''There's a Poison Goin' On'' is the seventh
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 July 20, 1999, on Atomic Pop Records in the United States. Its title is adapted from the title of
Sly & the Family Stone's album ''
There's a Riot Goin' On'' (1971). The album was originally made available via internet on May 18, 1999, via the now defunct Atomic Pop website.
Critical reception
In a positive review, ''
Alternative Press Alternative press may refer to:
Individual publications
* ''Alternative Press'' (magazine), an American music magazine
Alternative journalism
* Alternative media
** Alternative media (U.S. political left)
** Alternative media (U.S. political r ...
'' said ''There's a Poison Goin' On'' worked "best as an eyes-closed, headphones on high-volume experience. It takes extremely seriously the idea that hip hop should be consciousness-altering music",
while
Greg Kot
Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...
wrote in ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'', "there is some jigginess on this record....the emphasis is on sparser, more spacious mixes- less claustrophobic and dizzying...but still gripping."
''
The Wire
''The Wire'' is an American Crime fiction, crime Drama (film and television), drama television series created and primarily written by the American author and former police reporter David Simon for the cable network HBO. The series premiered o ...
'' deemed the album a comeback for Public Enemy and the group's most abrasive work since ''
Fear of a Black Planet'' (1990). ''
Muzik'' found the music not only abrasive but also "defiant" and "provocative ... vintage PE, all the more welcome at a time when there had seemed to be no one left who was prepared to make rational, thoughtful, incisive hip-hop."
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 ...
was less enthusiastic in his consumer guide for ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...
'', offering the one-line quip, "hating playas is fine, hating play amn't". He cited "41:19" and "What What" as highlights and gave the album a one-star honorable mention, which indicated "a worthy effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well like".
Controversy
In June 1999, the
Anti-Defamation League (ADL) claimed that "Swindler's Lust" was "offensive", "outrageous", and "suggestive of age-old
anti-Semitic themes and rhetoric". The organization sent a letter to Atomic Pop saying there were "classic anti-Semitic code words" and accusations toward "Jews for the plight of financially underprivileged Blacks" on the song, which was titled as a word play on the title of the 1993
Holocaust
The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...
film ''
Schindler’s List''. The record label responded in a letter stating the song had "no anti-Semitic references".
at Village Voice July 13, 1999/''Profits of Rage''
Track listing
# "Dark Side of the Wall: 2000" – 1:36
# "Do You Wanna Go Our Way???" – 3:56
# "LSD" – 3:30
# "Here I Go" – 3:05
# "41:19" – 3:57
# "Crash" – 3:48
# "Crayola" – 3:30
# "First the Sheep, Next the Shepherd?" – 3:17
# "World Tour Sessions" – 4:27
# "Last Mass of the Caballeros" – 3:56
# "I" – 4:30
# "What What" – 5:02
# "Kevorkian" – 2:37
# "Swindlers Lust" – 5:23
;Bonus tracks
The album was reissued in 2004 via Koch with bonus tracks.
# "Do You Wanna Go Our Way??? (Nextmen UK Mixx)" – 4:18
# "Here I Go (Commissioned Mixx DJ Johnny Juice Vacation in Vietnam Florida Mix)" – 3:20
# "World Tour Sessions (G Wiz Black Planet Tour Mix)" – 3:35
# "I (Eye for an Eye Mixx)" – 5:43
# "Kill em Live" – 3:25
Notes
References
*
External links
*
There's a Poison Goin' On
' at Discogs
Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...
Public Enemy Makes Friends Online
at ''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, ...
''
{{DEFAULTSORT:There's A Poison Goin' On
1999 albums
Public Enemy (band) albums