I recently acquired a sealed original press vinyl copy of Public Enemy’s 1991 album “Apocalypse ‘91”.

This album generally marks the end of Public Enemy’s original style of layering samples to create their songs. Tracks like “By the Time I Get to Arizona”, “Can’t Truss It”, and “Shut ‘Em Down” continued their production and lyrical excellence.

A sealed original press of this album is difficult to find, but there are no solid metrics that quantify just how rare it is. The math is so much more uncertain than with sports cards. For example, when you pull a Panini parallel numbered to 100, you know that 100 copies exist and maybe 10-20% of those will forever remain in sealed packs, so 80-90 will eventually reach circulation. Calculating the number of sealed vinyl copies of this record is much more of a black box. North of 1 million copies were sold, but that includes CD, cassette, and vinyl - the last of which was fading from common usage. Perhaps we estimate that 25% of all copies sold were vinyl; that means about 250,000-300,000 vinyl copies exist. How many of those were never opened? Impossible to tell. If media grading takes off like I think it will, eventually we’ll have a more clear picture of rarity.

I’m planning to get this graded and slabbed next year.

Seen here is a sealed CD demo of Public Enemy’s 1991 single “By the Time I Get to Arizona.” The song was Chuck D’s request (demand?) that Arizona formally recognize Martin Luther King Jr Day. The middle of the song features a beat changeover that’s haunting, militant, and timeless. I place this one among the top three in PE’s catalogue.

Recently picked up this Public Enemy vinyl featuring three singles from their 1987 debut album, Yo! Bum Rush the Show, signed by Chuck D. I believe this is their first single that features a formal cover.

I recently nabbed this CD longbox from Public Enemy’s 1988 album “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back”. These are difficult to find in any condition, let alone good condition, and I also got it for a low price.

Some of the younger crowd might be asking ‘What’s a CD longbox?’ In short, when the music industry was transitioning from vinyl records to CDs in the 1980s, music companies packaged CDs in longboxes so stores could continue using vinyl racks and also because it made it tougher to steal the CDs (which were expensive). They were phased out in the early-‘90s and most people chucked or destroyed the longboxes after purchase so they’ve become a nice collector’s item.

After hearing me talk for a year about collecting vinyl records - and knowing I don’t actually own a record player - my parents bought me one for my birthday, along with a 1990s alt rock vinyl collection that contains 5-7 of my all-time favorite songs.

I used a Public Enemy record for my first needle drop, so I finally know what some of these crooked sellers consider “mint condition”. Think I’ll stick to buying sealed vinyl from now on 😆