NUMBER 1: Public Enemy's worldwide recognized logo - A Black man in a B-Boy stance caught in crosshairs. The rap recording group became the voice of power and reasoning for a generation of Black men worldwide.
Exclusive to RiverCity Examiner
by Byron Lee
Yes we urge to merge we live
for the love of our people the
hope that they get along
(Yeah, so we did a song)
Getting the point to our brothers
and sisters who don't know
the time (boyyyee, so we wrote a rhyme)
It's dead in your head, you know,
I'll drive to build and collect ourselves
with intellect, come on
To revolve to evolve to self-respect,
'cause we got to keep ourselves
in check
Or else it's..."Self Destruction" Chuck D's contribution to KRS-1's Hip-Hop collaborative.
They came out of Long Island to destroy the perimeters of word and sound forever, only to be discarded when trends passed them by. Despite this fact, they remain relevant.
For this edition of the RCE, we will profile rap pioneers Public Enemy.
The story of Public Enemy begins with the birth of Carlton Ridenhour, in Queens, New York on August 1,1960. The oldest of three children born to a family that moved to Long Island when he was 10, Ridenhour showed an early affinity for the visual arts, winning many awards for his creations. He was also taken with music. In an August 2005 interview with the Progressive, Ridenhour recalled that he was influenced by "The Last Poets, Gil Scott-Heron, and also eight years of rappers that came before us. I grew up with Motown, Stax Records, and Atlantic. The Philadelphia International sound like the OJays had a profound influence on me. As a late teenager, the punk movement pushed me further. In particular, the Clash, which happened to leak through the time of disco, showed me that there was this cross-cultural sound that could cut across genres and audiences. Like punk was to disco, rap music was a rebellion against R&B,which had adopted disco and made it worse."
After graduating from high school, he attended Adelphi University. During his undergraduate years, Bill Stephney, the manager of the campus radio station, WBAU, approached him and fellow classmate and DJ Hank Shocklee for their help in mixing one of the radio programs. The two agreed and were so successful that Stephney eventually gave them their own show, "The Super Spectrum Mix Show," with Ridenhour taking the moniker Chuck D.
Around this time, young Ridenhour started trying his hand at rap. He had a love for the culture, but his foray into rap served another purpose: to fill airtime (At that time, there was a paucity of rap recordings to play.) Luckily, Chuck's voice proved to be a more than serviceable instrument. In a 1996 interview with Props Magazine, he stated, "I had a deep voice for a teenager and back then the test on an MC was how good your voice was. Back when, they had those old cheap systems, it was like if you didn't have a good voice, your shit wasn't going to carry. But my shit broke through. I didn't almost need a mic. My first influence in straight up rhyming was Melle Mel (of Grandmaster Flash and The Furious Five) in 1979 and this was before rap records. Here was a guy with a powerful voice but who also actually had intricate rhymes and a style." The songs they recorded started making their way around the New York area, one of them landing in the lap of record producer and executive Rick Rubin of Def Jam Recordings. Rubin started pursuing Chuck as a solo artist, but Ridenhour, self conscious about his age (He was in his mid-twenties.), preferred to pursue what he felt was a more stable career in radio, mobile Dj/concert promotion (He had a company called Spectrum City.), and club management. (He managed the Entourage, one of Long Island's first rap venues.)
A few years later, Chuck acquiesced to Rubin's repeated entreaties, but did so with the condition that other members of the Spectrum family be signed as well. Those members included Shocklee, who with his brother Keith, Eric Sadler and Gary G-Wiz made up the production team The Bomb Squad, turntable wizard Norman Rodgers, professionally known as Terminator X, staffer Richard Griffin, who would become "Minister of Information" Professor Griff, and William Drayton, a man who had become Chuck's radio co-host and who was better known by his graffiti tag name, Flavor Flav. The band's appearance would be augmented onstage by a regimented security force/step team dressed in military uniforms known as the S1Ws, which stood for Security of the First World" The group would take the name Public Enemy from the first recording Chuck and Hank made as a duo, "Public Enemy #1."
The group's first release, 1987's "Yo! Bum Rush the Show," was viewed as a powerful burst of rap fusion in the vein of Run-DMC's "Raising Hell," (There's a guitar solo from Living Colour's Vernon Reid on "Sophisticated B") but many were left feeling that the band had yet to find a voice of their own.
Their follow-up would take care of that problem. 1988's"It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back" found Chuck D's poetically-articulated ideas and The Bomb Squad's potent sonic collage engaged in a game of one-upmanship that provided the rap world with something it had never heard before. The dissonant almost whistle sound of the loop of "Rebel Without A Pause" called its listeners to attention, "Don't Believe The hype" provided a time tested slogan for skepticism toward mainstream reporting, "Cold Lampin' With Flavor" was a enjoyable showcase for the jovial sideman and the lyrics and video for "Black Steel In the Hour of Chaos," which found an inmate narrating an escape from death row, were palpable in the tension they created. (Especially of note is "Night of the Living Baseheads." The song ingeniously used Chuck D's voice saying "Bass" to call attention to problems caused by freebase and chopped up a horn sample to turn it into a siren of sorts. The song also spawned what is thought to be one of the best rap videos ever made, blending a frenetic performance clip, stock crime scene footage, a news broadcast motif (allowing for hysterical moments from Flavor and memorable cameos from MC Lyte and comedian/vj Chris Thomas), resulted in a vivid depiction of all facets of drug abuse.)
Hank Shocklee and Chuck D discussed the method behind the sound in an interview with Stay Free magazine. "The first thing we would do is the beat, the skeleton of the track," said Shocklee, "The beat would actually have bits and pieces of samples already in it, but it would only be rhythm sections. Chuck would start writing and trying different ideas to see what worked." "Once he got an idea, " he continued, "we would look at it and see where the track was going. Then, we would just start adding on whatever it needed, depending on the lyrics. I kind of architected the whole idea. The sound has a look to me, and Public Enemy was all about having a sound that had its own distinct vision. We didn't want to use anything we considered traditional R&B stuff--bass lines and melodies and chord structures and things of that nature." Added Chuck, "We thought sampling was just another way of arranging sounds. Just like a musician would take the sounds off of an instrument and arrange them their own particular way. So we thought we were quite crafty with it."
Others agreed. In describing the sonic assault of Public Enemy, journalist Kevin Powell wrote in Vibe, that "The PE sound--their signature 'bring the noise style'has affected the way rap groups sample what they sample. From the strategic layering of everyday sounds (sirens, car shrieks, etc.) to the use of voice snippets (Jesse Jackson, [Minister Louis] Farrakhan, Malcolm [X], et al.) to the reconstruction of beats by musicians like James Brown and Sly Stone, PE have helped transform hip-hop production from a rapper-and-DJ affair to a place where rap producers can now oversee movie soundtracks (Juice, Deep Cover, Above the Rim) and even release albums under their own names (The Chronic, Regulate . . . G Funk Era). PE's ideas--which have run the gamut from black nationalism to Islamic ethics to condescension toward women to social conservatism--have inspired artists as different as Ice Cube and Janet Jackson, and prompted tens of thousands of young black folks (and other youth as well) to question their political assumptions and their roles in the community." (The Bomb Squad would become so recognized for their talents that they would be called to work on "Poison," a blockbuster collection of R&B/Rap fusion performed by three members of New Edition, calling themselves Bell Biv Devoe, and "Amerikkka's Most Wanted," the emphatic solo debut from former NWA member Ice Cube.)
The other component of Public Enemy was, off course Chuck D's politics. In the Props piece, he explained why the political element was so important to him. "It's real to me because I remember seeing the news when King was shot and killed, Malcolm X and Medgar Evans shot and killed. I remember as a child seeing this. So it meant to me that I was being real with my shit." He furthered expounded on the origins of this element with The Progressive. "That comes directly from how and when we grew up. We came up in the 1960s. Political and cultural groups like the Black Panthers, and the Nation of Islam were reference points. Our parents brought the work of these groups to our attention, and it was educational and inspiring. My parents were radicals politically, but more than anything they were young parents who actually understood that there was a need and a time for change. They had a respect for the civil rights movement but also understood the need to further it."
Soon, though, activity outside the studio would soon overshadow that inside it. In a 1989 piece for the Washington Post, writer David Mills reprinted quotes allegedly made by Professor Griff in a UK publication in regard to the Arab-Isreali conflict. Griff was quoted as saying that "Jews are responsible for the majority of wickedness that goes on across the globe." (Griff denies the veracity of the quotes to this day.) Caught in a quandary, Chuck promptly ousted Professor Griff from the group. (Ironically, Griffin's temporary replacement, Lisa Williamson, also known as Sister Souljah, would be famously called out by then-Presidential candidate Bill Clinton for her remarks regarding the LA Riots.) Yet, it wasn't long that Griff was seen at the group's live performances, and, by 1994, Griff was firmly reinstated in the group. (Chuck and Griff would go on to work together in the rap/rock outfit Confrontation camp.) Whether they were for or against Griff's departure, nearly everyone was disappointed that a group that had become known for uncompromising stances would handle the incident in such a lukewarm fashion. (In a 1990 interview with the Los Angeles Times, Chuck would deny charges on anti-semitism. "I'm not anti-Semitic. I think it is a waste of time to be anti-anything. But I also won't let this [controversy] keep me, as a black nationalist, from talking about problems of the black people and asking questions about how these problems came about," he said. "What is happening now," he continued, "is that people are reading racism or anti-Semitic thoughts into everything we do. . . . I'm not a racist, but I am inquisitive and I hope that when I keep asking questions, people don't respond to them by saying it's a racist question because there is no such thing as a racist question. There are only racist answers.")
1990's "Fear of a Black Planet" found the group using the furor of the Professor Griff controversy to fuel an attack more sonically diverse than the one provided on its landmark predecessor. "Brothers Gonna Work It Out," the video for which did for police harassment what the one for "Baseheads" did for drug abuse. ³Burn Hollywood Burn,² which decried demeaning roles for blacks in film, "Fight the Power," which boasted a performance clip helmed by Spike Lee (who used the song to open his critically-acclaimed, racially- charged film "Do The Right Thing") that portrayed young blacks coming together in purposeful unity with a fervor that matched that found at any political convention, and the lighthearted Flav-featured "Can't Do Nothin' For Ya' Man." Flav was also the star of "911 is a Joke," a funky, humorous and caustic screed against late ambulance response times that matched "Fight The Power" in popularity.
Even though it didn't reflect the overall mood of the album, "Welcome to the Terrordome" was, at least initially, the main attraction of the album. Backed by a spiraling, careening rhythm, Chuck reacted to the media circus surrounding his group with free wheeling, vivid imagery spiked with defensiveness. Particularly cutting to some members of the Jewish community were the lines "Crucifixion ain't no fiction/So-called chosen, frozen/Apology made to whoever pleases/Still they got me like Jesus." Def Jam was pressured to alter or censor the lyrics, yet, in a 1989 New York Times piece, label head Russell Simmons said, "I'm not in the business of censorship. I hate what Professor Griff said, and I don't like him. But I think Chuck D. is very, very important to a lot of black kids in America - he's contributed so much to black youth, to the growth of black awareness and black pride.''
("It Takes A Nation" and "Fear of a Black Planet" are also noteworthy for another reason. They, along with Beastie Boys' "Paul's Boutique" and De La Soul's "3 Feet High and Rising", represent the final days of unregulated sampling.)
³Black Planet² was followed by 1991's "Apocalypse 91...The Enemy Strikes Black" which was lead by the provocative video for the single "Can't Truss It," which compared the plight of modern day blue collar workers with that of slaves coming over to the New World. The album also featured the progressive "I Don't Wanna Be Called Yo' Niga" and "By The Time I Get To Arizona," the latter of which decried Arizona's (temporary) decision not to observe a holiday in honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Furthermore, in acknowledgment of their hard rock fan base, the album included a rap/rock cover of "Nationıs² "Bring The Noise," performed with thrash outfit Anthrax. While the album continues to be thought off as one of Public Enemy's classic works, some were put off by the brutal and direct nature of both the lyrics and the production, the latter of which, for the first time, was not handled predominately by the Bomb Squad.
The group's next release would meet a wholly negative reception. By the time 1994's "Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age" entered the marketplace, the landmark releases of visceral, yet polished works such as Dr. Dre's "Chronic," Snoop Doggy Dogg's "Doggystyle" and Notorious B.I.G.'s "Ready To Die" had left PE's overt pro-black social consciousness out of style. Thus, the album was met with both lukewarm sales and, surprisingly, scorn from critics who had praised the group's efforts up until that point. (Time has been kind to the album, revealing it to be a solid, if not spectacular, work.) Frustrated, Chuck briefly and unofficially disbanded Public Enemy to focus on lecturing at college campuses, writing a manifesto entitled "Fight The Power" and releasing his first solo album, "Autobiograhy of Mistachuck.")
The group reunited for the soundtrack for Spike Lee' s basketball-focused Denzel Washington vehicle "He Got Game." The public was surprised by the band's success at modernizing its sound, some feeling that the use of Buffalo Springfield's "For What It's Worth" on the title track beat Puff Daddy at his own game, and the sparse, yet hard-hitting style of other tracks matching the work Wu-Tang Clan in its effectiveness. (Oddly enough, it may be this stylistic departure that has the album joining ""Bumrush" as the forgotten major label Public Enemy album.)
After the release of "Game," the group split from Def Jam after 12 years, a decision exacerbated by the band's posting of the song "Swindler's Lust" online without Def Jam's permission. Contrary to the belief that PE got too political for Def Jam, Chuck said in an interview with Perfect Sound Forever that the parting was financially motivated. "One of the things that made me want to leave was the fact that Def Jam went from Sony to Polygram, they were sold. I thought that Public Enemy and LL Cool J were integral parts of Def Jam's existence and that we at least deserved 2 1/2 points of the deal. We didn't get it and all that talk of us being family was just bullshit. I said 'fuck that, I'm outta here. Find me a taxi and execute this contract.'² The band became pioneers once more when they signed with the Atomic Pop label and became the first well-known act to release an album online when they brought "There's a Poison Goin' On" to the public. (Chuck eventually started his own label , Slam Jamz, on which Public Enemy have released three albums.)
While Chuck was branching out, PE's downtime found Flav going in and out of prison and rehab. Looking to be rejuvenated, he headed out to Los Angeles. He was soon approached by reality show producers Cris Abrego and Mark Cronin, who were riding high on the success of "The Surreal Life," a ³Real World²-type show for celebrities on a decline in their careers. Initially reluctant to participate, Flav eventually agreed, becoming a major draw on the show and having a romance with actress Brigette Nielsen that spun off its own show, "Strange Love." Once Flav and Brigette parted ways, the production duo decided to have Flavor be center stage in a"Bachelor"-type show where he would look to find love amongst a bevy of women. "Flavor of Love" started off well, but reached blockbuster status during its second season.
Not everyone was enjoying what they saw. Flav,--whose antics had always been the subject of controversy, with some viewing them as a necessary compliment to his counterpart's unwavering seriousness ("The spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine go down," as Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine put it) and others finding them to be a needless concession in PE's overall sound--once again found himself being scrutinized. Some people felt that the hypeman re-enforced negative stereotypes of black men. Additionally, some people noted that, although the casts for all three seasons were multiracial, the black women on the show were the most belligerent. (The show ended with Flav settling down with the mother of his youngest child.)
Knowing how seriously he takes the depiction of blacks in mainstream media, many people wondered what Chuck D thought about the show. They were disappointed when, in a piece he wrote for Vibe magazine, at the height of latter-day Flavormania, the front man went the political route (no pun intended) taking great pains to criticize what some felt was the ever-deepening descent of reality TV programming without attacking either "Flavor of Love" or Flavor Flav specifically. (It has been speculated that Chuck was torn between what presumably were his own qualms with the show and the undeniable resurgence in notoriety that the show brought his group.(Indeed, the group released its most recent album, the critically lauded "How You Sell Soul to a Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul??? " at this time. The conflict was reportedly on display during the group's run of concerts last year, with Chuck, according to many internet accounts, showing non-verbal annoyance at Flav's frequent monologues regarding the opportunities ³Flavor of Love² opened up for him, rambling moments that occasionally drew boos from the paying audience.)
On his own, Chuck D hosts a show on Air America Radio and is frequently called upon by talk show hosts, journalists and documentarians when a well-read, left-leaning voice with streetcred is sought.
He never fails to provide food for thought. Without calling out any of today's artists by a name, he has criticized the materialism of modern rap music, what he refers to as the "Big Willie Syndrome." "Why flaunt what you got in front of someone else who doesn't have?" he said in the Props Magazine piece, "Just because you're able to get into the house, don't be a house Negro and show off to everyone else in the field. Black celebrities are manufactured. Just like they make dollar bills, they make black celebrities. We're here only because they allow us to be so. So we shouldn't be saying 'Alright, we're better than you. I got me a fuckin Lexus, I'm making five million dollars a year because I can sing and I'm better than you.' That's Big Willie. That muthafucka ain't Big Willie compared to the muthafucka who made him Big Willie. Big Willie is usually the black guy next to the white boy who writes the check." In a 2004 interview with Mother Jones, he suggested a reason that the problem is so culturally-oriented. "A lot of times black folks look for love in all the wrong places. You're always looking for somebody to love you, be accepted, and there's the insecurities that are even transmitted through rap." Thankfully, his presence continues to be felt musically, as he has made guest appearances on songs by artists as disparate as Sonic Youth and Nelly. (He appears on "Self-Esteem" on Nelly's 2009 album "Brass Knuckles.")
Whatever medium they are found in, one has to respect a group that proved that the mind could be used to fight the power.
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