New Whirl Odor

If watching Flavor Flav court Brigitte Nielsen on Strange Love had you worried about the long-dreaded end of Public Enemy, you’re in for a big surprise. They’re back and cuttin’ a swath through apathy like Red Sonja never did. The group hasn’t made music this forthright since Fear of a Black Planet; Flav and Chuck D return to funky-militant form, poetically blasting the mental bedrock of a nation overrun with fear and distraction. “See a stampede of fake cats runnin’ from Bill Cosby / what does he got to do with what you do?” Chuck asks on “Bring That Beat Back.” Elsewhere he laments pervasive mediocrity: “35 years old and lost in an XBox, PlayStation and videos so that’s how it goes.” Some of the group’s classic lineup, including Professor Griff, DJ Lord and the S1W’s, also returns.