SameOldShawn: I would be remiss if I didn't talk to you about what it was like to be around for my money the greatest group and the greatest album of all time, Public Enemy around the Nation of Millions era

Bill Adler: Look, I'm going to try to figure out something brief to say about it, but suffice it to say, to start, that I believe there's a book in that moment, really. I'd like to put together a detailed oral history of Public Enemy, the story of Public Enemy from before they come together on the campus of Adelphi University in the early 80's, but really starting at that point, and through the release of their first record, and then Nation of Millions. And then the success of Nation of Millions and the hailing of Nation of Millions. And, unforeseeably, the terrible breakup of the group

I'm here to tell ya -- 1988, 1989 into 1990, those were tumultuous years in the career of Public Enemy and all of us who worked with Public Enemy at the time. I don't know what to say. It was very exciting. It was also very frustrating. They raised up everybody's hopes so high. To may way of thinking, they brought a 60's sensibility, a kind of Black Panther sensibility, into hip-hop. There are lots of folks who were looking for that kind of thing, even if they couldn't name it. And here comes Public Enemy, the Black Panthers of rap. And not only were they politically admirable for the most part, but the music they made would really take your head off