 After a four-year hiatus by the group, Professor Griff and The Bomb Squad reunited with Public Enemy for the album, which features political, sports-derived imagery by Chuck D. According to critic Armond White, "He Got Game" uses basketball as a metaphor for "the essence of black male aspiration.Disproving the film's suggestion of b-ball as an easy passport out of the ghetto, [Public Enemy] challenge trite assumptions about black luck and skill".The album's production features backup female vocals, church-like chorales, austere beats, strings, and funk samples.