Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Back in the Public eye
Rap legends map the way ahead for America on latest album
This year’s return of revolutionary hip-hop and rap legends Public Enemy is timely. Their early trailblazing albums Fear of A Black Planet and It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back, along with signature hit Fight The Power foreshadowed America’ s current racial conflagrations.
And they kicked off 2020 with single State of The Union (STFU) – a blistering attack on Donald Trump.
Now founders Chuck D and sidekick Flavor Flav sum mon Parliament-Funkadelic legend George
Clinton to help map the way ahead on the title track of new album What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down? – the 15th in their stormy, history-making career.
“Uncle George is a visionary,” says
Chuck D – on the line from somewhere on the US East Coast. “He’s able to see our next 10 years.
“Just like he was able to see us going into this century, how to culturally move society, mentally, consciously and also be very funky at the same time.”
Earlier this year, Chuck, 60, and Flavor, 61, appeared to have parted ways following a heated public exchange of words after Chuck played a benefit gig for US Democratic Senator and Presidential candidate Bernie Sanders under the name Public Enemy Radio.
Chuck l at er di smi ssed th eir bust-up as an April Fool’s prank, but suggests he had the upper hand.
“Now it is a bit of an April Fool’s thing,” he admits, “but remember – I
got more words than he got.” Flavor has spent spells in rehab but, according to Run DMC (one of many guest turns on the new album), Chuck has never been high in his life.
And other than admitting to having spent his recent 60th birthday “quietly”, Mr D refuses to discuss family life or his personal habits.
“I don’t give anything to the public,” he explains. “I don’t need to give th em eith er. Th ey don’t n eed to know how I’m laying in bed or eat my food.”
What about the Chuck D vocal though? Has any spoken word voice ever captured more might on the mic?
Even booming down the phone line, Chuck’s voice makes a mighty impression sounding like, if not quite the Voice of God, America at least. Where did it come from?
“My father,” he says. “I always thought he was the loudest human being on the planet.
“He could yell from one town to the next town, holler at a mountain and probably cut it in half.
“A lot of the serenity that I’ve built with that voice were philosophies from my mother and father.”
What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down? comes out on September 25
I got my voice from my dad – the loudest human being on the planet