403 lines
21 KiB
Plaintext
403 lines
21 KiB
Plaintext
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the
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-=*/> Buzzz Bros. <\*=-
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present
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*=-- --=*
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{ 20 Questions for Chuck D }
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Public Enemy's No. 1
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Raps about race, groupies
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and why he doesn't sing
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{ his daughter to sleep }
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*=-- --=*
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*=-- --=*
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{ A Playboy interview conducted by Bill Wyman }
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{ Originally appearing in Playboy, November 1990 }
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*=-- --=*
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Text Entry By
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Major Havoc
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From it's inception, rap was one of the most potent musical forms of the
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Eighties. At its slightest, it was filled with sexual braggadocio, and almost
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obsessive self-absorption: The subject of most rap music was, in fact, rap
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music. But groups such as Grandmaster Flash and the furious Five, who recorded
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"The Message," and Kurtis Blow, who hit the charts with "The Breaks,"
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demonstrated that rappers could be articulate and stridently political.
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Public Enemy's leader is the stentorian Chuck D, whose deep-voiced
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preaching is pitted against the chirpy tenor of his clownish co-rapper, Flavor
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Flav. The group enjoys muddy politics: To a core philosophy of black
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self-help, the band adds various strains of black radicalism, most pungent
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amoung them an admixture of uncritical Farrakhanism. Yet Public Enemy has
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achieved massive, cross-racial success, selling millions of records and filling
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arenas across the country. The band's third album, "Fear of a Black Planet,"
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is, in addition to rap, riveting rock music. Chuck D was born Carlton
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Ridenhour 30 years ago. Bill Wyman spoke with him at Public Enemy headquarters
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on Long Island and at the offices of Def Jam Records in Manhattan. "The
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shouted slogans and ragged beats are for the stage and the studio," reports
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Wyman. "In person, Chuck is personable and quiet, with, as he puts it, 'a face
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to fit in.' It turns out that the fiery radical would rather talk about his
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family and his business than about politics: He and his partner and producer,
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Hank Shocklee, employ nearly 30 people; he's proud of the fact that they
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practice what they preach."
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-=*/> Question # 1. <\*=-
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PLAYBOY: Rap music can be jarring and harsh, almost antimusic. What sort
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of music was around the house when you were growing up?
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CHUCK D: My mother and father were record collectors. My pops was into
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jazz; to this day, I don't have a sharp liking for it, though I
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guess it's in me. My moms played all the soul. She'd play Al
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Green over and over and over - the same record, over and over
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again - and then Stevie Wonder over and over, and then Aretha,
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Aretha, Aretha.
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-=*/> Question # 2. <\*=-
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PLAYBOY: What was your road to rap?
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CHUCK D: I would go to clubs and check out the rappers, but it got to the
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point where they were using too much echo chamber and the words
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were muffled. I wanted to hear straight-out rhymes. I thought
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I could do a better job. And one day, I did.
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-=*/> Question # 3. <\*=-
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PLAYBOY: Your observations are of an artistic nature and they're being taken
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very seriously. Do you consider yourself a black leader now?
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CHUCK D: I'm a switchboard and a dispatcher of information. But I want to
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be in a a position to encourage black people to be leaders, and
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when you set some sort of exaple, you have to take on some of the
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responsibilty. There are about 30 people in our structure, and
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there's never going to be a situation where me and Hank are walking
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around like Donald Trump. Being a black leader is not just saying,
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"Well, I'm Nelson Mandela." A black leader takes care of his kids,
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endorses some sort of family structure and keeps his family
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together. I think my father is a black leader.
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Not many black males are men. We have boys who are sixty years
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old. What makes a man is accepting responsibilities and having a
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low tolerance for oppresing forces.
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-=*/> Question # 4. <\*=-
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PLAYBOY: What's the difference between Michael Jackson and Michael Jordan?
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CHUCK D: Michael Jordan's face isn't shifting. Michael Jackson you feel
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sorry for. Michael Jordan you don't feel sorry for, because he is
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doing exactly what he wants to do on his own terms. People are
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crossing over to -him-. Michael Jackson feels that he'll get more
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acceptance if he changes his face so it looks nicer to white
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people. He failed to understand that people liked him as he was,
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and motherfuckers don't like to see him with a lack of respect for
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what God gave him. Back in the early Eighties, Michael Jackson
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could have really changed the way white people looked at black
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people. It's not what's outside you. It's what's inside you. The
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music comes from within.
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-=*/> Question # 5. <\*=-
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PLAYBOY: What did Carlton Ridenhour do before he became Chuck D?
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CHUCK D: I was a messenger for a black company, delivering Government
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photos. The people who owned the place gave me a lot of
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inspiration, because it was netirely a black-owned operation, with
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a lot of white people working for it. I just loved working there.
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I wrote Yo! Bum Rush the Show [Public Enemy's first album] while I
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was there. Also, me and Flavor used to drive these U-Hauls for my
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father's business, and that was some trick. People in New York
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would crowd the street. But they wouldn't crowd the street when
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Flavor was driving.
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-=*/> Question # 6. <\*=-
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PLAYBOY: Can you explain Flavor's clock?
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CHUCK D: Back in '87, people were wearing those stop watches, and one day,
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one of the boys brought up this clock. I thought it was hype, and
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I started wearing a bigger clock. He just kept getting bigger and
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bigger clocks. I took my clocks off.
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-=*/> Question # 7. <\*=-
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PLAYBOY: You make some of the hardest rock records ever made - they're
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dissonant, loud and challenging. Does this approach make it
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difficult to get your message across?
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CHUCK D: One of our objectives is to uplift our race and rebuild the black
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structure, rebuild the black man and woman. A lot of us are
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hardheaded about it. But if I smack you on the head with this
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newspaper, you'll definately listen up. Bang! "Yeah! What's Up?"
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Rather than just me saying, "Yo, check this out."
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Originally, we wanted to make a record that would stand out
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from all the others sonically. We made our first single, Public
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Enemy No. 1, in December 1984. I liked that particular sample, but
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there was another consideration: We could monitor who was
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listening. My parents lived on the corner, and I could listen to
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what the cars were playing on their systems as they drove by. If
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you just heard a beat, it could be any record. But if it had the
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noise on it, then I knew they were playing the jam.
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-=*/> Question # 8. <\*=-
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PLAYBOY: In May 1989, your former band member Professor Griff announced that
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"Jews are responsible for the majority of wickedness that goes on
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across the globe." The predictable brouhaha ensued, you apologized
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and Griff ultimately left the group. Around that time, you played
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*(see note) a concert in Chicago, and you sought the advice of Louis Farrakhan.
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What did he say to you?
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CHUCK D: He said, Chuck, what you got to do is, you got to lead. And if it
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doesn't go your way, you've got to put your foot down. For the
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sake of being right against what's wrong. The Spike Lee movie
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[Do the Right Thing] came out, and the media were at the starting
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gate. I was trying to handle the internal situation [with
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Professor Griff], but if I had the chance to do it all over again,
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I would have told -him- to handle it, or else.
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-=*/> Question # 9. <\*=-
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PLAYBOY: Do you rap your daughter to sleep at night?
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CHUCK D: No, my daughter sings to me. Shit, I can't sing a lick. When I
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off stage, I can't rap, and I can't remember lyrics too well. I
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try to sing a little reggae to her. But he's singing off the
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radio already. She's into some other shit.
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-=*/> Question # 10. <\*=-
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PLAYBOY: How did you acquire your penchant for sloganeering?
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CHUCK D: It's our background in the black community. We always saw that
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black people bought shit that was not marketed to them.
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Corporate America does not understand this. If you want to sell
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to black America, all you got to do is sell to the whites. Black
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people don't seperate things into black and white; everything in
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the country is white. If we just said, We're only going to buy
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shit thats marketed to black people, we wouldn't have a fucking
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thing. [Holds coffee cup up] What, a mug for blacks? [Mocking]
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"I'm not going to buy Cheerios until I see a black logo on it."
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That's the background me and Hank had. We weren't selling
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Cheerios.
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-=*/> Question # 11. <\*=-
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PLAYBOY: What hero broke your heart?
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CHUCK D: Ralph Abernathy went out like a cold-ass wig. [Abernathy's book,
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And the Walls Came Tumbling Down, contained a brief reference to
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Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s, last night, supposedly shared with
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at least two women, which provoked furor amoung black leaders.
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Abernathy died of a heart attack a few months later.] And it's sad
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to see people of that stature disappear with no tears. The things
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that happened on the inside should have stayed on the inside. It
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shouldn't have become public discussion, because it clouded
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Abernathy's objectives, and people wanted to dwell on those
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negative points. It's like with us: Public Enemy can talk about
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eighty positive things, but people will always dwell on the
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anti-semitism or racism from 1989.
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-=*/> Question # 12. <\*=-
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PLAYBOY: Public Enemy belittles gays in its lyrics. Isn't that a form of
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prejudice?
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CHUCK D: Not really. Like I sing in my song: "Man to man / I don't know if
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they can / From what I know / The parts don't fit." Love between
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two men shouldn't involve sex. People don't know what true love is
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- even a man and a woman shouldn't just say, I'm going to sex you
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out and that's going to be love. There are gays in the black
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community because black women are not being loved from the heart,
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and black men are feeling alienated. This causes people to
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withdraw from the normal man - woman relationships.
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-=*/> Question # 13. <\*=-
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PLAYBOY: What are Public Enemy groupies like compared with, say, Motley Crue
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groupies?
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CHUCK D: [Laughs] They're a lot neater. They're more correct, they got
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their heads together, they want to learn more. They're just
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happy that we're some brothers taking a stand. When we first came
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out, our whole thing was not to appeal to women. Every time a rap
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group would come along, they'd turn into sex symbols. I said that
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when I started Public Enemy, it was going to be the best group in
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the world, and I'd look out for the brothers first. Our program
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is to -rebuild- the black man so he's got respect for himself, and
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for the black woman too. You're not going to see us singing songs
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like [falsetto] "I love you baby, and let me get you in the back
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and sex you in the corner." Our song Revolutionary Generation is
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about true love for our sisters. If you have children, take care
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them. Help your sister out, help your community out by being a man
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leading that community. 'Cause our sisters have been holding the
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weight of the community for so long.
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-=*/> Question # 14. <\*=-
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PLAYBOY: The Professor Griff controversy sidelined Public Enemy for months.
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During the hullabaloo, you made the almost plaintative remark, "I
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was looking forward to spending a summer talking about Elvis
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Presley and John Wayne." You were referring to the calculated
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insults from Fight the Power: "Elvis is a hero to most / But he
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never meant shit to me, you see / Straight out racist that sucker
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was simple and plain / Motherfuck him and John Wayne." We'd like
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to give you the opportunity now to tell us what you have against
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Elvis.
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CHUCK D: Elvis' attitude toward blacks was that of people in the South at
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that particular time. The point of the song is not about Elvis so
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much, and it's not about people that idolize that motherfucker,
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like he made no errors and was never wrong. Elvis doesn't mean
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shit. White America's heros are different from black America's
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heros. John Wayne could go around in these movies and kill
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Indians and he was all right. But a black man like Louis
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Farrakhan comes out for the uplifting of black people wand whites
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pick at things and throw shit at him. The people I look up to are
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[Illinois Representative] Gus Savage, Farrakhan, Angela Davis, and
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even Jesse Jackson. Nat Turner - who went into Virginia and
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wreaked havoc on its oppressors - was righteous. You know who
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meant shit to me? Marcus Garvey. Marcus Garvery is -not- an
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American Icon. He was dogged by the American Government. You
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know what I'm saying? Not John Wayne. Not Elvis Presley. Not
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Marilyn Monroe. I give less than a -fuck- about those
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motherfuckers.
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-=*/> Question # 15. <\*=-
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PLAYBOY: One of the things Public Enemy does best is manipulate the media by
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making deliberately controversial statements. At the same time,
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there's a risk of going too far: Your account of the Griff
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contorversy in Welcome to the Terrordome started a new round of
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anti-Semitism charges against the group. Would you give us an
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explication of those lines?
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CHUCK D: A lot of times, I'll say something just to make people jump. Then
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I can say, "See, I caught you offside." I plan the dangers of it.
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This time, everyone was accusing me of bringing back Hitler's
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reasons for killing the Jews, something that I never heard of in my
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life. Now, out of one hundred lines in the song, they looked at
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four. The lines go like this: "Crucifixion ain't no fiction." I
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believe that Christ was a brother who got crucified. "So called -
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chosen frozen." That was my only reference to the Jewish
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community, which was appaled by the remarks in the Griff article.
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"Frozen" means stopped in their tracks. And I said "so-called
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chosen" because I don't think that one group of people are God's
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chosen people. "Apology made to whoever pleases." That's what I
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did in 1989 after all this happened. "Still they got me like
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Jesus." My whole point is that the media is still taking me out.
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And the response was, "Well, I don't believe it." What's your
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criteria for not believing me? A lot of people were mad because I
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put Griff back in the group after taking him out. But then again,
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it's my group, and this is the black community I live in. I could
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live down the block from this man, but that's not white America's
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concern. I said that this was wrong, and now let's move on.
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-=*/> Question # 16. <\*=-
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PLAYBOY: Once and for all, explian what seperates blacks and Jews today.
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CHUCK D: It's bullshit. No one in the black community gives a fuck about
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Jewish people. The issue with black people is when do I get paid,
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and why are these white motherfuckers fucking with me? Black
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people do not seperate Jews from gentiles. Really I don't
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understand it.
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-=*/> Question # 17. <\*=-
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PLAYBOY: You've said that you have no problem with whites; it's just "acting
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Caucasian" that causes problems. Are you using the word Caucasian
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in the same way some whites use the word nigger?
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CHUCK D: Historically, acting caucasian hasn't done one motherfucking
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positive thing for black people. If whites want to do something
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positive, they can realize that they're a small part of the human
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family and not the big part of it that they think they are, trying
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to convince the world that they are.
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-=*/> Question # 18. <\*=-
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PLAYBOY: Who can tell you you're full of shit?
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CHUCK D: [Laughs] Oh, shit, man, yeah! I got some parents who put me in my
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place. Hank will put me in my place. That's what happened last
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year. Hank said, Listen: Give a fuck. You're responsible for
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thirty motherfuckers. Family and structure are important.
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-=*/> Question # 19. <\*=-
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PLAYBOY: What is the proper target for black rage? Are you advocating hate?
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CHUCK D: Hate is not a nice word. You got to hate your oppressor, but you
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have to know who your oppressor is, and your oppressor is not an
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individual. It's a collective train of thought; it's a collective
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state of mind. You should hate that shit. But you shouldn't hate
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a person.
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Although, if that person claims that he is at the steering
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wheel of that force of oppression, then you make your move, you
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know what I'm saying? [Laughs]
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-=*/> Question # 20. <\*=-
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PLAYBOY: Arsenio Hall has not yet asked you to come on his show. How come?
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CHUCK D: Arsenio has a lot of pressure on him. He's got to please
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everybody, but at the same time, he has a black responsibility. He
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shouldn't be so scared to put us on. Public Enemy has a larger
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white audience than any of the rappers who have been on Arsenio's
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show.
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___________________________________________
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* Havoc's Note: (From Question # 8.)
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I was at that show in July of 1989. It was an outside show
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at Farrakhan's Nation Center. Myself, and the two others
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that I went with were the only whites there. I have to admit,
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we were treated with more respect than I got at the Grateful
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Dead show the same month.
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-=*/> Buzzz Bros. <\*=-
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To all racists, bigots, and those with hatred in your hearts:
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Gas Face Given
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___________________
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Special Thanks to:
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Lorraine Olivia (The Playmate of the Month - who happens to be from Chicago)
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___________________
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(c) MCMXC -=/*> Buzzz Bros. <\*=-
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X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X
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Another file downloaded from: The NIRVANAnet(tm) Seven
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& the Temple of the Screaming Electron Taipan Enigma 510/935-5845
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Burn This Flag Zardoz 408/363-9766
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realitycheck Poindexter Fortran 510/527-1662
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Lies Unlimited Mick Freen 801/278-2699
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The New Dork Sublime Biffnix 415/864-DORK
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The Shrine Rif Raf 206/794-6674
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Planet Mirth Simon Jester 510/786-6560
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"Raw Data for Raw Nerves"
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X-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-X
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