Living Legends - Answer from Chuck D - True Spirit?

Chuck D from Public Enemy answers the question, "Do you think that rap today is in the true spirit of what it used to be?"

Category:

Music

Tags:

• Living
• Legends
• Chuck
• rap

[hthomos]

Chuck D. is the most inspirational and intelligent rapper ever. It's a shame rappers these day don't reflect Chuck in anyway shape or form.

[nystagmus]

chuck D is very intelligent. i wish there was a rapper of his caliber these days, there is not.

very inciteful.

[ninjaskateryo]

chuck d is my hero

[jwh1999]

Chuck D is no doubt the spokesman for hip hop!!

[thisonerightMFhere]

Interest to know. I would like to know from you, was there a commercial market for any of those recordings in any shape or form prior to 'Rapper's Delight' ?

[deanburgess69]

dickhead respect, stones are one of my favourite groups but chuck d is a fucking champ.

[ttysonn]

Well said Chuck D. I first started watching these videos about 10 minutes ago, heads up on the hoaxes trying to finish videos with unanswered questions which you pose. Forget those posers though, the camera only stays still so long for a poser, then they need to move back in to the real swing of things. Keep it up!

[sandyjimenez1]

...it's largely a kind of "party music" now which is how it started; as a reaction to disco. There are too few in Hip Hop who are building upon the honesty of historic songs like "The Message" and too few are actually building on the roots planted by great artists like EPMD, or later acts like Black Star, A Tribe Called Quest for example. I hate hearing a Hip Hop song in which they just sample a movie theme set to a drum machine...

I'm eagerly waiting for the next "Roots" and "Common" CDs.

[sandyjimenez1]

The earliest efforts were about day-to-day stuff: material things like having the nicest car and nicest looking gear, and in general; saying that you were better than othert mcs. Chuck D is absolutely correct about the violence and glorification of crime in rap -that all largely happened after the success of NWA. Sadly, in some ways today's rap (And I mean the stuff that gets the most radio play today) is actually a throwback to the earliest days:

[sandyjimenez1]

Brilliant points and a great attempt on setting the record straight from Chuck D.

I don't necessarily agree that early rap was about "love" though. I grew up in the South Bronx before anything that could be called Rap was put on vinyl, and most of what you could get to listen to were muddy-sounding cassette tapes from outdoor jams and mc battles at clubs around the 5 boroughs...