From: dwarner@silver.ucs.indiana.edu (David J.)
Subject: Chuck D. Interview
Organization: Indiana University
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 16:28:25 GMT

I was glancing across the AP "Junk" wire today, which includes lots of fun
features and written in the NY Times, LA Times and Baltimore Sun, and I
happened to come across this little number. According to the editors' side
notes, this is an advance copy of something that should run on Sunday in some 
of your local papers. Enjoy.

David J.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHECKING IN WITH CHUCK D.
By Robert Hilburn
Los Angeles Times
(reprinted without permission)

   WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. _ It's easy to understand why Public Enemy's Chuck 
D. looks tired as he slumps in a chair on the patio of a West Hollywood hotel 
the morning after the first of the rap group's two concerts with U2 recently 
at Dodger Stadium.<
   The problem, says the 32-year-old New Yorker, is that he has been on the 
run since Public Enemy started touring with U2 early last month.<
   To the pop world, however, Chuck D. seems to have been on the run non-stop 
for five years now.<
   It was 1987 when Public Enemy's debut album, ``Yo! Bum Rush the Show,'' 
ushered in a new era in rap by adding a sense of social-political urgency and 
sophistication to a field that had been dismissed largely as lightweight.<
   Like Bob Marley in reggae during the '70s, Chuck D. (real name: Carlton 
Ridenhour) not only influenced a new generation of rappers, but also became an 
ambassador for the music. In that role, he helped expand the tough inner-city 
sound to a much wider audience.<
   By 1992 standards, some of Public Enemy's early tunes, including ``Prophets 
of Rage'' and ``Miuzi Weighs a Ton,'' are tame. But they were the first wave 
of hard-core, accusatory rap, and they were attacked at the time as everything 
from inflammatory to racist.<
   Chuck D. fought back in his music and in interviews, spreading a message of 
black pride and self-reliance that decried gang violence and drugs as quickly 
as it attacked governmental indifference and oppression. In 1988's ``Don't 
Believe the Hype,'' he declared, ``I'm not a hooligan. ... I'm not a 
racist.''<
   He continues to push boundaries, generating more criticism and alarm last 
year in the video for ``By the Time I Get to Arizona,'' which included a 
staged assassination of politicians. The song was a slap at Arizona officials 
for failing to join the rest of the nation in declaring a Martin Luther King 
Jr. holiday. (On Nov. 3, Arizona voters approved a ballot measure establishing 
a King holiday.)<
   The U2 tour should expand the audience for Public Enemy and rap even more, 
as the group performs before 50,000-plus fans a night.<
   During the hotel interview, rap's most acclaimed figure looked back on the 
last five years of rap and of Public Enemy.<
   <
   Q: How would you rate the state of rap today?<
   A: People used to say rap wasn't going to last ... rap wasn't going to 
grow. Well, we took it around the world four times, 36 countries, 22 tours, 
five albums. Now, the companies are all out there promoting it. There are rap 
sections 40 feet long in stores that once didn't want to carry any rap 
records.<
   Q: What do you think is the biggest public misconception about you?<
   A: Where do I start? I've heard it all. I guess the main thing is that a 
lot of people think I'm on some kind of search-and-destroy mission ... out to 
tear everything down. The truth is I have a great respect for this planet and 
God's creations. If anything, I'm on a live-and-learn mission. We all have to 
learn to live together. We have to coexist, and that means learning more about 
each other ... education. Too many people in this world are just trained to 
believe certain things, and it's hard to get them to change their mind. But 
the only tools you have are communication, education.<
   No one is going to agree on everything, but there is a starting place. The 
Earth is the only place we can live so we have to take care of it, and we have 
to respect each other because we need each other for our existence. We better 
start on those two points and build on from there.<
   Q: How did you develop your style ... your themes?<
   A: We wanted to be different from other artists _ so we would stand out. 
Everybody in rap at the time was talking about gold chains and being stupid, 
and (producer Hank Shocklee) and I wanted to find a new direction. What always 
gave rap a leg up on other musics was the anger in it, but the anger before 
was always directed at other rappers _ ``I'm better than you'' and so forth. 
When we came along, we decided to direct our anger at something real ... the 
government and people who were responsible for what was happening in society. 
If you look back at our first record, the subtitle is ``The Government Is 
Responsible.''<
   Q: What was the reaction in rap circles?<
   A: If you introduce something strong, there is always going to be mixed 
feelings. ... Some people will want to tune you out, but others might start 
checking you out, wanting to find out more. I'd say by the second album it was 
easier. You weren't alone in an empty room talking about a subject nobody else 
was talking about. Soon, pretty much everybody in rap seemed to be talking 
about real things.<
   Q: Do you feel a kinship to rappers like Ice Cube and Ice-T?<
   A: Absolutely. I was at Cube's the other night. We have to support each 
other as peers, as artists because I really do believe there is an underlying 
tone in America that doesn't want to see black men express themselves, whether 
what they're saying is right or wrong.... But that expression is essential if 
we are going to change things as a society.<
   Q: Are you any more optimistic about the future in America than you were 
five years ago?<
   A: I think rap music has brought a lot of the tensions and problems out 
into the open ... and that's not going to stop. There are new voices coming 
along all the time. But you have this tug of war.... You have something 
pulling people together, but then you have certain people who don't want to 
lose control, who don't want to lose money. As people work to try to get it 
better, there is something that is always going to try to throw salt in the 
game because they will lose something.<
   Q: What do you say to people who see the violence in the ``By the Time I 
Get to Arizona'' and hear the anger in the music and think you are 
irresponsible and dangerous?<
   A: I can't go into Scottsdale, Arizona, and talk to a whole bunch of 70-
year-olds and say, ``Love me.'' My whole thing is you can't teach old dogs new 
tricks. It's their children and their grandchildren that I'm trying to reach. 
They're the ones who'll make the change, and I think that's the message and 
hope of the last five years.<
   The biggest gap in America is between white Americans 25 and under and 
white Americans 40 and over. Remember how they used to call it a generation 
gap? Well, it's a cultural gap now.<
   When I was growing up, there was a big gap between me and the white kids. 
They'd be off listening to Led Zep (Zeppelin), long hair, smoking hash. I was 
into playing ball and my own vibe. Now, you see a white kid and there is a 
white understanding of black culture 25 and under, and a feeling of, ``Damn, 
things really have been kinda (expletive) up. ... What can we do?''<
   And that understanding grows every time Ice Cube gets onstage at 
``Lollapalooza'' or we go onstage with U2. The audience gets more information 
about conditions in this country. White America will get changed from its 
future rather than its past<
-- 
- David J. --------------------------- *Coming in 1993:                      *
- Blue Riddle Productions ------------ *RAP IS AN ART/TURN UP THE MICROPHONE *
- dwarner@silver.ucs.indiana.edu ----- *David J.'s debut 12" single          *
- Sports Editor/Indiana Daily Stupid - *ON VINYL from Blue Riddle Productions*