What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down? explained

What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down?
Type:	studio
Artist:	Public Enemy
Cover:	Public Enemy - What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down.png
Released:	September 25, 2020
Length:	43:57
Label:	Def Jam
Prev Title:	Nothing Is Quick in the Desert
Prev Year:	2017

What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down? is the fifteenth studio album by American political hip hop group Public Enemy. It was released on September 25, 2020, on Def Jam Recordings, making it the group's first album for the label since 1998's He Got Game.^[1] ^[2] ^[3] Production was handled by C-Doc, The LBX, DJ Infinite, DJ Pain 1, DJ Premier, Easy Mo Bee, Flavor Flav, Johnny "Juice" Rasado, Racer X and Threepeeoh. It features guest appearances from George Clinton, Jahi, Ad-Rock, Black Thought, Cypress Hill, Daddy-O, Ice-T, James Bomb, Mark Jenkins, Mike D, Ms. Ariel, Nas, PMD, Pop Diesel, Questlove, Rapsody, Run-DMC, The Impossebulls and YG.^[4] It was supported by two singles: "State of the Union (STFU)" and "Fight the Power: Remix 2020".

Critical reception

What You Gonna Do When the Grid Goes Down? was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 76, based on 12 reviews. The aggregator AnyDecentMusic? has the critical consensus of the album at a 7.6 out of 10, based on 13 reviews.

Reviewing in his Substack-published "Consumer Guide" column, Robert Christgau acknowledged Public Enemy's continued noisy aesthetic and felt engaged by Chuck D's thoughts on "the dependence of everybody's world economy on an information system susceptible to attack from actors who could prove as dangerous as Donald Trump himself". He highlighted in particular the song "State of the Union (STFU)" and "a host of committed cameos" elsewhere.

Track listing

Note

signifies an additional producer.

Personnel

Musicians

C-Doc – bass guitar (tracks 1, 5, 10–12, 15), drums (1, 5), drum programming (2, 10–12)
Khari Wynn – guitar (tracks 1, 2, 7, 15)
George Clinton – vocals (track 1)
B-Real – additional vocals (track 2)
Sen Dog – additional vocals (track 2)
Uncle Jam – additional vocals (track 2)
Alex Grossi – background vocals (track 2)
Ron Mancuso – background vocals (track 2)
Tom Fletcher – background vocals (track 2)
Kevin "KJ" Jacoby – bass guitar (track 2)
Johnny "Juice" Rosado – conga, guitar, keyboards, percussion (track 9)
Clyde Stubblefield – drums (track 9)
Davy J. Snyder – additional vocals (track 10)
Eva Rose DeMeno – additional vocals (track 10)
Mason DeMeno – additional vocals (track 10)
Trevor Helt – bass guitar, guitar (track 13)
The Impossebulls – additional vocals (track 15)
Easy Mo Bee – drum programming (track 15)

Technical

Shawn Franklin – mastering
C-Doc – mixing (tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, 10–12, 15), engineering (10, 12)
DJ Premier – mixing (track 3)
Threepeeoh – mixing (track 6), engineering (2, 5, 6)
Ryan Rickaby – mixing (track 13)
Mr. Payback – mixing, engineering (track 16)
JP Hesser – engineering (tracks 2, 3, 5–7, 9–13, 15)
John Taitano Phillips – engineering (track 2)
Skinny Pablo – engineering (track 2)
Ronnie Mancuso – engineering (tracks 3, 5)
Tom Fletcher – engineering (tracks 3, 5)
Alex Graves – engineering (track 5)
Headsnack – engineering (track 5)
Patrick Flores – engineering (track 5)
Racer X – engineering (track 7)
Bryan Matheson – engineering (track 13)
DJ Pain 1 – engineering (track 13)
Rusty Skelding – engineering (track 15)
Johnny "Juice" Rosado – remix engineering (track 9)

Notes and References

Web site: Public Enemy Return to Def Jam, New Album Due Next Month. Jem. Aswad. Variety. August 28, 2020.
Web site: Public Enemy announce new album on Def Jam, 'What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down?'. DJ Mag. August 28, 2020.
Web site: Public Enemy Announce New Album, Return to Def Jam. Jazz. Monroe. Pitchfork. August 28, 2020 .
Web site: September 1, 2020. Public Enemy share tracklist for new album 'What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down?'. NME.