In this months terrordome column, Chuck talks about touring Europe, PE's live band, Def Jam selling out, as well as other odds and ends. I always find Chuck's articles interesting and like to share it with those here who care. Enjoy.

http://www.publicenemy.com


May 01, 2003
Usually I don’t toot my own horn but I must tip my hat to my comrades on this 2 week tour of the U.K., the magical starting point for our appeal in the first place. Back in 1987 we knew that our position on social commentary in rap music was never gonna garner “over the top” popularity, radio and tv-wise, to the same black masses we so-called spoke for. We released our first album in April 1987 Yo Bum Rush the Show to a totally clueless-to-what-we-were-about audience. No, we weren’t street cats in the mold of RUN-DMC, nor were we chic attractions like LL COOL J and WHODINI, and we weren’t lyrically gifted on the edge of dare and circumstance like ERIC B AND RAKIM and BOOGIE DOWN PRODUCTIONS, and we didn’t make you laugh like HEAVY D and JAZZY JEFF AND FRESH PRINCE, and damn sure wasn’t funky as 90% of the artists at that time including STETSASONIC or BDK.

But what we presented most importantly was the need to carve out an identifiable niche which artists needed to do back then for the survival of self and the forward push for hip hop itself. We had to go thru the rites of passages on tour... the first (License To Ill with the BEASTIES) and second (The US Def Jam Tour) of 46 tours were development tours to plant our seed since we knew that the priority of a concert was to 'see' and to listen secondly. Members of the group would go into the audience and pass out small group pictures and sign them accordingly to whomever. This growth to a hip hop power was not automatic and done without work. It took effort from every single member to man a position. Initially the first audiences who understood us were non-black ones that compared us to the CLASH of ten years prior. I saw in the RUSH Management offices gigantic boxes of fan mail for the other groups, and loads of unanswered requests for interviews, especially from across the seas in EUROPE, the UK and JAPAN. I seized the opportunity to talk to the press abroad, especially since there was not yet a legitimate cross the board US press. The Black Panthers of Rap ideal was fodder of intrigue for many a music journalist back then. Thus even before we continued the Def Jam tour overseas there was buzz built through the press. This led to hype and build up that completely caught our tour partners LL and ERIC B by surprise. And what we had learned from them to sharpen our performance niche helped the reality of us getting down soar well beyond their fantasy of expectation. To say that the rest of the tour was anti-climatic was an understatement. Eric and Rakim packed up and went back to the US after the 4th tour show which was in AMSTERDAM. And everybody including management tried to keep LL out there in the European winter. Our hunger was evident as it was 6 of us coming on 35 minutes before his set and it was only 4 of them around LL. They stayed in hotels. The budget said we had to stay on the crew bus much of the time in the Norway-Sweden winter.

From that point on it was gravy, and it helped us figure us out. We knew that most Americans knew little of the rest of the world and were attached to US convenience. This especially was magnified by black America, disconnected from the diaspora, and holding on to Uncle Sam’s plantation as if the rest of the world was flat and we would fall off it if we left. We knew that there was, in many cases, 2nd and 3rd generation black kids whose parents came from the Caribbean, and some cases Africa, to settle upon the Queens land for a westernized orientation. Well the story of the black struggle and movement had woven its way into this new hip hop thing and this was a perfect vehicle to rebel against the stuffy establishment their peoples had to submit to. That in turn caught the Black British youth, as well as the fact that they had one eye on America. It was assumed that every black youth was more conscious than them, o’er the water. If this was hip then they wanted to be hip too, no doubt. Thus the white kids in Britain wanted to be hip, and to say you loved hip hop now you had to admit you dug blackfolk as well. When this was taking place obviously the controllers of it all, the powers that be, whoever ‘they’ is did not sit well with this dynamic of cultural expose which in turn could increase the paranoia of it all up yet another notch. A tunnel can be used both ways, as waiting corps saw the attraction of the music to the bottom line perhaps the scene can keep the rage that’s profitable without the identification of a white machine behind it. Hmm fast forward into the future… another century 2003.

In a war thinking world, Americans have become more robotic than ever. Thus the propaganda of Americanization has many people shedding their ethnic background identities for the McDonaldization of human beings, i.e.; billions of humans told. Right now the UK is officially the 51st state of the US Tony Bush and George Blair are the same cat cut from the same white cloth. On the trickle down tip on this PE tour the turbo line-up that wrecked thru the US with Dialated Peoples and BLACKALICIOUS has done even more so with FLAV back. Capacity sold out crowds, as well as London getting wrecked two nights in a row. All of this attention with one reservation; the so called scarcity of the black audience in Britain. Some folks were saying it wasn’t promoted in their hood, others were saying that they had little idea we were there in the first place. Why? It wasn’t on the radio, nor was it on the TV. Very little print. London especially is a city black-wise that now relies on VIACOM’S BET or MTV to dictate the soul. All the way over there. What’s hot in NY is bound to be hot over here. The dynamic of America over blacks is to disconnect from history, and be blurry about the future while being delivered a large dosage of now. With the aspect of now being concocted in a boardroom for confirmation of soul. The dictation of soul and culture from these media images tell the world our story.

To confuse me of being bitter because of my overstanding of the subject is that of someone who themselves cannot read the big picture. The great MUDDY WATERS was confused in the 60s when he made regular trips over here and saw white kids strung on his born in Mississippi, whisky drenched in Chicago blues. Out of this enthusiasm launched the Beatles, Rolling Stones and the British musical invasion. Now the audiences crave the artists that refuse to show up at their door, a little weird isn’t it? And now they have their own British hip hop history as well. And yet another successful PE tour has closed out in one of the hypest cities that ever supported the group from the beginning, Glasgow, Scotland. Like the Rolling Stones, when PE strikes the city or country to represent the flag of hip hop it’s considered an event. Not something based on whether our last record compares to “It Takes A Nation…”. Mick and Keith don’t have journalists comparing their works to “Satisfaction” or “Angie”. The live element is the utopia and the songs are just the road to get you there. That’s what RUN-DMC was trying to say the past 5 years as they presented an event to wherever they landed. EUROPE, ASIA, AFRICA, AUSTRAILIA, SOUTH AMERICA and Canada, it’s like that. For the UNITED STATES the disconnection is there on a batch of levels, television, radio, and in the newsprint. So I’m here to tell you, THE ROOTS, COMMON, DE LA SOUL, DJ SPINNA, JURAISSIC 5, BLACKALICIOUS, KOOL KEITH, MADLIB, MR LIF pretty much many of the artists who represent inside this magazine etc have vast audiences over the earth. And they make the effort to get there, as well as perform well. And international reception is not automatic by any means, you have to work very hard. A high standard set in the day and maintained by my guys who still put it up each and every night. Satisfaction.

The touring of the UK is much better in the spring than in the winter no doubt… still there’s places where it’s cold, like Aberdeen, Scotland where I spoke last year during a 3 city Triptech Festival, where I also did Edinburgh and Glasgow. But the world is full of surprises. It snowed like hell in the US northeast a couple weeks ago, so I’m glad I ducked that. The shows are turbo, I have never been a part of anything this electric. If we wanted to we can do this and become the black Dave Matthews Band, or the Grateful Alive or the Dreadful Great. All jokes aside, it’s amped. We warmed it in Norwich, and then hit London with a vengeance. People in London were checking the backing band now simply called PE, a combo of Griff’s 7th OCTAVE featuring 21 year-old guitar phenom KHARI WYNN, and BRYAN HARDGROOVE on bass repping FINE ARTS MILITIA, the funky drummer this time is MIKE FAULKNER from NYC. Two stellar nights in London and peeps were convinced that they were some of the best performances seen. I think because Public Enemy songs are more uptempo, hectic and unconventional the musicians bring it to another level. With the majority of hip hop acts mired in the same BPM and similar sounds you might hit a ceiling of what can be done. Alot of the British journalists were finding out that they haven’t seen it all and still don’t have hip hop figured out. Initially they gave props to PE as a live act but were quick to say we haven’t done anything lately. When they saw the show they saw new songs whipped out into new frenzies that re-evaluated the opinion. I can seriously see getting down with this outfit for some years to come as well as recording.

Belfast, Northern IRELAND was indeed a raucous gig. A to the L interviewed us before the gig and was treated to what I considered a good gig. Small stage, good sound, intimate 1000 peeps setting. I was also astounded at the size of the city… growing… and the new hotels and businesses moving in. The stigma of violence from resistance back in the day had made this a hands off territory, now the new day has offered many opportunities, not that we give in to stigmas… shee we come from New York where many people believe the hype about it.

Brighton and Nottingham also had old friend DJ HURRICANE as a support act. It was great to see the BEASTIE BOY, DAVY DMX, HOLLIS CREW, AFRO,S DJ-member who helped put the first PE song on the map. Back in 1987 HURRICANE played “Timebomb” on his box when the BEASTIES presented an award. Thus 16 years later he, FLAV and I did it as a freestyle part of “Gotta Give The Peeps What They Need”. Yeah Cane!

We finally did the photo session I’d been wanting to do for years. PE on Abbey Road. Shot by Sarah Edwards who doubles as our trustworthy UK P.R. It was colder, later in the afternoon than I would’ve liked. The BEATLES shot was definitely in the summer, possibly the morning. Still… GRIFF, FLAV, LORD JAMES and POP Diesel made it happen. It’s the potential cover of the DVD called “LONDONS CALLING” The International Trips of PUBLIC ENEMY 1987-2003. Finished and done up by Robert Patton Spruill.

Speaking of DVD, DJ LORD has his emerging with the “Turntablist Chronicles” in May 2003. It covers the skills, as well as world travels that he’s called to do. After the tour he had to reconsider his scheduled appearance in TAIWAN because of the SARS virus. Thus the next PE roll out two week swing is in JUNE. Which hopefully is the release month of the new reconfigured “There’s A Poison Goin On¹” complete with enhanced CD as well as other remixes of tracks including a turbulent remix of “HERE I GO” by DJ Johnny Juice… again.

R.I. P. to Ms. NINA SIMONE who continued to bring the noise all the way up to 70. It’s a trip how the powerful voices of our past have been relegated to a nostalgic period when the conditions of our people have fallen off collectively, mentally and physically. Plus, hearing of 84 year old Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan assaulted on a Harlem Street a couple of days back is ridiculous. The elder scholar is world renown for his in-depth teachings of Africa as the cradle of civilization, and Ancient Egypt's (Kmt) particular and magnificent contribution to world culture. Dr. Ben is featured as one of the sampled voices on “Fear of A Black Planet” especially at the end of “Contract On The World Love Jam”.

Also, the great EDWIN STARR who lived near Nottingham UK, home of JOSHSAM passed away at the beginning of the tour. We dedicated a part of our show by doing WAR with the crowd. In Newcastle I ran into Djtim of the UTAH SAINTS who were the last act to record with Mr. STARR. They’ve expressed that in the homes of BLAIR and BUSH the record is banned and would like to see it out and heard. By the way, War was originally composed as an anti-Detroit gang record in 1969… show you how dumb some idiots are.

Can you believe the robots who are upset at the DIXIE CHICKS of all people??? Freedom of speech but watch what you say?

RIP #3, the great CHOLLY ATKINS, the choreographer of many acts including the MOTOWN label and my faves GLADYS KNIGHT and THE PIPS. Along with Honi COLES, his partner, they put the pep in that step “his work is as important as the music itself”.

UCLA, spoke there, and the day before they had a gigantic rally which was less in population than the basketball game at Pauley Pavilion.

SW MISSOURI, driving from KC down to Springfield it was a trip following the trail of the 50 Cent phenomenon.

HOLLINS U. the all women college in Virginia was a pleasure and being in a chapel I kept curses to a minimum.

TOWSON, was the same night son of a bush ordered the move on Bombs Over Baghdad II simultaneously as the speech went on..

NORTHERN MICHIGAN, the Upper Peninsula was indeed a cool trip. The audience was very hip hop knowledgable and grabbed onto every word. Getting out of there I dodged a snowstorm, typical March one for them as UP is sandwiched between Great Lakes Superior and Michigan. Flew a Midwest Express prop the size of a mosquito.

AUBURN in ALABAMA, the same school where they had the controversy of the white fraternity Halloween debacle, resulted in the lowest turnout with very few black students attending. So much for their seriousness.

Richard STOCKTON College was a pleasant ride down the JERSEY coastline, as well as the enthusiastic lecture although it seemed like I was lecturing in a deep pit as the seats escalated upwards narrowly.

Lastly, TRUMAN STATE in Missouri, 3 hours from ST LOUIS, KC and DES MOINES was smack dab in the middle of America, but again it showed how VIACOM has dictated how the young nation should think. In most of the upper programming executive circle the average age is about 40- something which goes to show how the control of the youth is still settled in the boardrooms.

Got back into the states and went bananas at Borders picking up some books.

1. MOTOWN; Music Money Sex & Power Gerald Posner… the thing about this book is that it’s like he compiled word for word everybody’s personal Motown book and just put down verbatim. Still a good read.

2. HIT IT FRED; FRED WESLEY’S Story… Mr. Funk tells, in detail, his accounts as the world’s greatest sideman trombonist for Jaaames and Pfunk, etc.

3. THE BEATLES ON APPLE RECORDS… Dig the ads and details for the Beatles label they tried hard to make a dent with.

4. POSSESSED; The Rise And Fall Of Prince… I don’t understand the stupid sub-title and I still don’t see how Prince fell when he calls his own shots on creativity. Why do black artists get tagged with this and how the hell does ROD STEWART still have juice?

5. 45 COVER ART… artwork covers on 7 inch records.

Some people were asking my commentary about the war. It is what it is, or was. On tour every statement was said beforehand therefore anything else was anti-climatic. In the cases of the governments it’s always the few that control the many. Now everyone is still figuring out why the cost of $$$ and lives and for who’s benefit? This is a land that still avoids the reparations for slavery issue but spends 150 billion dollars backing it. Somebody else let me know on the Enemy Board that this was not about son of a bush’s live video game of GRAND THEFT OIL. Yeah, you can best assure somebody that it will be used as collateral in some way or form. A strategic area in the Middle East, western testosterone has run amok.

Did I mention QUEEN LATIFAH just doin her thing. I completely dug CHICAGO… and Bringing Down the House. STEVE MARTIN is still the wild and crazy guy. Malibu’s Most Wanted with JAMIE KENNEDY caught me by surprise. Good moral to the story which was to be yourself and don’t be fake.

In a land of 3,856,432 comedians MIKE “Put the money in the bag!” EPPS outta INDY is st8 buck-crazy. His BUD LIGHT commercial is psycho. ANTHONY ANDERSON must have SAMUEL JACKSON’S agent… that cat’s in a million flicks.

Lastly, I’ve read the dilemma of FOXY BROWN and her trying to get out of DEF SCAM. She claims that LYOR COHEN told her she would never get out of her contract. This is where the s#it hits the fans. Personally, I choose to not single out the characters of COHEN, SIMMONS and LILES when I talk about the drivel the industry has stooped to, but here I will lay out some points from my perspective.

When I was approached by RICK RUBIN in 1986 RUSSELL was already 7 years in the industry mix… as an industry hustler starting back with KURTIS BLOW in 1979. LYOR was already 3 years in coming outta LA as a promoter, then moving from RUN-DMC’s road manager to the Head of RUSH management. Because we came through RICK we were like the step- artists so to speak. Older, different, most of us didn’t smoke or drink, and distant from whatever was going on in NYC at the time. However, the common bond that we all had at DEF JAM/RUSH/RAP at the time was that we rebelled against, the stuck-upwardness of the so called elite, and rapped for the forward mass of the peoples good. It was RUSSELL who advised me that the use of the word “nigger” best not be recorded for various reasons. We shared this sentiment.

The collective movement was against the society that considered what we were doing the gutter. Thus the first 10 years of recorded rap, as I said before rappers rhymed against the elite and for the masses of the people. The last ten years rappers rhyme for their companies, and now show off as the elite themselves. Suites, limos, bodyguards, the flaunt of wealth in the faces of the underserved. The obvious abuse of the masses is evident as DEF JAM buys into the myth of ‘the bigger it is the more loved and respected it will be,’ but that sickness is again like the abused spouse who has been stripped of all esteem. The esteem of the race has all been jacked by culture bandits i.e.; spooks that sit at the corporate door.

I never thought that DEF JAM would ever swear to the god of money as if it would dry up. The other companies lessened their class to sell their asses by any means necessary, and this was expected. But DEF JAM? These cats remind me of the faces that swindled Africans to the middle passage boats. I never thought they would embrace the criminal element like they did. The double-faced crap has gotta stop. RUSSELL’S a nice guy but damn, you cannot have a bottled water company and a sewage plant operating from the same river. Besides selling the black race down the drain they’ve sold their own souls to the devil. And this fact is backed by the rash of hell that’s been surrounding them.

Last month’s 50 CENT piece that I wrote was duplicated all over the map, thanx. But I hope peeps understand that I support the artists, however I cannot support the lack of support balance by the system that exploits these works. More often we’re looking at a society where the leaderships are encouraged to flip as much as possible. To sellout by all means necessary. Flip if you have to to get the sales. Again all I was saying is that this so-called ‘street cred’ thing is out of hand, being that at the end of the streets are two cottage industries JAIL and DEATH. Both being profitable for the exploiter, the murder of hip hop rides this pony. Regardless of the TV exposure and marketing push behind promoted images, one cannot be an invisible politician. Seen everywhere but nowhere at the same time. The latest statistic of 2 million peeps in prison and 13% of the black male population 20-34 makes the glorification of ‘thuglife’ that much more crazy. Really, we must be above the government created ‘streets’. F*ck the ‘Streets Is Watching’ because on the real ‘the Kids Are Watching’ and believing what they’re seeing.

I can’t speak for FOXY’s personal issues as she wilded them out on WENDY WRECKS show. Fans from foxboogie.com have started a petition to help and support Fox. You can participate by going to www.petitiononline.com/fb...tion.html. But props go to WW for not caving in to so-called bullsh#t industry pressure, whatever that is. I would say it sounds like DEF SCAM, by saying that the artists that served their bottom line the past 7 years, are over. They’re now looking for a lower element like Galactus looking for planets. It was the main reason I told artists to venture outside of the US and use these companies across the world to escape the domain of the domestic signing point. DEF JAM could not stop me from using the entire company whether it was vertically in the US or laterally worldwide. In a way, I have to answer today to robots stuck in the machine of the matrix wondering why they don’t see or hear PE product on their radio stations or video outlets in the US, but some will never ever see the total picture anyway. They use industry accounting measures told to them by glossy magazines and video clips, which in a way are a pretty looking umbilical cord to one of the 5 corporations.

As Public Enemy we have been graciously free to do what we want for the past 5 years now and it’s been great. Then again it’s the same attitude that would have made us survivors escaping the plantation. I’m not sure that many artists today have prepared themselves for this autonomy. Also the message to the rest of the planet can not be simple electric slave slide degradation, where in Amerikkka it’s rewarded heavily. Hip hop used to be a flower or plant rooted on the top soil of the black legacy of music. The top soil has been wiped out in the ‘greedrush’ so now it’s a desert where the only thing you can grow is cactus. Cactus sticks you and can make you bleed. The seven figure marketing campaigns, the massive TV placements, the movie appearances, the mix tape frenzies and the 2 page foldout spreads cannot simply reverse the bittersweet attitude of the fans who once craved the artform. Some investment must culturally forward the masses.

Mistachuck@rapstation.com