Chuck D on How Hip-Hop Changed the World

The Political Scene | The New Yorker

The New Yorker

President, Barack, News, Politics, Wnyc, Obama, Lizza, Washington, Wickenden

4.3 • 3.9K Ratings

🗓️ 6 February 2023

⏱️ 22 minutes

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Summary

Forty years ago, Chuck D showed listeners how exciting, radical, and unpredictable hip-hop could be. His song “Fight the Power” became a protest anthem for a generation, and a Greek chorus in Spike Lee’s film “Do the Right Thing.” The Public Enemy front man talks with the staff writer Kelefa Sanneh about his life in music. “I wanted to curate, present, navigate, teach, and lead the hip-hop art, making it something that people would revere,” he says. Now, at sixty-two, Chuck D is an elder statesman of his genre, and also a critic of it and some of its more commercial impulses. His latest project is a four-part documentary, “Fight the Power: How Hip-Hop Changed the World,” which is airing now on PBS. “I’ve been to one hundred sixteen countries over thirty-eight years, so I’ve seen the changes,” he says. “People have made their way to me to say, ‘Chuck, this is what this art form has meant to me,’ in all continents except for Antarctica.”

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0:42.5	Yeah, eBay. Things people love.
0:49.3	This is the political scene, and I'm David Remnick.
0:57.1	Staff writer Kelaassane covers a lot of subjects for us. He writes about politics and
1:02.6	sports and music, a lot of music. Recently, he met up with a legendary figure in hip-hop,
1:09.2	the frontman and MC of public enemy, Chuck D.
1:13.9	So I met Chuck D for the first time at this bar called the Ivy Lounge in Manhattan.
1:18.9	It was empty. It was during the day. They had cleared it out for us. And, you know, I think I was
1:23.9	expecting a slightly more stern person than the guy who walked in.
1:28.6	Hi, how you doing?
1:29.3	Okay.
1:29.9	Hey, Kay.
1:30.4	How you doing?
1:31.1	Good to see you again.
1:32.2	I've seen you someone.
	...

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