related items
The Hasidic Jewish reggae rapper finds spiritual solace in...
It's been 20 years since Public Enemy played central Iowa, but Chuck D is very familiar with the intersection of interstates 80 and 35. He jokes that he is known as "Columbus D" and has fond memories of traveling along I-80 in 1979 with his father during a trip from New York to San Francisco.
"I'm a bit of a geographical nut," the Public Enemy frontman said. "The Eisenhower Interstate System has always been interesting to me; I always know where I'm at. I never say something like 'Here I am, in the middle of nowhere.' Everywhere is somewhere. There are very few remote places anymore."
If it has a stage and a microphone, Public Enemy, who closes out the first night of 80/35 Friday, has probably played it. The legendary group was one of the first rap acts to tour the world, earning spots on European festivals and crossing over with acts like Anthrax. Chuck D also claims that Public Enemy was the first group to have a mosh pit.
And when Chuck D, with his authoritative voice and strong view of world events, tells you something, you tend to believe it.
Last year, Public Enemy headlined the first night of the Pitchfork Music Festival in Chicago, performing "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" in its entirety to mark the album's 20th anniversary. Public Enemy will be performing "Nation of Millions" at 80/35, along with a sampling of hits from other albums, including "Fear of a Black Planet." 2009 is the 20th anniversary of "Black Planet," and Chuck D says the album's Afro-centric message still holds up in a world where a nation of millions has elected a black president.
"Some things change, some things remain the same. I think it's very important for Americans to get clued in to the rest of the world," he said. "We finally have a leader who is privy to that. I think there's a lot of people who might not be giving into anti-racial tendencies in the same old traditional way, but there's some troubling areas emerging.
"Such as people not being able to recognize a certain area of privilege by white Americas. OK, yeah we have a black president, but that doesn't end racism."
Around the time of Public Enemy's fourth album, "Apocalypse '91 ... The Enemy Strikes Black," the face of hip-hop music was changing. Dr. Dre's lyric "No medallions, dreadlocks or black fists" in "Let it Ride" was an obvious verbal slap to the style and message of acts like Public Enemy and KRS-One. "Gangsta rap" became popular, while socially conscious rap was marginalized. Chuck D thinks there may have been more at play than popular tastes.
"The mainstream felt it was convenient to talk about gangsta rap. Black on black crime is easy to cover, as opposed to black on white structural angst," he said. "I'm not saying it's easy to understand, but it's easy to cover without getting caught up in drama."
The fickle spotlight helped propel Public Enemy into prominence in the middle of this decade, when the group's hype man, Flavor Flav, became a star on a series of VH1 reality shows. It meant a new generation - that discovered Flav by watching him date trashy women - discovering songs like "911 is a Joke" and "Fight the Power." In fact, Chuck D doesn't think his sidekick's antics have done anything to lower Public Enemy's esteem.
"The minute Flavor Flav is on TV, you can't take your eyes off him. He's tailor-made for TV," he said. "His character really is himself. The key is, on Public Enemy he is one character, one that was always meant to be overshadowing, but that's not us. We're going to keep doing what we're doing."
