native j.c. six4 shaqir serenity johnny juice <0> solar97 jamod allah atothel
PETV
NEW PE VIDEO!!!! 'SAY IT LIKE IT REALLY IS'
MC ROCK MOST with the LORD of the Tables
DJ LORD Drops Science Wisdom and SKILLS Smashing COSTA RICA on DJ LORD TV.
DJ LORD heads to the Country of COSTA RICA with MC ROCK MOST
and puts it down. Also chuck out DJ LORD TV as he travels across the earth, doing what he does best. Check him out as he puts the World Map on his 2 turntables.
I just got back from the show in NYC....It was off tha chain!!!
IT WAS SUPER HELLIFIED
IT WAS SUPER FUNKY
IT WAS SUPER EDUCATIONAL
IT WAS SUPER HISTORICAL
I was on my feet chanting, singing & dancing the whole show. So was
everyone else who was there. This crowd was truly "on the one." (with
each other)
Public Enemy clearly demonstrated on multiple levels exactly why they
are probably the single most important artist in the history of hip hop.
And maybe why they might just be the most important artist in the future
of hip hop by having a SUPER NASTY FUNK BAND, playing their classics
behind them (our friends from the Fine Arts Militia)
This summer I have been fortunate enough to see Living Colour, Bobby
Brown and Public Enemy all perform in front of huge, enthusiastic
outdoor crowds and to watch each one of them turn it out each time, and
leave the crowd literally talking to themselves after the shows.
It also occurs to me that the timeframe of the mainstream commercial
peak of each one of these three artists (1988 - 1992?) was possibly the
last moment in time, that Black music was "right with itself?" Since
then, Black music seems to be squarely on a path of "self destruction."
After seeing each one of these shows, I have walked away thinking that
maybe it isn't too late to change that path? Maybe if more artists stop
pandering to the "mainstream," and start returning to the grassroots,
they will cause a tidal wave of innovation/creativity that will cause
Black music to emerge from the toilet where it currently resides, before
it gets flushed down that drain?
(or perhaps I am living in a fantasy world or kidding myself & Black
music is doomed to completely destroy itself, a la the recent BET KOON
SHOW?)
Anyhow...
I'll have more detail about today's BLOWOUT of a show @ Central Park, I
asked a police officer there what he thought the size of the crowd was,
and he told me "around 5,000." It rained pretty fiercely at times and
was overall a pretty nasty day weather-wise.
NOT
ONE
PERSON
LEFT
(so obviously I wasn't the only person there who was impressed)
Stay tuned, I'll have more details later...
NP: "By the time I get to Arizona"
--Public Enemy
BOB DAVIS
www.SOUL-PATROL.NET
Falls State Park gets some Flavor
Public Enemy Shoots Say It Like It Really Is VIDEO at Niagara Falls
August 12, 2010
By Nick Mattera and Emilie Hagen The Tonawanda News
NIAGARA FALLS — If it were up to Flavor Flav, he would have gone over the falls in a barrel, clock necklace and all — just for the fun of it.
Instead, the eccentric hip-hop legend settled for taking in what he called the breathtaking views of a location he always dreamed of seeing.
“This is my first time here, I have always said one day I will come to Niagara Falls and here I am,” he said Wednesday afternoon. “Growing up in the Bronx, you don’t see a waterfall like this, that’s for sure.”
Aside from considering going over the falls in a raft, Flavor Flav grabbed ice cream at Twist O The Mist on Niagara Street with Public Enemy front man Chuck D. The two posed for photos, shaking hands and fraternizing with fans on a stroll through Niagara Falls State Park.
Flavor Flav wasn’t in Niagara Falls just for pleasure. The reality television star and Public Enemy hype man was shooting a music video for the rap group’s newest single “Say it like it really is.”
The simple video shoot, which took place at Prospect Point just below the State Park’s visitor center, featured Flavor Flav, Chuck D and more than a dozen extras and just one cameraman. Chuck D said the idea of the video is to capture real world natural locations and not the status quo in the music industry, which is shooting videos on artificial sets or in front of green screens.
“The idea behind the video is to capture the beautiful landscapes of the world and take advantage of what God gave us,” Chuck D said. “We are looking to shoot in real world scenes, and what better than Niagara Falls.”
Chuck D said the group was performing at the Town Ballroom on Wednesday, which is what brought the group to the area.
The celebrities certainly got the attention of local businesses and residents during their visit. Mickey Singh was having an ordinary day working at Twist O The Mist when he spotted the VH-1 reality star who always wears a big chrome clock around his neck.
Flavor Flav was walking alone down Niagara Street when Singh recognized him. He yelled, “Hey Flavor Flav want some ice cream?”
Later, Singh told a reporter, “when you see Flavor Flav, you know who he is.”
Flavor Flav walked into Singh’s father's Indian restaurant, the Punjabi Hut, and bought a bottled water, then headed next door to Twist O The Mist. According to Singh, Flavor Flav said: “How you doing, dad,” to Pammi Singh, the owner of the two stores and The Misty Dog, next door.
Stanley Stavas, Niagara Falls resident and the manager of the restaurants, served Flavor Flav a lemon ice, since they didn’t have any slushies that the rapper requested.
After receiving the lemon ice, Singh said Flavor Flav got down on his knee and made a dramatic attempt to thank him for his generous donation on the hot day. Flavor Flav read the navy blue polo with Mickey stitched in it that Singh was wearing and said “Mickey Mick, I love you.”
“It almost felt as if he had never been spotted as a celebrity before,” Singh said. “He took time to talk to everyone. He made it a point to make their day.”
3 CDS, 3 DVDS Of The Post DEF JAM era of Independence.
BRING THE NOISE, THE HITS, VIDS, and DOCS BOX
Arguably, if RUN DMC are the BEATLES of Rap Music, PUBLIC ENEMY is surely Hip Hop's ROLLING STONES. CHUCK D, FLAVOR FLAV, PROFESSOR GRIFF and the S1WS are still doing their thing, making PE an 'event' wherever they go on the earth.
In these times where hip hop is a billion dollar business, yet at the crossroads, it has no other choice but to look back at its foundations in order to legitimize itself as true music rather than disposable pop.
One can look up or 'Google' all of the accolades of PUBLIC ENEMY as they drag the genre with them into the ROCK and ROLL HALL of FAME voting in 2012.
This new innovative HITS, VIDS, and DOCS BOX SET is a 'first' and has followed that 'PE' tradition in trendsetting, while never repeating itself. A stunning set of 3 CDS featuring PUBLIC ENEMY'S post DEF JAM catalog of 10 Albums and DVDs since 1999, this is a mass compilation of studio and LIVE recordings, remixes, videos, documentaries and concert footage. Replacing legendary PUBLIC ENEMY DJ TERMINATOR X, DJ LORD has been with the group since 1999 expanding it with world class stature in that department. The group's recordings have reached into its performing 3 piece unit, aptly named the baNNed, this past decade. In house producers GARY G WIZ, DJ JOHNNY JUICE, PROFESSOR GRIFF, WHITFIELD PAYNE, SPACEMAN, and CDOC THE WARHAMMER (also compiler of this set) have followed production suit in classic BOMB SQUAD tradition.
It was never intended for PUBLIC ENEMY to solely sell, and be marketed to, the 'youth market' although its material has been found to be beneficial and non-toxic to that demographic. PE has always been a 'CLASSIC' album artist muck like TOM PETTY, THE GRATEFUL DEAD, or MILES DAVIS. This is how PUBLIC ENEMY aims to be treated and thus marketed. The 31 year old rap genre now has a marketplace range from 10 to 50 years of age. PUBLIC ENEMY aims for people of all ages, over daring to pave new marketing and promotional territory.
RANKS IN BEASTIE BOY/RUN DMC TERRITORY AS THE FIRST BOX SET OF ITS KIND DEDICATED TO ONE SINGLE HIP HOP ARTIST WITH 3 CDS, 3 DVDS, PHOTO BOOKLET,T SHIRT AND A CHUCK D SIGNED LITHOGRAPH ALL PRESENTED IN COLLECTOR'S EDITION PACKAGING.
* 3 CDS FULL OF TRACKS FROM CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED ALBUMS
* TRACKS INCLUDE: THERES A POISON GOIN ON, REVOLVERLUTION, NEW WHIRL ODOR, BEATSAND PLACES, REBIRTH, BRING THAT BEAT BACK AND HOW YOU SELL SOUL TO A SOULESS PEOPLE WHO SOLD THEIR SOUL???
* 3 DVD INCLUDING PERFORMANCES, VIDEOS, AND DOCUMENTARIES POST 1999 ON THE LEGENDARY PE STORY FANS ARE YEARNING FOR.
* BRAND NEW TRACK SINGLE 'SAY IT LIKE IT REALLY IS' SPECIALLY RELEASED FOR THE BOX SET
* AND REMIXES INCLUDED THROUGHOUT THIS RARE RELEASE.
PUBLIC ENEMY IS TOURING 7 LEGS OF THEIR 'FEAR OF A BLACK PLAN' TOUR COMMEMORATING THE 20TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF 1990'S FEAR OF A BLACK PLANET.
CHUCK D AND FLAVOR FLAV, INDIVIDUAL ICONS ON THEIR OWN, TOGETHER THEY ARE INTERNATIONAL HEROES.
A LOGO Of Champions
PUBLIC ENEMY MERCHANDISE OFFICIAL LOGO
The Public Enemy Merchandise Store Has stepped up Big time
LOGO tag sampled and redesigned by KELVIN Fonville. And as you see new generation stars like Angela Simmons and Lil Wayne are representing a design from last century in a very new century way.
Flav and Chuck Boxing it in Brussels Belgium
FEAR OF A BLACK PLAN TOUR INVADES NORTHEAST USA
This is the Immediate breakdown for the FEAR OF A BLACK PLAN Northeast LEG run of the USA.
AUGUST
August 1 flight from Atlanta to New York
August 2- Flight from New York-Belgium
August 3 - Lokerse, Belgium
August 5 Marisquino/Xacobeo Festival 2010 Vigo, Spain
August 7 Collingwood, ON
August 8 Club Soda Montreal, Canada
August 9 House of Blues Boston, MA
August 10 Northern Lights Clifton park, NY
August 11 Town Ballroom Buffalo, NY
August 12 The Chameleon Lancaster, PA
August 14 9:30 Club Washington DC
August 15 Central Park Summerstage New York, NY
Front and Back Cover for Chuck D
Chuck D IS Mistachuck… DONT RHYME FOR THE SAKE OF RIDDLIN IS OUT ON iTUNES, AMAZON
Chuck D IS Mistachuck… DONT RHYME FOR THE SAKE OF RIDDLIN IS OUT ON iTUNES, AMAZON
I want all to know i don't release solo albums for solo sake.
I release solo projects and collaborations while still being part of PUBLIC ENEMY
, as I always said you cannot leave something thats part of you.
Within this solo project; is a collection of some new and some old song written and recorded.
Some lesser known songs heard from 2 other projects
CONFRONTATION CAMP & FINE ARTS MILITIA , which collaborators like Brian HARDGROOVE, Kyle Jason , Professor GRIFF, Johnny JUICE created from floor up. SLAMjamz artists like HEET MOB , JAHI, are also there along with the single directly delivered by DIVIDED SOULS out of the south clearly addressing the border idiocy between the US and MEXICO.
These collected songs from my independent pen are corralled and combined to create this MISTACHUCK; Don't Rhyme For The Sake Of Riddlin Project. As I feel one at a time recording is reflective of what appetite is out there in the industry. It has been a singles marketplace for 10 years largely because of the internet. I'm down with that one at a time thought process as I am with the creation of conceptual albums, knowing that there 2 different breeds.
There are five new joints on this record, but then again if you a'int heard em yet then they're all new.
DJ Spooky has smoked a torrid remix of ARIZONA at the end with Johnny JUICE also making a remix of TEAR DOWN THAT WALL
.
MISTACHUCK
DONT RHYME FOR THE SAKE OF RIDDLIN
Collected Independent Songs From the Mind, Pen, and Voice of Chuck D
SJD1025L
1. Tear Down That Wall
2. I Hate Hate Feat. Kyle Jason and Professor Griff
3. Hip Hop Vs Rap Feat. F.A.M.
4. This Bit of Earth Feat. Kyle Jason and Johnny Juice
5. Run From The Trouble (MistaChuck Mixx)
6. Johnny Juice, He Takes Wack Records to the Range and Blows Them Away With His Rifles
7. Super Ego Man
8. I Rap Black Feat. Heet Mob and Jahi
9. What's My Name (Ali Rap Theme) Feat. Kyle Jason
10. Make It Funky Feat. Kyle Jason
11. Tear Down That Wall (Johnny Juice Aztlan Border Patrol Mix)
12. The Spook Who Sat By Arizona (DJ Spooky Hip Hop Mix)
Go and DOWNLOAD these multiple configurations of the NEW PUBLIC ENEMY hot single 'SAY IT LIKE IT REALLY IS' celebrating Chuck D and Professor Griff crossing into rare rap territory. ITS THE SINGLE promoting the BRING THE NOISE, HITS, VIDS, and DOCS BOXSET.
An epic, almost-two-hour, high-energy performance on the U.S. Cellular Connection Stage at Summerfest in Milwaukee.
Public Enemy delivers more than hype in Milwaukee
It has been 28 years since Public Enemy formed in Long Island, New York, and 18 years since the hip hop group released their controversial and most successful album "Fear of a Black Planet." Friday night, Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Professor Griff, DJ Lord and the S1Ws delivered an epic, almost-two-hour, high-energy performance on the U.S. Cellular Connection Stage on the second night of Summerfest.
The group, known for their politically-charged lyrics, criticism of the media and ability to channel accurate portrayals of the African American experience, opened with "Brothers Gonna Work It Out," and moved on to "911 Is A Joke," "Welcome To The Terrordome," part of "Meet The G That Killed Me," "Bring the Noise," "Don't Believe The Hype," Flav's "Col Lampin'," "Terminator X to the Edge of Panic" (a tribute to former DJ Terminator X), "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos," "Burn, Hollywood, Burn," "Who Sold the Soul," "Can't Do Nuttin' For Ya Man," "Shut 'Em Down," "Can't Truss It," "Rebel Without A Pause," "By The Time I Get To Arizona" and finally closed with "Fight The Power."
Chuck D gave many props to Milwaukee. Multiple times he referenced Milwaukee's former curfew and said he almost wrote a song 25 years ago that he called "Curfew in Milwaukee." Also, he mentioned WNOV, former Ald. Michael McGee and Michael McGee, Jr., Brett Farve, sampled the theme music from "Happy Days" and "Laverne and Shirley" and twice shouted out to "all the DJs and emcees in Milwaukee."
Flavor Flav -- who wore a Milwaukee Brewers' cap for most of the show -- thanked the audience for helping to make him a reality TV star. Flav starred in numerous VH1 reality series including "The Surreal Life," "Strange Love" and "Flavor of Love." More than halfway through the show, he jumped into the crowd and Chuck D declared it a "bad career move." Flav later soloed on the drums and Chuck D accompanied him with a rhyme from "Timebomb," a track from an early album.
Public Enemy's connection with the audience was constant, strong and political. Chuck D spoke of the lameness of television, called Arizona governor Jan Brewer "(expletive) Hitler" and asked the audience to "try not to be a robot." Throughout the show, group members tossed T-shirts, sweaty towels, hats and CDs into the highly responsive crowd.
"We travel around the world ... but we never forget Milwaukee," said Chuck D.
Chuck D urged the audience to demand new hip hop artists deliver personalized, lengthy shows. "We never give a show less than an hour. Make sure new artists kiss your (expletive) feet," he said.
At one point, Chuck D, who will turn 50 on Aug. 1, referenced his age.
"If you are at least 35 in the audience, move as much as the 50-year-olds on stage," he said. And later, he said, "We're still twice as old as anyone from the old school days. And we will never be lazy with our shit."
Although most of the band's mainstream success fell between the late '80s and the mid-90s, Public Enemy continues to release albums, including the most recent from 2007, "How You Sell Soul To A Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?"
Public Enemy was the first hip hop group to garner international attention and was one of the first bands to release an MP3-only album. Also, they are often attributed with creating "Rap metal" after collaborating with Anthrax in 1991.
In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked Public Enemy 44th on its list of "The Immortals: 100 Greatest Artists of All Time." Public Enemy paved the way for future groups like Kool Moe Dee, Gang Starr, X Clan, Eric B. & Rakim, Queen Latifah, the Jungle Brothers and A Tribe Called Quest.
At the close of Friday night's show, Chuck D ended on a positive note. He urged people not to hate and spoke of unity. "Music and culture bring us together as one people," he said.
Know Your Rap History ...Apparently Lil Wayne Does
PE Store Back In Effect ....Dig it!
Public Enemy had in 1998 one of the first websites complete for a hip hop and rap act. Hence that very first year Publicenemy.com had one of the first online stores. Obviously this cat wearing the shirt knows his rap history more than most of his contemporaries .
7 legs have been approved on the 69th 70th and 71st World Tour 2010 commemorating 1990s'
Fear Of A Black Planet album. PE started off in the Canadian and US Pacific Northwest with amazing shows and turnouts in Vancouver, Victoria and Mid Washington state at the Sasquatch Festival .The first leg concluded with a sold-out show in Sevilla Spain.
JUNE 25 – MILWAUKEE / MILWAUKEE SUMMERFEST
JUNE 26 – CHICAGO / CONGRESS BALLROOM
JUNE 27 – CLEVELAND / HOUSE OF BLUES
JUNE 28 – GREEN BAY / ONEIDA CASINO
August 3 - Lokerse, Belgium
August 5 Marisquino/Xacobeo Festival 2010 Vigo, Spain
August 7 Collingwood, ON
August 8 Club Soda Montreal, Canada
August 9 House of Blues Boston, MA
August 10 Northern Lights Clifton park, NY
August 11 Town Ballroom Buffalo, NY
August 12 The Chameleon Lancaster, PA
August 13 Trocadero Philadelphia
August 14 9:30 Club Washington DC
August 15 Central Park Summerstage New York, NY
SEPTEMBER
September 8 Benefit Concert for Duke Ellington High School ,Washington DC
September 9 The Nova Norfolk, VA
September 10 The Hat Factory Richmond, VA
September 11 Hopscotch Music Festival Raleigh, NC
September 12 Amos Southend Charlotte, NC
September 14 Center Stage Atlanta, GA
September 15 The Music Farm Charleston, SC
September 16 The Club at Firestone Orlando, FL
September 17 Revolution Ft Lauderdale, FL
OCTOBER
WEST COAST RUN TBA
Friday, October 29, 2010 Stodola Warsaw, Poland
Saturday, October 30, 2010 Hellerau Dresden, Germany
Sunday, October 31, 2010 Sasazu Prague, Czech Republic
NOVEMBER 1-15
Monday, November 01, 2010 Backstage Munich, Germany
Tuesday, November 02, 2010 X-Tra Zurich, Switzerland
Wednesday, November 03, 2010 Les Docks Lausanne, Switzerland
Thursday, November 04, 2010 Estragon Bologna, Italy
Friday, November 05, 2010 Hafen Innsbruck, Austria
Saturday, November 06, 2010 JZE Essen , Germany
Sunday, November 07, 2010 OFF
Monday, November 08, 2010 Paradiso Amsterdam, Holland
Wednesday, November 10, 2010 Centralstation Darmstadt, Germany
Thursday, November 11, 2010 Rockhal Luxembourg
Friday, November 12, 2010 Elysée Montmartre Paris, France
Saturday, November 13, 2010 Les Z’Eclectiques Festival Chemillé, France
DECEMBER
AFRICA and OZ TBA
(left to right) Rappers Flavor Flav and Chuck D with the group Public Enemy perform in concert at the Edmonton Event Centre located at West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Alberta on Sunday May 23 2010.
PE in Edmonton CANADA ...Fear Of A Nation.
Public Enemy
With: Politic Live and Juicebox
Where: Edmonton Event Centre
When: Sunday night
--------------------------------------
Rap acts are notoriously late starters, so the fact that Public Enemy hit the stage only an hour and a half later than they were scheduled to on Sunday night is something of a miracle.
It wasn’t, however, anything miraculous that accounted for the quality of the show that Public Enemy put on; it was hard work and dedication that made the legendary hip-hop act’s first show in town in over a decade a memorable one.
The energy that the rap group known for its politically-charged and sometimes controversial songs, like Fight the Power and 911 Is a Joke brought was a sight to behold.
Rappers Chuck D and Flavor Flav did not look like a 49 and 51-year-olds performing twenty-year-old songs. They spent the evening goofing around on stage, running around and touching the hands of those in the audience at every chance they got.
The two really seemed to be enjoying themselves as they bounced back and forth performing songs taken mostly from Public Enemy’s two most popular albums, the 1988 release It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and Fear of a Black Planet, released two years later.
Backed by a skilled band who did an admirable job of recreating the dense, sample-heavy production of the Bomb Squad, the rappers were at times were drowned out, but this was partly due to the either good-or-terrible acoustics at the Edmonton Event Centre.
This didn’t prevent Chuck D, the no-frills straight man to Flavor Flav’s goofball eccentric, from proving why he’s still considered one of the best emcees in hip-hop. He still has that thunderous voice which commands attention, and his flow hasn’t slowed down over the years.
Flavor Flav is still hip-hop’s best hype man, adding exclamation points to Chuck D’s lyrics and adding splashes of colour wherever he sees fit.
Both vocalists often took turns addressing the crowd. Whether it was relating anecdotes about the recently deceased New York radio DJ Mr. Magic, or thanking the audience for supporting Public Enemy for over two decades, the pioneering group seemed like nothing other than truly grateful for the success it has experienced.
The fact that Public Enemy put on a two-hour show when other rap acts get away with pitiful 25-minute performances is a testament to the group’s respect for their audience.
About twenty minutes into their set, Chuck D implored the audience to “make sure when a rap group comes through town they give you at least two and a half hours,” as if that was the minimum time that a group should put in before leaving hitting the road with their money.
While Public Enemy only performed for two hours, they stayed long after to sign memorabilia, take pictures, and just talk with fans; now that’s dedication.
Public Enemy experiments with a new model of music financing
PUBLIC ENEMY: Fear of a hack planet
Omar Mouallem / omar@vueweekly.com
Eleven years ago, Public Enemy released There's a Poison Goin' On ... online months before the CD would be in stores. Remember, this is 1999. To most people, the word "MP3" sounded more like a car model than music. Today, iTunes allows people to buy an album on their phone with credit, and own it in minutes. PE's album, one of the first by a major group sold on the Internet, required buyers to go to atomicpop.com, download a 48-megabyte file, pay $8, check their emails for a purchase code that would unlock the file and—voila!—14 brand new songs.
"We were exploring the area of being able to release without someone hovering over you," recalls PE frontman Chuck D. "We were finding a new avenue."
The move from the group's native home, Def Jam records (hip hop's premier powerhouse) to Atomic Pop (an independent label of many genres, but the least of which is hip hop) showed PE wanted to break from the chains and be, as El-P puts it, "independent as fuck."
"I like to romantically make the comparison to [the '80s]. There was no pressure on anything, it was free-spirited," says Chuck D. "Going into independence was more like getting out of the system than returning to one."
For PE, the Internet was that system, albeit an untested one. "Experimentation is a large part of everything we do," explains Chuck D. "Either you find new ways with experimentation or satisfy the old ways, which probably won't work. This came out of being discontent with the old ways of pushing records."
Now PE is trying for another watershed moment, trying a model that even some champions of the Internet are skeptical of. Using SellaBand, a social networking promoting fan-funded music, PE hopes to raise $75 000 from fans or investors (here called "Believers") for its next album. In the pitch, PE is going to collaborate with artists suggested to them by Believers. Already Z-Trip, Tom Morello and Rise Against have been secured for the untitled project.
To buy one "part," Believers pay $25 and buy a share in 33 percent of the revenue. The more you pay, the better the perks. For $5000, you get an executive producer credit. Double that and you get a trip to their studio during a recording session, too.
In October, PE projected a $250 000 budget. Only a handful of SellaBand artists have succeeded in meeting their goals, but to a maximum of $50 000, which indicated to Chuck D early on that PE's goal might be insurmountable. So last month, he admitted that it was unrealistic and would take them too long to actually do what they want—make music. "It's a little bit different in the digital age: no one waits for anything," he explains. "The model has to be time sensitive."
Although SellaBand filed for bankruptcy and had to be saved by German buyers last February, he is confident "this system is going to work for us or somebody else ... We got involved in the Internet in 1999 and we're gonna pave the road for artists in the future to do this. Once again we're paving the road and we're building the bridge."
The new budget requires the group slash from the marketing and promotion plans. As well, the album can't include as many high-profile collaborators as hoped, plus "the artists needed to take a lower fee. They're all down with it because they're creative peoples."
Despite the lower budget, PE still has about $20 000 more to raise, which has remained the same for over a month.
It could be a while before PE returns to one of its Long Island studios. In the meantime Chuck D is busying himself in various ways. Although his political radio show, On the Real, folded with the closure of liberal AM station Air America, he's taken on a new program, ...
ANDYOUDON'TSTOP! He describes it as a "hip-hop show that works like a news program, but it's definitely rap and hip hop-centric only."
He also continues with his labours of Internet love, hiphopgods.com, a webzine honouring pioneers of rap, and SlamJamz, the label he owns and operates with Internet distribution and promotion as its nucleus. Through his label, next month he is also releasing his second solo album, Don't Rhyme for the Sake of Riddlin' (a line from "Don't Believe the Hype").
On both Chuck D's solo record and the to-be-determined PE album, tackling racism is to be expected—obviously, but probably not in the way you expect. The wildly racist undertones of the Tea Party movement, he says, "sounds like it's just old-cracker racism in a new term." Instead, he says he wants to focus lots on anti-immigration and border policies affecting many minority groups. It's apparent even in the interviews he conducts and the raps he writes, where you'll find the colour "brown" in place of or alongside "black" people. He seems to think that we're now dealing with a Fear of a Brown Planet.
Last month, "Tear Down That Wall," a song off his upcoming solo album, was put on the SlamJamz website for free. By twisting President Reagan's iconic phrase to call out the country's expanding wall along the Mexican border, Chuck D returns in classic form to put his fist through hypocrisy.
And then, a few days after the interview with Vue Weekly, Arizona approved a law that requires immigrants to travel with their papers and allows police to detain any who don't.
So of course, he would respond. Twenty years ago PE slammed another one of Arizona's bad policies, refusing to recognize MLK Day. But while underground rapper Toki Wright beat everyone to the punch by updating PE's "By the Time I Get to Arizona" three weeks ago, Chuck D co-wrote a Huffington Post article with wife Gaye Theresa Johnson. It issued "a call to action, urging fellow musicians, artists, athletes, performers, academics and production companies to refuse to work in Arizona until officials not only overturn this bill, but recognize the human rights of immigrants."
Recently, the border along the 49th parallel has also caught his ire. Reminding him that "it's just a big fucking game, man. Passports, visas and legalization—it's meant to keep the distribution of poor people from finding fresher terrain. It's not different from South Africa."
What has US customs done to earn such heated words? Nothing. It's Canada's fault, "not letting half of my crew in" for the group's Canadian tour. "The Canadian borders are strict for reasons that I'm clueless about. They've been tripping here and there," he says, guessing only that the stricter controls are due to tighter constraints since 9/11.
"It's only 'X' amount of people [in Canada]" he exclaims, before learning the real number, 34 million. "The land was snatched from the Indians and they want to stop people of colour from coming here? What's the square acreage of Canada?"
Being reminded that Canada is the second largest country sends him flying: "How can there be one country with land like that in the modern day world? And they still tell people they can't come here? Where does this come from? It sounds like some old-school white man!"
Chuck D is exaggerating the extent of the borders' restrictions: only one member of the S1W dance crew and Professor Griff, a founding member and choreographer, have been denied permits. But for a black American artist who has paid every due, been down every road and helped foster the fastest growing culture in the world, being told that any of his 28-year-old, pioneering band isn't welcomed is perplexing. For Canadian rap fans, however, it's business as usual.
Local promoter Tim Baig, owner of Urban DNA Events and a promotional partner for the Edmonton PE show, says, "Hip-hop artists getting extra attention at our borders is nothing new. It's been happening for the last two decades. Artists have always expressed the difficulty and frustration of passing through Canada customs and immigration."
He says rappers "feel like they are stereotyped and targeted when it becomes known that they are American rap artists, sometimes spending hours at the border just to get cleared."
Though Baig won't disclose specific artists who have been turned away by customs, there is a noticeable pattern regarding who gets in and who doesn't. Although Chuck D thinks it's probably racially motivated, the answer to why, after decades of touring, the borders have become impenetrable to PE might simply be that the group isn't a mainstream act anymore. As an independent, PE gets the same treatment as Immortal Technique, not Lil' Wayne, whose Canadian tour dates are only cancelled on doctors' orders.
"There's way more challenges than there were before," he admits, citing the task of selling music online as one of the biggest obstacles. "On our digital store [Beyond.fm] you can hear music from beginning to end. It's like having a small record shop — but so what? You still got to get people to come in, and even if they come into your store, how do you get them to buy?"
Online distribution gave Public Enemy more control over its music, but it didn't expand the group's audience much, if at all. Now, more than a decade later, PE is still set on finding that algorithm, sharing creative control with fans to bring more people into the store, digital or otherwise. V
Sun, May 23 (8 pm)
Public Enemy
Edmonton Event Centre, $19.99 – $42.50
Among Greatest Front men Of ALL Time in Q Magazine
PUBLIC ENEMYS Chuck D Listed 21 Among Greatest Front men Of ALL Time in Q Magazine , 25th in Digital Dream Door
PUBLIC ENEMYS Chuck D Listed 21 Among Greatest Front men Of ALL Time in Q Magazine , 25th in Digital Dream Door
In the 20th Year anniversary of Public Enemy's Fear Of A Black Planet , member Chuck D has been highly listed as one of the best frontmen for bands ever in 2 UK surveys.
The prestigious Q Magazine had him ranked 21 behind The Clash's Joe Strummer at 20. The list was compiled by a vast survey of readers and writers, where Liam Gallagher of OASIS clocked in at Number one.
The second survey list had MISTACHUCK at 25 , whereas Mr Gallagher didn't even make the list. In both surveys Chuck D was ranked ahead of other rappers based on leading a group.
Andre 3000 of OUTKAST- 94,( clearly a duo with Big Boi) JAY Z -59 and EMINEM-50 ( undoubtedly both soloists unless they counted Original Flavor and D12 respectively).
MISTACHUCK took it tongue and cheek as he prepares to re-study and rehearse the lyrics of FEAR OF A BLACK PLANET for a full years performance world tour wise. Two new songs emerge this summer form Chuck 'TEAR DOWN THAT WALL'
protesting the US -Mexico borders and policy from his DON'T RHYME FOR THE SAKE OF RIDDLIN solo project, and 'SAY IT LIKE IT REALLY IS ' from the PUBLIC ENEMY BRING THE NOISE HITS, VIDS, AND DOCS 3 DVD 3 CD BOXSET this summer.
The Greatest ftontmen (Q Magazine)
1) Liam Gallagher
2) Bono
3) Freddie Mercury
4) Damon Albarn
5) Chris Martin
6) Matt Bellamy
7) Jim Morrison
8) Bob Marley
9) Paul McCartney
10) John Lennon
11) Robbie Williams
12) Debbie Harry
13) Mick Jagger
14) Morrissey
15) John Lydon (a. k. a Johnny Rotten)
16) James Brown
17) Bruce Springsteen
18) Robert Plant
19) Tom Meighan
20) Joe Strummer
21) Chuck D
The Greatest frontmen (DigitalDreamDoor)
1. James Brown
2. Elvis Presley
3. Mick Jagger (Rolling Stones)
4. Little Richard
5. Freddie Mercury (Queen)
6. Tina Turner
7. Chuck Berry
8. Jerry Lee Lewis
9. Jim Morrison (The Doors)
10. Prince
11. Bruce Springsteen
12. Iggy Pop (The Stooges, Solo)
13. Jackie Wilson
14. Michael Jackson (Jackson 5, Solo)
15. Madonna
16. Jimi Hendrix
17. David Bowie
18. Alice Cooper
19. Bono (U2)
20. Roger Daltrey (The Who)
21. Elton John
22. Steven Tyler (Aerosmith)
23. Ozzy Osbourne (Black Sabbath, Solo)
24. David Lee Roth (Van Halen, Solo)
25. Chuck D (Public Enemy)
26. Sam & Dave
27. Ian Anderson (Jethro Tull)
28. Bon Scott (AC/DC)
29. David Byrne (Talking Heads)
30. Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam)
31. Bob Marley
32. Axl Rose (Guns N' Roses)
33. Bruce Dickinson (Iron Maiden)
34. Robert Plant (Led Zeppelin)
35. Anthony Kiedis (Red Hot Chili Peppers)
36. Sly Stone (Sly & The Family Stone)
37. Joey Ramone (The Ramones)
38. Levi Stubbs (The Four Tops)
39. Paul Stanley (KISS)
40. Rob Halford (Judas Priest)
41. Bo Diddley
42. Lord Sutch
43. Screamin' Jay Hawkins
44. Otis Redding
45. Johnny Rotten (The Sex Pistols)
46. George Clinton (P-Funk)
47. Kurt Cobain (Nirvana)
48. Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle, Solo)
49. Deborah Harry (Blondie)
50. Peter Gabriel (Genesis, Solo)
The hip-hop community in Arizona come together in a “Not In My Backyard”
THIS WEEK —The hip-hop community in Arizona came together in a “Not In My Backyard” approach to protest the state's new immigration law by remaking A music video is soon to follow.
, DJ John Blaze, Tajji Sharp, Yung Face, Mr. Miranda, Ocean, Da'aron Anthony, Atllas, Chino D, Nyhtee, Pennywise, Rich Rico, and Da Beast express multi-cultural perspectives on a law they collectively consider to be racial profiling. Hear the song, “Back to Arizona: http://usershare.net/corsenwue2gc
According to Queen YoNasDa, hip-hop artist who spearheaded the national movement “Hip Hop 4 Haiti,” the song was the best way for the hip-hop community to take a stand against the immigration law. Queen YoNasDa is Native-African American and opposes racial profiling. “I requested the help of Arizona's finest hip-hop artists to remake Public Enemy's ‘By the Time I get to Arizona’ to show the world that Arizona's hip-hop community will not stand for this injustice and will unite our talent to demonstrate our activist roles and responsibility. All you need is one mic,” says Queen YoNasDa referencing rapper, Nas’s song, “One Mic.”
Fifteen years ago, the original “By the Time I Get to Arizona” by Public Enemy protested the state of Arizona who failed to observe Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day as a federal holiday. The song was hugely popular and the entertainment industry embraced the boycott of Arizona. “I remember the Super Bowl not being hosted in Arizona as a result of the boycott,” says Queen YoNasDa. She says, “This is an example of how hip-hop can positively impact change and we want to continue that legacy."
THE ANDYOUDONTSTOP! radio show will debut the song to listeners on Monday.
The Year Of FEAR20
Two Billboard Stories Mark FEAR OF A BLACK PLANET 20th Anniversary
Public Enemy's Chuck D still fighting the power
By Gail Mitchell Gail Mitchell Fri Mar 12, 10:02 pm ET
LOS ANGELES (Billboard) – At the end of "Pirate Radio" -- the 2009 feature film about a '60s illegal rock 'n' roll radio station in Europe's North Sea -- an array of albums is displayed: iconic symbols of musical independence that bucked the status quo. Among the albums on display is Public Enemy's 1990 treatise, "Fear of a Black Planet."
In a country still wrestling with the election of its first black president and ongoing racial tension, economic strife and war, "Fear" remains just as relevant 20 years after its release, alongside its three seminal singles: "Fight the Power" (immortalized in the Spike Lee film "Do the Right Thing"), "Welcome to the Terrordome" and "911 Is a Joke." And still sounding that clarion call is Public Enemy and its dedicated frontman, Chuck D.
Embarking on what will be its 69th, 70th and 71st tours this year, the pioneering rap group is as busy as ever. Through its SLAMjamz digital label (SLAMjamz.com), Public Enemy recently released the benefit album "Kombit pou Haiti," with proceeds donated to the Lambi Fund in Haiti. Coming in the spring: a "Welcome to the Terrordome" three-CD/three-DVD boxed set encompassing live tracks, videos and documentaries from the past 12 years of PE's work; a Chuck D solo album, "Mistachuck: Don't Rhyme for the Sake of Riddlin'"; and "It's Back to a Million of Us to Hold a Nation," by PE backing band the baNNed. The forthcoming instrumental set reinterprets PE's 1988 classic, "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back."
That's not counting a radio show launched in November on WBAI.org -- "AndYouDontStop!" -- with plans to expand across the Pacifica Radio network and as a podcast on iTunes. Also in the works are three key ventures: SellaBand, a Web site where the general public can invest in artists (PE has raised more than $57,000 for its next album from investments in $25 increments); the Chuck D and Gary "G-Wiz" Rinaldo-created Web site HipHopGods.com, an archive site focusing on the history of classic rap; and FightThePower.org, a nonprofit company established by Chuck D to continue to fight for artists' rights in terms of publishing, copyright and masters ownership.
In an interview with Billboard, Chuck D reflected on the creative climate that spawned "Fear," PE's early involvement in the Internet revolution and the evolution of rap and hip-hop.
Billboard: In terms of rap itself, who were your contemporaries when "Fear of a Black Planet" was born 20 years ago?
Chuck D: It was the golden age of hip-hop in terms of diversity and balance. Queen Latifah, N.W.A, Big Daddy Kane had all made their mark during what was probably the most diverse three- to five-year period. Artists carved their own niches, strove to be different from one another by creating their own molds. They weren't affected by the marketing and promotional protocol of record labels that said, "In order for you to make the charts and get on TV, you have to be similar."
When we toured in 1990 it was with Kid 'N Play, Heavy D & the Boyz, Digital Underground, EPMD. Groups toured with each other who didn't necessarily line up in their philosophies. It was the total extreme between one another. Then acts like Naughty by Nature came out in 1991 as introduced by Queen Latifah; Ice Cube's solo record comes out in 1990 as he leaves N.W.A, so it was a turning point into the '90s.
When I said, "Welcome to the Terrordome," it was an introduction to the '90s; that's what that song is about. As we were getting into the '90s, it's "Hey, OK, we made it through the terrordome, but there's going to be a test for a lot of people like us." And it was a test. And whether we got out of that decade unscathed is a point of debate because that was a rough decade on us. It affects us even to this point now.
Billboard: How so?
Chuck D: Well, we fell asleep for eight years with (President Bill) Clinton (laughs), and then got the hell smacked out of us with eight years of (President George W.) Bush. So now we have a year of President Obama and haven't embraced that fully as a people, as a black demographic in this country. We're kind of shell-shocked and don't know where to start. Meanwhile, he's up there on the dart board.
Billboard: So were opportunities missed then -- and being missed now -- in terms of bringing rap back to its socially conscious roots?
Chuck D: Obviously. Rice, bread and crumbs are all on the floor. But you've got to live on, persevere. You can't give up the fight. Like Bob Marley said, you have to keep going forward. You have to try to inform as much as possible even though you might be going through a lot of mass distractions.
That was part of the purpose of us doing "Fear." We knew it was going against the odds. But even though we signified and recognized a movement of people wanting to equip themselves with information to go forward, I think that became the far and the few. The climate we have now may not be as clear as it was in 1990 when you at least had people who said, "I know who I am and know where I want to get to. If somebody else gets there and they're in my same bracket, I can dig that too. That's cool; maybe they can pull me forward." The individualism that happened between 1990 and 2010 has kind of left a lot of people way behind the starting line.
The go-for-self period in the '90s has a lot of people on the outside looking in. Music-wise, it was the beginning of the eradication of a wave of independence that really made certain acts stand out. The majors picked them and found the cookie cutter: "This is the way you make a big rap act." It just became kind of contrived with the majors saying, "We've got 40,000 pieces of 12-inch vinyl that we've got to promote at college. So we'll take maybe 550 cats from colleges, fly them to Hawaii and hit them off, then we're going to tie up college radio." So we go into a period when money was supposed to be the thing to fix everything. And that's what it was: a big fix. And a lot of the passion started dripping out of the bottom of the boat at that particular time, although people started to see numbers.
That's what "Fear" was saying: "It's a black planet anyway. Once we know that, what are you going to do with it?"
Billboard: You were ahead of the curve when it came to the Internet. What prompted your jumping into those then-uncharted waters?
Chuck D: Public Enemy was the first group to walk away from a $1 million contract (when it left Def Jam after 1998's "He Got Game"). What the hell is a $1 million contract when you don't have control of your s--t? That $1 million is never going to be spent by you. It's going to be spent on your behalf by someone who's just pressing buttons and pushing numbers. And at the end of the day, you've got what? Because they've spent your money trying to make their profit while you're working on a percentage. That's one of the biggest reasons why I jumped into the Internet in 1996.
In 1999, "There's a Poison Going On" was released on Atomic Pop Records, founded by Al Teller, who helped sign Def Jam to CBS. Singlehandedly, Public Enemy and Atomic Pop jump-started the digital revolution by releasing MP3 files over the Web. Then Napster emerged with the technology to explode the technology. A lot of people said I was nuts. Well, if a tree is at a 45-degree angle and it used to stand straight up, it doesn't take much of a prediction to say it's going to hit the ground. And that's what we were saying: telling artists you can set up your own label online. And if you can also set up that record deal, do both.
It's real funny because today I read magazines that talk about the top 100 Web sites, iPhone apps and other Web gadgets. This is not about me getting credit. But you hear a lot of things now about the Internet that were said 10 years ago.
Billboard: Why does "Fear" continue to have such impact?
Chuck D: "Fear" was the second half of a back-to-back "movement" of albums that immediately signified that rap could be as significant an album genre as rock, forcing respect. It was a musical and political statement that resonates to this day.
Rap and hip-hop altered the musical soundscape audibly and visually with shrapnel impact from many different directions. Beyond the music, the culture was ingrained into many hearts, heads and souls as an equalizer: The themes screamed for it and freedom. By the time "911 Is a Joke," led by Flavor Flav, was released, hip-hop and Public Enemy proved that rap could say something and sound good -- make you think and dance all at once.
Billboard: What's your take on today's rap/hip-hop? Where is it headed?
Chuck D: Rap and hip-hop evolved as the rebellious music against the elite status quo of dominant popular music. But it now sounds like the music it originally rebelled against. Once the price tag is applied as the ultimate goal, trueness can be elusive.
In the 1990s somebody smelled money and, just like with the gold rush, led a 15-year stripping of the ecosystem that the culture organically stood on. Maybe it should have been "Fear of a Rap Planet: Welcome to the Terrordome." There are thousands of rap artists across MySpace, YouTube and Facebook who have adopted creative borders. But there are many more who have rejected them. Rap still has fantastic potential.
===================================================
Twenty Years After 'Fear Of A Black Planet,' Public Enemy Members, Collaborators And Colleagues Celebrate Its Anniversary
Members of hip-hop's elite took the stage last September at Brooklyn's Academy of Music as part of VH1's sixth annual Hip-Hop Honors to celebrate the 25th anniversary of prominent hip-hop label Def Jam Records.
But one standout performance was by one of the label's legendary groups: Public Enemy. Backed by the Roots and members of Street Sweeper Social Club as well as PE's S1W group, Flavor Flav, wearing a white tuxedo, top hat and trademark clock, took the stage with longtime partner Chuck D and SSSC's Boots Riley for an electrifying performance of "Rebel Without a Pause" from PE's 1988 rap classic, "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back." The album has sold 722,000 copies in the United States since Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales in 1991.
Today, PE is celebrating an anniversary of its own, as 2010 marks the 20th anniversary of the act's politically driven third album, 1990's "Fear of a Black Planet." The set has sold 561,000 units since 1991, according to SoundScan, but there are reports that it sold 1 million copies in its first week, which was before SoundScan began tracking sales. It debuted at No. 40 on the Billboard 200, peaked at No. 10 and was certified platinum by the RIAA for shipment of 1 million units.
Video interview: Chuck D tells Billboard.com about what went into making Public Enemy's landmark album, "Fear of a Black Planet."
"Chuck D had this concept for the cover of 'Fear of a Black Planet'-the idea was to have two planets eclipsing: the Public Enemy planet and the Earth," recalls Cey Adams, creative director for Def Jam from 1984 to 1999. He adds that a NASA illustrator was hired to create the cover. "It was so interesting to me that a black hip-hop act did an illustration for their album cover. At that time black hip-hop artists, for the most part, had photos of themselves on their covers. But this was the first time someone took a chance to do something in the rock'n'roll vein."
To match its wrapping, "Fear of a Black Planet" contained lyrical themes concerning organization and empowerment within the African-American community, while presenting criticism of social issues affecting African-Americans at the time.
To present this message-heavy concept, the group released tracks like "Fight the Power," which was first available in 1989 on the soundtrack to the Spike Lee film "Do the Right Thing" and arguably the group's biggest hit. (It reached No. 1 on the Hot Rap Singles chart and No. 20 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs.)
"I think that between the statement Spike was making with the film and the statement Public Enemy was making with the song, you knew it was beyond powerful," says producer Gary "G-Wiz" Rinaldo, a former member of PE's in-house production team the Bomb Squad.
Former Def Jam director of publicity Bill Adler concurs. "That song really enriched the movie and vice versa. That was a hell of a marriage right there-that was one of the greatest uses of a song in a movie in the history of cinema as far as I'm concerned," he says.
In addition to being featured in the film, the song continued to cement the group's political stance: "Elvis was a hero to most, but he never meant shit to me, you see/Straight-up racist that sucker was, simple and plain / Motherfuck him and John Wayne / 'Cause I'm black and I'm proud," Chuck D raps atop the Bomb Squad's scratch-heavy, sample-layered beat.
"Chuck changed the game lyrically for recorded music the same way [Bob] Dylan brought poetry to rock-it was revolutionary," says Tom Morello, formerly of Rage Against the Machine, and now a member of SSSC. The 'Elvis was a hero to most' line is a highlight-I couldn't believe anyone was saying that out loud because it was exactly what I'd been thinking."
It was these types of racially charged statements that attracted a media firestorm shortly before the album's release. "The summer of 1989, leading up to the creation of 'Fear of a Black Planet,' was a rough time," recalls Adler, who worked at Def Jam from 1984 to 1990. "[PE member] Professor Griff gave an interview [in the May 22 edition of the Washington Times] where he said some anti-Semitic nonsense and created controversy. Partly, that's what fueled the writing of 'Fear of a Black Planet.' If you listen to the track 'Welcome to the Terrordome,' that's Chuck's direct response to the problems the group struggled with leading up to the album. It was a very wild time for PE."
The group was on the road when Griff's comments were made public, raising a host of issues for the tour. "We were touring and my insurance went from 55 cents a person to $1.55 a person," recalls Darryll Brooks, one of PE's early promoters. "Stuff was blown out of proportion, but they adjusted their ideal to accommodate their identity. Griff had to get out the group and it got real dark for a minute."
"I found that the people who were most excited by PE controversies were the ones who knew the least about Public Enemy's advanced politics, lyrical inventiveness and sonic brilliance," says Harry Allen, a hip-hop activist and self-professed media assassin who worked as PE's publicist.
But while the album was loaded content-wise, the production was a lot more "commercial," according to producer Keith Shocklee, who helmed the tracks "Fear" and "Terrordome." "Chuck D had a lot of things he wanted to get off his chest, but for me, I just wanted to get lots of interludes and bridges and B-sections in there," he says. "For 'Fight the Power,' I used a lot of light samples, not like what we did with ["Nation" track] 'Bring the Noise.' Because of that combination the album became more critically accepted."
Adding to the more lighthearted tone of the album was one of music's greatest hype men, Flavor Flav, who colored the group's songs with his witty ad-libs. "Flav's the hype man and Chuck's the rapper-they help each other out. I don't know if the message would be as powerful if Flav was hyping around alone or Chuck was rapping alone," Run-D.M.C.'s Joseph "Run" Simmons says. "The music is just so powerful, so amazing, and it just speaks for itself."
Former Def Jam staffer Adams agrees. "That's the thing that makes them special-it's a combination of Malcolm X and Martin Lawrence, with Flav there for comical relief and Chuck giving everybody a history lesson," he says. "One without the other would've meant they would've probably been over-people get tired of being preached on."
Still, it's Chuck D's vision that dominates "Fear of a Black Planet" and the place it holds in hip-hop history. "It all came down to Chuck-he's a genius," says former Bomb Squad producer Eric "Vietnam" Sadler, who helped create the album. "He's one of the few MCs that can really change cadence. The music is timeless and has so many layers to it. You can listen to it 100 times and hear something different every time."
"They are one of the greatest rap groups of all time and the only important breakthrough artist of their kind to have a significant political message," says Rick Rubin, who signed PE to Def Jam on the strength of Chuck D's radio show on Adelphi University's WBAU Garden City, N.Y., and an independent single. "No other rap artist has had their power musically, lyrically and with such conscience."
Adams adds, "Other than Run-D.M.C., no one had a three-album success rate at that time. The quality PE had as a band is what made them withstand the test of time. They delivered a serious message but didn't take themselves too serious-they still wanted people to laugh. Plus, you just couldn't deny those beats."
Public Enemy Bass Player Brian Hardgroove, Knows What He Likes on Stage
Return Of The Red Black Green Machine
PE announces YEAR OF FEAR 20 Touring for 2010
PE announces YEAR OF FEAR 20 Touring for 2010
Public Enemy have committed to it's 69th-71st world tours. The majority of dates from May 22-September are in North America.
Come October the westcoast is calling and November -Dec
looks like PE will play In Europe ,South Africa. Many dates post June are TBD.
TBD = To Be Determined.
MAY
21 WINNEPEG – BURTON CUMMINGS THEATRE 22 SASKATOON – ODEON EVENTS CENTER (
24 CALGARY – THE WHISKEY
25 EDMONTON – EDMONTON EVENT CENTRE
27 VANCOUVER – COMMODORE BALLROOM
30 SASQUATCH Festival
JUNE
JUNE 25 – MILWAUKEE / MILWAUKEE SUMMERFEST
JUNE 26 – CHICAGO / CONGRESS BALLROOM
JUNE 27 – CLEVELAND / HOUSE OF BLUES
JUNE 28 – GREEN BAY / ONEIDA CASINO
AUGUST
7 TORONTO collingwood –festival
8 MONTREAL
9- BOSTON / House Of Blues
10 CLIFTON PARK
11-BUFFALO
12 LANCASTER PA
13 PHILADELPHIA
14 WASHINGTON DC / 930 Club
15 NEW YORK – central park
SEPTEMBER
9-NORFOLK VA
10-RICHMOND VA
11-RALEIGH NC
12-CHARLOTTE NC
14- ATLANTA
15-CHARLESTON SC
16-ORLANDO FL
17-FT LAUDERDALE FL
18-LOS ANGELES
OCTOBER 2010
TBD West Coast 5 date run
NOVEMBER 2010
1-15
TBD Europe run
Chuck D spoke at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts
Chuck D speaks at Duke Ellington School; Stevie Wonder performs benefit concert in D.C.
Ever notice that Stevie Wonder prefers la-la-la-ing to ooh-ooh-ooh-ing? Here's a theory: As one of the most joy-inducing musicians on this planet, Wonder knows that it's hard to smile while singing along with an ooh. Go ahead and try it. Tough, right? Now sing the la-la-las that open "Mon Cheri Amour." Smiling is no problem.
Fans had plenty to smile about when a 59-year-old Wonder performed at the Kennedy Center Thursday evening -- a concert held to benefit the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Georgetown. Earlier in the day, Public Enemy founder Chuck D, songwriter Kenny Gamble, singer Chrisette Michele and others spoke at the school about the importance of the arts in education.
But the day of fund-and-awareness-raising peaked with Thursday evening's concert. Wonder performed some of his greatest tunes -- "Superstition," "Living for the City," "Golden Lady" -- and gave a special shout-out to first lady Michelle Obama who waved to the crowd from the balcony.
The singer also talked a little politics. "Tea Party? C'mon. Get outta here," Wonder exclaimed to resounding applause. "There's a new America... and it's about love."
Thursday afternoon, Chuck D, Gamble, Michele, singer and Ellington alum Sylver Logan Sharp and singer-guitarist Rev. Vernon Burch spoke to students and press about the importance of arts in education -- as well as Ellington's capital campaign to raise money in tough times.
"This school should be a prototype," Chuck D said during the conference. "The arts can't support the community if the community can't support the arts."
Before the conference, Head of School Rory Pullens explained the necessity of the fund-raiser. "It is no secret that school district budgets are decimated and money is being lost year after year," Pullens said. "To run a program like Duke Ellington you need the support."
Pullens said he knew it was a longshot to get Wonder to perform a benefit concert for Ellington and was incredibly grateful when the singer accepted his invitation. "He understands the importance of giving back to arts education," Pullens said.
By Chris Richards February 26, 2010; 7:00 AM ET
Bono Gives Chuck D World Tour Advice on U2 Private Jet 1992
Bono Says PE Should Roll Right Into Rock Hall
BONO
Since artists become eligible for induction 25 years after the release of their first recording, many of the influential figures of mid-1980s hip-hop are only now beginning to be recognized.
"Public Enemy, for instance, needs to go straight in," Bono said. "That's as important a moment as the Beatles. It changed popular culture for the next 25 years, and it was important as the Beatles."
The SLAMjamz Relief Project
Album To Benefit Haiti’s Lambi Fund
CHUCK D ASSEMBLES HIS SLAMjamz ARTISTS FOR KOMBIT pou HAITI
Available January 26 on
iTunes and TuneCore
New York, NY (January 26, 2010) – Hip hop legend Chuck D and the artists on his SLAMjamz digital record label have created a benefit album to raise money for Haiti’s recovery efforts in record-breaking time. KOMBIT pou HAITI (which loosely translates to “coming together for the good of Haiti”) will be released via iTunes and TuneCore on
Tuesday, January 26th. The collection includes a track by MC Hi- Coup, a solo song from Chuck D (featuring Kyle Jason and Public Enemy DJ Johnny Juice Rosado), and Dominican roots band Pa’lo Monte. 100% of the proceeds from the sale of KOMBIT pou HAITI will directly benefit the Lambi Fund of Haiti (www.lambifund.org), an organization dedicated to helping Haitian communities rebuild and recover through building economic community enterprises such as sugar mills, grain mills and small businesses and planting crops to sustain local communities. The organization is coordinating second responder efforts, to begin once emergency rescue and assistance operations have stabilized and was brought to Chuck D’s attention by activists Kevin Powell and April Silver.
In the hours following the devastating earthquake in Haiti, Chuck D began contacting the artists on his SLAMjamz label and tapped longtime PE DJ Johnny Juice Rosado to quickly assemble and produce the benefit album. “I think that in this age of technology and communication we can come together with extraordinary urgency to address an emergency like this,” said Chuck D. “Since many cannot be there to physically help, the gift of music is something that realized we can give for fundraising efforts. There are many organizations reaching out to the call - Wyclef Jean and his Yéle Haiti, in particular, have been working tirelessly for the Haitian people for many years - we hope you support any one of these organizations. It will take an infrastructure of many to help bring Haiti back up.” Chuck’s song, “This Bit Of Earth,” can also be found at the following link along with a personal note about his feelings behind it and the lyrics: http://www.slamjamz.com/music/viewdlsingle/465
All of the artists on KOMBIT pou HAITI contributed their songs within 24 hours of being asked, while all mastering costs and studio time were donated (Earle Holder of HDQRTZ) as well as the album artwork (by graphic artist Kelvin Fonville). The powerful liner notes were contributed by Dr. Gaye Theresa Johnson, a noted Professor of Chicano and African American Studies at UC Santa Barbara.
About SLAMjamz:
SLAMjamz was founded by Chuck D in 1996 as a highly innovative, digital-only record label, dedicated to discovering and distributing underground hip hop and new urban music to a global audience. SLAMjamz artists uniquely retain the rights to their work, allowing for them to own the master copies of their recordings as well as their own publishing rights, making it truly a 21st Century recording label.
KOMBIT pou HAITI
Tracklisting
1. This Bit of Earth MISTACHUCK featuring KYLE JASON and DJ
JOHNNY JUICE ROSADO
2. Help Is On The Way HEET MOB
3. Knockin' On The Lord's HI-COUP
4. Find My Way Home KYLE JASON
5. Faith DONTIQUE
6. La Misere LOWDOWN
7. Why Y'all Wanna Kill GOD? PROFESSOR GRIFF featuring THE 7TH OCTAVE
8. Raise Up SON OF BAZERK AND THE NO SELF CONTROL BAND
9. Candela PA'LO MONTE
###
For further information on KOMBIT pou HAITI, please logon to:
COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS, a documentary produced by Benjamin Franzen and Kembrew McLeod, examines the commercial and creative value of musical sampling, including the ongoing debates about artistic expression, copyright law and money.
COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS showcases many of Hip Hop music's legendary figures like Public Enemy, De La Soul and Digital Underground along with emerging artists such as audiovisual remixers Eclectic Method. The film also provides an in-depth look at artists who have been sampled, such as renowned drummer Clyde Stubblefield, the world's most sampled musician, best known for his work with James Brown, as well as commentary by Funk legend George Clinton.
JAN 19: Broadcast & DVD Release Party with ECLECTIC METHOD, MR. LEN & DJ SPOOKY
FREE with RSVP at IndiePix Evite. Doors at 8pm. Broadcast Premiere on Independent Lens at 10pm. Brooklyn Bowl 61 Wythe Ave Brooklyn NYC 11211. Facebook Event Page
View the Trailer and promo video for the Broadcast & DVD release party at copyrightcriminals.com.
Watch on JAN. 19th PBS TV!
Check local PBS listings for the COPYRIGHT CRIMINALS broadcast on Independent Lens.
Pre-Order! The Copyright Criminals DVD is currently available for discounted pre-order from IndiePix, which manages the distribution of this film in theatrical, DVD, digital and new media markets throughout North America. The DVD will also be available at Amazon and from local video retailers January 26, 2010.
Flavor Flaaaaav!
Review: The perfect pair — Chuck D and Flavor Flav on Aspen stage
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Stewart Oksenhorn
The Aspen Times
Aspen, CO Colorado
Stewart Oksenhorn/The Aspen Times
ASPEN — A few days before Public Enemy's show at Belly Up Aspen, rapper Chuck D expressed some concern about the group's performance. Public Enemy was not on tour, and the baNNed — the live-music component of the group's show for a decade — would not be appearing on the date.
Chuck D need not have worried. For at his side — often draped under his arm, even — was fellow rapper Flavor Flav. Flavor Flav has been a part of Public Enemy since the group's beginnings, in the Long Island of the mid-'80s, and the signature clock around his neck and his gold teeth give the group an instant visual identification. More significant, he and Chuck D are a perfect artistic pair, up there with Lennon/McCartney and Laurel & Hardy, each supplying a necessary quality to the whole.
Sunday night at Belly Up, Chuck D seemed like someone who had comfortably, smartly mellowed into middle age. The anti-authoritarian stance on which Public Enemy built its identity was evident in the words to “911 Is a Joke” and “Fight the Power,” but any anger that drove those songs was replaced, in Chuck D at least, by a calmer wisdom and forbearance. The transition has not sapped him of his stage presence — and certainly not of his skills on the microphone.
Then there is Flavor Flav, who does not seem to have mellowed into anything. The question was once posed, How could anything other than jazz have produced someone like Thelonious Monk?, and the same goes for rap and Flav. He embodies something essential about hip-hop, especially the no-holds-barred emotional rage that gave early hip-hop its credibility. Complementing Chuck D's intellectual vibe, Flav is unhinged, guile-less, a natural comedian and pure performing force. There were even moments Sunday night when Flav's talk — about a crack Chuck D had apparently made regarding Dick (Cheney) and Bush (George W.) — got a bit loose for Chuck's liking. But after a moment, Chuck D just let his partner go, until the joke turned into a pro-Obama rap.
While Public Enemy made a solid connection with the audience — the show ended with Flav onstage alone, delivering an inspirational, off-the-cuff message against racism and about believing in oneself — it didn't rely on the parrot-like crowd response (“Yo, what's up Aaaaspennnn ... ?”) that hip-hop shows often descend into. And while they sang their hits, the energy didn't wane with less-known material. This was a performance built on thought-provoking material, the musical power of old-school rap, and the pitch-perfect chemistry between two charismatic leading men.
Now just imagine throwing a live-music element into the mix. Let's begin the campaign to get that show to Aspen.
Chuck D in Barcelona 2008
Chuck D RED BULL Interview in Barcelona 2008
Public Enemy Visit Homeless Youth in DC
PE Does Concert For Homeless Youth in DC
10 year anniversary of PEs 1999 release of Theres A Poison Goin On.
Duke Eatmon Produces RED BLACK and GREEN Issue Number One
Each and every month or so long time Canadian HIP HOP Radio giants DUKE EATMON and RON MASKELL will contribute key info and material for PETV , PEradio and the latest ...a column of the monthly newsletter called The Red , Black And Green Machine in the HYPE section of www.publicenemy.com. It is a monthly chronicle about P.E . loosely based on Jabril Muhammad`s FarrakhanThe Traveller column in The Final Call.
It will detail the career of P.E. past,present and future based on recent news stories , written and edited by DUKE EATMON. The first piece is entitled 10 Years Of Poison ,celebrating the 10th anniversary of There`s A Poison Goin`On This will talk about the impact and pioneering aspect that P.E. has had on the internet and the new age of digital distribution.
Other pieces will be on P.E.`s touring history and speak on the Banned , Confrontation Camp and 7th Octave..etc.etc.etc
My source of Mr Eatmons info is based on his 20 years of research on P.E. as well as questions submitted to group members via Brother James, CHUCK D , Malik Farrakhan and the other members of the group.
DUKE EATMON and RON MASKELL are also spotlighted and with cameo appearance in the Public Enemy REBIRTH video, you can find on PETV.
ANALYTIXZ:
20 Years of Conversations and Enter- Views with Public Enemy’s Minister of Information
By Professor Griff
Reviewed by Kalonji Changa
Analytixz highlights over two decades of candid interviews with a man once considered the most controversial figure in Hip Hop. Professor Griff, one of the founding members of the legendary music group Public Enemy – who brought us classics like “Fight the Power”, “Bring the Noise”, and “He Got Game” – has dropped a historical text that expands beyond the boundaries of Hip Hop and branches into analytical critiques of politics, pop culture, and other facets of entertainment. Professor Griff, whose role as the Minister of Information for Public Enemy, compiled some of the most revealing, hardcore interviews that he has done over the span of his career as an artist, lecturer, author and activist. The book is an extraordinarily informative literary assemblage that any true Hip Hop aficionado or cultural connoisseur could appreciate. Analytixz goes into Professor Griff”s role in bringing into existence the image, ideology, and philosophy that paid homage to revolutionaries like the Mau Mau and the Black Panther Party. The interviews discuss everything from the infamous Washington Times article in which writer David Mills allegedly misquoted Professor Griff, to what the Minister of Information felt was his betrayal and ultimate dismissal from PE. The interviews bring to light the attacks by the Jewish community that accused him of making Anti-Semitic comments, they mention his beef with rap group 3rd Base, and address two assassination attempts.
The book is a compilation of a broad array of pieces that take the reader on a journey from discussions with The Final Call to Tavis Smiley, in which Professor Griff holds no punches. Whether your interest is piqued by Griff’s discussions on the offbeat buffoonery of group member Flava Flav, his views on the “Obama Deception”, or the occult practices of rappers Jay Z and Kanye West, the book is absolutely a must have. Continuing in the vein of Professor Griff and Public Enemy, Analytixz is certain to spark both curiosity and controversy. Analytixz undoubtedly gets a Black Fist raised high!
Kalonji Changa is the Founder/National Coordinator of The FTP Movement
Do You Wanna Go Our Wayy
Public Enemy fund raising on SellaBand
SellaBand is proud to announce the arrival of Public Enemy. The legendary hiphop group start fund raising today for their next album, which will officially be their 13th studio recording. The band, led by enigmatic frontman Chuck D. aim to raise an impressive $250,000. Parts will be priced at $25,00 each and will entitle Believers in this project to a unique, numbered digipak edition of the CD, as well as a pro ratio share of 33,3% of all net revenues generated with this album.
Public Enemy is the first established act to sign up with SellaBand. “SellaBand's financial engine model goes about restructuring the music business in reverse,” says PE frontman Chuck D. “It starts with fans first, then the artists create from there. The music business is built on searching for fans and this is a brand new way for acts to create a new album with fans first, already on board.”
Longtime champions of self-ownership of music and marketing as well as direct interaction with their fans, Public Enemy see the partnership as a natural evolution of their philosophy about the business of music. SellaBand CEO Johan Vosmeijer is equally thrilled: “Our goal is to empower the artist and their fans, both creatively and commercially. Working with Public Enemy is an incredibly exciting way to take the European success we’ve built over the past three years and offer it to stateside bands.”
The band's profile on SellaBand can be found here: www.sellaband.com/publicenemy.
Still Rebels Without A Pause.
PE, THE Roots, SSSC, Rip 2009 Hip Hop Honors
Most electrifying performance was the huge onstage clusterf*ck of Public Enemy, the entire Roots band, a squad of S1Ws and Street Sweeper Social Club doing a raucous, dizzying, sound-clouded performance of their pioneering 1987 hailstorm “Rebel Without a Pause.” Chuck was in his iconic Pittsburgh Pirates hat, Flavor Flav was in his “911 Is A Joke”-era white suit and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello was wearing all smiles, ecstatic to perform with his heroes as he scratched out Terminator X’s “Rebel” solo on his guitar.
PUBLIC ENEMY
PIPELINE CAFÉ
805 POHUKAINA STREET HONOLULU HAWAII
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2009
Joel Badeaux Puts This Together...Thank You Joel.
Unbelievable Cover Of Your'e Gonna Get Yours
Chuck D and Flav after Flav had a water fight with Sir Richard Branson...For Real....No Joke!
PE Rips San Diego Streetfest and DCs' Virgin Festivals
BEST REMINDER OF GREATNESS: PUBLIC ENEMY
Flava Flav's presence in the media of late has overshadowed his group Public Enemy's -- and most notably co-frontman Chuck D's -- political and social activism. After all, VH1's Flavor of Love doesn't exactly scream "revolution." But Sunday the boys and their four-piece band came to remind fans of their mission statement with a backhanded bitch slap and a drill sergeant command to "wake the fuck up!" With tight shoulders and a pop in their step, D and Flav stomped across the stage like they were racing towards a prison riot in the mess hall, dropping militant rhymes about social change on "Bring the Noise" and "911 Is a Joke." D preached between songs about striving for a better country, and not to be complacent with simply electing Obama, and later Flav led a chant of, "FUCK RACISM!!!!!" Which had the high school kids in the pit rocking out like the cheerleaders in Nirvana's "Smells Like Teen Spirit Video," fueling Flav's mad-jester-of-hip-hop grin. -- W.G.
WASHINGTON TIMES
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/aug/31/concert-smaller-virgin-mobile-fest-success/
Meanwhile, the venerable Public Enemy's appearance at the festival was one of the most anticipated, and Sunday found the tenuously reformed unit taking the stage with an admirable amount of old school machismo.
Don't believe the hype, sure, but don't underestimate the elder statesmen of rap either.
Leader Chuck D proved to be quite sprightly for his 49 years, leveraging his formidable baritone on classics like "Bring the Noise" and "Fight the Power." Worthy Terminator X replacement, DJ Lord, demonstrated his dexterity on the turntables, and then some "helicopter scratching" to the delight of the enthusiastic crowd.
No Public Enemy show would be complete, though, without the antics of quintessential hype man Flavor Flav. And hype he did. Flav worked the stage cameras like the seasoned egomaniac he is, mugging at every opportunity and plugging his solo material so much that it became comical. Slowed by long lapses of dated, idealism-heavy speeches, the set always picked back up when the music started. Public Enemy has always excelled as a provocative, shambling, wall-of-sound rent party, but the numerous breaks for motivational speeches only served to root the outfit in their '80s golden years. Get away from that, and it was a monster set.
Flavor Flav has a new single out called 'I'll Never Let You Go. Truth is he's mastering the Auto Tune like few can. Flav knows notes and chords. This actually is taking him back to his WBAU college radio days, where he made many a song like this one, sans the machine. So that that Jigga , theres room for the use of the Auto Tune yet.
Chuck D speaks at Rap Sheet Conf in 1998
1998 Future Vision By Mistachuck
By Champtown
Legendary rapper/activist Chuck D. of Public Enemy is the subject of this week’s Footage Fa Dayz.
The year was 1998, the place is Atlanta, Georgia. This clip was shot during the first time the now defunct-Rap Sheet magazine held their convention in the city.
A lot of people were in attendance, including The Roots, Professor Griff, DJ Cut Creator and Jermaine Dupri. But the standout during the conference, which took place over Halloween weekend was Chuck D.
This is an amazing clip, due to Chuck D.’s vision of what Hip-Hop needs to be doing and the direction it is heading. “Explore the world,” Chuck D. said of being independent.
“Public Enemy went around the world 12 years to places where rap wasn’t to put rap there for a reason, for you to ride up on that road to sell your product. Now you got countries and continents rap and Hip-Hop crazy and you can figure out ways to get your product around the world.”
The rapper implored the emerging businessmen to explore the world outside of the United States, due to the state of the record industry. Chuck D. also explained the Internet - in 1998.
“That’s why they try to keep a lot of people off the Internet…” Chuck D. said. “You got to expand and find more alternatives to radio, because radio is going to be an impossible thing to touch - unless you start jacking people. And I’m really serious.”
And 11 years later, Chuck D. remains committed to his vision of independence and a model based off of the Internet.
His record label, SlamJamz, continues to release product on the Internet, recently dropping tracks by The Wonder Twinz, Crew Grrl Order, Kasuf and the Mazz Muvement, Dirty North and others.
Thinking Of A Master DJ Plan Aug-Nov.DJ LORD.
Updated DJ LORD / Trillbass Schedule
Aug 20 2009 7:00P
SOCO underCOVER @ BIRCH NORTH PARK THEATRE (21 & over) SAN DIEGO, California
Aug 21 2009 12:00A
FUZE @ THE MASQUERADE ATLANTA, Georgia
Aug 27 2009 7:00P
SOCO underCOVER @ THE STONE PONY (21 & over) ASHBURY, New Jersey
Aug 29 2009 9:00P
SAN DIEGO STREET SCENE 2009 SAN DIEGO, California
Aug 30 2009 11:00P
VIRGIN MOBILE ’FREE’ FEST 2009 COLUMBIA, Maryland
Sep 17 2009 7:00P
SOCO underCOVER @ PARADISE ROCK CLUB & LOUNGE (21 & over) BOSTON, Massachusetts
Sep 24 2009 7:00P
SOCO underCOVER @ THE PALLADIUM BALLROOM (21 & over) DALLAS, Texas
Oct 1 2009 7:00P
SOCO underCOVER @ WEBSTER HALL (21 & over) NEW YORK, New York
Oct 8 2009 7:00P
SOCO underCOVER @ THE BARRYMORE THEATRE (21 & over) MADISON, Wisconsin
Oct 15 2009 7:00P
SOCO underCOVER @ THE PAGEANT (21 & over) St.LOUIS, Missouri
Oct 22 2009 7:00P
SOCO underCOVER @ CROCODILE CAFE (21 & over) SEATTLE, Washington
Oct 29 2009 7:00P
SOCO underCOVER @ THE HOUSE OF BLUES (21 & over) ORLANDO, Florida
24 MORE TRACKS, PLUS AN AFI EXCLUSIVE
PUBLIC ENEMY/ZAKK WYLDE COLLABORATION, BRING ULTIMATE VARIETY TO GUITAR HERO® 5’S EPIC SET LIST
UNLEASH YOUR INNER ROCKSTAR® and jam any way you want with the reveal of 24 more iconic tracks to be featured on Guitar Hero® 5’s massive 85-song on-disc set list. From the scorching solos of Iron Maiden’s intense “2 Minutes To Midnight” to the classic, never before released live recording of “The Spirit of Radio” from progressive rockers Rush; the hard rock sounds of Grand Funk Railroad’s signature hit, “We’re An American Band” to the collision of punk, hip-hop and world beats in No Doubt’s “Ex-Girlfriend,” the game features the widest variety of today’s rock hits and classic tunes from some of the biggest names in music.
Additionally, the Guitar Hero 5 set list will feature the unreleased single “Medicate” off of AFI’s upcoming album Crash Love, available in the game before the album hits retailers, and Public Enemy has joined forces with Zakk Wylde to re-record PE’s famous rap anthem “Bring The Noise 20XX” exclusively for Guitar Hero 5.
Numerous bands are also making their music video game debut, including A Perfect Circle, Brand New, Eagles of Death Metal, Gorillaz, Gov’t Mule, Grand Funk Railroad, King Crimson, Peter Frampton, Spacehog, Sunny Day Real Estate and The Derek Trucks Band.
Hard hitting, this book pulls no punches!
Public Enemy's Minister of Information Creates Music Business Guide
Atlanta, GA – SEPT 3, 2009 — Professor Griff, “Minister of Information” for the revolutionary rap group Public Enemy, has created a resource guide with valuable information about the music business. Different from any others out there, Musick Bizness R.I.P Resource Information Publication is written by a seasoned industry professional that has experience in every aspect of the music business and willing to share all his secrets.
Hard hitting, this book pulls no punches and is a must have for hungry artists, producers, engineers, managers, and anyone else looking for the no nonsense approach to achieving real success in the music industry.
Professor Griff’s credibility adds to this book because he knows what it takes to be an artist with dreams of success. His experience as a platinum recording artist, producer, and writer provide the reader with a sense of commonality.
The book covers a plethora of topics from how to select a manager and attorney, how to protect your name and music, as well as essential contact information for recording studios, labels, performance venues, CD manufacturers and distributors, photographers, and much more. Musick Bizness R.I.P Resource Information Publication is written in a way that is comprehensible to audiences of all backgrounds.
Professor Griff is also available for private consultation if you really feel that you are ready to take your music to the next level.
Candid interviews featuring music industry professionals such as Professor Griff himself and internationally known mastering engineer and software developer, Earle Holder invite the reader to sit in on the most sought after answers to questions only qualified people could know. These question–answer dialogues with the industry’s best in artistry, management, and studio engineering give the reader the impression that they themselves are conversing with these music business information guru’s about the things they’ve always wanted to know!
Musick Bizness R.I.P Resource Information Publication is a must-buy for anyone seriously looking for a career in the music industry. Professor Griff has definitely hit the nail on the head with this one!
The book will be a successful resource guide for years to come.
Walter Cronkite ,Paul Newman, Mistachuck in Manhattan
late nineties...
Rest In PEace Walter Cronkite 92
'Having been on the lecture circuit the past 18 years , I have come across many folk and have done a few great panels with some people. Having done a couple of things with Walter Cronkite sharpened my perspective. R.I.P. By the way the late Paul Newman also congratulated me for a energized reading of Allen Ginsburgs' HOWL in NYC. Class dudes for real. Its Like That .....and that the way it is.'
chuckd@publicenemy.com
PEace To The Prince Of PEace , The King Of POP ,R.I.P Mike Jax
PE Salutes The Great Michael Jackson 1958-Forever
Mr Hardgroove , Chuck D Swing The Intellect
Hardgroove and Mistachuck Bring The Noise With Classic Interviews.
BRYAN HARDGROOVE Radio Interview With Australia December 2008
Clockwise; Flavor Flav Superstar,Dj Lord and world Dj Paul Oakenfold, Erykah Badu suppoerts PE, crowd before the noise.
Public Enemy Blows BONNAROO Up June 12 2009
Over at the This Tent, BONNAROO Festival on JUNE 12th 2009, Flavor Flav and Chuck D brought the noise as hip-hop pioneers Public Enemy delighted an eager crowd with favorites such as “Don’t Believe The Hype” and “Rebel Without a Pause.”
PE will finally 'end'The Nations show a year and change later than its beginning in the US on the 80/ 35 Fest in Des Moines IOWA. Also the final World end will be at FujiFest July 25th in TOKYO , JAPAN.
Here Brian Hardgroove is being presented the proclamation from the New Mexico Secratary of State - Mary Herrera
Brian Hardgroove Day in the State of New Mexico
, "Brian Hardgroove Day in the City of Santa Fe" Proclamation from Santa Fe Mayor David Coss, A letter from Gov. Bill Richardson, and a Proclamation from Gov. Bill Richardson bestowing the honor of "Colonel, Aide-de-Camp" presented at Hutton Broacasting by New Mexico Music Commission Executive Director- Nancy Laflin.
Congratulations to Brian Hardgroove, host of the Fuse Box on 98.1 Radio Free Santa Fe, and bass player and band leader of Public Enemy, for receiving an official proclamation by the City of Santa Fe naming June 7th as Brian Hardgroove Day!
The proclamation states that “Brian Hardgroove is using his position as a touring musician, radio personality, writer, performer, and producer, to bring an enthusiastic light to the Santa Fe music scene by promoting the ‘Land of Enchantment’ in interviews while touring the world with Public Enemy and Bootsy Collins.”
Hardgroove’s belief in the Santa Fe music community brought him to form Santa Fe Entertainment, Inc. in 2008 and Santa Fe Entertainment Music Publishing, Inc. with fellow Santa Fean Lynn Marie Rusaw, promoting the Santa Fe sound to the world.
The proclamation also recognizes Hardgroove’s role in bringing some of the finest musicians and music industry professionals to share their vast knowledge with the Santa Fe audience on his radio show – The Fuse Box – and by inviting them to perform and speak at events in Santa Fe.
The proclamation was issued by Santa Fe Mayor David Coss. You can hear interviews and commentary with Hardgroove on his weekly radio show – Saturdays from 10-12 on the original 98.1 Radio Free Santa Fe.
-By Marti Segura
Power To The People On The Earth
DJ Lord Spins The Black Planet
Lord continues to globetrot ther world as a new member of Dubstep Giants 'TRILLBASS' (www.trillbass.com/trillbass)as well as dj for PE....and ya don't stop!
TOUR DATES:
6.19.09 PARKLIVE FESTIVAL
6.22.09 TIV PRESS CONFERENCE
6.23.09 TEL AVIV
6.26.09 THE BLOCK
7.03.09 80/35 FESTIVAL DES MOINES
7.04.09 MJ’s BIRTHDAY BASHMENT @ NORTH ATLANTA TRADE CENTER
7.17.09 FUZE @ THE MASQUERADE
7.25.09 FUJIFEST
7.31.09 ART,BEATS & LYRICS
8.06.09 THE STONE PONY
8.20.09 TBD
9.17.09 PARADISE ROCK CLUB & LOUNGE
9.24.09 THE PALLADIUM BALLROOM
10.01.09 WEBSTER HALL
10.08.09 BARRYMORE THEATRE
10.13.09 TBD
10.22.09 TBD
10.29.09 THE HOUSE OF BLUES
Chuck, Black Thought, Flav
Roots Picnic welcomes Public Enemy's thunder
Roots Picnic welcomes Public Enemy's thunder
By Sam Adams
For The Inquirer
They may be New Yorkers for five nights a week, but the Roots still know how to make their hometown feel loved. Saturday's Roots Picnic at Festival Pier was a sprawling, sweaty thank-you gift to the city they call Illadelph.
The Roots themselves opened the all-day affair with a short set before ceding the stage to a wide swath of friends and fellow travelers, including Public Enemy, TV on the Radio, Asher Roth, and Santigold, not to mention New Kids on the Block's Donnie Wahlberg and Jordan Knight, who stopped by on their way to a show in Camden. But whereas most summer festivals are curated with the coherence of an iPod on shuffle, the Picnic's performances augmented and informed one another, creating an expansive sense of community that enveloped the sold-out crowd.
The marquee event was Public Enemy's performance of their epochal 1988 album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, performed for only the third - and, they have said, the last - time on American soil, and the first time with a band.
Public Enemy's Chuck D famously called rap music African Americans' CNN, an analogy that bodes ill for the exhumation of a 20-year-old album. But fueled by an expanded Roots lineup that included a horn section from the Brooklyn-based Afrobeat orchestra Antibalas, Nation sounded like anything but old news. Chuck D's stentorian voice has lost none of its power to command, and Flavor Flav washed away years of reality-TV embarrassment, seeming more like a sharp-witted jester than a fool.
Rather than approximating Nation's sonic thicket, the Roots added melody and depth. The prison-riot saga "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos" gained a funk guitar riff and blaring horns, with ?uestlove's snare hits ringing out like rifle shots.
It would be hard to imagine a more pronounced contrast with Public Enemy's activist urgency than the bratty, self-satisfied rap of Morrisville's Asher Roth, who followed. When the Picnic's lineup was announced, the message boards at Okayplayer filled up with complaints about Roth, but the younger fans who packed the side tent shouted along with his every word, eagerly following the advice of "Blunt Cruisin'."
A few of the Picnic's dishes went down less smoothly than others. Akron, Ohio, garage-rock duo the Black Keys played to a receptive but cooler crowd, still catching its breath after a calisthenic set by Philly-born dance-rapper Santigold. The Black Keys drowned out a highly anticipated side-stage set by Kanye West protege Kid Cudi, although if you stood by the tent's entrance you could imagine it was all part of a carefully orchestrated mash-up.
Although the crowd thinned after Public Enemy's performance, those who stuck around were rewarded with a blistering set by TV on the Radio, whose echoing noise rock also was augmented by Antibalas' horns, evidently trying to give the Roots a run for their money in the hardworking department.
By the time the Roots took the stage again, shortly before 11 p.m., exhilaration was giving way to exhaustion, but they hit the ground running, playing an hour-long set as if every song were the last one of the night. Dipping into their own catalogue and covers from heavy metal and blues rock, they summed up and distilled the day's vibrant and volatile mix, a bracing cocktail to wash down a splendid feast.
It Gets No Better Than This
Chuck D Talks Shop With Berry Gordy, Al Bell
Chuck D recently attended the BMI Awards dinner in LA honoring Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff of Philadelphia International fame. During the night Mistachuck met and shook hands with Brian Holland of Holland Dozier Holland, and Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller. Finishing up with running into the great AL Bell of STAX who introduced him to Mr Berry Gordy of MOTOWN. The night was the soundtrack of Chuck Ds life.
DJ Lord Stays Busy On The Wheels
DJ LORD Upcoming Shows 2009
August 6 New Jersey The Stone Pony
August 20 San Diego TBD
Sept 10 Toronto Sound Academy
Sept 17 Boston Paradise
Sept 24 Dallas Palladium
Oct 1 New York Webster Hall
Oct 8 Madison Barrymore
Oct 13 Chicago TBD
October 22 Seattle TBD
Oct 29 Orlando House of Blues
A Righteous Way To Go ,Mistachuck,Professor Griff visiting the great Curtis Mayfield at his ATL home in 1996
Professor Griff Talks New Album, Performing With The Roots
April 17th, 2009 | Author: Jake Paine
Public Enemy member Professor Griff is a busy man as of late. The Long Island-born emcee and activist is preparing his latest album, with band 7th Octave, titled A God Damage. The work is the latest in a discography for Griff, who, outside of P.E., has been releasing material dating back to 1990's Pawns In The Game. "The first one was real a real heavy, Metal-like Rock sort of thing. It was a fusion. This one's gonna be a lot more funkier [sic]," Griff said to HipHopDX Tuesday of the progression between 2004's The Se7enth Degree, released on P.E. partner Chuck D's Slam Jamz imprint.
"It's not really a change of direction. When you talk about changing directions, you're talking about driving to the west coast, then turning around and going North. [Laughs] I'm not changing directions; I'm bringing out certain flavors that were already there, because the formula that we use was Funk - we pride ourselves on the old Sly & The Family Stone, James Brown [sound]. That, of course, was the formula that Hip Hop borrowed from, in its breakbeats and that kind of thing," he explained. "This time, we're gonna blend it a lot better, and bring out the funkier aspects of it. As we performed, we saw less women [laughing], and we want people to vibe to it. The main ingredients will appeal to women."
With songs like the thematic "Why You Want To Kill God?" already recorded, Griff says he's hurrying to finish the album, without compromising quality. "Me and a brother of mine from Uniondale, New York, Society, who's been with me since my first solo album as a writer, we're writing like every other day," said Griff. "I don't just want to put songs on the album. I want to do something very conceptual - even the title of the album, A God Damage, I don't define it. People hear it and ask me what it means. You tell me. That's what it means, whatever it means to you. I'm tryin' to be artistic with it, bro."
Outside of music, Professor Griff is also very involved in the Black History 101 Mobile Museum [click to read]. With museum touring season upon us, Griff stated, "I would really like to take it a lot deeper, man, and start talking about some of those black, historical facts, that we don't get a chance to talk about in the classroom and in the lecture hall and over the dinner table in black homes. The only way other races and cultures are going to appreciate it, is if we, black people, bring it to the damn table." Specifically, Griff is hoping to educate this season's visitors on the creation of Rock music, with an emphasis on black women Rock pioneers, as well as teachings on the black role colonial America and education initiatives.
On June 6, Public Enemy will join The Roots [click to read] at their annual picnic in Philadelphia [click to read], to perform the seminal 1988 album It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, an album that Professor Griff worked on. Excited about the concert, he said, "From a historical perspective, performing and doing [It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back] with The Roots is going to be monumental to me personally. [This is] in line with what other groups have come together and done. Hip Hop needs to do that at this particular time, and I'm sure you will agree with me. We can [talk] for an hour on all the reasons why Hip Hop needs to do it. [Laughs] For The Roots, who have maintained the whole concept of a live band, to do it with a Public Enemy, is very, very, very important." There may be a deeper message here too. "We need to show young kids, we need to show Hip Hop heads that yes, you have to perfect your art - and yes, you can be a musician and be in the game. You don't only have to be an emcee, deejay or producer. Yes, you can play the flute, trombone, percussion, whatever you do. Then, as a group - I want to see groups again, man! I want that whole concept of people working together, and to be in harmony, to be in sync, and to be on time...we need that."
The concert was announced shortly after a latenight network performance, which affected Griff's own contemporary music. "When we, Public Enemy and The Roots, performed 'Bring Tha Noize' on The Jimmy Fallon Show, man, it brought chills! Whew! If you pick apart what each instrument is doing, it's like 'Damn!' It made me go back to the drawing board with The 7th Octave, like, 'Man, we need to do that! A cover or somethin'!'"
This event may be historical to Hip Hop, and to the 20-plus Hip Hop veteran that's made history books. "I told Chuck, I just want to open up and do a couple songs. I want to be a part of the whole experience, so when we look back, and read the history, we can [all] look back and say, 'Damn, I was there!'"
A God Damage is intended for summer release.
Malik Farrakhan Head Of PE Security Protocol 20 Years
PE Malik Farrakhan aka Tony King and Brother Elected To NFL Hall Of Fame
MIKE KEATING
Review Lead Sports Writer
They grew up in the same household and played on the same football team at two different levels.
Charlie King and Tony King, also known as Malik Farrakhan, were impact players at Alliance High in the Mel Knowlton Era, went their separate ways in college but were reunited at the professional level over 40 years ago.
After extensive research, the Kings not only joined the same professional football team, but they signed with the Buffalo Bills in 1966, becoming the first African-American siblings to join the same National Football League team (although Buffalo was part of the old American Football League in those days) at the same time.
"I think it's a tremendous achievement," Tony King said. "I found out there were 333 brothers who played professional football, but none of them were African-Americans who played on the same team at the same time."
Ralph Wilson was the Buffalo owner when the Kings joined the team and Wilson will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this summer for all of his contributions to the NFL.
One of Wilson's contributions was becoming the first owner to sign two African-American siblings in the same year, a move Tony King is pushing for acknowledgement from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
"I think it's a significant piece of history and we've spoken to (current Pro Football Hall of Fame Executive Director) Steve Perry about it," Tony King said. "I think it should be acknowledged, especially this year, since Ralph is going into the Hall of Fame."
Charlie King, 65, is the older of the two brothers by one year. He played at Purdue University, while Tony King, 64, competed at the University of Findlay.
Although they competed at different levels, they were talented cornerbacks, both earning All-American status, piquing Wilson's interest.
Charlie King fondly recalled how the deal with Buffalo commenced.
"I remember talking to Ralph and he told us, 'We're looking to draft both of you,'" Charlie King revealed. "That was an exciting moment."
It almost didn't happen.
Wilson was the Buffalo owner, but General Manager Dick Gallagher, who went on to become Executive Director of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, handled the preliminary conversation over the telephone, only discussing Charlie King joining the team.
The discussion was interrupted by another family member.
"My dad got on the phone and said, 'Why don't you draft both of my sons? They were both All-Americans,'" Charlie King laughed. "My first thought was, 'Dad, don't blow this deal.'"
Instead of hanging up, Gallagher mulled over the suggestion and contacted Wilson.
The King family was pleased with the response.
"Ralph told him, 'Dick, go ahead and draft both of them," Charlie King said, emotion rising. "They did and we both sat down and signed with Buffalo. I was impressed with my dad. He didn't have any background in negotiations, but he did a great job convincing them to draft and sign both Tony and me."
The Kings joined the Bills in 1966.
The 1960s were a time of civil unrest. There were riots in major cities, such as Los Angeles, Detroit and Cleveland. Racial relations were strained, including in professional football.
Tony King gratefully recalled four white Buffalo teammates accepting him unconditionally: quarterback and future Congressman Jack Kemp, defensive end Ron McDole, linebacker Mike Stratton and linebacker and future NFL head coach Marty Schottenheimer.
"They were four gentlemen," Tony King recalled. "They didn't let the color of a man's skin stand in the way of being a good teammate and helping them."
Charlie King made the Buffalo roster in 1966, playing all 14 games and picking off one pass. Tony King was relegated to the non-active squad.
They both made the active roster one year later as backup cornerbacks to veterans Booker Edgerson and Butch Byrd and also played on special teams. Charlie King appeared in all 14 games for the second straight year, Tony King played in half of those games.
The Kings were also roommates at Buffalo, but there were times when they also competed against one another in practice.
In one-on-one contact drill, Tony King lined up at flanker and Charlie King at cornerback. The whistle blew, there was a violent collision and the younger brother got the worst of it.
"Charlie gave me an illegal blow and knocked the bottom of my lip off," Tony King recounted. "I was ticked off and didn't speak to him, until he tore his Achilles' tendon on a sprinkler and was rehabilitating later that year."
Despite that incident, Charlie King was loyal to his brother, so loyal it influenced where he wanted to play professional football.
Charlie King was chosen by Buffalo and the NFL's Baltimore Colts in the 1965 College Player Draft.
"Baltimore was a great team and so was Buffalo," Charlie King reminisced. "The reason why I signed with Buffalo because they wanted to sign Tony and me. Baltimore didn't. It was as simple as that."
Their stay in Buffalo was two years. Charlie went to the Cincinnati Bengals in 1968 and stayed two years. His highlight was a 32-yard interception return for a touchdown in 1968. Tony King was with several teams, spending the most time with the New York Giants.
Tony King eventually became involved in acting and moved to Los Angeles and has won awards in the profession. He also speaks on behalf of causes throughout the world. Charlie King also relocated, but stayed closer to home, running a business in Fairlawn, a suburb of Akron.
The two Kings were pleased Wilson was picked to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame this year.
"Tony and I have both congratulated Ralph and we plan on being there for the ceremonies," Charlie said. "When I think about it, I didn't realize how powerful Ralph was and how influential he was in the NFL."
But Charlie and Tony King were grateful Wilson took a chance to give them the opportunity to play pro football, regardless of race, color and relationship.
Classic Material 1988
Dont Believe The Hype LIVE 1988
The Now Legendary 510 S Franklin St Original PE HQ
Public Enemy Radio Now in Effect
Bringing the noise on the home page publicenemy.com is PE Radio the full blast radio station of Public Enemy. Access it and play the 22 plus years of music associated with Public Enemy. Soon to emerge PETV and parallel radio-Tv stations on www.SLAMjamz.com by May 1 2009
Again Nations Sets the Stage Well
PE Brings Noise To 10th Year Coachella Festival
Hip-hop revolutionaries Public Enemy mixed DJs and live musicians into a powerful new sound. The election of the first African-American president has not softened their approach, though vocalist Flava Flav brought out his toddler son, Karma, to meet the crowd, before diving back into such late-80s classics of agitation as “She Watch Channel Zero!?” and “Rebel Without a Pause.”
Before launching into its late '80s smash "Rebel Without a Pause," Public Enemy's frontman Chuck D became conscious of a certain ageism in the air, cautioning the Coachella crowd: "This is from 1987, before some of you were born." Before launching into the song, though, he thought better of it, adding: "But you was here for Paul McCartney, which is before everybody was born!"
With acts such as McCartney, Morrissey, the Cure and Leonard Cohen accounting for this year's surfeit of "dad rock" at the festival, it fell to the Strong Island firebrands of Public Enemy to be the token "dad rap" booking of this year's event.
The group understood that expectation, however, and performed its 1988 opus "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" for an appreciative crowd.
Minus DJ Terminator X, who has not performed with Public Enemy in years, the original lineup was intact: Minister of Information Professor Griff made repeated references to the "Obama deception," hype man Flavor Flav appeared bouyant in a jester hat and signature giant clock necklace; he executed no fewer than four stage dives (to the chagrin of fans, no doubt, by going in feet first). And Chuck D, in New York Knicks shorts and a New York Mets cap, has lost none of his stentorian rhyme-spitting ability in the 21 years since the group's epochal album debuted. All of them (accompanied by PE's onstage security detail, the S1Ws, DJ Lord and a three-piece band) rocked the house even while some of the Cure's lugubrious guitar wash bled into their set.
By the time Public Enemy performed its Slayer-sampling anti-TV screed "She Watch Channel Zero," the audience exploded into a paroxyism of rap-metal jubilation. By reputation, Coachellans are looking for any excuse to rage against the proverbial machine. This time, they were collectively fighting the power.
-- Chris Lee
Additional Quotes
Believe the hype: This was THE best show I saw during all three days of Coachella (and I never expected to be typing that). First, it a welcome reminder that Flavor Flav is the "greatest hype man in the game" (as pointed out by Chuck D), and not just some trainwrecky Celebreality TV star. Flav stagedove twice, he brought his baby son Karma out onstage, and he had the crowd eating out of his blinged-out hand. Second, PE's music still sounded so fresh, so relevant--if only today's hip-hop artists sounded like this. It's no wonder Chuck D told the audience, "The record business is OVER." It's because no rappers today are making music as important as It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back.
Public Enemy brought their chaos to the outdoor theater at Coachella on Sunday for a set that was sometimes awkwardly tailored to Flavor Flav's status as a reality TV star, but that didn't stop the militant rap collective from running through hits that have become firmly entrenched in the American music lexicon, including 'Public Enemy Number One,' 'Welcome to the Terrordome' and 'Don't Believe the Hype.' But fans did believe the hype alright, agreeing not to drop Flavor Flav through a series of stage dives as he leaped over the barricade to crowd surf for a few moments before Chuck D. commanded the audience to "bring him back." After his third leap, however, Chuck joked, "You can keep him."
Of course, it wouldn't be Public Enemy without, in addition to hype and braggadocio, political commentary as well. Chuck warned the audience to "pay attention" even with President Obama in office. "Pay attention, pay attention, pay attention -- that's the cheapest price we can pay in America."
Continue reading Public Enemy Takes on Politics, Encourages Downloading at Coachella
Full Effect
Public Enemy Perform Full “It Takes a Nation of Millions” at Flavor Flav’s Birthday Bash
3/16/09, 1:16 pm EST
We know him variously as a hip-hop pioneer, a hyperactive court jester, a cringe-worthy reality TV star and a future talk show host, but last night, Flavor Flav wore all his hats for a 50th birthday bash to remember at BB Kings in Times Square, New York. To mark the occasion, Public Enemy elected to play the entirety of their seminal 1988 album It Takes A Nation Of Million To Hold Us Back for the first time in New York.
A host of hip-hop luminaries turned out to pay their respects to Flavor’s colorful career, including DJ Kool Herc (whose Bronx house parties in the 1970s are frequently cited as being the birth of hip-hop), Eric B, and a particularly sharply dressed Melle Mel of Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame inductees the Furious Five, who duetted with Flav on a verse of the legendary 1982 single “The Message.” Original gangster rapper turned Law And Order: Special Victims Unit star Ice T also tossed out some of his own lyrics over an interlude of Flavor’s drumming before adding his vocal input to PE tracks such as “Night Of The Living Bassheads.” Flav also added his heartfelt gratitude to Ice T for not beating him up when the Public Enemy man crashed the OG’s Ferrari in the late 1980s. It was quite the family affair too, as Flavor took several opportunities during the night to French kiss his very pregnant wife Liz onstage, much to Chuck D’s obvious befuddlement.
After powering through Nation of Millions, Number 48 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, Public Enemy’s set concluded with a run through of classics such as “Shut ‘Em Down,” “Public Enemy No.1″ and “Fight The Power” before Flav rounded off the thoroughly entertaining two-and-a-half-hour show with a list of thank yous that would have dwarfed even the most overwrought of Oscar acceptance speeches.
Public Enemy are set to appear on Late Night With Jimmy Fallon tonight, where they will play “Bring the Noise” with house band the Roots. The Philly hip-hop group are also set to back PE later in the year when they embark on further U.S. dates to perform the entirety of It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, including the Roots’ June 6th picnic.
Bring The Noise Public Enemy w Anthrax
PE in rehearsal Black Thought, Chuck D ?uestlove and crew
Public Enemy With The Roots on Jimmy Fallon March 16th
On the Jimmy Fallon Show Public Enemy combine to close out the show with The ROOTS, playing a scorching rendition of Bring The Noise. Its a prelude to PE playing on THE Roots Picnic Festival in Philadelphia on Saturday June 6th. Word has it set for a possible key recording in the near future.
Flavor Flav's 50th Birthday Bash at BB Kings
PUBLIC ENEMY. Come celebrate Flavor Flav's 50th b-day with one of Strong Island's many contributions to hip-hop history. Doors open Sunday night at 6 at B.B. King Blues Club & Grill. Tickets are $25 through ticketmaster.com.
Or check out the live stream courtesy of SyncLive.com right here
SELLABAND AND CHUCK D BRING MUSIC REVOLUTION TO USA
New York, NY: March 10, 2009: SellaBand (www.sellaband.com), the leading platform for fan funded music, today announces its expansion into the US market. The move reflects SellaBand’s rapid growth and success in Europe, since its inception in 2006, and is the next phase in its long term global business development strategy. The Netherlands-based company has contracted BTN Eastlink, a multi-platform entertainment and digital media company, to run its North American operation, to be based in New York City, as well as appointing BTN Eastlink Principal, music icon and Public Enemy co-founder and frontman Chuck D as Ambassador for the company.
“SellaBand’s business model takes music to a whole new level by linking fans directly to musicians and leveraging those relationships for the creation of new music,” said Chuck D. “It's an 'everyone wins' solution and is the new, new frontier and will completely redefine the way the music business operates.” In his role as Ambassador, Chuck D will serve as an advisor to SellaBand in their continued development of their revolutionary business model and will help position the SellaBand brand in the North American marketplace.
BTN Eastlink will serve as the first point of contact for all SellaBand business in North America, handling day to day support for the stateside operations, serving as the exclusive agent in developing strategic partnerships and sponsorship opportunities, consulting on SellaBand’s partnership in the upcoming ArenaFest summer tour as well as other tours and festivals, and coordinating strategic marketing and promotion for SellaBand.
Dan Lugo, Principal, BTN Eastlink, said: “BTN Eastlink is extremely excited to partner with SellaBand, and is uniquely equipped to launch the company and concept in North America. Once again, Chuck D is at the forefront of a new digital music movement, and BTN Eastlink’s multi-platform structure can fulfill every service that SellaBand needs. We've been the first over the fence at every paradigm shift in the music business over the past 15 years – from MP3s to online digital distribution to peer-to-peer. Now with SellaBand, we could not be more excited about the opportunity to work with Johan Vosmeijer and the entire SellaBand team to promote the next music industry breakthrough. SellaBand has started a revolution and we're honored to help lead it.”
“SellaBand is at an exciting crossroads in its growth,” said Johan Vosmeijer, CEO SellaBand. “By working with BTN Eastlink and Chuck D we believe their insight will help take SellaBand to the ‘next level’ and prove invaluable. An integral part of expanding into the US market is building a world class team and together, this is what we are doing.”
SellaBand offers a revolutionary way for fans, referred to as “Believers,” to directly fund the recording of a professional album by investing in their favorite artists via the SellaBand website, which is also a social network for music fans. SellaBand’s corporate partners include AOL Europe, Amazon.co.uk and Amazon.de, and is the exclusive independent music partner for ArenaFest. Two SellaBand artists will perform at each of ArenaWorks’ ArenaFest concerts this summer, including venues such as American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, and the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.
About SellaBand:
SellaBand is an innovative online music platform based in Amsterdam, the creative capital of Europe. SellaBand unites artists and fans in an independent movement that aims to level the playing field in the global music industry. Since its launch in August 2006, SellaBand has welcomed 29 recording artists who had their albums funded by their fans. Over $2,500,000 has been invested in up-and-coming bands on www.sellaband.com
About BTN Eastlink:
BTN Eastlink is a multi-platform entertainment and digital media company, offering artist management, a record label, a licensing and placement division for film, television and video games, digital media consulting, web development, merchandising and urban market consulting and a film and television production unit. Founding Partner Chuck D has been a longstanding supporter for artists rights, digital music and culture, and through his work with BTN Eastlink continues to be at the forefront of entertainment technology by incorporating several different facets of the business into one centralized company with streamlined communication and unlimited synergy opportunities to meet the 360 degree needs of entertainment and technology clients in the ever shifting digital world.
Security Of The First World Track # 13 on Nations
Public Enemy Wraps Up USA and North America with Extended Nation Dates.
To commemorate what is still hailed as the greatest Rap Album of all time , Public Enemy has extended its special performance of the 1988 classic It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back with specific final performances in the United States. In 2008 the 20th year, PE performed in over 20 countries and 3 continents starting off with the Don't Look Back concerts in the UK.
In North America Public Enemy played the Montreal Jazz Fest and The Pitchfork Festival in Chicago in July 2008. The plan is to complete the US with 2 strategic dates, the Coachella Festival April 19th out west in California and East in New York City at BB Kings club which also is the celebration of Flavor Flavs 50th birthday.
This being the 20th anniversary of Spike Lees Do The Right Thing and the seminal record 'Fight The Power'
Let Freedom Sing: The Music of the Civil Rights Movement is a three-disc, 58-song collection.
'Let Freedom Sing': 70 years and 58 songs of civil rights
By Steve Jones, USA TODAY
When Barack Obama became the nation's first black president in January, many said he stood on the shoulders of those who fought for and sacrificed for civil rights.
Some of the most important music from the past 70 years of the movement is collected in Let Freedom Sing, a new three-disc, 58-song Time Life collection that cuts across genres with voices both famous and obscure. The earliest recording in the set is Billie Holiday's 1939 anti-lynching tune Strange Fruit, though the Southern Sons' 1941 Go Down Moses harks back further to spirituals and slavery field songs. The most recent, Free at Last by the Blind Boys of Alabama, was recorded in 2008.
Some songs address incidents — The Ramparts' The Death of Emmett Till, John Lee Hooker's The Motor City Is Burning— while others protest prohibitions, such as the Golden Gate Quartet's No Restricted Signs.
"You get the heart, the soul, the sentiment and the struggle of a people," says Public Enemy's Chuck D, a consultant on the project, who also wrote the introduction for the liner notes.
Chuck D, whose own The Pride is on the set, says songs such as the Isley Brothers' Fight the Power (also included) inspired him when he was young. He would later sample it on Public Enemy's track of the same name, which was written for Spike Lee's film Do the Right Thing.
FIND MORE STORIES IN: Pride | James Brown | Aretha Franklin | Spike Lee | Fight | Marvin Gaye | Nat King Cole | Billie Holiday | Temptations | Family Stone | We Are | Public Enemy | Right Thing | Isley Brothers | Chuck D | John Lee Hooker | Blind Boys of Alabama | Time Life | Strange Fruit | Ramparts | Is It Because I'm Black
With a few exceptions, the music is arranged chronologically, and the annotated liner notes by music historian Colin Escott provide the stories behind the songs and the historic context surrounding their release. For example, Nat King Cole recorded We Are Americans Too in 1956 after he was beaten onstage in Alabama during the bus boycotts. Cole's label, Capitol, refused to release the song.
By the time the civil rights movement was in full bloom in the 1960s and '70s, major R&B stars such as James Brown, Aretha Franklin, The Temptations, Sly and the Family Stone, B.B. King and Marvin Gaye were making hit records reflective of the era. There also were songs by gospel, folk and blues artists that offered hope and called for action.
Protest music is still made today but doesn't receive the same kind of exposure, Chuck D says. Once the staple of independent black radio stations, such songs no longer get record industry push or commercial radio airplay.
He points to Syl Johnson's searing 1969 tune Is It Because I'm Black, remade this year by R&B singer Syleena Johnson, with her father's help. The new version is unlikely to make many urban radio playlists, which favor more pop-oriented fare.
"In the black community, we can't hear something that means something to us," Chuck D says. "We've been stripped of what used to be our informational source."
Photo in Amsterdam by Krijn
Talking With Chuck D About Obama
There are few rap songs as important to modern culture as Public Enemy's "Fight the Power," a rallying cry against political indifference. Well, it's been 20 years since PE's frontman Chuck D helped scare the hell out of white America, and a black man now sits in the Oval Office thanks in large part to record black turnout last November.
"We had numbers [on our side] this time," Chuck says of the election, a few days before Obama's inauguration. (His own daughter, he notes, was able to vote for the first time in 2008.) But, he admits in spite of his satisfaction, he didn't think the U.S. could get here this fast. "It's one of those things when you look at your family, when you know where you come from, you know this is that thing your family never thought would come in their lifetime. Especially my dad, my mom. Personally, I thought [it could be] maybe 10 years away."
Many would attribute Obama's election to the slow cultural shift generated by Public Enemy, along with countless musical artists who preceded them -- including Harry Belafonte, Marvin Gaye, and the Isley Brothers (who sang their own "Fight the Power" in '75). If music did indeed play a part, however, Chuck scoffs at thanking MTV.
The achievement should be laid on the shoulders of those that came before him, he said, men and women whose songs make up Let Freedom Sing: The Music of the Civil Rights Movement, a three-CD set to be released by Time Life next Tuesday. The music reaches from the early days of Southern Sons and Billie Holiday through to latter-day soul by the likes of Gil Scott-Heron, up to that of Chuck D himself. In the set's introduction, Chuck explains, "You don't get a black president overnight. Songs like [these] ... make you understand the collective voices that makes it happen."
But Chuck, who's become a sage-like senior in the rap community, won't deny that his own role in the revolution fills him with pride. "More than anything, I think it's obligation and social responsibility," he says. "I always thought it was the responsibility of the artist if you're grown. If you're 13, 14, you're absolved from that. But if you're 30 years old, and you can't speak to grown people about grown-people shit, then the art is in vain."
When pressed about the impact Obama's election might have on black America, Chuck remains cautiously optimistic. Obama's election should inspire black communities to further unite into powerful constituencies, he says. It should "inspire the promotion of more diverse artists" in hip-hop, too.
The longer one speaks with Chuck D, the more clear it becomes that he hasn't given up on hope. Still, his pragmatic -- some might even say pessimistic -- approach to events can make him sound like a Doubting Thomas who's seen the glory of a savior and still wants more. Obama's victory is an accomplishment, he stresses, but it's certainly not the end of the struggle.
"I do a lot of my living outside the United States, and, over the last 10 or 12 years, I've seen the U.S. fall back and actually be behind the rest of the planet," he says. "In this election, the U.S. finally caught up." Now the country has the "great opportunity to rise up to the stands and political ideals Barack Obama has set."
There's still one nagging question, considering that "Fight the Power" was and remains an anthem against the Man -- the traditional white repressors. With Obama sitting in the White House, does his new role inherently make him the Man, too? "In a way, yes," Chuck agrees. His campaign "never really had a face on it. It was a theme without a face."
Doubting Chuck. He believes, but he's not ready to lay down his mike just yet.
-- Cole Haddon
MLK
By The Time I Get To Arizona
The Bomb Squad Genius General At Work
Hank Shocklee Grammy Nomination For American Gangster
Hank Shocklee has been nominated for a Grammy® in the category of Best Compilation Soundtrack Album for Motion Picture, Television or other Visual Media for his work on the American Gangster original motion picture soundtrack.
Members of the Recording Academy have until Wednesday January 14th, 12:00 Noon EST to submit their votes. The 51st Annual Grammy Awards Ceremony Takes Place February 8, 2009 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
PE plays earlier gig at Brisbane JAN 1 then fly to Melbourne for night gig, photo Damian Sessarago
Public Enemy Finishes Year in OZ for PETOUR63
Public Enemy completed another successful tour of Australia to cap off a year of doing IT TAKES A NATION 20th year performances. Rapping up their 5th Australian Tour ( previously 1990, 1992, 1998, 2003 were PE appearances there) PE hit Sydney, Adelaide, Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Newcastle with a special festival appearance in Gisbourne, New Zealand. The concert was precluded by a gathering at the local Maori Tribal Temple , where the Enemy was honored.
Rebel Baser SCOTT READING again hosted and guided PE across the OZ map. All and all it all seemed too short with the last show being another festival , the DAYS LIKE THIS event where PE headlined after SHARON JONES AND THE DAP KINGS, and after a smoking performance by RHYMESAYERS, BROTHER ALI, and SLUG from ATMOSPHERE. It all started a bit crazy with FLAVOR FLAV being snowed in Vegas leaving Chuck D, DJ LORD, the baNNed , and the S1WS to rip the show. The show also was missing founders PROFESSOR GRIFF and JAMES BOMB from passport issues.
SAT 27 DEC SYDNEY, NSW METRO THEATRE
SUN 28 DEC ADELAIDE, SA SUMMER BREAKFEST
TUE 30 DEC GISBORNE, NZ RHYTHM & VINES FEST
WED 31 DEC PERTH, WA ORIGIN FESTIVAL
THU 1 JAN BRISBANE, QLD BBQ BREAKS FEST THU 1 JAN MELBOURNE, VIC ESPLANADE HOTEL
FRI 2 JAN MELBOURNE, VIC ESPLANADE HOTEL
SAT 3 JAN NEWCASTLE, NSW PANTHERS COMPLEX
SUN 4 JAN SYDNEY, NSW DAYS LIKE THIS FEST
PETOR62in Vienna Austria w Alexander Interview
PE Interviews PETOUR62 Chuck D, Flavor, Hardgroove, Khari Wynn, and NYC Mike Faulkner of the baNNed
The Chuck D, Flavour Flav and Brian Hargrove interviews are part of the book/DVD project “Under your skin which will include: Anthony Braxton, Ornette Coleman, Cindy Blackman, Taj Mahal, Yusef Lateef, Bob James, Skip Mcdonald, Erika Stucky, Living Colour, Zap Mama, Terri Lyne Carrington, Dinosaur Jr, DJ Rob Swift, Marilyn Crispell, Dick Griffin, Billy Bang, Kahil El Zabaar, Michael Ricci - All About Jazz, Val-Inc, Chico Freeman, Lydia Lunch, Eddie Henderson, Jack Dejohnette, Yves Weyh - Zakarya, Fred Frith, Elliot Sharp, Bev Getz, Isaku Kageyama, Les Nubians, Billy Cobham, The Captain, Enzo Rocco, Vijay Iyer , Sam Rivers, Kronos Quartet, Bill Frisell, Ernst Bier, Lenny White, Napoleon Solo , Gary Lucas, Foday Musa Suso, Jalal Nurrin, Doug Hammond, Immamddin Khan - The Ustad Arba Music Group, Linda Clifford, Dj Mitsu, Jos Francisco Tapiz - Tomajazz, Yogini , Kenji Siratori, Roots Manuva, DJ Krust, Gail Anderson (ex Rolling stones mag ), Rebekah Jordan, Turntabalist Disk, Jamaaladeen Tacuma, Monday Michiru, Kutmasta Kurt, Ebony Strings, Hank Roberts, Omar Sosa, Speech, Foetus, Kikuko,Dj Logic, Schoolly D, Sameh “SAZ" Zakout, The Last Poets, Bryn, Ophelia of the Spirits, Mekon, Morcheeba, Pamela Lynn, Lukelee, Vusi Mahlasela, Robert Logan, Ivor Guest, Rhonda Smith (Prince's new power generation) , Roy Nathanson, Poly Styrene, Mem Shannon, Joe Sample, Wu Fei, Marshall Allen (Sun Ra Arkestra) and many more.
1990 is Here Digitally
PE CATALOG Available Here Through Amazon Links
The first 10 years of Public Enemy music now can be reached, picked up and acquired here through SLAMjamz via Amazon.com links. Its part of the emerging program that brings the music, the digital age, the fans together as planned when PE hit the digital shores 10 years ago when they recorded and released Theres A Poison Goin On online. Chuck D says that 'its taken 10 years for everything to get into place, although we were first stepping innovative we had to wait for the acclamation of the audience to get it'.
Amazon.com already distributes the first DEF JAM albums and songs both digital downloads, and CD release. Also there will be connects into vinyl, and other configurations, as well as many BSIDES, REMIXES, Instrumental versions and LIVE versions through access to other sites like EBAY, iTUNES and the official SLAMjamz / Public Enemy Online store base BEYOND.FM. The program will also further into DVD , video, EPK and documentary release very soon.
King Flav
PE @ Birmingham UK Rolling On.
06/12/08 18:06:26 :
Public Enemy, Birmingham, Space 2 @ The Custard Factory 03/12/08
Arguably the best ever hip-hop lyricist with arguably the best ever hype man performing arguably the best hip hop album of all time in its entirety, is perhaps all that is needed to be said about Public Enemy’s show tonight. To celebrate 20 years since the release of, ‘It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back’ Chuck D and Flavor Flav have embarked on their 62nd tour as Public Enemy, with Birmingham’s Space 2 being blessed with the only UK date.
The cultural significance and influence of ‘It Takes a Nation….’ is practically immeasurable. The angry mix of intelligent, socio-politically motivated lyrics against a cutting edge backdrop of thunderous bass and beats has seldom been equaled and not once surpassed in terms of quality and potency since 1988. Hip Hop perhaps has had a greater impact on global culture than Punk, certainly it is sonically more widely engaging and this album, being recreated here tonight, is a beacon that led the way for everything else to follow in its wake.
Despite the obvious nostalgia, the klaxon cry intro of, ‘Countdown to Armageddon’ and all that ensues sounds as vital as ever as the baying crowd go nuts for the emergence of the S1W bodyguards / dance troupe, before Flavor Flav does what he does best and whips things further into chaos. As Chuck D bowls on stage, the excitement and anticipation of hearing the opening lines to, ‘Bring the Noise’ rushes through the veins: “BASS! How low can you go? / Death Row / what a brother know?” The man, whose voice was described by PE producer Hank Shocklee as the voice of God in a thunder storm, commands the venue with authority despite suffering from a slightly hoarse throat. Rap has always to some extent been a battle of who is the most articulate on the mike and Chuck D is a master of delivery whether it is relaying some of the greatest verses ever recorded or between tunes, displaying an impressive knowledge of the city he is playing in tonight that could put many locals to shame.
In tribute to the second city, once ‘It Takes…’ has been perfectly executed, PE’s band strike up a version of Black Sabbath’s ‘Iron Man’ to over which Chuck and Flav spontaneously deliver, ‘Timebomb’ to an emphatic response. Minus Minister of Information, Professor Griff due to passport issues and minus legendary DJ, Terminator X, Public Enemy still blow holes in the PA. In fact new turntablist, DJ Lord astonishes with his warp speed cutting as does guitarist Khari Wynn with lighting fingers on, ‘She Watch Channel Zero’. Here would be a good point to say something about the importance of a group as intellectual and as inspirational as Public Enemy being active at a time when popular culture is saturated with endless reality TV programs.
However, as Flavor Flav has recently ventured into the realm of trash telly, the point is contradicted. Still, for whatever personal reasons Flav has to taint with irony the lyrics of ‘She Watch Channel Zero’, it takes nothing away from the grandeur, substance and power of the body of work that PE have produced in their 21 years. Like The Clash and Johnny Cash, Chuck D and Public Enemy transcend genre and music due to their ability to connect and provoke thought amongst the masses via culture. Tonight’s performance could not have been anything other than brilliant considering the formula and factors behind it, but that nevertheless does not prepare you for the effect that it has on you.
Andy Roberts
The Enemy Strikes Live...
PE Live in Hamburg Streaming Video
Public Enemy.com is proud to bring a live stream of PE's Hamburg show on Friday, December 5th, 2008 at 3:30 pm EST. The stream can be found HERE. Tune in and watch Chuck, Flav, Lord, and the S1W's rock the classic PE hits.
Nations in Europe November , then OZ in December
PE European Millions Tour Dates
28.11 Belgrade Fair Hall 12, Belgrade, SERBIA
29.11 Greece Athens
30.11 Greece Athens
01.12 Greece Thessaloniki
02.12 Italy, Bologna
03.12 Custard Factory, Birmingham, UK
04.12. Berlin - Postbahnhof
05.12. Hamburg - Große Freiheit
06.12. Köln - Live Music Hall
07.12. Mannheim - Alte Feuerwache
08.12. Frankfurt - Cocoon
09.12. München - Backstage Werk
10.12. A-Vienna - Gasometer
12/11 ROTTERDAM Watt
12/13 UTRECHT - Tivoli
12/14 GRONINGEN Oosterpoort
12/15 AMSTERDAM Melkweg
LORD of The Wheels
DJ LORD Steals The Show Among Legends In FRANCE
Taken from a new French Hip Hop magazine article about the Paris show with Pete Rock I,& Lords of the underground....
saying this :
"The real star was not the one expected. We were waiting for Peter Philipps aka Pete ROCK keeper of the 90's Hip Hop sound full of Silky and Joyfull Soul samples, we got Dj LORD, new PE dj after Terminator X left, turntables prodigy. Not because the headliner Dj didn't show up, but the Outsider stole the show, spinnig gems one after the others, classics with an impressing technic. Difficult for the old timer - in a little shape by the way - to reach an Thirty something audience charmed by the youngster."
HIP-HOP LEGENDS CHUCK D AND DMC TO PERFORM TOGETHER AT LONG ISLAND MUSIC HALL OF FAME
(Long Island, NY) — Legendary hip-hop artists Chuck D of Public Enemy and Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of Run-DMC will perform together at the Long Island Music Hall of Fame Gala on Thursday, October 30, 2008 at 7 PM at the Garden City Hotel, 45 Seventh Street in Garden City, New York.
Chuck D and Public Enemy’s debut album “Yo! Bum The Rush Show” was recorded in Hempstead, Long Island and their epic “Fight The Power” was recently voted Number 1 in VH1’s 100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs poll.
DMC, as 1/3 of Run-DMC changed music and made history. In the public eye for more than 25 years, it would be hard to overstate his influence on popular culture. From the first rap group to be certified gold or platinum by the RIAA they went on to sell 30 million records worldwide before the untimely death of Jam Master Jay.
Hip-hop pioneers Grandmaster Flash and Kurtis Blow are also scheduled to appear at the event.
Long Islanders LL Cool J and Public Enemy are Hall of Fame Inductees that evening. DMC (who was inducted into the Hall in 2006) will be presenting the award to Public Enemy, while Grandmaster Flash will be inducting LL Cool J.
The second induction class also includes Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Aaron Copland, The Ramones, Simon and Garfunkel, Blue Oyster Cult, Jean Ritchie, Carole King, Arlo Guthrie, Kenny Vance, The Good Rats, The Tokens, Guy Lombardo, Mariah Carey, Neil Diamond, Bob Buchmann, Eddie Money, Beverly Sills, Walter Becker, Pat Benatar, Barbra Streisand and Marvin Hamlisch.
For Gala tickets and more information visit http://www.limusichalloffame.org, Tickets are $250.00, which includes award ceremony, dinner and VIP after party.
VH1 CELEBRATES HIP HOP WITH A 5-NIGHT COUNTDOWN EVENT BEGINNING MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 29 AT 10PM*
VH1’S “100 GREATEST HIP HOP SONGS†REIGNS SUPREME AS PUBLIC ENEMY’S “FIGHT THE POWER†TAKES THE #1 SPOT
Narrated by Fab 5 Freddy
Viewers Opportunity to Create Their Own List On VH1.com
NEW YORK, NY, SEPTEMBER 25, 2008 – VH1 is paying tribute to rap royalty by counting down the “100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs.” This five-part compilation of beats, rhymes and lyrics is not just a countdown – it is an ultimate celebration of the greatest hip hop music – old school classics, gangsta rap and everything in between. The series will also feature new, original interviews with hip hop’s biggest names, including rare and archival performances. Public Enemy, LL Cool J, Run-DMC, Salt-N-Pepa, OutKast, Eminem and Grandmaster Flash are just some of the artists to be profiled.
Each new episode of VH1’s “100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs” will premiere beginning Monday September 29 -Friday, October 3 at 10PM*. The series will allow viewers to reminisce with the top 100 hip hop songs that had the greatest influence on music and pop culture. This countdown is also a nostalgic look at a time when high-top fades and shades paired with big gold chains and braids were still fresh; a time when throwing your hands in the air got the party started and it was cool to admit that you were down with “O.P.P.”
VH1.com gave hip hop fans the chance to determine the outcome of VH1’s “100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs” through online voting. Fans were able to go to VH1.com’s “VH1 Greatest Hip Hop Songs” page to vote for their favorite hip hop songs of all time. Additionally, VH1.com will offer exclusive clips that will not be seen in the on-air version of the special.
The complete list of VH1’s “100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs” is attached.
VH1’s “100 Greatest Hip Hop Songs” is a production of VH1, with Hilary Spiegelman serving as Series Producer, and Bernie Kaminski, Rick Hankey, Shelly Tatro and Jeff Olde serving as Executive Producers for VH1.
*All Times ET/PT
I Woke Up In A Place I Forgot
New PE Remix Song and Video of 'I'
Another take on the classic PE cut "I" that originally featured on THERE'S A POISON GOIN' ON. Inspired by a trip to New Orleans in 2007, this version was cut specifically to shoot a video that detailed Chuck's walk through the remnants of the Lower 9th Ward.
Chairman Mao, Chuck,Lord, Griff Earlier this year in ATL
PE in Atlanta for REDBULL Once Again SEP 18TH
The Red Bull Music Academy brings to the Atlantis Music Conference an exclusive insider's glimpse into of the dynamic career of hip hop's most distinctive and powerful voice: Public Enemy! Join us for an evening with founding members Chuck D and Professor Griff, along with DJ Lord, as they relive their musical journey and allow us to travel with them from the early days in New York City to the recent completion
of their 20th world tour.
With seminal works like It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and Fear of a Black Planet, hear first hand about the group's creative process, the inspiration and motivation behind their music, along with their experiences while performing around the world. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to encounter hip hop history!
Back and the Cover of PE Bio
The First Biography Of Public Enemy Out in UK Oct 10
Below is the liner on the first Authorized biography on Public Enemy will emerge this October on Canongate Books in the UK. It looks to hit the US shores next spring , but this is the feed on the world wide web here:
'Public Enemy are one of the greatest hip-hop acts of all time. Exploding out of Long Island, New York in the early 1980s, their firebrand lyrical assault, the Bomb Squad’s innovative production techniques, and their unmistakeable live performances gave them a formidable reputation. They terrified the establishment, and have continued to blaze a trail over a twenty year period up until the present day. Today, they are more autonomous and as determined as ever, still touring and finding more ingenious ways of distributing their music.
Russell Myrie has had unprecedented access to the group, conducting extensive interviews with Chuck D, Flavor Flav, Terminator X, Professor Griff, the Shocklee brothers, and many others who form part of their legacy. He tells the stories behind the making of seminal albums such as their debut Yo! Bum Rush the Show, the breakthrough It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold us Back, and multi-million selling Fear of a Black Planet. He tackles Professor Griff's controversy in the late eighties, the complexities of the group’s relationship with the Nation of Islam, their huge crossover appeal with the alternative audience in the early nineties, and the strange circumstances of Flavor Flav’s re-emergence as a Reality TV Star since the turn of the millennium.
Urgent, incisive and definitive, Don’t Rhyme for the Sake of Riddlin’ is the ultimate guide to the group that tells it like it is, and insists that hip-hop is a lethal weapon for the social and politically conscious. Russell Myrie shows how, in a time of rampant profligacy and meaningless posturing in hip-hop, their diatribes still cut to the heart of the American dream, and they are as important and necessary as ever.'
The Great AL Bell , Mistachuck. and Sir ISSAC
Issac Black Moses Hayes R.I.P. from Chuck D and Public Enemy
Issac Hayes is my musical godfather ,simple as that. I've learned the great sense of humility from him as well. In growing up and seeing his records bought by the dozens in my household from aunts, uncles, and parents alike, it was like he was always there in the crib anyway. As a deejay eventually those same records found a way into my crates. The image of his bald pate and chains was ingrained inside my other siblings and I as we pretended to all play the music of the Theme to Shaft. Black Moses said the headlines, centerfolds, and Stax ads in the back of Jet magazine black folks portal to our own american culture. Well little did I know That i would befriend this 'hero on a first name basis, starting witnessing his estewment as a Chief in Ghana, Africa in 1993. I came readily prepared upon meeting him there, asking him to reminisce those STAX years both as songwriter and the artist.
Well the artist in him spawned the art in me. These songs typically make his Greatest Hit compilations, but then again they're the beginnings of my hip hop DJ roots as well as those childhood musical rompings with my brother and sister as well. The long versions have the ultimate breaks for the forming of the genre, Ikes Mood, Walk On By, The Look Of Love. His records have inadvertently spawned hip hop classics themselves like Hung Up On My Baby done up by the Geto Boys with 1991s 'Mind Playing Tricks On Me' and the break that led my Public Enemy production team to do 'Black Steel In The Hour Of Chaos' from Hyperbolisyllabicsesquedalymystic. Over the years I've participated and worked with Issac on a few occasions like appearing on each others latter day albums, and participating in STAX museum activities when called such as when he and David Porter pulled me to the side during the STAX Reunion concert and officially named me a 'soul man'. It gets no better than that, Im telling you. So now I want yall to get a taste of what I get everyday loaded in my Ipod, and lets take this trip to Soulsville with Black Moses.
The above is from the liner notes I wrote for ISSAC HAYES 2 CD set ....R.I.P.ISSAC HAYES
Chuck On Tour Bus trying to be the Rolling Stones
UK Financial Times Tour Article With Public Enemy
By Angus Batey
Published: August 9 2008 03:00 | Last updated: August 9 2008 03:00
Chuck D has a request: a champagne bucket full of ice. For most musicians preparing to go onstage at the Brixton Academy in south London, that might not raise eyebrows. But Public Enemy's front man is a politicised rebel, and his success predated rap's obsession with bling - diamond-encrusted Rolexes, ostentatious rims on the wheels of luxury cars, and Moet on ice.
Actually, the ice will serve a different purpose - to numb his left foot before some DIY surgery. For three years the rapper, businessman, lecturer, author and political activist has been battling onychocryptosis. That's an ingrown toenail to you and me. Last night, when Chuck was performing at the University of East Anglia, in Norwich, it kept him from moving around quite as much as he would have liked, but he managed. This afternoon, however, as he surveyed the vast expanse of the stage at the Brixton Academy, he realised that was not a performance he could repeat. "I was labourin' in Norwich," he says. "But this a gigantic stage! You can't not move around on a stage that big."
Scissors, a knife and bandages are procured from the venue's first-aid kit. The ice is delivered, and the door of the dressing room swings shut. The man about to perform a 20-year-old album called It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back is not the sort to let a painful big toe constrain him.
This is Public Enemy's 61st tour, in the band's 21st year together, and they've sold out the Brixton Academy, which holds 4,900 people. In some respects, this demonstrates their staying power - and yet just three years ago, they failed to sell every ticket at the 2,100 person-capacity Forum in Kentish Town, north London. Their highest placing in the British singles chart came 10 years ago; their best-performing album peaked at number four in 1990. Chuck admits that the current tour's concept - they will perform their acknowledged classic album, Nation, in its entirety each night - has helped bring in both lapsed fans and curious newcomers. But it takes more to maintain longevity in the music business than any one piece of canny marketing.
As we all know - music listeners, producers, investors alike - these are hard times for the record industry. Global sales of recorded music in 2007 were at a 22-year low. CDs - which saved the industry back in 1985 - can now be copied with no loss of quality, free music downloading from the internet shows no signs of decreasing despite recent attempts by internet service providers and record companies to stem the flow, and CD give-aways by magazines and newspapers have helped undermine recorded music's perceived value.
But as the lines outside the Brixton Academy suggest, fans haven't stopped paying for music; they're just spending in different ways - and the principal beneficiary seems to be the live music business. The vast number and variety of rock festivals and outdoor gigs taking place in the UK, and a rise in average ticket prices, suggest a business in rude health. Record companies are jumping in on the action, signing new artists to "360-degree" deals, where the labels take a cut of live income, merchandising and other areas traditionally the preserve of the musician. Live music promoters are also changing the way they operate, with the company Live Nation adding the South American superstar Shakira and Canadian rock band Nickelback to the previously announced captures of Madonna and the Glastonbury-headlining rapper Jay-Z. These multi-million-dollar long-term deals give the company the rights to distribute the musicians' recorded music as well as to book their tours.
And yet Public Enemy are unlikely to interest the likes of Live Nation: the band's margins are too small. Nor are they going to sign on to a 360-deal: they would simply be giving away money that they can presently keep for themselves. How, then, to make it in this new terrain? Chuck D thinks he has a business plan: minimise expenditure, maximise income and synchronise everything around the core brand. Unfortunately, it's not quite as easy as it sounds.
The day before Brixton, in a room backstage in Norwich, the 15-strong Public Enemy team are preparing for their show. Chuck D - born Carlton Ridenhour, in 1960 - is one of nine performers. The others include William "Flavor Flav" Drayton, 17 months Chuck's senior; a DJ; three members of their security guard-cum-dance troupe, the S1Ws (or Security of the First World); and backing musicians known as The Banned. The other half-dozen people occupy supporting roles: management, personal security, operation of the merchandise stall. It is about as lean a unit as can be, but it's still expensive to run.
Getting the group from the US to the UK is probably the single largest expense, but in-country costs - transportation, food and board - add up quickly, too, and help shape the itinerary. A show at a venue such as the Academy will bring in a healthy fee, but the gigs Public Enemy play before and after that - Norwich, then at the Junction in Cambridge - have capacities closer to 1,000, and aren't nearly as lucrative. "Typically, two or three shows are really paying for the whole tour, and the other shows are really just fill-ins to keep the band working each night," says Greg Johnson, who manages the touring side of Public Enemy's business, as well as Flavor Flav's career outside the group.
It would perhaps make sense, then, for the band to undertake extensive tours and to return frequently to key markets - but there are limits to how sustainable such an approach may be. Chuck recalls that a few years ago they made the mistake of playing Bristol twice in a six-month span: "The most that you're gonna get out of that is, play to anybody who didn't come to the first show."
No such mistakes this time round, says Johnson: they won't be returning to Britain for two years or so, "just to make sure we don't oversaturate the market and we keep demand high".
Public Enemy are one of the most-travelled bands working today; Johnson estimates they will be on the road for three or four relatively short bursts during a typical year. The group do not pay retainers or year-round salaries, so financial stability depends on individuals developing their own projects outside the group.
Since 1991, Chuck has been a regular on the US college lecture circuit, and his activities outside Public Enemy today include running a slew of websites, broadcasting a regular radio show, and running a pioneering online record label, Slamjamz.com. Flavor has developed a bizarre parallel career as a reality TV star with a successful series on the MTV-owned channel VH1. The group's DJ, DJ Lord, plays club and radio dates, and one of the S1Ws, James Bomb, has instigated a Public Enemy comic book which is on the verge of securing a potentially money-spinning link-up with DC's Batman. The members of The Banned are all session musicians while, as Johnson explains, "Some individuals in the group are doing well in real estate, construction and home renovation, and the S1Ws have a security consulting business." Only such a complex confluence of diverse revenue streams can keep the band afloat.
Perhaps the group's track record in the music industry is instructive. Public Enemy's initial contract with Sony-owned Def Jam records ended in 1998. Outside the Junction in Cambridge, over a microwaved plate of fish and rice in the tour bus, Chuck reveals that the band turned down a million-dollar advance when they decided not to re-sign with Def Jam. "In order for me to build something, I had to leave," he says. "They wanted to keep us around, but we would have been a token. And the advance would have been paid for with accountability, with them telling us how to spend it."
Chuck had the prescience to appreciate how the interactivity of the web could help his band and his businesses. He had already fought with Def Jam over making music available in the digital MP3 format. After the label stepped in to block free online distribution of a remix project, PE recorded a song about the spat called "Swindler's Lust", and Chuck took to referring in his blogs to the then Def Jam executives Russell Simmons and Lyor Cohen as "Hustler Scrimmons" and "Liar Conman".
His first independent move was to sell the band's 1999 album There's a Poison Goin' On through PE's website. "Another thing publicenemy.com did for us was allow us to cement relationships worldwide with promoters," Chuck explains. "Before, they weren't necessarily able to get in touch with us."
Of course, the band could not have begun life in the online environment at a financially sustainable level had it not been for what Chuck terms their "name equity". The band's political views and Chuck's quotability and outspokenness have helped the cause, too. Today, they do not need the marketing muscle of a major label: instead, when they tour or release CDs in the UK, they hire an independent British publicist who has been working with them for nine years, who secures editorial coverage that would cost huge sums if they had to buy it as advertising space.
Chuck still stands for the values and attitudes espoused at the group's height - "Do I still believe in reparations [for slavery]?" he asks, slightly incredulously. "Hell yeah! Can we say that in the Financial Times?" - and still holds out against having tours sponsored by alcohol or tobacco companies, as it implies his endorsement of products he does not use. These positions help maintain the unusual level of media interest in a band a long way past their commercial prime: on the days of the shows I attend, almost 30 interviews are scheduled - mainly with Chuck - with outlets ranging from a Cambridge student newspaper to the website of The Daily Telegraph; from three BBC digital radio shows to a four-minute segment on Channel Four News.
Public Enemy seem to have found a way to make the current realities of life in the music business work for them: but as a long-term model, it has its limits.
"There's definitely a concern," says Johnson. "When the economy is not doing so well, your market for live performance is limited to those individuals who are not necessarily so sensitive to economic change."
The other big question is less an economic and more a human one. Sales of an artist's back catalogue have traditionally served in lieu of a pension for rock musicians of advancing years; with that particular well running dry, touring may take up some of the slack, but not everyone is going to be happy about gigging into their seventies. And while the superstar likes of The Police, The Eagles or Led Zeppelin could play a string of shows that would generate enough money to set them up for a comfortable dotage, the majority of artists may have to keep gigging until they drop.
"When Chuck introduces Flavor on stage, he says he's 'the world's oldest teenager'," says Johnson. Indeed, as if emphasising the point, Flavor, Johnson and a few others leave Chuck on the bus doing interviews in Cambridge and head to a nearby bowling alley for an hour. "These guys are in great shape," Johnson continues. "Flav can do this for quite some time, I'm sure. But Chuck, on the other hand, is probably gonna say, 'Hey, enough is enough.'"
Retirement from live work is not on Chuck's agenda, and it is conceivable that by the time it is, the lecture circuit, radio work and writing will bring in enough to see him through old age. He has an indomitable public persona, but it is not just his bad toe that causes him to harbour a few doubts about his continued aptitude for performance. "I'm always a person who wants to beat expectations, though I wouldn't mind just living up to them," he grins, getting to the heart of what touring is all about. "You never fully understand the circuitry in your head that makes you do what you do anyway - so at any given moment you could lose it. The whole key to live performance is exactly that - it's a performance. You have to do the songs, or they do you.
Takes A Nation
PE-BombSquad Rules Pitchfork Fest in Chicago
It took a field of hipsters to hold back reality t.v.’s favorite half of Public Enemy last night in Chicago’s Union Park, as Chuck D shot the gun on Pitchfork’s third effort in the festival realm with the opening diatribes of hip-hop’s seminal album, It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, sans his counterpart.
Chuck D upon Flavor’s belated entrance: “Where the fuck were you on “Bring The Noise?”
Flavor Fav: “I don’t know Chuck, I was with the family.”
Apparently he was talking about his actual family, of which he helped set up shop back stage. His godson would later grace the platform and stare blankly as the duo fought the power. But at the moment, the sentiment quickly lost value as track by track of their twenty-year-old album deployed via their production team, The Bomb Squad. And politically-empowered ass shaking ensued.
If you aren’t hip to the London-based promoters All Tomorrow’s Parties series “Don’t Look Back,” in which fans are to precisely do just that in honor of full LPs that master the art of time and organization, Pfork Day One would baffle the mp3 mind.
Public Enemy were given closing honors, albeit marred by Flavor Fav’s self-promotion for his new season of Flavor Of Love, in which a sea of horn-rimmed-glassed music purists attacked with boos. Though it spurred the best comeback I’ve heard since grade school (“For all you mother fuckers boo-ing: What are you, ghosts or something?”) followed by an equally volatile performance of “Don’t Believe The Hype,” Flavor introducing it with a tale of a New York DJ trashing the PE name with an on air one-liner, “No more music by these suckers.”
Of course Chuck and Flavor would spit many more diatribe catchphrases, capped by a “Fuck George Bush,” a peace sign emblazoned “Fight The Power That Be,” and finally, “Only You Have The Power To Give Peace.”
PEs Press Conference Better Than Many Rap Shows
Public Enemy Press Conference Montreal Jazz Festival
Well, whaddya know? These guys have something to say. It's always been clear that Chuck D is articulate and opinionated but Flava Flav usually just provides a bit of flava. Instead he held court, directing the press conference, making smart remarks and even talking American politics.
"McCain's the name of a potato company. McCain can't do nothing for me but make french fries."
Chuck D predicted that the U.S. presidential race is going to be "the world's biggest reality TV show in the next six months. You gonna see some sh*t you ain't never seen before." And the two proved themselves to know a fair bit about Canada and Montreal, dropping names like Molson, McGill, Much Music.
When called to task on Public Enemy going commerical, Chuck D asked, "Commercial?! What you talking 'bout commercial? Commercial how? I drove my 1997 Acura up here to Canada -I ain't driving no fancy, brand new car. Nobody gives me sh*t. No, we ain't commercial one bit."
One journalist asked what their music had to do with jazz. Flav answered, "Jazz is the root of all modern music -hip-hop, rock, rap," then added, "and ain't no one looks so much like Miles Davis as me."
Chuck D said, "You could be Miles Davis' son for real."
The fellas of Public Enemy are "looking forward to banging Montreal, as we always do." Word is they're going to bang out the entirety of their landmark 1988 album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, to mark its 20th Anniversary.
Chuck D put it best: "Public Enemy interviews are better than most rappers' shows." As much as I enjoyed the press conference, my money is still on the show.
-Natasha Aimée Hall
Flav, Chuck and Stripped Down Enemy Bring....
PE Rips Montreal JazzFest In Its 21st Year.
Earlier in the day, the group gave a press conference about their upcoming performance. It has been said—most often by the group—that Public Enemy's press conferences are better than most other rappers' shows. A truer statement has never been made: Chuck D was insightful and belligerent, Flavor Flav was ever the hypeman and subjects as disparate as jazz history, oil, American politics and family vacations were touched upon. Much of what Chuck D said during the press conference was repeated to the capacity Metropolis crowd, befitting an MC who has always spoken about far more than himself. But Public Enemy has not survived for over 20 years purely on political awareness; to quote their lyrics, they “rock bells.”
In 1988 the group released It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, an album whose importance to the hiphop genre can be compared to that of Miles Smiles and jazz, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and rock and Reign in Blood and metal. To celebrate the china anniversary of the record, the group presented it live in its entirety, an ambitious and marvelous undertaking. The group's guitarist and bassist were unavailable as was spokesperson Professor Griff so Chuck D, Flavor Flav, DJ Lord (who replaced original member Terminator X a decade ago) and a drummer played sparser versions of the songs that highlighted their dystopic nature. Appropriate to a performance at jazz festival, there were breaks between the numbers during which Chuck D or Flavor Flav gave some historical background and the tunes were actually played out of order; as Chuck D said, “We're improvising.”
It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back is one of those rare records to be of a time while also being timeless. The world situation in 1988 was hardly ideal and 20 years later, Public Enemy's music is still apt, particularly with an historic American presidential election on the horizon. Public Enemy were sincerely angry back then but age has not dulled their edge, nor their charismatic stage demeanor: Chuck D ran around the stage with child-like exuberance, Flavor Flav was a show unto himself, the S1W's (Public Enemy's security/dancers) were ominously serious and DJ Lord was a one-man case for the turntablist as a legitimate musician.
It may not have been traditional jazz as would be expected by some at the festival. The volume and length—almost 3 hours—was draining and highlights like a Flavor Flav drum solo and non-Nation rhymes like “Fight the Power” and “Welcome to the Terrordome” all melded into one numbing experience. But as Flavor Flav stated, “Jazz is the soul-root of hiphop.” For all the adventurous and open-minded bookings during the festival's 29-year history, the invitation extended to Public Enemy demonstrates why it is unrivaled.
Clear The UK Way For The S1Ws
Public Enemy Establishes Precedent On Dont Look Back Tour
Public Enemy @ Brixton Academy
2 June, 2008 at 2:00 pm (music, review, us) (brixton, brixton academy, hip-hop, lambeth, live, music, public enemy, review)
Public EnemyThere are bands that, frankly, I just never expected to see live, and Public Enemy are pretty much mythical in my mind. Seeing Chuck D and Flavor Flav come onstage at Brixton Academy wasn’t just magical in the sense that it was an amazing thing to see, it felt magical insofar as it was totally unbelievable that I was seeing what I was seeing at all.
They were there as part of the ATP season, performing the entirety of It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, which they could have told us slightly fewer times without harming the atmosphere if I’m honest, but really there was little to complain about at such a mindblowing performance.
From Bring The Noise through to the greatest hits encore, the night was spectacular, with the band ploughing through some of the the most important formative songs of hip-hop. Without getting even more gushing, I don’t think I can really descibe what the gig felt like, but they’ve still got whatever they had, and they’re not afraid to use it. Their talent and genius puts pretty much every hip-hop act around today to shame.
Check Chuck Ds Terrordomes Past and Present.
Chuck D Speaks SLAMjamz, DEF JAMjob and MIDEM Conference
Chuck D: Fat cats still trying to control who plays
Katti Gray
February 4, 2008
A day after returning from what's been touted as the largest global conference on the future of music, Chuck D, rap star and rebel, was sharing his take on that meeting, on record-industry greed and on how the digital-music consumer has industry titans in a royal, hand-wringing panic.
"They were hovering around like buzzards, trying to figure out how they can dominate the space," said Chuck D, of Public Enemy fame. He was summing up the behavior of those circling music industry chief executives and their sidemen, their bank accounts in free fall, which is what happens when songs downloaded over the Internet are selling at 99 cents a pop.
By Chuck D's guesstimate, fat-cat attendance at the conference - MidemNet's fifth-annual January gathering in Cannes - had doubled since last year, when the general discussion also was about where music has headed. Last year Chuck D was asking and provoking questions, such as why corporations keep trotting out, say, Paris Hilton and her ilk as actual talents. "That's no standard," said Chuck D, who again was an invited speaker at MidemNet, tapped for his insights and his firebrand tendency for telling the powers that be where to put it.
From his Slam Jamz recording label office, outpost and studio in Roosevelt, the Long Island community that birthed him and his old rap group back in the 1980s, Chuck D has been addressing music-industry issues in a more hands-on way. So far, he has assembled a stable of 50 ensembles and solo artists, mainly age 25 and older. At his insistence, they do not mime the sort of music already in oversupply, dominating bestseller charts and the increasingly tacky awards shows. Of the 50 artists, 36 are in digital-only distribution. For Chuck D was, almost 30 years ago, in the tiny chorus and vanguard forewarning that digitized music would be the next big wave.
Sure enough, anybody with an MP3 player or of-the-moment cell phone can download music at a fractional cost or for free. Technically, the latter is stealing, prosecutable, though some democracy-minded musicians have been bucking that rule by nudging people to take their stuff for free. This is good PR, and fires back at the fat cats. If you're sick of hearing the same sad 17 songs in circulation on local radio, so are these recalcitrant musicians.
The next wave of "music is not about having your CDs pressed and doing it in the 1980s-1990s kind of way. We're not an over-the-counter operation," Chuck D said of Slam Jamz, which he hopes will model for musicians on the fringe how to get smack in the middle of things. "Our barometer for success is based on having to create more at a low cost ... and seeing what comes in as a result of that. Simply wanting to get rich is the wrong road to take."
Wealth should not be an artist's primary motive, he said. "I tell all my artists to keep their day job." He tells them to be steeped in the music, its history, its markets and merchants. It is necessary, for example, for the newcomer to know what the storied Motown, formed by black people determined not to be sidelined, holds in common with Def Jam Records, the New York hip-hop label that launched Chuck D's career as the disestablishment frontman for Public Enemy.
When Jay-Z resigned as Def Jam president and the company's owner, Universal, opted not to replace him, Chuck D issued a statement from Cannes: "It's really disappointing. ... It's sort of expected, and a primary reason why the music business has collapsed. ... It's quite clear that these folks could care less. The same thing that happened to Motown is Def Jam's fate." (Formed in 1959 by trailblazer Berry Gordy, Motown Records brought international acclaim to a menu of black artists but, today, is an arm of white-owned Universal.)
Later, he told me, "The higher-ups at Universal are happy with their standard of Negro." Which was a jab at Jay-Z but also every other black mogul who lets a fat cat who happens to be white have ultimate control. This is an aside, but somehow central to Chuck D's talk about what has gone wrong with music-
making and how the industry finds itself scrambling and scraping to catch up. Consumers, in no slight measure, are forcing these fast-changing times. They are as intent as any fat cat on keeping a dollar in their own pockets and the kind of music they really want to hear pumping in their ears.
Hardgroove Interview 'Why He Doesn't Believe The Hype.
Q + A |brian hardgroove
Hardgroove Interview 'Why He Doesn't Believe The Hype.
april /may 2008 santa fean 21
Emiliano Garcia-Sarnoff
A key member of the revolutionary
hiphop group Public Enemy, Brian
Hardgroove is also an activist, producer,
and host of The Fusebox on
Indie (indiesf.com). Hardgroove,
who moved from New York—his
hometown—to Santa Fe in 2006,
talks about his creative mission, the
fight for independent media, and
the power of fatherhood.
Emiliano Garcia-Sarnoff-Q
When did you first know that you wanted
to make music?
HARDGROOVE
I always wanted to do something good
in the world. So, as a kid, I was headed
for a career in law enforcement. And
then I saw an Earth, Wind and Fire
concert when I was fourteen and I
realized, after seeing them, that I could
help people before they got into trouble,
by playing music that had an impact.
Emiliano Garcia-Sarnoff-Q
And you went from that to being the musical
director and bassist for Public Enemy, a band
whose most famous song is Fight the Power?
HARDGROOVE
Law enforcement is necessary. As a
species we haven’t evolved past needing
that. Fight the Power is not about
fighting authority—it’s not that at all.
It’s about fighting abuse of power.
How did you first become politically minded?
My mother and father were affected,
growing up in the South, by political
decisions that were put in place before
they were born. So you don’t have to be
“political” to be political. It’s about doing
what’s right. And entertainment is just
as effective, if not more effective, than
being a politician. What politicians do
will affect your daily life, but how you
respond to that can be greatly influenced
by people in entertainment.
Emiliano Garcia-Sarnoff-Q
And what are you up to these days?
HARDGROOVE
Here in Santa Fe I’m the host of The
Fusebox, a mixture of music and interviews.
And, besides Public Enemy, I’m
also the production manager and bass
player on the upcoming James Brown
Tribute Tour, which is starting in May
and will include dates in England and
Japan. Plus I’m producing three street
punk bands in China: Demerit, Brain
Failure, and Subs. These bands are incredible
because if you choose that life, you
choose failure in life generally, if it doesn’t
work out for you. There is no part-time
work. You do your band or you work.
What brought you from New York to Santa Fe?
When it was time for my daughter to go
to school, my wife and I didn’t want her
in New York. My wife’s father lives here.
We didn’t labor over it; we just went.
Emiliano Garcia-Sarnoff-Q
How much has having a child amplified your
concerns about the future?
HARDGROOVE
A lot. Children are the greatest blessing
one can have in life. Once your offspring
start relying on you, you really have to
watch what comes out of your mouth.
This is why you watch what comes out
of the mouth of television.
Emiliano Garcia-Sarnoff-Q
It’s ironic that part of Public Enemy’s recent resurgence
stems from [band member] Flavor Flav’s
misogynistic reality TV show, Flavor of Love. How
do you and [band leader] Chuck D, who are very
forward thinking, continue working with him?
HARDGROOVE
Well, what he does is not something that
I would do. And I don’t watch the show,
frankly. I’ve quit Public Enemy twice, but
after a number of conversations I realized
that there is a bigger picture here,
and I continued on. My commitment
has been to what Chuck was trying to do.
Emiliano Garcia-Sarnoff-Q
How did popular hiphop get to the sorry state
it currently finds itself in?
HARDGROOVE
It got there when record company executives
realized that they have to make
money, not art. When large corporations
like Thorn—a defense contractor—buys
EMI, or Sony—an electronics company
—buys Colombia. Their purpose is to
create revenue. So when you have to
deliver $10 million more than last year,
you’re not going to go out and sign the
most positive talent for the future, you’re
going to sign talent that can sell as many
records as possible. It’s very easy to get
young black kids who don’t have much
money to say all kinds of negative things
about themselves. Record companies will
tell you, “We’re not going to deal with
you unless you do that.”
Emiliano Garcia-Sarnoff-Q
With bands like Radiohead skirting record labels
altogether, where do you see the future of
music distribution going?
HARDGROOVE
I do think that major record labels are
going to be involved. I don’t get on the
bandwagon that says all record labels are
evil. There were labels that did have
vision. Those labels know where they
screwed up—they are being run by
lawyers and accountants. And do you
know what’s going to help that? When
the multi-nationals drop them because
they’re not making any money.
Emiliano Garcia-Sarnoff-Q
You recently spearheaded a battle to save the
independent radio station, Indie 101.5, now no
longer on the air. What was the fight about?
HARDGROOVE
We don’t need one company owning a
whole bunch of stations. Period. This
fight isn’t about [Indie 101.5]; it’s about
keeping things from becoming locked
down. That’s why we have the problems
we have in this country, because the
independent voices are squashed. We are
in [the Iraq war] because all the news
networks, whether they admitted it or
not, supported it.
Defenders of the mainstream media claim that
the market is responding to what people want.
Yeah, the media is reporting on every
move Britney Spears makes. What people
want that? People watch it because
it’s human nature to watch a train
wreck—these things capture our attention.
But is it what they really want if
given the option? You have these moguls
making their decisions based on how
much money programs will make. The
airwaves are public, and there is a
responsibility that goes along with that.
Emiliano Garcia-Sarnoff-Q
Is there hope for independent media in Santa Fe?
HARDGROOVE
Santa Fe calls itself the City Different
but I haven’t seen anything different yet,
regarding these critical things. Santa Fe
is either going to go the way the way of
Detroit, New York, and Los Angeles, or
it’s going to do something different. I
hope it’s going to do something different.
“Talk is cheap”—that’s what Keith
Richards said.
Catch Brian Hardgroove on The Fusebox,
streaming from the Indie website, indiesf.com,
Wednesdays, 7–8 PM, Saturdays, 12–1 PM.
22 santafean.com april / may 2008
q + a
interview by Emiliano Garcia-Sarnoff
photograph by Karen Kuehn
Still Bringing The Noise In 2008
Public Enemy's Bring The Noise Wins Grammy Via Benny Benassi Remix
Benny Benassi Awarded GRAMMY for Public Enemy Remix Project
February 12th, 2008
Posted by MVRemix
Benny Benassi Awarded GRAMMY for Public Enemy Remix Project
Ultra Records artist, Benny Benassi, took home a GRAMMY last night at the annual award show that has been celebrating the best in music for 50 years. The accomplished DJ and Producer won the coveted award for Best Remixed Recording, Non-Classical, with his ‘Bring the Noise Remix (Benny Benassi Sfaction Remix)? Public Enemy.
“Benny Benassi did a fantastic job remixing Public Enemys classic ‘Bring the Noise’, it is great to see him get the recognition he deserves’, said Patrick Moxey, President and Founder of Ultra Records. ‘This remix sets the example of altering a classic and historic record to appeal to a new generation and audience, and we are proud the label is a part of the project. Congratulations to Benny on his win!”
Benny Benassi has long been known for his production work, with a list of electronic music hits such as ‘Satisfaction’ and ‘Who’s Your Daddy?’. He has also been recently commissioned to remix Jordin Sparks’ duet with Chris Brown ‘No Air’.
“The work of Benny Benassi on “Bring the Noise” epitomizes what this remix is all about: Music is music, regardless of branding, labeling or rigid genre descriptions. Any award that elevates the DJ is also a celebration for hip-hop, which has the DJ mentality as the root of our music.” stated Chuck D, from the world-renowned hip-hop group, Public Enemy
The GRAMMY award comes on the eve of a Benny Benassi new project, an artist album that is scheduled to release in May of this year.
Ultra Records was the label behind 3 of the 5 nominations in the same category.
Griff, Chuck and DJ Lord @RED BULL
Mistachuck, Professor Griff, and DJ Lord at RED BULL Academy.
By RICHARD L. ELDREDGE | Wednesday, February 20, 2008, 01:06 AM
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The Red Bull Music Academy’s stop in Atlanta is over, but thanks to some fiery participation from Public Enemy’s Chuck D and Professor Griff, the buzz lingers.
The Atlanta-based members of the seminal hip-hop group, along with DJ Lord, were the guest speakers at the energy drink’s globe-trotting gathering of DJs and music producers, brought together to learn about the music industry.
Here’s what D and Griff had to say at the Luckie Food Lounge:
On Public Enemy’s music being sampled: “To hell with hip-hop if it doesn’t respect black people first,” said D, clearly bothered by “Shut Em Down” being used in the late Notorious B.I.G.’s “Ten Crack Commandments.”
On Public Enemy member Flavor Flav and his reality show: “At the end of the day, he’s family,” D said. “Nothing he does on that thing [‘Flavor of Love’] surprises me. … Remember we knew him way before VH1.”
On how far hip-hop has come: “When people say that, I’m like ‘Really?!’ ” D replied. “After Salt ‘N Pepa, name a female rap group. … How about more than one top female producer?”
On the upcoming presidential election: “No comment,” began D, with a smirk. “Do you really think you pick the president?” added Griff. “You’d be better off voting for your local school board members, or judges or something. … Those are the people you’re going to see if your [expletive] goes to jail,” D continued. “That’s where you can really have an impact — locally.”
Emcee Legends spun on 2 Turntables Literally
CHUCK D and DMC LAUNCH BEYOND.FM PERFORM WITH DJ JOHNNY JUICE IN VEGAS
Las Vegas, NV - January 6th, 2008: Hip Hop legends Chuck D of Public Enemy, DMC of RUN-DMC and DJ Johnny Juice Rosado team up for one night only at the Hard Rock Hotel to launch BEYOND.FM and to kick off the 2008 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) being held from Jan. 7th through the 10th at the Las Vegas Convention Center.
"Chuck D is my favorite rapper of all time!" said DMC. DMC was also instrumental in Public Enemy getting signed to Def Jam. Chuck D, arguably one of the most revered of Hip Hop elder statesmen echoes DMC's statements. "Run DMC is one of my favorite groups of all time! This will be incredible!" Joining them will be legendary DJ/producer and BEYOND.FM program director DJ Johnny Juice, long-time Public Enemy associate and Emmy nominated composer. Says Juice, "It will truly be an honor to share the stage with Chuck D and DMC. I've been on stages with both but never at the same time. The catalogs that those two have are just plain ridiculous. It will be like one big party and the fans not able to make it to Vegas can enjoy both Chuck D and DMC's music on BEYOND.FM 24/7."
BEYOND.FM president and co-sponsor Norm Levy agrees, "This is phenomenal! Two of Hip Hop's greatest legends joining forces on stage for the first time! It will be a historic event and I'm just happy to be able to help put something like this together! What better way to launch BEYOND.FM and our 2008 showing at CES?"
Public Enemy is celebrating their 20th Anniversary with the release of their new album, How Do You Sell Soul To A Soul-less People Who Sold Their Soul? DMC has just released his solo EP The Next Level. Both are available for immediate download at BEYOND.FM. Check for NEW MUSIC from DMC available soon at BEYOND.FM!
During CES, Chuck D and DMC will be on hand to sign autographs and discuss the revolutionary new Music Business Model of BEYOND.FM at the Media Street Booth #37023 in South Hall 4 at the Las Vegas Convention Center. They will also be showcasing MediaStreet's newest innovations in electronics that tie all of the legendary content together. MediaStreet award winning eMotion electronics will be on display including MP3/MP4/PM/DVD players as well as their latest line of Digital Photo/Art/Music frames. BEYOND.FM is powered by its parent company Media Street, Inc. For more information, please visit: MediaStreet.com
JANUARY 6, 2008: CHUCK D, DMC & DJ JOHNNY JUICE LIVE!
Body English @ The Hard Rock Hotel 4455 Paradise Road Las Vegas NV 89169
21+ with I.D. Tickets $20 - $30 available at hardrockhotel.com
About BEYOND.FM
BEYOND.FM is a fresh, inspiring and well-timed concept for exposing digital content to the masses and allowing artists, musicians and photographers to create awareness and new-found revenue streams. As the entertainment industry aggravates the consumer, offers discouraging DRM techniques and finds new ways to make the music enthusiast feel like a common criminal, the time is NOW for a paradigm shift bringing the personal, social and meaningful music purchasing experience BACK to the consumer. BEYOND.FM is a destination to discover and purchase (for personal use) or license (for commercial use) music, music videos, photography and podcasts/radio programming.
For each song, video, photo and podcast sold through BEYOND.FM, the musician receives 80%. All music purchased from Beyond.FM downloads in CD Quality (320 kbps) MP3 format. The Musician takes the business model into his/her own hands and goes "beyond" the traditional record label model and markets their full assets directly to the consumer including music, ringtones, videos, photos, stories, podcasts, live events, charity events, electronics, etc.
BEYOND.FM content includes music by Chuck D, DMC, The Cold Crush Brothers, entire Strong City catalog courtesy of the Original Jazzy Jay, Crew Grrl Order, DJ Johnny Juice, Busy Bee, X-Vandals, Masters of Ceremony, Ultimate Force and more plus photos by Ernie Paniccioli. Be sure to check the James Brown Tribute album by Chuck D and the Peeps of SOULFunk as well as radio shows by DJ Tony Tone, Wildman Steve, DJ Johnny Juice and more.
About THE 2008 CONSUMER ELECTRONICS SHOW
Taking place from January 7th through the 10th, 2008 at the Las Vegas Convention Center 3150 Paradise Road Las Vegas NV 89109, CES is the largest Consumer Technology show in the world. The International CES is produced by the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA), the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the consumer technology industry. CEA represents more than 2,100 corporate members involved in the design, development, manufacturing, distribution and integration of consumer electronics products. For more information, please visit cesweb.org and ce.org. The BEYOND.FM booth is #37023 in South Hall 4 at LVCC.
For more information, please contact:
BEYOND.FM
Johnny Juice Rosado
Program Director
johnnyjuice@beyond.fm
BEYOND.FM
PE Coming Live To Your Desktop Via SYNCLIVE.COM
PUBLIC ENEMY LIVE IN NEW YORK DECEMBER 19TH AND 20TH ON SYNCLIVE.COM
Synchronicity LiveSM Web Site Community Relaunches as SyncLive.comSM
Fans Watch Free Streaming Music and Shows as Artists Broadcast Live to the World
JACKSONVILLE BEACH, Fla., -- Synchronicity LiveSM was piloted in the summer of 2007 and is now available for fans and artists around the world. Fans from more than 125 countries are tuning in regularly to watch new and established artists perform live. Users can access the site even easier at www.SyncLive.com and can experience free streaming music.
SyncLive.com
SM is a web-based, live music community that presents artists with an opportunity to showcase their talent by broadcasting live at any time and from any place including a loft apartment, club, studio or a large-scale venue. Fans can experience a wide selection of live music for free, chat with other fans at shows and watch archived shows of their favorite artists.
"As a musician myself, we are thrilled to bring artists and fans together via a worldwide stage on SyncLive," said Aric Berquist, Founder & CEO of SyncLive. "It's amazing to see fans interact with each other in virtual shows and concerts where they can participate in group chats with other fans and artists."
Berquist stated that musicians will have an incredible opportunity to expose themselves and their original material for free to a global audience through the creation of their own band pages where they can promote upcoming shows and merchandise. SyncLive is also introducing new show editing capabilities, enhanced audio features and customized how-tos to help fans, artists and venues maximize their experience on the site.
SyncLive has already established relationships with a number of artists, bands, venues and sponsors.
PUBLIC ENEMY will appear with SLAMjamz Artists KENDO THE ALMOST FAMOUS, THE IMPOSSEBULLS along with the X-VANDALS , and BLITZ The AMBASSADOR..DECEMBER 19TH at IRVING PLAZA in NYC
New PE Video Black is Back
Remix Amerikan Gangster!
Think you got something for PE's next single, Amerikan Gangster?
Head over to jamglue.com and check out the details on how you can submit your remix.
New PE Video: "Harder Than You Think"
The innovative cover approach to the wil web.
SHOCKLEE.COM LAUNCHES!
Dear Friends and Colleagues:
First off, please excuse the mass blast but I have a special announcement and its hard to tell who is on our main mailing list because its grown so large its hard to keep track! - and I wanted to make sure not to leave any of you out...
We're really pleased to share with you the arrival of SHOCKLEE.COM the official web portal for the Shocklee Entertainment Universe.
Our very own multimedia network is now presenting a wide variety of news, features, reviews, artist spotlights, podcasts and industry insider info on Music_Films_Media & Tech from some of today's leading creative leaders and the most cutting edge artists we can find.
You can also log into the forum, the Shocklee Network and post up your messages to connect with others on anything from tech support to professional advice to events in your area to promoting your endeavors...
Take a browse when you get a chance -- we've had a good time designing the site so that it provides some of the news and resources we all look for in our daily routines, so we certainly hope it inspires you.... http://www.shocklee.com
Talk soon+
Jo-Ann
SHOCKLEE.COM
Read the words, and wisdom of Hank Shocklee as he guest appears commentary on the Terrordome
http://www.publicenemy.com/index.php?page=page3
mailings & Shockmag newsletter, and would like to receive those updates, feel free to go to the home
page and sign up from there.
the flyer
PE ....ROCK THE BELLS this summer
PE TOUR 59 ; US FESTIVALS
JULY 7 ESSENCE NEW ORLEANS
JULY 27 BALTIMORE/ DC RTB TBA
JULY 28 RANDALLS ISLAND NYC RTB
JULY 29 RANDALLS ISLAND NYC RTB
AUG 10 SANTA FE
AUG 11 SAN BERNARDINO CA RTB
AUG 18 SAN FRANCISCO CA RTB
Archie Shepp in Paris, Daughter Gina and Gene Barge Chicago, Bootsy Collins Cincinnati.
The PE Show Where Legends Collab on Stage.
The addition of the baNNed as the backing musical unit to the torrid Public Enemy performances has allowed for some great musicianship to join the group on stage. baNNedleader Brian Hardgroove makes it possible for these occurrences to take place with his sonic stage overseeing. Also soundman Andrew 'the Drew' Williams makes things happen by coordinating the guests.
Reknown keyboardist Edwin Birdsong played in LA, Anaheim and San Diego, while George Clinton added his vocals to LAs House Of Blues as the baNNed moved into Cosmic Slop.
Tour 57 had Bootsy Collins play bass in Cincinnati , Pete Cosey played kalimba and Gene Barge did his famed Chess records saxman thing in Chicago.
Already Europe has seen the opening of the TOUR 58 with tenor saxman Archie Shepp playing the first show in PARIS @ the Zenith Theatre, playing on Fight The Power, Give It Up and Youre Gonna Get Yours.
PE #3 Cover
PE Comic #3 Out Now
After a daring escape from a secret government prison, PUBLIC ENEMY must now go into hiding as they are deemed enemies of the state and terrorists. Chuck D and crew must now focus their efforts on finding and rescuing the mysterious Vincent and their fallen comrade DJ Lord. Meanwhile the New World Order is taking control of the United States government and using their influence to turn it into a police state. As PUBLIC ENEMY and the UNDERGROUND RAILROAD unite in fight for freedom they find themselves surrounded by a ruthless foe that will stop at nothing to destroy them all.
yes - the rhythm the rebel
