He Got Game

Spike Lee film score by Public Enemy. Small drill hole into barcode and crack in jewelbox.

True hip-hop heads, get happy. Public Enemy, with Flav, Griff, and the Bomb Squad, are back. The seminal group's first album in four years serves double duty as the soundtrack for Spike Lee's wack-ass He Got Game, and as you'd figure from the film's B-ball theme, many of the rhymes are directed at the world of sports. Numerous tracks contain direct barbs at NBA commissioner David Stern, while "Politics of the Sneaker Pimps" aims its fury at the major shoe companies and their exploitation of foreign workers. True, longtime fans might have beef with PE's more Puffyesque moves, like obvious samples (Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" on the title track) and choirs, but there's no denying the rage of the message. Against PE's legacy, this disc might fall a bit short. But taken on its own terms, He Got Game gets nothing but net. --Amy Linden