Chuck D: Autobiography of Mistachuck

"Never see a brother like me go solo," Chuck D vowed on It Takes a Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, and eight years later, he's broken his word. Bad move, Chuck. As wicked as most of the grooves on Autobiography of Mistachuck are, the album still disappoints: Like it or not, after all those years of Public Enemy, when you hear Chuck D's booming voice, you expect all hell to break loose behind him—sirens, heavy-metal guitars, TV clips, the works. Anything less somehow sounds thin and sluggish. Too bad, because, if it could be heard in a musical vacuum, Mistachuck would be a good album. Still carrying the entire social conscience of hip hop on his shoulders, Chuck D takes aim at everyone from his critics ("Mistachuck") to Tommy Hilfiger-coveting blacks ("Niggativity… Do I Dare Disturb the Universe") to—for a refreshing change—talk-show guests ("Talk Show Created the Fool"). He even takes a hard look at his own profession in "Free Big Willie." ("Entertaining is today's way of picking cotton.") Lyrically muscular and funky as hell, the biggest thing Mistachuck has going against it is a giant shadow called Public Enemy.