Don't Believe The Hype

Recorded during the It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back sessions at Chung King Studios, Greene St. Recording, and Sabella Studios in New York. Chuck D and Flavor Flav performed with The Bomb Squad shaping the dense production around the group’s Long Island preproduction work. Released in June 1988 as a single from It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, it became one of Public Enemy's defining political records. The song reached the UK Top 20 and helped establish the album's reputation as a landmark in late-1980s rap. It remains one of Public Enemy's signature statements and a lasting phrase in political and media criticism. Its title, sample-heavy Bomb Squad construction, and anti-media message have kept it central to the group's cultural legacy.