Shocklee says a couple of things about It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back make the album unique. "We invented the [rap music] interlude on Nation, and now they're full-length skits," he says.

Also, the album was marketed in a ground-breaking way. The track "Rebel Without a Pause," for example, was the B-side of one of the singles from Yo! Bum Rush the Show, while another popular song from Nation, "Bring The Noise," appeared on the soundtrack to Less Than Zero. The fact that these songs were underground hits prior to the release of Nation only increased the demand for the album.

More Public Enemy projects followed, like Fear of a Black Planet and the anthemic "Fight The Power," from the Do The Right Thing soundtrack, and the Bomb Squad continually exploded into other genres with other groups, producing "Steppin' to the A.M." for Third Bass, "Don't Be Afraid (the Jazz
You Up version)" by Aaron Hall, and a few songs for Bell Biv Devoe like "B.B.D. (I Thought It Was Me)" and "Let Me Know Something."

Though the Squad appeared to be as productive as ever, things weren't as they had once been behind the scenes. Bomb Squad players began shifting, with folks like Gary G. Wiz, Larry "Panic" Walford, and Kevin Young figuring in and out of the mix. Eventually, the original group disbanded.

"To be honest, after Fear of a Black Planet, I was keeping things together with smoke and mirrors," says Shocklee, who may continue to use the Bomb Squad moniker working with other people. "There were different agendas."

Chuck D is one of the hosts of the Unfiltered show on the Air America radio network . And our wKen reviewed a Chuck D lecture back in February.