February 27, 2006 @ 12:36 pm

Beneath his Pen: Chuck D of the incomparable Public Enemy

by: Deshair Foskey

Chuck D has always had an infectious sound. His cadence, his strength, and the emotion of his music easily sent chills throughout the brainwaves of every a child who blasted the supersonic energies of Public Enemy while playing video games.

Though some may have been a bit too young to realize the total impact of his lyrical content at the time, D still managed to introduce them to an America that he knew all too well.

With a new Public Enemy album, and the chance of a lifetime to pick the brain of one of the most influential lyricist to clutch a microphone, VIBE.com jumped at the opportunity to talk with the most visible, most controversial, & most lyrically sound MC of all-time: Chuck D (lyrics included). Are you ready for a New Whirl Odor?

Vibe: At what point in your life did you know that songwriting and reciting would be the ultimate way for you to get out the word?

Chuck D: During my first album, back in ’86, ’87. Rap albums didn’t have liner notes and they didn’t have lyrics printed. So once I was able to print my lyrics out on the album sleeves, I knew that I would make an impact.

How would Chuck D define Chuck D?

A man… period.

Tell us how The Bass (Chuck D) and The Treble (Flava Flav) tackled the songwriting process together.

The songwriting process was based around Public Enemy. So when I wrote a song, everything else was mapped around it. I found the musicians, made the revisions, created themes, and carved out the lyrics. It was a total team process, but someone had to have the initial idea. When Flava wrote his tunes, he would either have an idea or he might take an idea and sit with it for a year in some cases.

Would you say that you are a more lyrically driven songwriter, or melody driven?

I’m lyrically driven, not melody. It’s more like a sound, a sonic noise, audio; that’s what drives me. It’s not melody; it’s not really a beat. If I hear a sound that I haven’t heard before, I would probably be more interested in that ugly sound than anybody else. I wouldn’t necessarily take a pretty sound that anybody can get on. I’ve always liked to take something that nobody would ever pick, nobody would ever feel.

Bass! How low can you go? Death row; what a brother knows, Once again, back is the incredible, The rhyme animal, The incredible, D. Public Enemy number one, Five-O said "Freeze!" and I got numb… - “Bring Tha Noize”

right Let’s look back on one of the greatest musical collaborations of our time, “Self Destruction.” Do you feel that we’re still heading for it, or that we’ve already reached self-destruction?

What is 17 years when a so-called civilized nation goes over a thousand, right? They’ve been talking about self destruction for about two thousand years, and that’s just in line, that’s all.

Yes we urge to merge we live for the love, Of our people the hope that they get along, (Yeah, so we did a song) Getting the point to our brothers and sisters, Who don't know the time (boy, so we wrote a rhyme), It's dead in your head, you know, I'll drive to build, And collect ourselves with intellect, come on, To revolve to evolve to self-respect, Cause we got to keep ourselves in check. – "Self Destruction”

Are there any artists from this generation that you feel are Public Enemy’s descendents in a sense?

Yes, they’re plenty. Whether it’s in Rock, like Rage Against the Machine. You got groups like The Roots, you got Dead Prez, you got Nas. Public Enemy is a group, so our influence is always there, and it splinters into a thousand areas. Right now, you got Little Brother. But I mean hey… I’m proud of the fact that our influences have been felt in heavy rock as well as rap.

Let’s do some song association… I’ll give you a title to one of P.E.’s Greatest Hits, and from there you can describe to us what you were going through when you wrote it.

“Public Enemy #1”: I was going through a time of establishing myself on radio stations & college radio stations, to help build rap music back in 1984.
“Welcome to the Terrordome”: I was just finished with the 1989 controversy that summer. I took a long drive to Allentown, Pennsylvania, to let go of a lot of steam from the top of my head.
“Shut’em Down”: It was the winter time, and we were trying to find some new angles. This young cat came up to me and was like, “Yo’, Red Alert is shutting down everybody on the radio station. He’s shutting them down; he shut’em down.” I’m like wow, ok, boom, a song idea.

Has anything changed about how you attack songwriting since the release of P.E.’s debut album, “Yo! Bum Rush the Show”?

A lot of things have changed. But then again, I say that the best thing that a songwriter can do is keep their eyes, their ears, & their nose open to what is going on around them.

Do you ever rank the songs that you’ve written in the past, and if so, what would you rank as your best display of lyricism?

The #1 thing that I was taught to do was to try to take a song that someone would probably hate, somebody probably would love, and not really give a fuck about either. ‘Welcome to the Terrordome’ was a personal favorite, because I reached inside of me more than any other song.

I got so much trouble on my mind, I refuse to lose… Here's your ticket… Hear the drummer get wicked! – “Welcome to the Terrordome”

Tell us about your new album, New Whirl Odor.

New Whirl Odor is another word for ‘Ball of Confusion.’ The world is a ball of confusion.

What can we look forward to with this release?

Fans of our music can be looking forward to a different album with New Whirl Odor. Public Enemy has never made 2 albums alike, and that’s our goal. The funny thing is… we always come out with records that you’ll have a whole group of people who would say; “Wow, this is the best shit in years”, and then you’ll have people that don’t know what to say. But they shouldn’t know what to say, because that’s the goal. This album is a revisit to warm sound. People hear a warm sound with nice bass, and feel that. But the next album might not be like that. You have to be a bold and daring artist to say that it’s not about trying to make everybody feel good; it’s about standing by what we do and believe, and seeing people cross over to that walk. If they do, you’re like cool, and if they don’t, you still gotta’ be like cool because you gotta’ be you.

I got a letter from the government; the other day, I opened and read it, it said they were suckers… They wanted me for their army or whatever, Picture me given' a damn, I said never… - "Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos”

Tell us about the first single?

‘Bring That Beat Back’ is the first single, which was produced in our four studios that we have on this Slam Jamz label. All of our producers (a staff of 15) had to learn the philosophy that they should share, to knowing what each other was doing, and also passing around their works to each other. It was a double checking establishment, and that has worked on this Public Enemy album. How long that will take place? I don’t know… but I’m against the fact of having one producer captain an entire album. It’s hard to convince cats today, so I try to convince them with philosophy.

Is there a song that you’ve heard over the past 5 to 10 years that you wish you were a part of or that you have total admiration for?

‘Ms. Jackson’ by Outkast, to me that felt like the most perfect song ever. I was like, “Wooooow, amazing.”

On what note would you like to leave readers on…

That songwriting transcends America. One word goes around the world in a song. It’s the universal language… Music.