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.
