5,4,3,2,1 Countdown to armageddon. Step into the realm of legendary group Public Enemy. A group consisting of Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Terminator X and Minister of Information Professor Griff. The wake up call for me was in high school and Public Enemy was running around my school campus like the now infamous virus called H.I.V. I got infected with their message. The in ya face steez of Chuck’s lyrics…………
the flamboyance of Flava Flav with that big ass clock and the eloquence of Terminator’s decks. The P.E logo was all over my school walls. The war has begun on freeing us mentally and it just did that to me. A lot of youth being raised in this new age of hip hop didn’t even know the P.E logo cos radio and television is feeding them with messages that will not allow them to look past all the propaganda. Lets look at the charts. The 50 Cents, Ja rule’s and Nelly’s are ruling the airwaves not that there is anything wrong with vibey music but we need conscious music so that knowledge can be passed on from one generation to the other. What will happen if we all just wanna have fun? I made a ode to be the “Rebel without a Pause” and in this exclusive interview I had the time to find out from Chuck D why we shouldn’t believe the hype. Check it out.

Chuck D Shout Out (Real Audio File) 79KB [Right-Click and Save As to Download]

Chuck D speaks on coming out to South Africa (Real Audio File) 31.8KB [Right-Click and Save As to Download]

Welcome to the Terrordome 2003 intro to Public Enemy front man and my icon Mr Chuck D. Whats up Chuck how you keeping?

COOL MR RUGGED..PRESENTLY PE IS DOING OUR 46TH TOUR THIS OF THE UK… ALTHOUGH WE’VE TOURED EVERY CONTINENT AND AFRICA..WE’VE NEVER DONE SOUTH AFRICA ..SO THIS YEAR WE LIKE TO GET THERE IN DECEMBER…

Man it seems like just the other day when I was still in high school when I first heard P.E. I just got struck by your messages, how somebody can be so pro black in a white society?

WE COME FROM A DIFFERENT TIME WHERE IN AMERICA, BEING CHILDREN OF THE 1960S WE WERE TAUGHT TO STAND UPRIGHT AND FIGHT FOR OUR RIGHTS..IT WAS A TIME OF THE CIVIL RIGHTS CHANGES , BLACK PANTHER MOVEMENT

Fuck man, basically for you the intro to hip hop who did you listen to growing up and please dont tell me Public Enemy or Rakim?

BEFORE HIP HOP …THE SOUL OF THE 60S AND 70S SLY , JAMES BROWN , ISSAC HAYES, GLADYS KNIGHT, ARETHA FRANKLIN , CURTIS MAYFIELD…AND ROCK INFLUENCES THRU POP RADIO AM STYLE…REMEMBER RAP RESTS ON THE LAUREL OF THE HISTORY OF BLACK MUSIC…AND THE RECORDINGS OF AMERICAMN MUSIC THE PAST 50 YEARS.. 

“It Takes A Nation Of Millions” and “Fear Of A Black Planet”, which one is your favourite cos each one is so unique I can’t chose. Peoples opinion has always been that it’s “Take A Nation Of Millions”. What is your view on that?

IF YOU ASK PEOPLE THEY WILL CHOOSE BETWEEN THE TWO FOR DIFFERENT REASONS..NATIONS WAS A POWERED ASSAULT ..FEAR WAS A MUSICAL JOURNEY THRU THE SOUL…I DONT COMPARE ALBUMS .THEYRE LIKE CHILDREN ..UNCOMPARABLE TO EACH OTHER …HOWEVER WE SET OFF TO DO DIFFERENT ALBUMS AND NO TWO ALIKE.. 

The evolution of hip hop how has it been for you cos the whole art form has taken a turnaround since the 80’s when it was the art form for young urban teens?

THE BIG DIFFERENCE IS IN THE FIRST TEN YEARS OF RAP ..RAPPERS RECORDED FOR THE PEOPLE AND REBELLED AGAINST THE ELITE….THE LAST TEN YEARS RAPPERS RHYME FOR THEIR COMPANIES AND HAVE IN ESSENCE BECOME THE ELITE…IN MANY CASES TURNING THEIR NOSE AND WEALTH AGAINST THE PEEPS 

As far as touring goes you guys still travel alot. I just called you in England where you doing shows how is the reception still towards P.E? 

PE IS LIKE THE ROLLING STONES OF RAP, EVERYWHERE WE GO IS CONSIDERED AN EVENT..THE SELLOUTS THIS YEAR IN THE UK WILL BUILD A 3 YEAR CYCLE OF MUSIC AND SHOW.

Lets talk about your inter activity on the internet revolution cos you the front runner with a couple of sites to your name.

WE HAVE RAPSTATION.COM THE BASE WITH BRINGTHENOISE .COM THE ONLINE RADIO NETWORK..SLAMjamz.com THE ONLINE LABEL..and OF COURSE PUBLICENEMY.COM WHERE THE ENEMY BOARD HAS SOME THE BEST COMMENTARY ON EARTH..

Koch Records housed ya last album “Revolverlution” how is the working relationship with them cos they seem to be all over right now? 

THEY UNDERSTAND THE WORLD AS A PICTURE, FOR US THATS IMPORTANT FOR US AND FUTURE ACTS ON SLAMjamz.com to WORK THE EARTH…

There was rumours in the early 90’s that P.E will be coming to South Africa what happened to that and on ya last interview cd that was released on Koch you spoke about your planned trip to South Africa hit me up about that?

IN THE PAST FLAV WAS INJURED ON A MOTORCYCLE ACCIDENT , AND EVER SINCE WEVE HAD SOME DISCONNECT REGARDING S.A…BUT ALSO FROM 1996-1998 PE WAS ON TOUR HIATUS TO RECONFIGURE AND FROM 1998-PRESENT THE STRUCTURE IS NOT AS FULL TIME BUT ENOUGH AROUND A SERIES OF RECORDS AND SUCH. ARTISTS FROM S.A. LIKE MEETING PROPHETS OF THE CITY IN THE UK SOME YEARS BACK, AND GODESSA HAVE FUELED GREAT INTEREST…I GUARANTEE WHEN WE GET THERE THE WHOLE WORLD OF HIP HOP WILL CHANGE UPON OUR PERFORMANCE.. 

What does the future hold for Chuck, or can we expect him to sign to Interscope records? 

NEVER…MY GOAL IS TO HAVE ARTISTS THRU SLAMJAMZ REPRESENT THE POSITIVE FORWARDNESS OF THE PEEPS, AND TO SERVE THEM TO BUILD THEIR RESPECTIVE FAN BASES… PE WILL RECORD FOR SLAMJAMZ

She still watches channel zero up until now man can you believe that! I can go on and on but I know you got business to take care of so I will ask you to hit the folks of Mzansi (South Africa) up with ya final shouts?

YEAH, BIG UPS TO RUSHAY…AND THE PEOPLES OF SOUTH AFRICA…CATCH THE CONNECTION AT RAPSTATION.COM…

PEACE
Chuck D

http://www.rapstation.com

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