“That shit is over, If there was a festival and it was filled with anti-Semitic slurs… or racial slurs at anyone but black people, what do you think would happen? Why does there have to be such a double standard?” ~ Chuck D
Chuck D wants Urban radio to “get it right or be gone” — and he’s not just talking about Hot 97 in New York. The Public Enemy co-founder has been in a Twitter war of words with the Hot 97 team since the station’s Summer Jam concert on June 1, when he derided “what a sloppy fiasco (the station) has made of Hip-Hop.”
Here is some more of what the Public Enemy had to say:
“My unhappiness about the Summer Jam — particularly over the prolific use of the N-word and a line-up that did not adequately represent the New York hip-hop community — was the last straw in a general dissatisfaction over the state of rap and radio stations that play and brand themselves with the music.
My goal by year’s end is to change the face and sound of urban radio,” D promised. “I’ve been in this shit 30 years, too long to just sit and let it be. I’m not going to be the grim reaper. I don’t want to be the grim reaper. But people have to stand up and we need some change, and it’s time.”
This year’s Hot 97 Summer Jam featured performances by Nas, 50 Cent, Childish Gambino, Iggy Azalea, the Roots, Nick Minaj, Wiz Khalifa and many more. Chuck D says he was particularly disturbed that the use of the N-word was so readily tolerated by the station and festival organizers.
“That shit is over, If there was a festival and it was filled with anti-Semitic slurs… or racial slurs at anyone but black people, what do you think would happen? Why does there have to be such a double standard?” ~ Chuck D
Citing the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival as an example, D added that he felt it would be proper to include a contract clause for performers “to at least be civil in the presentation of the art form they’ve been granted with.”
And though he said that he’s “not trying to be a moral compass,” D added that he also feels it’s time for record labels to also consider clauses “saying you can’t be derogatory to the community you can from” in contracts with their artists.
D said he was also disappointed that the Summer Jam lineup did not include enough local artists, especially for a radio station from the birthplace of rap and hip-hop culture.
“It’s just a sloppy presentation of the art form, the worst presentation known to man,” D explained. “It’s negligent. There needs to be a greater representation of the culture and the community on that radio station.” Broadening the discussion to the state of Urban radio in general, D said that, “When people say the word Urban, they don’t know what that means. When they say urban music, they mean playing black artists — and artists outside the community. It should be a representation of playing music by a lot of different artists — non-black artists, too. I just want to see artists be able to have fair game.” ~Chuck D
via yahoo news
Think it’s time for public enemy to come back ina major way. Lot more people are ready to listen for what they been saying for decades.
PE released two albums in 2012 and are still touring the country and overseas.
If anyone can go there…he can (and should). And I think he should be a moral compass…hip hop has strayed from its roots of uplifting a community to focusing on superficiality and living in excess. Two things hip hop was not born from.
Cosign X 10. Chuck D IS the moral compass of hip hop and he’s more than earned his respect. I hope all those young bucks will take heed to his words.
Hip-Hop Is Dead. We need to point the finger at ourselves for selling out our culture. Brothas, We F**ked Up!!!
Hip-Hop, in its true form, will never die. This corporate and agenda based RAP MUSIC that is being sold as hip hop is the problem and not hip hop itself.
@Vandellish
I’m frustrated, upset, sad, angry…All Of The Above! My apologies to the people, this crap that we see today is not authentic hip-hop. Will it rise again, Nobody Knows? The degrading of a musical genre that means something to our people is the real tragedy.
I tried waaay bac whn eminem came out but niccas wasnt tryna here it i said they killed pac n big n now tryna make rap white nobody wanted to listen they thought it was cool to rap about drug abuse hatin ur moms n baby moms plus he made that song black bitches smh niccas want massa approval so much they’ll cept anything n get mad n call u racist cuz u c the bullshit at hand jus sayn black ppl lets boycott all this bullshit they callin rap n boycott any niccas perpetrating a fraud all white rappers they cant relate to our struggle never will lets take it back to it substance
Yeah, Iggy is doing real badly. Billboard just named Fancy THE song of summer 2014.
It’s no longer in our hands to decide what’s bonafied rap and what’s not. If the young kids are buying it, it’s solid gold to the record companies. And don’t think that only white girls dig Iggy. My sister and all her friends are singing that damn song to the point where I’m thinking of stealing their MP3 players just to get some peace.
Fight the power video is so powerful to me idk the exact facts as i was only 12 the young lady in white was the victim of police brutality she was raped shitted n urinated on n left for dead by the police n public enemy made that rap n video in awareness of it along with tupacs brenda gotta a baby also public enemies cant trust it (my fave pe rap) along with so many more left impressions now i hear this so called rap shit n wanna fight cuz it is disrepectful to the pioneers n fans jus sayn it time black ppl to leave this whiteman n uncletom slavery shit they callin rap in the trash where it belongs
Going to a PE show wants you want to tear shit up and fight. That’s how powerful their music is. Love the whole group.
Makes
Fight the Power was hip hop and PE at its best. Seeing that video with all of them black folks at that rally hyped as hell and ready to set it off. That’s where hip hop was reaching its pinnacle of making serious changes. The complete opposite of where it is at now 25 years later since Fight the Power.
Except she wasn’t. Even old Al Sharpton has admitted it was a hoax. But I get your point and I agree that nothing gets you fired up like Fight the Power.
Chuck D hit on da head and speaking the truth, Hip Hop iS dOA. Sad to say.
Hip Hop is going the way of rock and roll.
I’ve been off corporate agenda based hIp hop music for 5 yrs now.
They sucked me in 20 yrs ago.
But I’m too smart now.
but flava flav kind of tarnished their images
with the dating realty show all the ratchetness
I love PE, but it never dimenished their message and their role to me. I can’t take Flav seriously and I believe by giving him a show was done on purpose to mess up their legacy. That plan was put into motion back in 1994 when the Source and other rap magazines and media tried to destroy their message by writing bad reviews of their albums.
even professor griff said something about flav fav
in youtube video
Yeah I remember seeing that video. He still is vocal about it. When kids see Flav the first thing they will remember is his reality show not being apart of the revolutionary rap group Public Enemy.
griff said that flav looks like a Mexican blaque a more
who dress up in flamboyant colours
he even showed a photo of it and a photo of flav kissing Bridget (Sylvester Stallone ex wife)
“Radio…..suckas never play me”. Shut em down Chuck!!
I have alot of respect for Chuck D. Why isn’t he as vocal as Professor Griff? Griff has exposed the American empire and the black boule’s more than anybody else. Chuck D has been kind of silent. Nevertheless, Chuck D is one hundred percent correct!
he rap about it in a song that counts
Chuck D has way more gravitas politically than Professor Griff. I like PG, and some of the things he says are interesting, but he will never be taken seriously by the the black intellectual movement. There is much that he says which is provably false. Chuck D chooses his words carefully, and when he speaks, powerful people listen.
He’s absolutely right.
Preach Chuck D – his is right on, but we as Black people got to back him and support him and throw those sellout blacks back to the other side with their masters. We must be in united and not let them divide us like we were united back in the day with Public Enemy and our true Black culture of hip hop, rnb, love and unity.
Hip-Hop is dead and has not evolved. Its easy to say N, heaux abd B and you have a major hit. So there is no lyrical content because no one want to do the work. Its easy to be ratchet. Tired of hearing b!tch so I don’t listen anymore.
True. It’s hard to rap when you wanna tell the truth and stay on point and be funky. Takes a real artist. Easy to rap when your a liar and don’t care what people get outta your music.
Hiphop, for Blacks is basically dead and WM taking over WW too. Yall let it happen. Chuck D is right. How we gonna get mad about Beiber talking about N when thats all hiphop talks about N this N that!n BP ain’t got the right to control free speech of others when we talk like vulgar fools all the time all over everywhere you hear some loud talking BP call themselves a N.
Props to Chuck D much respect if you’re reading this keep holding it down Pa!
How did we let it happen? We never bought Biebers shit. it happened because white folks bought what they want to hear. how can we compete with those dollars? It’s supply vs demand. if the public won’t buy conscious black rap, it ain’t gonna happen. They can release their stuff independently and on the internet, but they’ll never sell to mass numbers.
The genesis of the problem is when white people fell in love with rap. They then began to modify the medium to fit their wishes. And it has worked. Any successful rapper today, male or female, has a major white audience. Shit, even the Latinos/PRs?Cubans have a bigger paying public than we do. Until we grow our population, which entails men having sex with women, we stay being the bottom minority. HAVE MORE KIDS IN FAMILIES YALL.
Naw don’t have more kids unless you gonna MARRY to make that family legacy legal. we don’t need no more fatherless bastards running around. Why BM keep getting passes for being sell outs, huh?
The genesis of rap is BM sold it out to peddle thug culture. Sell outs. Call it what it is.
What part of “IN FAMILIES” was unclear?
As far as the reason why the original rap pioneers sold out, I don’t think we are in disagreement completely. I think one of the reasons that they went full force into thug culture began with the shift from good smart hip hop ala De La Soul, ATCQ, Gangstarr etc. to the new Cali gangsta rap of NWA, Ice T, etc in the late 80s. What happened is the upper middle class white kids jumped all over it as a way to say F You to their establishment parents.
The record companies saw G R E E N with the rich kids bucks and the black wannabe gangsta kids throwing money at it. So gangsta begat thug life and it never really went away. which gets back to my point that the industry demands what will sell of their artists. And for now, crap sells.
You hear this “YoungMoney” and those one hit wonder ,slave talkn rappers? We don’t like your shit. You have sold out Black ppl for 2 long. Every dead Black man’s blood is on your hands. Your soul is wanted in hell