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from

. * Jamod Allah - Vocals * B. Dixon - Composer * Harry Belafonte - Inspiration * Brother Ali - Featured Artist * Brother Mike - Unknown Contributor Role * Bumpy Knuckles - Featured Artist * Triniti Coclough - Producer, Vocal Producer, Vocal Recording * Cormega - Featured Artist * Chuck D - Group Member, Liner Notes * Davy DMX - Bass * Eva Rose Demeno - Vocals * Brent Dixon - Producer * DJ C-Double - Scratching * DJ Johnny 'Juice' Rosado - Producer * DJ Lord - Composer, Group Member, Scratching *

DJ Pain 1 Pacal Alejandro Bayley (born October 21, 1983), better known by his stage name DJ Pain 1, is an American record producer and DJ from Madison, Wisconsin. He has produced for artists including Young Jeezy, 50 Cent, Schoolboy Q, Ludacris, Lil Baby, ...

- Producer, Scratching * Dj Rob Swift - Scratching * DMC - Featured Artist * Spent Dnero - Engineer, Mixing * William Drayton - Executive Producer * The Enemyboard Vetz - Vocals * Flavor Flav - Group Member * Kelvin Fonville - Cover Design * Freddy Fox - Composer, Mixing, Producer * Gary G-Wiz - Executive Producer, Producer, Vocal Producer, Vocal Recording * Piero F. Giunti - Photography * Micheal Gregoire - Package Design * Tim Hans - Photography * James Bomb - Producer, Spoken Word, Unknown Contributor Role * DJ Johnny Juice - Scratching * Large Professor - Featured Artist, Producer * Peter Levin - Claves, Fender Rhodes, Organ * Paul Logus - Mastering * Lord Grunge - Vocals * Lord Kel - Vocals * Fran Lover - Scratching * Donald Malloy - Musician * Jason McClain - Guitar, Mixing * Jason McLain - Mixing * Mr. Payback - Instrumentation, Producer * Chris "Spanky" Moss - Producer * Buddah Munroe - Mixing * A. Newman - Composer * Pop Diesel S1W - Unknown Contributor Role * Professor Griff - Arranger, Group Member, Producer * Public Enemy - Primary Artist * G. Rinaldo - Composer * Paul Robeson - Inspiration * Johnny Juice Rosado - Arranger, Editing, Engineer, Mixing, Producer, Vocal Producer, Vocal Recording * Clint Sands - Engineer, Mixing * Clint "Mister Payback" Sands - Producer * Z. Sciacca - Composer * Sam Sever - Arranger, Composer, Mixing, Original Recording Producer, Producer, Scratching, Sounds * Amani K. Smith - Engineer, Mixing * Spook 1 - Vocals * T-Bone Motta - Drums * Ras Truly - Engineer, Mixing * Gebre Waddell - Tracking * Anthony Ware - Musician * Daniel Ware - Musician * Jonathon Ware - Musician * David Wong - Photography * Khari Wynn - Guitar *

- Featured Artist, Producer, Scratching

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2012 albums Albums produced by Large Professor Public Enemy (band) albums Albums produced by Z-Trip