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Public Enemy
 
 

It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back  This is the most important rap album I'm aware of, influential both sonically and politically. It moved the genre firmly out of the novelty stage, with an aggression that would appeal to the hard rock audience as well as the black power crowd, at whom it was also obviously aimed. As great as it is, it's not an easy listen, and I almost didn't include it. I changed my mind when it showed up in the used bin for several weeks in a row as if begging me to take it home.