It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

Rolling Stone (11/89)
- Ranked #12 in Rolling Stone's "100 Best Albums Of The Eighties" survey.

Rolling Stone (12/11/03, p.110)
- Ranked #48 in Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums Of All Time" - "...Loud, obnoxious, funky, avant-garde, political, uncompromising, hilarious..."

Spin - Included in Spin's list of the Top Ten College Cult Classics - "...In any context, a revolutionary work..."

Spin (12/03, p.122)
- "...NATION OF MILLIONS lived up to its hype and then some..."

Q (10/01, p.44)
- Ranked #47 in Q's "Best 50 Albums of Q's Lifetime"

Q (9/95, p.132)
- 5 Stars - Indispensable - "...the greatest rap album of all time, a landmark and classic...."

Q (p.140)
- 4 stars out of 5 - "Packed full of loud, obnoxious classics....You really should own this by now."

Mojo (6/00, pp.124-5)
- "...Responsible for the angriest polemic since The Last Poets....[They] revolutionized the music, using up to 80 backing tracks in the sonic assault....to these ears PE sound like the greatest rock'n'roll band in history."

Alternative Press (11/00, p.144)
- Included in AP's "10 Essential Political-Revolution Albums"

Alternative Press (8/01, p.112)
- Included in AP's "10 Essential '80s Albums".

Alternative Press (7/95, pp.76-77)
- Ranked #6 in AP's list of the 'Top 99 Of '85-'95' - "...After IT TAKES A NATION OF MILLIONS TO HOLD US BACK, rap couldn't just be stupid and boom and yelp--it had to have production values and 'relevance'..."

Vibe (12/99, p.158)
- Included in Vibe's 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century

Vibe (6/02, p.108)
- Ranked #1 in Vibe's "Top 10 rap albums".

NME (9/25/93, p.18)
- Ranked #5 in NME's list of The 50 Greatest Albums Of The '80s - "...[IT TAKES A NATION...] drags punk, rock, and hip-hop screaming towards the end of the century....Definitive..."

NME (10/2/93, p.29)
- Ranked #9 in NME's list of the 'Greatest Albums Of All Time.'

NME (7/15/95, p.47)
- 10 (out of 10)
- "...the greatest hip-hop album ever....this wasn't merely a sonic triumph. This was also where Chuck wrote a fistful of lyrics that promoted him to the position of foremost commentator/documentor of life in the underbelly of the USA...."

Melody Maker (7/22/95, p.35)
- Bloody Essential - "...I hadn't believed it could get harder [than YO BUM RUSH THE SHOW]. Or better....It was like being beaten over the head in four/four time with a skip..."