They may be the most important rap group of all time. They're definitely the highest-selling, message-heavy, intelligent rappers to criticize their government and the media, and to stand up for the rights of African-Americans.
And they're in town tonight, performing at the first Expérience Montréal festival, on the grounds of the Olympic Stadium. An all-day pass to see them along with a dozen other acts costs... $12. Yesterday, Jello Biafra and Atari Teenage Riot co-headlined; tonight, it'll be all about PE.
I'm surprised it's the first time I'll feature PE, seeing as I listen to them all the time. My favourite record of their is Fear Of A Black Planet, which also contains many of my favourite songs (including the Flavor Flav-led 9-1-1 Is A Joke, a song that proves Chuck D isn't the only smart guy in the house), but I chose to go with a rarer song, the title track off the He Got Game soundtrack, which features an interpolation of Buffalo Springfield's For What It's Worth sung by its author, Stephen Stills.
He Got Game is widely considered one of Denzel Washington's few film flops, but it's a decent Spike Lee film that just didn't get the attention it deserved because it focuses on basketball (it's actually about the love-hate relationship between a high school basketball player and his jail-bound father). The soundtrack works really well with the movie, PE's hip hop acting more like a score than an album - but the title track remains a stand-out song.
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