The answer is that you don’t sell it, you will probably have to give it away .The fact is today there are folks that could not recognize ‘soul’ if they tripped on it. This perhaps is the result of the diminishing return of black music knowledge and connection with its past. Gospel is moving stronger, but R&B and hip hop are more beat oriented, thus losing a little soul in the process. The topics have been less connected to the people’s wants and true needs, while the music has been chopped and stripped down to one music maker instead of a team of musicians each going for broke with their collective magic creating what couldn’t be done individually. Beat in the past was just an aspect of soul. JAMES BROWN used every instrument in a moving percussive fashion. Today cats stare at a JAMES BROWN groove. How in the hell can you not feel that? Just like cats not getting SLY, or a solo by MILES. Hip hop was an introduction of all the music before, especially in the black forum. Now hip hop is cosmetically identifiable by a certain beat. This is crazy. It’s almost how our history gets rewritten in much the same way . I’m from the 60s and I remember the soul years, when blackfolk made chains outta soda can tops, something outta nothing and still were proud. I recently posted a slice of soul off the top of my head on the Eboard. Soul used to be often imitated hardly duplicated. Especially gut bucket screaming soul. Now its hardly recognized but has the soul of blackfolk sterilized, packaged and homogenized for the sake of amerikkkan assimilation and acceptance. You be the judge…soul is not quiet …

Soulful strut. Holt, young unlimited Soul man Sam and Dave Ain’t nothing like the real thing Marvin Tammi Escapism and anything by James Brown Ask the lonely Four Tops Walk on by Isaac Hayes Mr Pitiful Otis Redding Thank you for lettin me Sly Anything by Gladys, Aretha pre-76 1% of what I choose to listen to and what I hear in my head Al Green

I can’t get out of the 60s and early 70s...because there was reeeeeeal soul. It’s very hard for me to find real soul past 1976.

Before that... blackfolks changed their own car tire and we didn’t have thousands of millionaires amongst us showing off. We spread love and $ That’s been gone.

Even the real pimps and players back then encouraged young folks to go to school and be better.

I consider myself a 'soulman'.

The 90s offered 'beats' but very little soul Singers merely mimic what little soul they have Over loops and beats with little changes

Whoever got real soul is a 'classic’ with me

Rap has to really bring it to have 'soul' Beats with no soul need millions of dollars to make it a hit.

But how do you sell soul to a souless people who sold their soul??

That’s the second PE album title in the trilogy.

Bootleg proof (not that I mind) Because it’s still a thought Can u dig it?

This as an answer to an earlier post on publicenemy.com on the Enemy Board, when cats are trying to judge ‘flow’. Yes I do think that flow is important but definitely an overrated aspect of the rhyme-game. Some records or beats per minute require different aspects of rapping, for example a flow is not recommended for a heavy metalish track. Why? Because the guitar riffs dictate the flow, it’s important to remain strong and audible and develop a rhythm alongside the riffs. This possibly can be a reason why most black rap acts stay away from making rap-metal songs. Flow is different depending on the bpm of a jam, but if the beats are at different speeds then that itself will determine a vocal flow probably much different than accepted from the norm.

Last weekend I ventured thru Chicago at Tavis Smiley’s Blacks In Technology convention, already held in 4 major cities. On the panel with various blacktech innovators, Tavis is one of the leading figures in closing the digital divide. QUINCY JONES dropped an incredible speech, I hope that I can be as eloquent in delivering in the future. OMAR WASOW of BLACK PLANET and BARRY COOPER of BLACK VOICES were dropping their online communities for the crowd. Hopefully there will be a change. Digital divide? Shee, when the black community asks "What you doin now ? You comin out with something?" and your music is on hard drives around the rest of the world it shows the valley between the streets and the geeks. SINBAD did a recorded speech from the LA event in FEBRUARY that shown to black community schools on the regular could single-handedly thin the gap, and have the hood fiendin to be online. Yes there’s enthusiasm in the hood for technology, but from a staggered consumer standpoint. We’ll end up buying anything and everything at the highest price. It’s the areas of ownership, creativity and entrepreneurial drive and spirit that keep the divide wide.

Did REVOLVERLUTION promo in LA at POWER 106 with Felli Fell at night and BIG BOY in the morning slot. STAR and Buckwild coming up this Friday. FUNKMASTER FLEX is playing the PEEPS record and showing love. This might be considered in contrast to comments made by yours truly in DAVEY D’s column about radio and particularly the FUNK-MAN. I was asked about the allegations of KRS-ONE paying FLEX $40,000 for airplay when he was an exec at WARNER BROS. If KRS says that then I’ll have to roll with it. It’s the business. I’ve always liked FLEX and his enthusiasm for the game. But again truth is truth, nothing personal, there’s a lotta power in that position of broadcasting, as with the peeps that control images thru video. I wouldn’t really want to have a cat play my record if he didn’t feel it, and I’ve always said that especially to the FUNKMAN. However it’s not about me or my songs, it’s about the politics of the rapgame. protecting and promoting the balance and longevity of the rapgame, not stagnating it. Every rap DJ has the ability to cut thru to the people so they should give the people what they need truly by guiding them with the culture not beating them over the head with it….

For real, baseball is over if they go on strike again. MLB will struggle to even half pack these increasingly smaller ballparks made especially for smaller crowds. In the upcoming weeks I’ll look to visit John Miller and Joe Morgan in the ESPN booth, wherever they may be...

Two cats called me up…Happy 40th birthday to KOOL MO DEE, he’s deep into the astrology thing and writing Hollywood scripts and acting as well. Also got a call from KRS-ONE on the album release date, and we are talking about doing some dates together. Right now it looks like PE will be doing US-Canada shows during November which actually is a cool time to travel in the US. KRS is releasing his MIXTAPE album later this month on his FRONT PAGE label also distributed by KOCH. This is a shorter album in prelude to his KRISTYLE piece coming soon …never get that cat mad I’m telling you.

Quite a handful of countries I’m handling throughout the PE Revolverlution press period. I’ve signed 2500 special laminates for various retail chains across the US. Its funny because on the release day FLAV, myself and the crew did a 2 hour signing at Tower Records on 4th and Broadway in NYC. Lines were outside the door and we were gracious running into the crowd to do our thing and shake hands. This is not a job I say , it’s a pleasure. The best comment came from a cat that said that our signing sessions are better than a lotta rap shows out there. I don’t know if that’s good or bad.

Bruce Springsteen name-checked Public Enemy last week on NIGHTLINE as one of THE most important groups of all time along with... Bob Dylan, The Clash, SexPistols, and Bob Marley. Damn I’ve always dug the boss especially in those History Of Rock and Roll documentaries where he’s always enthusiastic and on point. Plus he does 3 hour shows. He re-hits the charts and all of a sudden cats is talking ‘Boss Is Back,’ well he ain’t went nowhere... Anyway thanks Bruce who’s "Streets Of Philadelphia" video and song inspired me to write ‘I’ on There’s A Poison Goin On last century.

Revolverlution reviews are flooding in from all over the globe, and I appreciate the attention no matter what the criticism. The Source surprised me because finally we made a section that befits our releases, that’s their alternatives, compilations and soundtracks. This area is not subject to weighing art like a meat show so in that area one has to be able to be open minded. The mic thing and rating thing is limited simply because of the multi generations and backgrounds following the genre. Besides how do you put NORE, LIL BOW WOW, and SLUM VILLAGE all on the same page? VIBE on the other hand still rated it as if we we’re looking for scans and spins, with the writer calling me ‘cantankerous’. Maybe he was alluding to my age but like JOHNNY JUICE pointed out to me ‘what rapper isn’t cantankerous? At least I have reasons. If you think this is bad ,wait until the next two album releases with another batch of Live recordings and new remixxes, obviously a lotta peeps don’t realize they’ll get extra songs and versions off www.slamjamz.com as with the ‘Psycho Of Greed ‘ track. Because of various reasons this wasn’t on the record, but that’s the beauty of this thing…we might perform it live.

Criticism is enjoyable when at least a journalist understands the direction. As far as MUSE SICK N HOUR MESS AGE was concerned contrary to popular belief other than Toures’ ROLLING STONE piece and a bashing by JAMES BERNARD, then of the SOURCE, I don’t remember many bad reviews. As far as I can remember the weird live speed instrumental/synth and drum programming combination of ‘Ferocious Soul’ was totally different than hip hop sounds at the time, on purpose, so it was either dig it for what it was or bash it. MUSE is the high school ugly duckling who comes back to the 10 year reunion like ‘damn ,who are you?’ Because some people never ventured to the second side or listened to it past "Give it Up." Warren G it wasn’t, neither was it Craig Mack or Tribe. All I remember is we did a bunch of countries touring it and the records were quite performable because of their tempos ("Race Against Time," "Whole Lotta Love," "Bedlam" and "What Side You On?" laced good energy for the show).

Terms like ‘less charted territories’, ‘eco-educational rap’ and ‘stylistic innovation’ were reviewed by most of the music journalists at that time who understood that we were never gonna make the same album twice, the essence of a true rock and roll band. Critics have no reason to be on your d#ck, so it makes it cool to hear your approach was understood even if they didn’t dig the sound of it... the general understanding of the disc as far as I remember…

As the title of the album clearly suggests, Public Enemy is quite aware of the situation. Yet rather than pick at these divisive wounds, lyricist/rapper Chuck D. seems more interested in wading through hip-hop's less charted territories. Sure, he still won't pass up a chance to espouse his opinion on gangsta-isms--particularly on "Give It Up," the album's ultra-catchy first single--but he seems far more crisp when kicking an eco-educational rap like "Bedlam 13:13," or backing Flavor Flav with JB-style gruff-voiced call-outs on "What Kind Of Power We Got?" On these and other tracks Chuck commands a lead-by-example urgency in his rhymes, something few of today's rappers are capable of. Such lyrical and stylistic innovations--augmenting the Bomb Squad and Gary G-Wiz production with live instrumentation is a masterstroke that updates the classic PE sound--should be enough to give MUSE SICK a purposeful existence. Yet, the album's most important new contribution to today's hip-hop just might be medicinal: inferring the music with post-gangsta objectives.

New Musical Express (12/24/94, p.22) - Ranked #20 in NME's list of the `Top 50 Albums Of 1994.'

Vibe (8/94, p.105) - "...a tour de force of densely constructed music and verbiage. Snippets of Stax-Volt grooves, reggae, soul, and metal bop and weave over gut-punching bass lines and wicked drumming while front man Chuck D lets fly with...pronouncements, warnings, and accusations..."

Spin (8/94, p.84) - Highly Recommended - "...Knee deep in the age of gangsta, at the anticlimactic millennial edge of a world already gone wrong, Public Enemy has dropped its latest..." Q Magazine (9/94, p.106) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...Fact is, the lay off has just made Public Enemy sound fresh again...because they've regained the wicked combination of sonic disturbance and loose, rabblerousing funk that drove classic jams like 911 is A Joke..."

Melody Maker (8/20/94, p.35) - Recommended - "...This LP isn't just a stunning return to form for Public Enemy, it's perhaps the most powerful horrified answer to what you are doing to black culture yet..."

New Musical Express (8/27/94, p.39) - "...only slightly mellower and less chaotic than the past...no-one sounds like this..."

Entertainment Weekly (8/26 - 9/2, p.112) - "...it takes true guts to dis gansta rap and to challenge the black community to confront its problems..." - Rating: B

Alternative Press (9/94, pp.80-81) - "...Yeah, we've heard it before but Chuck can make waves even when he's treading water...MESS AGE may be PE's most consistently enjoyable disc..."

Speaking of live, since I’m a SMOKING GROOVES alumnus I’m thinking about dropping in on the tour somewhere in its roll through the states. As PE is concerned it’s looking like the US in September and October maybe Canada…, southern Europe, northern Europe in November. Australia in December with possible JAPAN, Hawaii Hong Kong, South Africa, Brazil, Surinam, Cuba following those. In the states we are having to put a package together. Those packages may be:

1. PUBLIC ENEMY, DILATED PEOPLES, BLACKALICIOUS 2. PUBLIC ENEMY , KRS ONE 3. PUBLIC ENEMY and ONYX 4. PUBLIC ENEMY, BLACKALICIOUS, NAPPY ROOTS 5. PUBLIC ENEMY, DILATED PEOPLES, NAPPY ROOTS 6. KRS ONE and PUBLIC ENEMY possibly BIG DADDY KANE and Doug E FRESH

Somebody respond on the Enemy board as it’s looking like big clubs throughout the nation...

Sometimes people don’t realize I’m talking to 31 countries doing interviews, this is why for the first time I’ve found a place that supports my vast views on releasing records. KOCH is a real record company staying smart and developing brand niches. My attempts in the past were perhaps premature or maybe the rapgame was.

In 1991 my PRO DIVISION attempt was under the DEFJAM blanket at SONY thus my relationship with SONY was better than DEF JAM’s at the time. Still I couldn’t get product through the pipe outside of the 2. Terminator X album, the second of which was coming through POLYGRAM. (A disaster for me. I had attempted an indie approach thru JOHN ABBEY of ICHIBAN RECORDS in ATLANTA. A cool person and a very cool situation but this was stagnated by the majors smashing out indie distribution at the time raising the stakes in the costs of marketing and promotion eventually putting them outta business.

Another attempt in 1996 was trying to market internationally through the hip hop roads I’d built with SONY. Although ambitiously trying to build a worldwide street team through an international corporation, it simply couldn’t be done with my low budgeted ideas and the fact that each country is fragmented from each other. In other words, the US company doesn’t profit from international sales, thus they can’t finance promotion abroad. Whereas a branch in a different country can’t finance an act from another country unless it’s successfully approved in the domestic territory where the artist is signed. Confusing, yup simple fact of the matter was that the big company’s arms and elbows don’t know what each is doing. The political red tape wasn’t DON IENNERS fault and we split amicably because I saw my world vision impossible for SLAM at that time.

Another good cat is DANNY GOLDBERG who while being the head of MERCURY signed me to a solo deal in 1996, simply for myself to record whenever and be a spokesperson for the label. DANNY considered me like BOB DYLAN and treated me as such, as I was totally through with the hypocrisy of DEF JAM. I released AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MISTACHUCK and DANNY asked me did I want them to chase the record to black radio ( meaning spending increased marketing and promotion monies to make a hit). I said no, (no pun intended) and would rather not put the pressure on an area I saw as a waste. Still ‘NO’ did a couple of things. It filled an artistic void at the time and gave me thorough knowledge of the POLYGRAM system. It was only a matter of time before the DEF JAM purge would take over the building, get half the companies employees fired during the VIVENDI UNIVERSAL merger, where I again saw what couldn’t work as a company distributing rap product around the world.

Thank god for the web which fulfilled some of the distribution answers that I couldn’t find in the other equations. Ideas for SLAMJAMZ.COM were formed off things we’d done with WWW.PUBLICENEMY.COM, WWW.RAPSTATION.COM and WWW.BRINGTHENOISE.COM.The reaction to the release of 1997s BRING THE NOISE 2000 sparked an ignite in the revolverlution so to speak. DANNY GOLDBERG’S ARTEMIS RECORDS was again a great help to release the Confrontation Camp ‘Objects In The Mirror Are Larger Than They Appear’ making them a candidate for distribution of SLAMJamz. Still as much as it was a great possible situation, the KOCH alternative, worldwide, provides a groundbreaking edge where we can supply online, midline and offline delivery at the same time. All in all this leads into the point I’ll make in the next Terrordome about MICHAEL JACKSON’S accusations of racism in the music biz. Alongside that I will address the issue of MTV rejecting the 'Peeps' video because of our MUMIA ABU JAMAL and JAMIL AL AMIN references. Yes I’ll give yall the full scoop next T-dome that’s why I took so long on this one because my MTV rant was it…until I get the final story on where they’re coming from.

Lastly I’d like to thank the innovation of GARY G-WIZ in his building of this PE site, WWW.BRINGTHENOISE.COM and WWW.SLAMJAMZ.COM. Now his designs are flexing with remixplanet.com very soon. So stay tuned and thanx...