03/04/13
You can imagine that when Public Enemy’s name was suggested for last year’s Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame inductees, the deciding forces looked deep into their history, analysed the band’s influence, their present social currency, their message, their chemistry, their stage show - and while it would have been a lengthy decision, with all boxes ticked, it would have been a resounding ‘YES’. We had less than an hour to decide whether we wanted to prep and interview Chuck D, the lyrical prophet of the group for our front cover. In the end, it was no difficult decision; when Public Enemy are in the frame, the answer is always going to be yes, yes, yes.
Hey Chuck, are you expecting my call? Yes ma’am, I am. I’m driving; I’ve got you on my hands-free.
Well keep your eyes on the road as well – I don’t want to be the cause of any major losses in hip hop royalty. That’s alright, that’s what I do!
So where are you on your way to today? Down in L.A. I’ve got a bunch of meetings, one with Quincy Jones and one with the House of Blues where we had our Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame bash, the night before our induction.
That’s amazing, going for an interview with Quincy Jones – you know you’re in good company then, don’t you? Yeah, I’ve just got to have my eyes and my ears open.
Why’s that? Is he a wily man? I’ve just got to have my mind open so that he can give me some good advice. Lot of things are happening right now, so you know… Usually I’d be a lot more verbal and honest in interviews, but there’s a lot going on. There’s so much to do that I’ve just got to get it done, but I’m not really great and saying what’s gonna happen right now, ‘cause I’m in the middle. It’s in progress, you know.
That’s OK, I understand completely; we can talk about things that have passed though. Last year was 25 years in the game for you guys, and no sign of slowing down… Well you have to manage your time well, you know, especially when people have families. We live in eight different parts of the United States as a group, so when you’re together, managing your time is a little more difficult but you have to work on that and you have a pattern for when you’re working together and when you’re not. You don’t wanna be consumed by any one thing; you don’t want to be consumed by business or art – it has to be a joy, you can’t be pressured by it.
As I said, you haven’t slowed pace at all though, releasing two albums last year. People digest music differently nowadays, don’t they, so it was a strong statement releasing two albums in the same year… Yeah, it wasn’t like we just didn’t have the ideas to release one in 2011, but we thought the time was right in 2012 to actually put out two albums as a statement to digital distribution and to let people know that they can make art on their terms, and release it to the masses with new technology.
I was reading a little about SpitDigital, your aggregator company, and when I went on the site, it was members only. You’ve created something with a feeling of intrigue and exclusivity… Yeah, there’ve been other aggregators before, and others that I’ve helped launch; I helped TuneCore and The Orchard in their beginnings, in 2007 and 2004 respectively, but we feel that what we’re trying to do as an aggregate system is be more helpful to a person in knowing what to do with their art, and encourage them to have their own label and really trying to explain that virtual is a good way of delivering art on the artist’s own terms.
What are your biggest dreams for SpitDigital? Oh, the biggest dream is to make everybody use your service! And especially classic hip hop artists who might feel that they’re lost in the digital era, but we’re trying to tell them that they have a better chance than ever to remodel their recording career with a delivery system that enables classic artists to realise that their art lasts forever. People will always come to see them and become really detailed in that effort.
You just mentioned classic hip hop artists, and it’s been a strange thing that over the last few years, I’ve suddenly been classed as a veteran hip hop fan because I fly the flag for artists of your era. I certainly don’t feel like a veteran. It’s like classic hip hop has to come with this caveat of ‘old school’ now. How do you perceive that kind of terminology? Yeah, it’s as different as explaining the difference between The Beatles vs. Britney Spears. The Beatles have two deceased members but it doesn’t matter; their music and their art is very relevant right now, right here. We feel that hip hop has similar leanings as far as art forms are concerned, towards its fan base; it has to be worked on.
I’m jealous of anyone across the pond right now, as you’ve announced the King of the Mic Tour [with LL Cool J, Ice Cube and De La Soul], which you’ll tour for a tonne of dates over May, June and July. How did that come together? It came together with LL wanting to tour and all of the agencies involved in the booking coming together. I think you need a super headliner, you need some other people who also used to headline and… [Laughs] it’s funny because initially they put De La Soul - their name – in a smaller font! I was like, “that’s disrespectful to De La Soul, you know”, not the artist, but the booking agency, the management, and I said, “that’s a glaring mistake because De La Soul is one of the longest-running, greatest groups in the world and you can’t throw that American disrespect on them. It’s really a pleasure to be on the tour with these guys; De La Soul, LL and Ice Cube.
Do you think you’ll have a whole load of fun on tour with those guys? Yeah, I have fun every day of my life. That’s my motto whether I’m on tour or not. Why? If you was on the tour, how much fun would you have?
A metric shit tonne. [Laughs] There you go! Exactly.
I read a quote that said, “Public Enemy deliver their signature style with an angst and tenacity typical of men half their age”. Now you hit the big 5-0 recently Chuck – do you take it as an insult that they would make note of your advancing years? No, it’s a wonderful thing. Age is a gift; God doesn’t give it out free. Every time he gives you another year, you count your blessings. I’d rather have years than money! [Laughs] You can always get that, but when God gives you another year of health, and health is all around you, you can’t get better than that.
Indeed, if you have your health, you can overcome anything, which was an important message last summer as we were all gripped to the Paralympic Games. ‘Harder than You Think’ was used to soundtrack the games, which was amazing. The soundtrack to our summer was this anthem for strength over adversity, which I’m sure you’re more than pleased to be associated with. Yeah, it was mind-boggling and it was the UK’s gift back to us. We set out to explore other places to be our home, other than the United States, as far as physically, and I think that was the United Kingdom’s gift back to Public Enemy. Yeah, when the head producers of the Paralympics and Channel 4 TV – it was mind-boggling that the UK, and those particular powers that be would consider Public Enemy for that, and we thank you for that.
It fitted the footage perfectly… It was one of those rare tracks, in 2006, that we recorded and it was brilliant from the first take [laughs] – not because of us, not because of me, but the track had a life of its own and the lyric had a life of its own and it was one of those rare instances where it was automatic from the recording. We enjoyed playing it, it was on our 2007 album and it became fun to play that song and it became a mainstay in our show before it became a record of note in the UK. Like the lyric says, we’re “Rolling Stones of the rap game, not braggin'. Lips bigger than Jagger, not saggin'!” We’re the Rolling Stones of the rap game and I felt that song was where we were at; it just fitted our 20th year, and it’s fitting that it came back to celebrate our 25th.
I don’t know if you’re aware, but about almost three years ago, the UK set fire to itself in a series of anti-political riots – some mindless, and directionless, but it was a definite example of fighting the power. Did you think we’d be still fighting the same fight against the powers that be all these years on? And where do you think the progression is?The progression has been that I know that there’s an artist community and a hip hop community in the UK that understands that they can’t be the same way that American artists have been, because you’re dealing with a smaller concentration, so you have to be true to the art, and true to the people a little more. They can’t be escapists, like the big artists in the United States are still escapists; they don’t talk to the causes, they don’t talk to the people. You’ve got to be straight up, right and correct if you’re living in the smaller boundaries of the United Kingdom, and you’re living in a city like London, or Birmingham, or Manchester. You’re really gonna be there with each other, so you really can’t be fake, you know. You can’t really launch a big distance between you and them, I mean really, from London, to Brighton, to Manchester, to Norwich, to Glasgow in Scotland – it’s a lot of distance for the UK, it’s relative, but really it’s not a long distance ‘cause you can get there kinda quick. You can’t really get away from each other. In the United States, you can get away from people, you can go to places that are really far, that people never come to and you’re still within the United States. That kind of escapism has really buffered the artists from reality.
But the world felt so small when the Occupy London, Occupy Wall Street and all the other Occupy movements were happening at the same time, The world was tiny and united then; we were all interconnected, I guess by social media…Oh yeah, ‘cause what has changed over the last few years especially is the advent of phones, pads, y’know, all these technical devices have changed the world. With this in mind, it’s like to be on top of technology, instead of it be on top of you, it’s been a major, major push in terms of people being webbed together. I mean before, it was like phones didn’t web people together in the best way; people were waiting to get their laptops, or they might be portable with their laptops, or at home with their desktops. The phones, and the pads, and the applications, Androids, iPhones have just sky rocketed the connectivity between human beings like never before. It’s also a landmark in the transferring of goods and recording; it’s been created by the world, but we mustn’t let it overtake us – don’t be overwhelmed by it, be aware of it. When you throw a social revolution at it, like Occupy, people can gather really, really fast with the same intent. That kind of instills a lot of fear in a lot of different people, for different reasons.
Do you think Public Enemy would have operated in the same way, would have come into our attention if you had the technology we had now, back then? Or would you have done it grass roots, the exact same way?Well, we ushered in this century of revolution because we felt it was the necessary way for us to get out. We came in, revolutionising our outlet to the people, because the old ways would now allow us to, not on our own terms. We had to compromise our message, our music and our art, because the old way stifled our communication. Nowadays you have to accept that you’ve got to communicate with your base, but your base isn’t going to be millions – it might be hundreds of thousands – but the bigger difference is that you’ll be glued directly to them. I’m not saying you can’t do something that’s gonna touch millions of people, but that’s gonna come because of other things – television, radio, traditional media, traditional outlets. If you reach enough people, other apparatus will come along to enable you to reach more.
Emma Garwood
Public Enemy bring the noise to the UEA on April 24th. For tickets, go to www.ueaticketbookings.co.uk.