See Chuck D as an artist collector. He’s a background kind of guy, an organizer, and when he ends up in the limelight he’s always bringing someone there with him. I think he’s a master hip-hop selector and one of the best MCs alive, but he’d say don’t believe the hype.
“When it came down to the rhyming and the writing rhymes and lyrics I didn’t have those natural talents,” he told me in a phone interview as he was driving up to Boston from New York to speak at UMB. “I was older than a lot of those cats too, so it didn’t just happen by the osmosis of my surroundings. The only attribute that I had that I think now was superior was my voice, which could weather any storm and yell over any mountain. That’s the only thing I came to the table with.”
Maybe so, but he also put meaning to hip-hop in a way that completely revolutionized American culture, and lead one of the most highly regarded rap groups of all time to international fame.
Back in the mid-eighties, Chuck D worked for a radio station in New York and did a little MCing on the side with Flava Flave and other local rappers. He always saw himself as an organizer, working to bring hip-hop culture to the level that MCs were taking it to at the time.
“I was going to work behind the scenes in the infrastructure of hip-hop. But Rick (Ruben of Def Jam) wanted me as an artist, and I had refused for a long time. So when I finally agreed to do it, I said ‘ok if I’m going to do it this is what I’m going to do,'” uttered Chuck D.
Rick Rubin had heard the single, Public Enemy #1, from Dr. Dre. Legend says that Chuck D recorded the joint in response to a local MC who wanted to battle him. Rubin, a fledging producer at the time, dogged Chuck D for over a year before finally getting him to sign with Def Jam Records in 1986. After getting signed, Chuck D gathered local talent and started recording in earnest with hype man Flava Flave, DJ Lord, lyricist Professor Griff and several others. So Public Enemy came onto the scene with their first album “Yo! Bum Rush the Show.” And the show was indeed bum rushed.
PE shot onto the charts and into the mainstream. Their second record, “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back,” did even better and went platinum within a year. With lyrics that focused on political issues and Black empowerment, Public Enemy incited a good bit of controversy in the early 90s. Chuck D is now focused on keeping hip-hop high quality and conscious.
Reflecting on how rap has changed over the years sets Chuck D to thinking back to his earliest passion, organization.
“I think it’s a beautiful evolution . . . but I will tell you that as the art has progressed forward, the infrastructure has gotten lazier and sloppier. I’ve never seen a genre with as lazy and sloppy an infrastructure as hip-hop and rap. Look, there are glaring weaknesses, like it chases a lot of women away after they’re 20 years old because it no longer speaks to them,” Chuck D said.
To provide a structure for the crisscrossed connections in hip-hop, he created online portals to connect fans and artists. He collects the best rappers, and offers them a space to shine online.
“I always tell MCs to listen to each other,” he said.
Public Enemy just got back from a tour through South Africa, Australia and New Zealand, over the New Year. Now Chuck D’s on his annual speaking rounds January – March. At 50, he’s taking a broader approach and focusing less on his own image and more on other people’s.
“I’m a major sports man,” he said. “Everyone’s getting ready for the Super Bowl do you know why?”
“Why?” I asked.
“Well, cause it’s well organized. If it was sloppy and just a piece of crap, people wouldn’t give a damn,” he said. “I love the NBA. I love the NFL. I dig MLB. But I’m into R-A-P. I ain’t got nothing to do with those other things. I’m into rap. I want it to be fan-tastic.”
Beyond passion, Chuck D has the talent, and connections to make big ripples in the underground hip-hop scene. Hip-hop couldn’t hope for a more meticulous or careful caretaker. Why? He’s not in it for his own fame. Chuck D’s in it for the game.
“It’s not just the game it’s everything around the game that makes us love it,” he said.
“Where’s Flave” Story – Brisbane, 2010 Tour
“Probably the weirdest story of all time. We were in Brisbane, and somebody came back stage and gave Flava a plate of food that he had left back in 1999. He had taken a bite out of a burger and just left it. So this dude took the plate and kind of embalmed the plate, kind of sealed it in some kind of plastic. So the plate is in the same state that Flava left it and the dude was hanging it on his wall for like 12 years and brought it to the gig in Brisbane and asked Flava to sign it.”
“I’ll put [the video] up so you can see it for real on PublicEnemy.com.”
“When people ask me who I play . . . “
“Since I’ve spent the last four months in 22 countries I have a lot of music from all over the map. When I listen to artists not only do I listen to artists that come through the commercial mainstream or the independent, I listen internationally and locally.”
If you want to expand you hip-hop horizons check out Chuck D’s radio show on WBAI. Here are Chuck D’s directions:
“Go to WBAI.org. Go to the Archive area, and then go to “And You Don’t Stop.” Check it out tonight. I don’t mean to take your time but I think it would be a worthwhile listen.”
Another place to look is on Chuck D’s label’s website www.slamjamz.com.
Album of Note: Foul Mission by Heet Mob
Artists to Check out: Crew Grrl Order, Kendo the Almost Famous, and anyone else on Slamjamz.com
For the Classics: hiphopgods.com, “the place where rap lives on and on, and on till the break of dawn”
For the Chicks: shemovement.com, “They’ve got these DJs that are like aint nobody trying to hear some chick rapping let’s do some Nicki Manaj. This is a place for”
“That’s who I listen to, and that’s who I like,” Chuck D said.