There's a Poison Goin' On

Album infobox |
Name = There's a POISON Goin' On...
Type = Studio Album
Artist = Public Enemy


Background = Orange
Released = 20 July 1999
Recorded = 1998-1999
Genre = East Coast hip hop, Hardcore hip hop, Political hip hop
Length = 51:45
Label = Play It Again Sam, Atomic Pop
Producer = Tom E. Hawk
Flavor Flav
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:apfoxqekldfe~T1 link]
*RapReviews.com rating-10|10 [http://www.rapreviews.com/archive/1999_05_poison.html link]
*"Rolling Stone" Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/publicenemy/albums/album/278982/review/6209570/theres_a_poison_goin_on link]
Last album = "He Got Game (soundtrack)"
(1998)
This album = "There's a Poison Goin' On"
(1999)
Next album = "Revolverlution"
(2002)

"There's a Poison Goin' On" is Public Enemy's 1999 album, which contained the controversial track "Swindler's Lust," an obvious parody of Steven Spielberg's film "Schindler's List".

Album information

Less provocatively, the album's title was a take on Sly and the Family Stone's 1971 classic, "There's a Riot Goin' On".

The album was released on-line on May 18, 1999, through the now defunct Atomic Pop website. The CD version was released on July 20.

Reception

"Professional reviews":

*Rolling Stone (8/5/99, p.64) - 3 1/2 stars (out of 5) - "...there is some jigginess on this record....the emphasis is on sparser, more spacious mixes- less claustrophobic and dizzying...but still gripping..."

*Alternative Press (11/99, p.119) - 4 out of 5 - "...the still-strident PE are back....best as an eyes-closed, headphones on high-volume experience. It takes extremely seriously the idea that hip hop should be consciousness-altering music..."

*The Wire (8/99, p.55) - "Public Enemy are back and this time it's personal....Everyone...finds themselves caught in Chuck's rhetorical crosshairs and no one survives intact....this is the loudest, noisest Public Enemy album in nine years."

*Muzik (8/99, p.84) - 5 stars (out of 5) - "...defiant, provocative and reassuringly abrasive music....this album is a treat....Poison is vintage PE, all the more welcome at a time when there had seemed to be no one left who was prepared to make rational, thoughtful, incisive hip-hop."

Track listing

# "Dark Side Of The Wall: 2000" - 1:36
# "Do You Wanna Go Our Way???" - 3:56
# "LSD" - 3:30
# "Here I Go" - 3:05
# "41:19" - 3:57
# "Crash" - 3:48
# "Crayola" - 3:30
# "First The Sheep Next The Shepherd?" - 3:17
# "World Tour Sessions" - 4:27
# "Last Mass Of The Caballeros" - 3:56
# "I" - 4:30
# "What What" - 5:02
# "Kevorkian" - 2:37
# "Swindlers Lust" - 5:23

The reissue

The album was reissued in 2004 via Koch with these bonus tracks.
# "Do You Wanna Go Our Way???" [Nextmen UK Mixx] - 4:18
# "Here I Go" [Commissioned Mixx DJ Johnny Juice Vacation in Viet] - 3:20
# "World Tour Sessions" [G Wiz Black Planet Tour Mix] - 3:35
# "I" [Eye for an Eye Mixx] - 5:43
# "Kill Em" Live - 3:25