Public Enemy released a new animated video for “Public Enemy Number Won” which features Beastie Boys’ Ad-Rock and Mike D, and Run DMC. Archival performance footage and posters are also included in the video.
“Public Enemy Number Won” appears on Public Enemy’s 15th album What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down?, which was released in September and marks the group’s return to Def Jam Recordings.
In a statement, Chuck D said “The song is an homage to ‘Public Enemy No. 1’ and that moment in time. The Beastie Boys and Run-DMC were playing it all the time and Rick Rubin kept coming at us to sign with Def Jam. So it’s my way of bringing it all back together again.”
Chuck D also spoke about the new album, What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down? with SPIN recently, saying “I think the new album had to at least speak to the immediacy and the speed of the time and the attention span of the moment. And one thing we know that the tension is the uncertainty about realistic futures and the United States of America with this goon [President Trump] at the top.”
This video follows another animated video for “Grid” which was released last month and featured Cypress Hill and George Clinton.