Hip-hop became a cultural phenomenon against the backdrop of American history, and now Public Enemy\u2019s Chuck D has committed himself to explore the artform\u2019s origins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chuck D rounded up several rap greats \u2014 including Ice-T, Run DMC and MC Lyte \u2014 who offered their firsthand accounts ahead of this year\u2019s 50th anniversary of hip-hop. Their reflections are explored in the four-part docuseries \u201cFight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World,\u201d<\/strong> that aired on PBS and is available to stream on its platforms and YouTube with a premium subscription. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The series delves into the history of hip-hop including the genre\u2019s radical rise from the New York City streets, creating a platform for political expression and being a leading voice for social justice<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cFight the Power\u201d touches on how the hip-hop has played an impactful role in speaking up against injustice in the aftermath of America\u2019s racial and political reckoning in 2020 after\u00a0George Floyd\u2019s killing by Minneapolis police<\/strong>. The series, executive produced by Chuck D, features archival footage and insightful interviews from of rap\u2019s most integral figures including Fat Joe, Lupe Fiasco, Grandmaster Caz, B-Real of Cypress Hill, Melle Mel, will.i.am, John Forte, Roxanne Shant\u00e9 and Abiodun Oyewole of The Last Poets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In a recent interview with The Associated Press, Chuck D talked about hip-hop\u2019s cultural growth in 50 years, the genre being the backbone for Black men\u2019s voices and how rap could last for another half century. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Remarks have been edited for clarity and bravery. ___ AP: You mentioned in your docuseries that hip-hop was a catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement. How so? <\/p>\n\n\n\n CHUCK D: It\u2019s a collective where people felt the same way. It spoke politically to the injustice regarding George Floyd and was a spark that connected around the world. Hip-hop has done the same thing. Hip-hop ties human beings for their similarities and knocks the differences to the side. It\u2019s a movement, when you talk about collective people feeling similar, enact upon something and still even stay within the constraints of the law. Younger people say, \u201cOK, listen, we\u2019re going to speak truth to power right now. We\u2019re going to protest march. We\u2019re going to show you numbers that you ain\u2019t seen in a long time about something you probably didn\u2019t care about.\u201d That\u2019s hip-hop, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n AP: During the birth of hip-hop, how do it help encourage Black voices?<\/p>\n\n\n\n CHUCK D: Black men didn\u2019t have a voice. You might\u2019ve sung records for people who were fortunate to become recording artists. Our music has always been code. Hip-hop is the term for our creativity, maybe for the last 50 years. But before that, we always was creative and musicianship, vocalization, arts and craft, and also the movement of dance. Just that the elements had gotten refined in another period in the \u201870s out of another Big Bang Theory of socio political environments. That\u2019s where that voice came out and it came out culturally. It still speaks loudly, culturally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AP: How does your documentary amplify that notion?<\/p>\n\n\n\n CHUCK D: Some people like to deal with hip-hop where they first started. I think what this documentary series says is \u201cNah, this is where it started.\u201d You might have picked up on it after you were born in the 1990s and picked up maybe 2000, but it started before you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AP: What do you want people to take away from your documentary? <\/p>\n\n\n\n CHUCK D: I don\u2019t want people to do what they don\u2019t want to do. If you say you love hip-hop, then you should be able to know about what you love. You don\u2019t have to love hip-hop. I used to ask people straight out, \u201cDo you love hip-hop?\u201d They would respond \u201cOh yeah. I love it.\u201d Then I was ask, \u201cDo you love Black people?\u201d They would say \u201cWhat\u2019s that got to do with it?\u201d I\u2019m here to tell you that the culture and the music comes out of the people. Sometimes your love of it got to infuse and give something back to the people. That\u2019s the cycle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AP: How do you feel about hip-hop being misinterpreted at times? <\/p>\n\n\n\n CHUCK D: I\u2019m 12 years older than hip-hop, so I\u2019m not in awe of it. I\u2019ve seen the trajectory and my involvement in it was to see if I can make it go head-to-head, stand shoulders and shoulders next to everything else that gets bragged and talked about. I\u2019m a big sports fan. You know, a lot of people in New York broke up because the Giants lost. That\u2019s how they tied into their loyalty for something that they say that they love. Well, people love music, too. They seem to know less about it than they know about sports, because sports make sure you\u2019re not stupid. Stephen A. Smith now is a superstar journalist who makes sure that if you come in the room, you\u2019re not stupid about sports. You can\u2019t go off the top of your head and freestyle what you think when it\u2019s fact. This four-part series at least deals with facts, especially in this misinformation age. Facts are important. Facts is not opinion, bro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AP: How have you seen hip-hop transcend? <\/p>\n\n\n\n CHUCK D: Africa is the future of hip-hop. It\u2019s 54 African nations. Not only are they spitting like crazy, but they\u2019re also braiding languages. Hip-hop is going to like 3.0 when you talk about Africa. Hip-hop is there. So that\u2019s the sustaining power if you want to pay attention to it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AP: Do you feel like rappers can still be commercially successful while being socially conscious?<\/p>\n\n\n\n CHUCK D: Depends on where they are and who they\u2019re talking to. If you\u2019re in France, it might work for you. Each level that you get into it, you got to go deeper because you build a fan base that\u2019s three times harder than you. If you\u2019re an activist, you\u2019re going to bring on activists that\u2019s really doing this. You as an artist could engage on it and group them together. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, as far as what\u2019s going to make that artists keep a light on or go out and get the Lamborghini, that\u2019s a personal thing. Money is relative. There\u2019s pressure put on the arts. That\u2019s an illusion. It\u2019s a little unfair to any art \u2014 which is not supposed to bring you an industry. It\u2019s supposed to be able to bring a canvas to the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AP: What\u2019s it going to take for hip-hop to live for another 50 years? <\/p>\n\n\n\n CHUCK D: Commitment collective, people recognizing that this is a part of us and recognizing more parts of us that have been part of our cultural history around the world. We got to recognize the world too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Hip-hop became a cultural phenomenon against the backdrop of American history, and now Public Enemy\u2019s Chuck D has committed himself to explore the artform\u2019s origins. Chuck D rounded up several rap greats \u2014 including Ice-T, Run DMC and MC Lyte \u2014 who offered their firsthand accounts ahead of this year\u2019s 50th anniversary of hip-hop. 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