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June 27, 2018 The Skanner Page 7 Arts & Entertainment Chuck D Talks State of Black America, Obama’s Legacy and the Black Press By Stacy M. Brown NNPA Newswire ‘Tag’ cont’d from pg 6 TV show productions. Tomsic assembled a big-name cast, with Jon Hamm, Ed Helms Jeremy Renner, Hannibal Buress and Jake Johnson por- traying the protagonists of the bawdy buddy com- edy. At the point of depar- ture, we find Hoagie (Helms), a veterinarian by profession, taking a job as a janitor at an in- surance company just to be able to shock a rival, Callahan (Hamm), the firm’s CEO. That gives you an idea of the elabo- rate ruses involved. While this novel ad- venture gets an A for PHOTO: KIM METSO/WIKIMEDIA COMMONS T o many hip-hop fans, historians and to his peers, Chuck D is considered one of the most influential lyricists in contempo- rary music. In describing the Queens, New York City- born artist in the biog- raphy pages of his new book, “Chuck D Presents This Day in Rap and Hip- Hop History,” the pub- lisher notes that Chuck D helped paved the way for political, social, and culturally conscious hip- hop, both as a solo artist and as the leader of the ground-breaking group, Public Enemy. In a wide-ranging ex- clusive interview with NNPA Newswire, the leg- end, whose given name is Douglas Ridenhour, addressed issues con- cerning Black America, including President Don- ald Trump, the impor- tance of voting, and the need for the Black Press to reach even further around the globe. “The state of Black America is always going to be a truncated state, if we don’t expand to where we are in the world,” said Chuck D, who just kicked off the wildly successful Prophets of Rage tour with Cypress Hill and Rage Against the Ma- chine. To date, the concert tour reportedly has drawn more than 3.1 mil- lion fans in over 27 coun- tries. “If [Black people] are going to rely on the Unit- ed States of America to come around and give us answers, then we don’t understand that we’re all over the world, the majority…then we are doomed to be slaves in this country forever,” Public Enemy founder and Hip-hop legend Chuck D says that the Black Press must get ahead of the curve and continue its global outreach efforts. Chuck D in Gothenburg, Sweden. Chuck D said. “You’ve got to fight to get out of the box; to achieve in the United States of America was never going to be an easy ride for Black peo- ple, so we shouldn’t cut “ I think he gave it his all for eight years and we didn’t do all that we could ourselves off from those who look like us in this 21st century.” In an era where new and upcoming hip-hop stars like Migos and Car- di B. are leaders, Chuck D remains universally revered. His Public Enemy al- bums remain among the most critically-ac- claimed works in rap mu- sic, including “It Takes a Nation of Millions to creativity, its characters frequent resort to unnec- essary cursing proves to be a self-sabotaging dis- traction. After all, “Tag” is still a little kids’ game, even if it’s big kids play- ing it. So, in this critic’s opinion, the film would have worked better with a squeaky-clean script. Nevertheless, the se- ries of screwball stunts held my interest for the duration, despite the profusion of profani- ties. Best of all, were the priceless clips which ran during the closing cred- its of the real-life pals pulling off their pranks. A nostalgic walk down Memory Lane courtesy of the ultimate game of “Tag.” You’re it! Very Good HH1/2 Hold Us Back” and “Fear of a Black Planet.” Earlier this year, a writ- er for GQ Magazine not- ed that not only is he one of the greatest and most influential MCs in rap’s history, Chuck D is also blessed with the sort of encyclopedic knowledge and staggering recall that places him among the genre’s foremost his- torians and custodians. “Chuck was there, and he got receipts,” the writ- er said. Chuck D said that Black America should have done more to embrace President Barack Obama and realize his limita- tions. “President Obama was a statement to the world, a gateway to the world and an introduction to understanding what’s in the world for us,” Chuck D said. Chuck D continued: “He was not there so that we could simply stay in America and get an- swers, when the next guy who comes along is a dys- functional idiot and ev- Rated R for pervasive profanity, crude humor, sexuality, drug use and brief nudity View the trailer at TheSkanner.com. erything gets reversed.” The hip-hop pioneer added that Obama’s pres- idency gave us a passport to understand where Black people are in the world. Chuck said that he thinks Black people dropped the ball by not seizing on the opportu- nity while he was still in the White House. “Waiting for Obama to do anything for Black people was the biggest fault in my opinion, be- cause he was the presi- dent knowing damn well that he couldn’t make ‘the Black move,’” Chuck D said. “I think he gave it his all for eight years and we didn’t do all that we could and, even then, it might have taken 30 years to take advantage of a person like Obama in office; but we only got eight.” Still, voting is key, Chuck D said, as he ap- plauded the NNPA-led ef- fort to register 5 million, new African American voters this year. “Voting is as import- ant as washing your tail in the morning,” he said. “Pay attention to the lo- cal level and think about the bigger ramifications of not voting.” Chuck D continued: “You have to tell young people to pay attention at the local level, because when they run past that red light and they get pulled into that kangaroo court, where they want to revoke your license, that’s who you should look at when voting. The literacy of what voting is to our young people is short-sighted and we can do better.” The recent shooting deaths of rappers XXX- Tentacion in North Mi- ami, Florida and Jimmy Wapo in Pittsburgh, Penn., are as troublesome as the shooting deaths of his contemporaries, No- torious B.I.G., Jam Mas- ter Jay and Tupac, Chuck D said. The mainstream me- dia must share some of the blame, particularly in the case of XXXTenta- cion, Chuck D said. “This is a serious issue. It’s not trivial,” Chuck D said. “I got on the [mainstream] media for pumping this kid up like he was going to die and when he dies, it’s just an- other headline. What did you do to prevent this?” Chuck D continued: “When a guy is in that much danger, don’t give him coverage. The more you do that, the more of a target and a death sen- tence you give him.” To remain strong and relevant, the hip-hop leg- end said that the Black Press must get ahead of the curve and continue its global outreach ef- forts.
