Chuck D Interview

The Progressive Magazine: "I first heard Public Enemy in 1987 when a tape of the rap group’s Yo! Bum Rush the Show was making the rounds in my neighborhood. While the boldness of the music was like nothing I had heard before, it paled in comparison to the group’s next record, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back (1988). Incendiary and groundbreaking, it now stands as a political manifesto for youth—both black and white—to quote a lyric, “of the same mind, unblind.”"

Chuck D, and Public Enemy changed my life. I was twenty one years old before I had ever heard of Malcolm X. Public Enemy introduced me to Minister Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. "Don't tell me that you understand, until you hear the man".("Don't Believe The Hype")

Q: What are some of the songs that remain vital from It Takes a Nation?

Chuck D: “Don’t Believe the Hype,” without question, still speaks volumes. To me it is Noam Chomsky-like in its theme and content. Like Chomsky does with his work, “Don’t Believe the Hype” addresses media disinformation and picks it apart.

I never believe the hype, and neither should you!

Peace!