connecting*the*dots

(shot by renocargo)

The Insider: Chuck D
by Andy Langer

WHO: Chuck D, 20-year leader of Public Enemy, the seminal hip-hop group whose 1990 LP, Fear of a Black Planet, was recently chosen by the Library of Congress for a list of 50 recordings worthy of inclusion in the National Recording Registry.

Austin Chronicle: Once again, it seems like best of the times and the worst of times for hip-hop.

Chuck D: It always is. That’s our history. But I think right now hip-hop’s value is too often weighed in quantity, not quality. When you just talk about business, I tell people slavery was a booming business in America, one of the strongest businesses America ever had. It was morally and ethically corrupt and bankrupt. We have to watch ourselves when we measure the success of something based wholly on numbers.

AC: Isn’t the nature of the record business to focus on dollars and cents?

CD: Sure, but I think its lack of emotional attachment to the art and music has really hurt in the digital transition. To me, a lot of the people who replaced guys like Berry Gordy, Ahmet Ertegün, and Al Bell weren’t big enough fans of the music. And you have journalists limited in the knowledge of the music they cover. So the attitude is, “Yesterday don’t count; now counts, and tomorrow we’ll wait for the next big thing, because today’s not that great either.” That’s a terrible attitude to have. The music business is healthy. The record business is in trouble.

AC: Where does that leave PE? Twenty years in? What’s your legacy?

CD: Twenty years and 57 tours. We got our passports in 1987 and have been spreading our dream around the world ever since. We tour the U.S. every four years and meet people who ask, “When are you going to come back through here?” We might not, but that doesn’t mean we’re not getting down. We come around like an eclipse. We have seven continents to deal with.

AC: Have you always gotten the credit you deserve?

CD: Hip-hop doesn’t get the credit it deserves for being diverse and thorough. When hip-hop gets respect as an art form, we get it by default. But people want to talk to us about Flavor of Love, Ali Rap, or our take on Barack Obama. That stuff has nothing to do with our consistency. Controversy has nothing to do with getting down and being good.

We’re the Rolling Stones of rap. I don’t know if Flavor is Keith or Mick, but our performance is a combination of Run-DMC, the Roots, and Rage Against the Machine. We developed the standard for live hip-hop. We’ve truly been the group that represents the meaning of hip-hop and rap music, the respect of music as the universal language, and taken that attitude all over the world.

Americans are poor on understanding time, history, and geography. We try to be strong on all those points. Around the world, PE resonates. America needs to get with it. We never fell off. America did.

Opinions are like assholes, everybody has ‘em.

Ed, if you want to protect yours from the big, bad world outside of Ed, keep ‘em in the paper and off of our internet.

Artist: Public Enemy (ft. Sister Souljah & Paris)
Song: Hard Rhymin’
Release Date: 2006

==========

[Sister Souljah]
Brothers and sisters, this is not a test
I’ve been asked by Public Enemy leader Chuck D to make this emergency announcement
The police in your cities, for all intents and purposes
have declared open season on black people (hey yo check one two)
Public Enemy was driven into the underground by government forces
However a small resistance is forming
Both Terminator X and Chuck D have resurfaced
Leading a small mobile rebel unit, “The Valley of the Jeep Beats”
(1-2-3-4-5-6)

[Chuck D]
Hard rhyme and the rebel is on the mic
One time, rhyme animal’s on the mic
They’re still keepin, youth asleep an’
We in the hood with heat and still beatin
And we back with the rap that packs the room
Black tracks with the rhythm that make you move
Can’t hush the bumrush, we bust the sound
with these sonic bombs, feel the pressure all around
Raise the level I’m up again rhymin
Ridin on the devil since I began rhymin
Hell we bring back the meat that rap lacks
Cause like I said, we got sold down the river
And I ain’t for these racist wars
A lie’s fed by these TV whores
I know it’s more to news fake the truth
We break through won’t lose we move with Public Enemy

[Chorus 2X: Chuck D] + (Paris)
Hard rhyme when the rebel is on the mic
One time rhyme animal’s on the mic
(It’s P.E. - whattup - it’s on you, brother what’chu wanna do)
(Brother tell me if it’s on, it’s on)

[Chuck D]
Now hip-hop was a gift that lifted up
Loved rap ’til the companies ripped it up
Now the soul is set, we’ve been had like jazz
If you down for change then they take your voice away
And then they tell you the best is white
Co-signed by a nigga that pimped the mic
Make the rule the view that the beef is cool
But what it do is fool the few fools who buy the feud
Keep the people all blind and dumb dancin
Never let a record that wreck become rampant
See the street copycat the crap rap and songs
Not knowin “There’s a POISON Goin’ On”
‘Til the message revealed and I show
But you never get to hear it on the radio
Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, fuck Jack!
Bust that, squeeze, rewind the shit, c’mon

[Chorus]

[Interlude - scratching and samples]
“C’mon now!” DJ Lord
“Here we go again”
“C’mon now!” Guerilla Funk
(Hey yo check one..)

[Chuck D]
We move as a team to keep them demons out
Y’all know what I’m talkin about
See ‘em used, abused, confused us into thinkin that
bein ghetto mean the same as bein ignorant
And so we strive to rise and get by
No peace for the beast we police and shine the light
Culture vanish on the television pimpin those
on “Cribs” in a home that they never own
Damn! Tell me that once again
Radio and the video don’t uplift
Take a stand be demandin all my freedom and my civil rights
Worldwide fight the plan and they genocide
Yes the road is long and hard
And when I’m gone you’ll say I did my part
Keep gunnin, we the crew that never lose
on the ones and the motherfuckin twos, Public Enemy

[Chorus] - 2X

[Flavor Flav]
Hey yo check one two
Yeah that’s right, Flavor Flav takin you back to the next millennium
You know what I’m sayin? Always cold cold kille-enum
You know what I’m sayin? And I ain’t playin
It’s all in the message that we’re layin
I got a secret weapon, you know what I’m sayin?
Let’s take two steps to the rear, we gettin out of here
You know what I’m sayin? Operation Cold Killin ‘Em to the next millenium

Flavor Flav, rock the house

Hey yo check one two

(originally uploaded by Steve Rhodes)

Question: Who’s the man in the above picture?

I admit the visual reference might not be enough for anyone that isn’t a Hip hop head, so I’ll give you even more of a hint:

Sorry for the set-up; I wouldn’t expect many people to know that he’s Boots Riley from The Coup.

I also wouldn’t expect many people to know the depth of the man and his music.

Or even that Boots blogs.

I’m using Boots as just one example of someone who represents one particular slice of a culture, Hip hop, that most people don’t know anything about — no matter what they think.

More on Boots and his colleagues in a bit.

What You Hear Is Not A Test

Today, Ed Cone ventured into a pretty lightweight deconstruction of “rap” lyrics, and only after numerous people and media outlets — local and from afar — made a stink about Don Imus catching flak for his pointed remarks a few weeks back, arguing that African-Americans and/or “rappers” actually drive the use of this harmful language.

Ed’s introduction to his column:

[…] “For my newspaper column, I listened to the lyrics of Billboard’s top ten rap tracks and tried to contextualize the Imus affair.” […]

I can’t remember the last time someone in Hip hop, out-of-the-blue, verbally assaulted a specific group of innocent people like the Rutger’s Women’s Basketball team. Admittedly, I’m not twisting the context of the offense to the use of a particular word or phrase and instead, keeping it focused on the nature of the attack from a broadcaster.

Along those lines, IMO, it would be more productive to review the context of Imus’ bile by looking at the rest of the shock-jock industry, like this gem from Neil Bortz:

Boortz: For instance, or for goodness sakes, jump in and I’m gonna say — I’m gonna start out with something controversial. I saw Cynthia McKinney’s new hair-do. Have you seen it, Belinda?

Skelton: No.

Boortz: She looks like a ghetto slut.

Skelton: Well, how is it?

Boortz: It’s just — it’s hideous.

Skelton: Is it braided? Or –

Boortz: No, it’s not braided. It just flies away from her head in every conceivable direction. It looks like an explosion in a Brillo pad factory. It’s just hideous. To me, that hairstyle just shows contempt for — no, it’s not an Afro. I mean, no, it just shows contempt for the position that she holds and the body that she serves in. And, I’m sorry, there’s just no other way to — it’s just a hideous and horrible looking –

Marshall: It looks better than the braids she was wearing.

Boortz: No, the braids had some dignity. They had some class.

Marshall: The braids had dignity?

Boortz: They had more class than this thing.

Marshall: This says, you know, kinda 2000s, you know, stepping up to the plate. Contemporary look, you know?

Boortz: She looks like Tina Turner peeing on an electric fence.

Pam has great context for those of you who might think of these comments as harmless.

But the point of this post isn’t about Don Imus, nor is it about those people out there that are obfuscating the context of his comment. There’s a whole other angle of misinformation in Ed’s post, based more in ignorance than intent, that I wish to dissect.

I’m One Of A Kind And I’ll Shock Your Mind

Whether he knows it or not, Ed made a bunch of generalizations in his column. This particular paragraph stood out the most to me:

[…] “I’m bothered not just by what rappers say but why they say it. The lyrics and the popularity of the genre aren’t happening in a vacuum; they reflect something about the realities of a larger culture that is coarse, consumerist and often violent. Public Enemy’s Chuck D famously said that rap is like “CNN for black people.” Maybe part of the problem is that these days, the best-known member of the socially conscious Public Enemy is Flava Flav, who once rapped about the harsh reality of life in poor neighborhoods but now does clownish “reality” shows on corporate television.” […]

People like to talk about Hip hop as if they know everything about anything, so I’m not surprised by Ed’s perspective — even with him being alive during The Sugarhill Gang’s debut.

How Ed jumps from “a larger culture that is coarse, consumerist and often violent” to Public Enemy — without pause for at least a paragraph on the current administration of the Executive Branch — is beyond me.

You know, it wasn’t Flavor Flav that told America to go out and buy shit just a few days after the towers went down on 9/11.

I’ll play along for shits and giggles, though.

So, Flav has become the king of reality tv, but as the de facto hype man in the carefully orchestrated membership of Public Enemy — something that would take another post entirely to detail — that shouldn’t shock anyone.

Flav was never the point man of PE, the guy “rapping about the harsh reality of life in poor neighborhoods.” For every 911’s A Joke, there are a hundred songs with Flav explicitly playin’ his role in the group as comic relief while shadowing Chuck.

So how does that play out 20 years beyond the zenith of Public Enemy’s career?

While Flav does his reality tv and flashes his grill, Chuck D does his speaking gigs and radio shows covering everything from anti-DRM to politics. The whole of Public Enemy prospers from their individual focuses — which draw in new audiences from distinct demographics — far more than simply being a sum of its parts.

But if you’ve seen any of the Flavor of Love shows, you know that he doesn’t represent himself as a foul-mouthed “rapper.” I honestly don’t see how Flav acting like Flav with a viking cap and oversized clock necklace and sunglasses has anything to do with the topic at hand — except for serving as a convenient segue from the bridge of the CNN line.

All that said, Ed is pretty much on point when he ruminates over “rap” lyrics and the ills of a larger culture.

The point begging to be made about this particular element — the crux of his column — is that he doesn’t realize to what degree and how narrow of a focus that truly is within the culture of Hip hop.

What we need is the Teacher to break this down to a digestible format:

More KRS-One:

(by thecnote)

[…] “ ‘Hip hop has nothing to do with rap. Rap is an element. There is a consciousness that makes you rap, graffiti or break, for example.’

KRS-One talked a great deal about the importance of being one’s own self, the most essential part of Hip hop culture. ‘Hip hop begins with the courage to be yourself. Being you has consequences,’ KRS-One said.

Want to find out if you’re Hip hop? You know you are if ‘you gravitate toward it. You see graffiti art and you try to make out the words, you see breaking and you say, ‘Man, I could do that,’ KRS-One said.

And, of course, one should know the proper way to actually identify the culture. Hip hop is a culture; therefore, it should function as a proper noun. Hip hop is the music, and referring to the culture in the hyphenated form, KRS-One claimed, is degrading. The rapper’s explanations of the technicalities of the Hip hop world could have left audience member confused; if Hip hop is not the music, what is?

Listeners were enlightened about the differences between Hip hop and rap. ‘Hip hop is not rap music,’ KRS-One said. ‘Rap is controlled by corporations. A rapper rhymes for corporations, and an emcee rhymes for culture. A rapper talks about himself, what he has. An emcee talks about what’s already on your mind. An emcee raps about what you need, not about fantasy.‘ Ultimately, a point stressed heavily throughout the night, Hip hop is something that is lived, a consciousness of the world around us.” […]

That’s a much more expansive description of Hip hop than “rappers” being misogynistic and foul-mouthed, but culture can’t be locked down to one set of definitions either — passing the mic back to Boots Riley, from a long, lost interview at Davey D’s spot:

(by bagelradio)

[…] “When the first Sugarhill Gang record came out and it was on the radio I was already living in Oakland then but there were people who had recently moved out here from the mid west and the south and I remember us saying they had a hambone record out on the radio. My whole thing with that is there’s a lot of elements of hip hop… like the four elements of hip hop is really just a commercialization and a way to commodify things because you have to put things into easy categories in order to sell it. It’s a lot easier to sell as an invention that kind of slipped and fell together by a series of events that happened in one place than it is to tell it as a history of a people. So that’s something that I feel is left out of hip hop. That was my first connection to rapping [hamboning]. Another more obvious one is beatboxing. That was something that was very much a part of hip hop. I first started hearing the four elements maybe from the early 90s. I don’t know who started that but it’s full of shit to me.” […]

Contradicting, yet accentuating points of view within a culture — a hell of a lot deeper than “bitch” and “ho” framed within the bullshit corporate constructs of a genre.

The CNN For ALL People Who Care To Tune-In

If all this isn’t new to you, glad to have you in my digs. To those of you who are learning something new, you might just dig checking out a few CTD alumni.

One bit of advice: focus on the message, the intent and the wordplay — leave the curse count for Tipper Gore.

• De La Soul
• Immortal Technique
• The Roots
• Public Enemy / Paris
• The Coup
• Brand Nubian / Common
• Rage Against The Machine
• KRS-One
• Talib Kweli
• DJ Danger Mouse
• Chuck D
• Mos Def

Thank God their standards for speaking truth to power and shedding light are higher than CNN.

Artist: Public Enemy (Featuring Paris)
Song: Coinsequences

==========

[Intro/Chorus: Paris]
Is it a, coincidence that we ain’t taught truth
A, coincidence that they target the youth
A, coincidence everything is the same
That a message in the music ain’t a part of the game
A, coincidence that we livin a lie
A, coincidence that we only get by
A, coincidence that so many are lost
And do prison time ‘fore we notice the cost

[Paris]
It really ain’t difficult to break the mold
And take a close look at the lies we’re told
Wipe away the facade, see we got to know
See the plot to control and to rot the soul
You can make anybody that don’t read believe
anything that they see on the TV screen
That a lie is reality, the sky is green
That there’s weapons in Iraq, and the President’s clean
When it’s on, thinkin you can trust police
Every black is a beast and our women are cheap
And that brothers gettin murdered is the way of the streets
That it’s normal to die when we still in our teens
And that’s the way it is, what’s the use to try
That school is a motherfuckin waste of time
Slang yay, die young, maybe get rich rhymin
And prison if you black is just a part of life
And that all of America support the Pres’
Religion is the way, and we all full of sin
That it’s better after death if we suffer and pray
Even though they fuck us off in this life today
And that white Jesus hangin on the wall in church
ain’t a part of a lie to keep a brother subservient
And that the whole world need the word “Amen”
Got troops overseas gettin murdered for free
If you buy that shit, I got a bridge to sell
Like I said I’m a rebel, so I must re-bel
And lies be the truth now, war is peace
Like corporations don’t dictate the streets
Like brothers don’t die for the diamond or bling
Like brothers don’t die over songs we sing
Like patri-ots act like the Patriot Act
While we swing on this bitch ’til we break it in half

[Chorus: Paris]
Is it a, coincidence that we ain’t taught truth
A, coincidence that they target the youth
A, coincidence everything is the same
That a message in the music ain’t a part of the game
A, coincidence that we livin a lie
A, coincidence that we only get by
A, coincidence that so many are lost
And do prison time ‘fore we notice the cost

[Paris]
You guilty if arrested and niggaz are thugs
Only good for welfare, murder and drugs
The media is true, with no bias at all
And Fox News ain’t on the President’s balls
That Lacey and O.J. and Kobe and Mike
ain’t bullshit and really do matter in life
That you shouldn’t be insulted they give ‘em the time
but never talk about all this corporate crime
That they generatin news stay loose with facts
Relate fake views that’ll keep us attracted
like sheep so we don’t think, never react
Never question authority, never suspect
Never trip off of why what matters to us
always seem unimportant, and never get love
Why it’s never any money for the school support
But it’s fallin out the sky for these corporate wars

[Chorus: Paris]
Is it a, coincidence that we ain’t taught truth
A, coincidence that they target the youth
A, coincidence everything is the same
That a message in the music ain’t a part of the game
A, coincidence that we livin a lie
A, coincidence that we only get by
A, coincidence that so many are lost
And do prison time ‘fore we notice the cost

[Paris]
They never give real shit space to shine
Just donkey-ass niggaz on assembly line
Cookie cutter pop-slutter make music designed
to pedal Coca-Cola, Motorola and Sprite
No love for the Enemy with video play
But they give Flav a show to take the focus away
from the realest group ever made, whaddya say
when to them it’s Eminem that’s goin down as the greatest?
When the plan is a shame like we makin a choice
Understand it’s a scam who get handed a voice
And it’s only a few and they decide in advance
Like votin for the President and both of them fam
All that “God bless America, and nobody else”
But I can smell racism, however it’s dealt
Know the real shit never miss, see how it’s felt
All around the world, hear the people cryin for help

[Chorus: Paris]
Is it a, coincidence that we ain’t taught truth
A, coincidence that they target the youth
A, coincidence everything is the same
That a message in the music ain’t a part of the game
A, coincidence that we livin a lie
A, coincidence that we only get by
A, coincidence that so many are lost
And do prison time ‘fore we notice the cost

[Outro: Paris]
A, coincidence ex-cons can’t vote
A, coincidence they can’t get no work
A, coincidence that they can’t hold heat
Now they know that they enemy don’t look like me
A, coincidence that we shit out of luck
The consequence of coincidences all add up
When you never know the reason and you’re set up to suffer
The offense is coincidence is never the cause

Artist: Public Enemy
Song: Can’t Hold Us Back

==========

[Farrakhan Jesse Jackson]
Today, we are together
We are unified and on one accord
When we are together, we’ve got power
That is why we gather today to celebrate our own sense of…

[PE]
We spit flows on foes
Listen to the message that ya never know
Got a plan for the man and it’s federal
The rhyme animal, back to play the part again
Clear the madness - and put the message in

D the enemy is back to rip the mic
We come together - so don’t believe the hype
Check my tone it’s a war here at home
We united and strong - and never move alone

We rep justice, equality and freedom now
Put fam first, man woman and child
Never mild keep it hostile ’till we raise
Where we say what we mean and we mean what we say

It’s been a long time coming that we mob as one
Guerrilla funk, hard truth nigga, that’s what’s up
No peace on the street ’till the justice come
From the ballot to the bullet, if it’s on, it’s on

Chorus:
I ain’t lettin nothin hold me back or block me,
they gon’ have to pop me to stop me, see
I ain’t lettin nothin hold me back or block me,
they gon’ have to pop me to stop me, believe
I ain’t lettin nothin hold me back or block me,
they gon’ have to pop me to stop me, my brother
I ain’t lettin nothin hold me back or block me,
they gon’ have to pop me to stop me, that’s real talk on the one

Yo I’m a target I got proof, my building got an ‘X’ on it
Bloomberg threw the hex on it,
It’s like a pistol with effects on it
On a nigga with arrest warrants

Hittin’ pigs in they in they chest quadrant where they vest wasn’t
Now he dead cousin
All you snitches hit the red buttons, we some Uncle-Tom killas
Mini-nina concealers, political cap-peelers for this freedom fo’ rilla

Yo if police stop the whip you got to eat them trees
I ain’t got no ‘G’ to give to these crackers and court fees
You know my steez, security first, prepare for the worst
Never caught slippin’ if you stay on alert

Malcolm X said send send ‘em to the cemetery if they touch you
A revolutionary virtue - a dull blade’ll hurt you
I’m up early workin’ my machete
In war, it ain’t no warning, you just got to be ready

Chorus:
I ain’t lettin nothin hold me back or block me,
they gon’ have to pop me to stop me, my nigga
I ain’t lettin nothin hold me back or block me,
they gon’ have to pop me to stop me, my nigga
I ain’t lettin nothin hold me back or block me,
they gon’ have to pop me to stop me, you see
I ain’t lettin nothin hold me back or block me,
they gon’ have to pop me to stop me, yeah

It’s bigger than rap-
You really think you gon’ be left alone
On sayin’ that you believe and ain’t gon’ have to get your scrap on?
Then yap on, and we’ll see if that’s the right route
While I get my clap on and turn snitches lights out

I tried to be nice, now we gon’ have to bleed ‘em
I’m willing to do a killin’ for the price of freedom
Comin’ from the left, nigga, hood is how we kept it
So prison or death is just something I done accepted

So we’ll murder a snake, and we’ll kill a skunk
This ain’t the word of a fake, it’s Guerrilla Funk
So right now is the time and your turf’s the location
Y’all about to see the Rebirth Of a Nation

Even if some got de-rebelized
The revolution still will not be televised
U.S. Government tellin’ hella lies
And it’s evident when you look in this president’s devil eyes

Chorus:
I ain’t lettin nothin hold me back or block me,
they gon’ have to pop me to stop me, yeah
I ain’t lettin nothin hold me back or block me,
they gon’ have to pop me to stop me, nah homie
I ain’t lettin nothin hold me back or block me,
they gon’ have to pop me to stop me, my brother
I ain’t lettin nothin hold me back or block me,
they gon’ have to pop me to stop me, that’s real talk on the one

[Farrakhan Jesse Jackson]
That is why I challenge you now to stand together
Raise your fists together
And engage in our national black…
Do it for courage and determination
I am! (I am!)
Somebody! (Somebody!)
I am! (I am!)
Somebody! (Somebody!)
I may be poor! (I may be poor!)
But I am! (But I am!)
Somebody! (Somebody!)
I may be on welfare! (I may be on welfare!)
But I am! (But I am!)
Somebody! (Somebody!)
I may be unskilled! (I may be unskilled!)
But I am! (But I am!)
Somebody! (Somebody!)
I am! (I am!)
Black! (Black!)
Beautiful! (Beautiful!)
Proud! (Proud!)
I must be respected! (I must be respected!)
I must be protected! (I must be protected!)
What time is it?!
When we stand together, what time is it?!

Artist: Public Enemy
Song: Louder Than A Bomb

==========

Professor Griff:
They claim we’re products from the bottom of hell,
‘Cause the black is back and it’s bound to sell.
Picture us coolin’ out on the fourth of July,
And if you heard we were celebrating that’s a world wide lie!
Yo Chuck!
The fed-dead-arals, man, trying to pull a 2-2-6 on ya G,
Yo man,
Show ‘em what you got!
Sh-Show ‘em what you got!

Chuck D:
This style seems wild.
Wait before you treat me like a stepchild!
Let me tell you why they got me on file,
‘Cause I give you what you lack,
Come right and exact,
Our status is the saddest,
So I care where you at, black!
And at home I got a call from Tony Rome,
The FBI was tappin’ my telephone.
I never live alone.
I never walk alone.
My posses always ready, and they’re waitin’ in my zone.
Although I live the life that of a resident,
But I be knowin’ the scheme that of the president,
Tappin’ my phone whose crews abused,
I stand accused of doing harm.
‘Cause I’m louder than a bomb.

C’mon, C’mon.
Louder! Louder. (C’mon, C’mon…C’mon)
Louder! Louder. (C’mon, C’mon…C’mon)
Louder! (C’mon Track Cut)

Professor Griff:
Hey yo D!
Show ‘em you on the block
Show ‘em you on the block, D!

Chuck D:
I am,
A rock hard trooper,
To the bone, the bone, the bone.
Full grown - consider me - stone!
Once again and,
I say it for you to know.
The troop is always ready.
I yell `Geronimo’.
Your CIA, you see I ain’t kiddin’.
Both King and X they got ridda’ both.
A story untold, true, but unknown.
Professor Griff knows…
“Yo, I ain’t milk toast!”
And..
And not the braggin’ or boastin’ and plus,
It ain’t no secret why they’re tappin’ my phone,
although I can’t keep it a secret,
So I decided to kick it, yo.
And yes it weighs a ton, I’ll say it once again,
I’m called the enemy - I’ll never be a friend,
Of those with closed minds, don’t know I’m rapid,
The way that I rap it,
Is makin’ ‘em tap it, yeah.
Never servin ‘em well, ’cause I’m an un-Tom.
It’s no secret at all.
Cause I’m louder than a bomb.

C’mon, C’mon.
Louder! Louder. (C’mon, C’mon…C’mon) (X6)
Louder! (C’mon Track Cut)

Professor Griff:
That’s right boy
The D is on the block, boy
Don’t forget it!
Kick that shit, D!
(It’s Yours)

Chuck D:
Cold holdin’ the load,
The burden breakin’ the mold.
I ain’t lyin’ denyin’, because they’re checkin’ my code.
Am I buggin’ ’cause they’re buggin’ my phone,
for information,
No tellin’ who’s sellin’ out or power buildin’ the nation so…
Joinin’ the set, the point blank target,
Every brothers inside - so least not, you forget, no.
Takin’ the blame is not a waste,
Here taste,
A bit of the song so you can never be wrong.
Just a bit of advice, ’cause we be payin’ the price,
‘Cause every brother mans life is like swingin’ the dice, right?
Here it is, once again
this is,
The brother to brother,
The Terminator, the cutter.
Goin’ on an’ on - leave alone the grown
Get it straight in ‘88, an’ I’ll troop it to demonstrate
The posse always ready,
98 at 98.
My posse come quick,
because my posse got velocity.
Tappin’ my phone,
Never leave me alone,
I’m even lethal when I’m un-armed.
‘Cause I’m louder than a bomb.

C’mon, C’mon.
Louder! Louder. (C’mon, C’mon…C’mon) (X7)

Professor Griff:
Tell ‘em what happened, D!
Prove ‘em, man
Go and prove ‘em, man
That’s right, go and prove ‘em, D
Show ‘em all what’s hot, D
Yeah.
Haha.
Tell ‘em how loud you is, D
They can’t mess with you, D
Yeah!
(All Right)

Chuck D:
‘Cause the D is for dangerous,
You can come and get some of this.
I teach and speak,
So when its spoke, it’s no joke.
The voice of choice,
The place shakes with bass,
Called one for the treble
The rhythm is the rebel
Here’s a funky rhyme that they’re tappin’ on.
Just thinkin’ I’m breakin’ the beats I’m rappin’ on.
CIA, FBI, all they tell us is lies.
When I say it they get alarmed.
‘Cause I’m louder than a bomb!

[…]

The master of framing the moment within a gut-felt emotion is back, providing clarity beyond the crystal clear. Take a listen to Chuck’s response to the natural and federal disaster of Katrina, the Children of Eris remix, “Hell No We Ain’t All Right”

Chuck D’s rhymes flow so natural and powerful they take form within your psyche while you latch onto his beat. That’s because Chuck doesn’t twist to the beat of a loop; Chuck’s direct, unflinching words twist a beat of their own.

Can’t you feel him in this latest drop?

I follow his words, like “the new world is upside down and out of order” as a flip from the past, as back then he was taken aghast, as the polar opposites were set-up, the Axis of Evil corrupt…

Man…

I often wonder if the 17 to 23 year-old crowd nowadays gets the same dose of reality in the Hip hop nation.

Sure, the crew of Common, Talib Kweli, Mos Def and The Roots bring consciousness to each of their narratives on multiple levels. Underground hip-hop, like Head-Roc, sticks to the grimy reality, and J-Live lives and keeps it real as a teacher in Brooklyn, but where is the channeled anger of this generation?

Maybe he/she/they are out there and the gray in my chin is talking all of this junk — if so, feel free to let me know. To the extent that Chuck D and Public Enemy pumped out perspective and knowledge in the late 80’s to the mid-90’s (along with KRS-One and Brand Nubian), I just don’t hear the same form of consistent passion in these modern day cats.

Yes, Mos Def was crazy conscious with his tabulations in Mathematics, and has kept ‘em coming leading right up to the in-the-moment response and drop of Katrina Klap. Artists such as Kanye West have proven to have a conscious, yet even Kanye still goes back and forth with club songs chock full of faux diamond dissing, gold-digging lyrics.

Chuck D earned the lead Public Enemy #1 tag with his straight up, hardcore responses to social issues of the time; I’m talking about consistent responses to real-time events, like:

• dropping “By the Time I Get To Arizona” when Arizona refused to honor Martin Luther King’s birthday
• or when Chuck tried to shut down the malt-liquor industry in “1 Million Bottlebags” for targeting young black males with their poison
• even in their twilight, in 2002 Public Enemy dropped “Son of a Bush” at a time when political commentary in hip-hop was ripe for the picking, but rare due to the climate of blind patriotism. Only Eminem made any Bush accountability waves, but he waited until a safer year of 2004 to drop his Mosh video, pre and post 2004 elections.

Enough.

Like that dude on Enter the 36 Chambers said, “Ah yeah, again and again!”

Bring the noise, Chuck.

UPDATE: Here’s the original Public Enemy release of “Hell No We Ain’t Alright“

The. Most. Slept. On. Soundtrack… Ever.