1 00:00:00,720 --> 00:00:14,960 Speaker 1: Disgraceland is a production of Double Elvis. The stories about 2 00:00:15,000 --> 00:00:20,360 Speaker 1: hip hop legends Public Enemy are insane. Their heighteman allegedly 3 00:00:20,360 --> 00:00:23,360 Speaker 1: tried to shoot his neighbor while high on crack cocaine. 4 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:28,440 Speaker 1: Their so called Minister of Information was so controversial that 5 00:00:28,520 --> 00:00:32,160 Speaker 1: he nearly destroyed the group's career. They played a show 6 00:00:32,200 --> 00:00:35,920 Speaker 1: at Riker's Island immediately after releasing a track about a 7 00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 1: prison break. Their music video depicting the assassination of politicians 8 00:00:41,440 --> 00:00:46,200 Speaker 1: was pulled after it aired on MTV just once. Public 9 00:00:46,320 --> 00:00:50,839 Speaker 1: Enemy were revolutionaries, both in their message and their music. 10 00:00:51,920 --> 00:00:55,120 Speaker 1: In the nineteen eighties and nineties, they helped elevate hip 11 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:58,440 Speaker 1: hop to an art form. They did this with Chuck 12 00:00:58,520 --> 00:01:03,279 Speaker 1: Dee's booming voice, flavor Flaves, comic levity, and the auditory 13 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:08,679 Speaker 1: assault of the Bomb Squad's production Great Music, unlike that 14 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:10,600 Speaker 1: clip I played for you at the top of the show. 15 00:01:11,319 --> 00:01:14,600 Speaker 1: That wasn't great music. That was a preset loop for 16 00:01:14,720 --> 00:01:20,120 Speaker 1: my melotron called Vogue Schmog MK two. I played you 17 00:01:20,160 --> 00:01:22,640 Speaker 1: that clip because I can't afford the rights to a 18 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:25,760 Speaker 1: clip from Baby Don't Forget My Number by Millie Vanilli. 19 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:29,480 Speaker 1: And why would I play you that specific slice of 20 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:34,280 Speaker 1: secretly lip syncing cheese. Could I afford it? Because that 21 00:01:34,800 --> 00:01:38,040 Speaker 1: was the number one song in America on July fourth, 22 00:01:38,200 --> 00:01:41,759 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty nine, And that was the day Public Enemy 23 00:01:41,800 --> 00:01:45,240 Speaker 1: released their single Fight the Power, a song that put 24 00:01:45,319 --> 00:01:47,920 Speaker 1: them in the middle of the cultural zeitgeist at the 25 00:01:48,080 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 1: very moment they were splintering apart. On this episode, Heypemen revolutionaries, assassinations, 26 00:01:56,680 --> 00:02:02,200 Speaker 1: prison breaks, auditory assaults, and public antim I'm Jake Brennan 27 00:02:02,640 --> 00:02:32,400 Speaker 1: and this is Disgraceland nineteen ninety three. The Bronx William Drayton, 28 00:02:32,720 --> 00:02:35,320 Speaker 1: the man better known to the world as Flavor Flave, 29 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:40,600 Speaker 1: was hearing things, voices, specifically the voice of his baby 30 00:02:40,639 --> 00:02:44,040 Speaker 1: girl crying for her daddy coming from the other side 31 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:47,960 Speaker 1: of his apartment wall. The sound of his daughter hit 32 00:02:48,000 --> 00:02:50,960 Speaker 1: Flave where it hurt. He was seeing less and less 33 00:02:50,960 --> 00:02:55,600 Speaker 1: of her these days, seeing less of all his kids. Actually, Karen, 34 00:02:55,680 --> 00:02:58,880 Speaker 1: his ex, had full custody. The only thing that helped 35 00:02:58,919 --> 00:03:02,079 Speaker 1: him block out the pain, that helped him forget, if 36 00:03:02,080 --> 00:03:06,560 Speaker 1: only for a moment, was crack cocaine. But not today. 37 00:03:07,320 --> 00:03:09,840 Speaker 1: Today the crack was reminding him of what he didn't have, 38 00:03:10,560 --> 00:03:15,280 Speaker 1: his kids. They were clearly in distress, being held hostage 39 00:03:15,280 --> 00:03:19,120 Speaker 1: by his next door neighbor. Karen was there too, Why 40 00:03:19,680 --> 00:03:23,120 Speaker 1: didn't matter. All that mattered was that Flave was fully 41 00:03:23,160 --> 00:03:27,120 Speaker 1: convinced that his estranged family was locked up next door. 42 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:31,080 Speaker 1: So flav Or Flave did what any good daddy would 43 00:03:31,080 --> 00:03:34,800 Speaker 1: do in this situation. He grabbed his three eighty semi automatic, 44 00:03:34,880 --> 00:03:37,120 Speaker 1: stuck it into his pants, and went to the rescue. 45 00:03:37,320 --> 00:03:40,000 Speaker 1: Out into the hallway and knocked on his neighbor's door, 46 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:43,080 Speaker 1: and the guy opened it just a smidge, and then 47 00:03:43,360 --> 00:03:47,760 Speaker 1: Flave pushed the door wide open, barged right in, sweating, 48 00:03:48,120 --> 00:03:52,280 Speaker 1: bugging out, Yo, man, where's my family? They were in 49 00:03:52,320 --> 00:03:55,200 Speaker 1: here somewhere. He could still hear his little girl screaming. 50 00:03:55,800 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 1: His neighbor just kept saying, they're not here. Man, man, 51 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:04,480 Speaker 1: you know, fuck this guy calling Flave man. How about 52 00:04:04,720 --> 00:04:08,120 Speaker 1: he act like a man and give Flave back his kids? 53 00:04:08,600 --> 00:04:15,960 Speaker 1: How about that neighbor panicked and then he bolted out 54 00:04:16,000 --> 00:04:19,240 Speaker 1: of the apartment into the hallway, straight to the stairwell door. 55 00:04:19,839 --> 00:04:23,760 Speaker 1: Flave gave Chase twenty three flights down all the way 56 00:04:23,839 --> 00:04:28,080 Speaker 1: to the lobby. He was panting now, sweating profusely. His 57 00:04:28,120 --> 00:04:30,800 Speaker 1: neighbor stopped and spun around, took a step forward like 58 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:32,760 Speaker 1: he was going to get into it, but fuck that, 59 00:04:33,279 --> 00:04:36,280 Speaker 1: Flave pulled the three eighty from his pants. One more 60 00:04:36,360 --> 00:04:39,679 Speaker 1: step and I'm gonna shoot you. Gee. The neighbor freaked. 61 00:04:40,400 --> 00:04:44,960 Speaker 1: He ran outside into traffic, noise, total chaos. Then came 62 00:04:45,000 --> 00:04:48,560 Speaker 1: play with Flave, still just one step behind, outside onto 63 00:04:48,560 --> 00:04:51,279 Speaker 1: that same street, ready to be strong, to be a 64 00:04:51,320 --> 00:04:53,839 Speaker 1: good daddy, to do the one thing he believed he 65 00:04:53,920 --> 00:05:02,599 Speaker 1: had to do. Just a few years after his group 66 00:05:02,680 --> 00:05:08,480 Speaker 1: Public Enemy changed the rap game, Flavor, Flave, high on crack, paranoid, armed, 67 00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:11,880 Speaker 1: was committing the kinds of transgressive acts that ran counter 68 00:05:11,920 --> 00:05:15,120 Speaker 1: to pe'es message, a message that was delivered by the 69 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:19,360 Speaker 1: group's MC Chuck d a guy who famously didn't do drugs, 70 00:05:19,560 --> 00:05:23,200 Speaker 1: didn't drink, a guy who viewed hip hop music AllMusic 71 00:05:23,400 --> 00:05:26,599 Speaker 1: as a way to raise the dialogue. Chuck aimed to 72 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:29,400 Speaker 1: free your mind, the exact opposite of what was going 73 00:05:29,400 --> 00:05:32,599 Speaker 1: on with Flave here trapped inside of his own mind. 74 00:05:33,360 --> 00:05:36,960 Speaker 1: Freedom from oppression, from the propaganda of the ruling class, 75 00:05:37,240 --> 00:05:40,640 Speaker 1: freedom from complacency, and a shared loss of history and culture. 76 00:05:41,600 --> 00:05:44,320 Speaker 1: In the mid eighties, when Public Enemy blew up that 77 00:05:44,440 --> 00:05:47,040 Speaker 1: culture was still resting too hard on the laurels of 78 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:50,240 Speaker 1: the civil rights movement some two decades prior or At 79 00:05:50,320 --> 00:05:53,840 Speaker 1: least that was the case in Chuck DSIs. For Chuck, 80 00:05:54,160 --> 00:05:58,400 Speaker 1: the movement it didn't simply happen. Saying it happened implied 81 00:05:58,400 --> 00:06:00,760 Speaker 1: that it was in the past, but it wasn't over. 82 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:04,920 Speaker 1: It was still beginning. Chuck, of course, was the polar 83 00:06:04,960 --> 00:06:09,440 Speaker 1: opposite of Flave. Chuck rapped about the street, about drugs, 84 00:06:09,680 --> 00:06:14,280 Speaker 1: about the United States broken prison system, but Flave was 85 00:06:14,440 --> 00:06:18,240 Speaker 1: the streets. He was, at various times a user, a dealer, 86 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:21,600 Speaker 1: another number in the New York lock up. Now, however, 87 00:06:21,960 --> 00:06:25,560 Speaker 1: he was a foil. He existed to soften Chuck, the 88 00:06:25,600 --> 00:06:29,000 Speaker 1: Bobby Bird to Chuck D's James Brown, the comic relief 89 00:06:29,040 --> 00:06:32,719 Speaker 1: to Chuck's hard hitting broadcast news crawl. He gave Chuck 90 00:06:32,800 --> 00:06:35,560 Speaker 1: room to breathe in the verses versus that came at 91 00:06:35,560 --> 00:06:38,599 Speaker 1: you like an oozy to waigh a ton flavor. Flave 92 00:06:38,760 --> 00:06:42,320 Speaker 1: also made Public Enemy's message more palatable to suburban America, 93 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:45,719 Speaker 1: to the white kids buying their records, white kids like me, 94 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:49,159 Speaker 1: and we bought them, We really did. Couldn't wait. Actually, 95 00:06:50,520 --> 00:06:52,800 Speaker 1: by the time Flavor Clave was chasing his neighbor out 96 00:06:52,800 --> 00:06:55,520 Speaker 1: of an apartment building with a loaded gun. Public Enemy 97 00:06:55,560 --> 00:06:59,400 Speaker 1: had four stone cold classic albums under their belt, albums 98 00:06:59,440 --> 00:07:04,080 Speaker 1: that sold millions. Years earlier, Elo COOLJ had declared he 99 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:07,160 Speaker 1: was hard as hell, but these four PE albums were 100 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:10,760 Speaker 1: hard as a motherfucker. Hank Shockley and his brother Keith, 101 00:07:11,120 --> 00:07:14,560 Speaker 1: Eric Vietnam Sadler, and Chuck D, a production team known 102 00:07:14,640 --> 00:07:17,880 Speaker 1: collectively as the Bomb Squad, brought a wall of sound, 103 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:21,320 Speaker 1: a hip hop that was unlike anything before or after. 104 00:07:22,240 --> 00:07:26,280 Speaker 1: Hank Shockley was raps phil spector, layering sample upon sample, 105 00:07:26,480 --> 00:07:30,960 Speaker 1: dissonant and forceful. The resulting hypnotic sound was, as Chuck 106 00:07:31,040 --> 00:07:35,920 Speaker 1: D put it, quote, repetitive, repetition, relentless, no escape. James 107 00:07:36,000 --> 00:07:38,440 Speaker 1: Brown took it to the bridge. We'd take it over 108 00:07:38,520 --> 00:07:42,720 Speaker 1: the bridge unquote. This wasn't your father's R and B. 109 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:46,120 Speaker 1: This wasn't rhythm and blues. This was the eighties going 110 00:07:46,160 --> 00:07:49,240 Speaker 1: on the nineties. R and B was Reagan and Bush. 111 00:07:49,360 --> 00:07:53,040 Speaker 1: Now it was DJ Terminator X, scratching the ones, scratching 112 00:07:53,080 --> 00:07:55,600 Speaker 1: the twos, not just make it funky, break to demand 113 00:07:55,640 --> 00:07:59,320 Speaker 1: your attention. It was Professor Griff Public enemy's self described 114 00:07:59,360 --> 00:08:03,600 Speaker 1: minister of bringing back the Black Panther urgency of decades past, 115 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:07,160 Speaker 1: giving pe its image. The security of the First World 116 00:08:07,280 --> 00:08:10,640 Speaker 1: aka the S one W standing at attention on stage 117 00:08:10,680 --> 00:08:14,000 Speaker 1: with fake machine guns while air raid sirens wailed. The 118 00:08:14,120 --> 00:08:18,160 Speaker 1: S one w's professor, Griff Hank Chuck flave. They had 119 00:08:18,160 --> 00:08:26,320 Speaker 1: a collective message, wake the fuck up. September nineteen eighty three, 120 00:08:26,960 --> 00:08:30,320 Speaker 1: there was a war going on. The NYPD called it 121 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:32,720 Speaker 1: a war on graffiti, but it was really a war 122 00:08:32,800 --> 00:08:35,520 Speaker 1: on hip hop. In eighty three, hip hop and the 123 00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:40,520 Speaker 1: eyes of the law was not art but vandalism. Musicians, artists, 124 00:08:40,559 --> 00:08:44,120 Speaker 1: they had to make their own space, like Michael Stewart 125 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:47,240 Speaker 1: standing at the first Avenue and fourteenth Street subway station 126 00:08:47,320 --> 00:08:51,240 Speaker 1: with a marker in his hand. It was late past midnight. 127 00:08:52,000 --> 00:08:53,680 Speaker 1: Michael did his thing and made the wall of the 128 00:08:53,720 --> 00:08:56,640 Speaker 1: subway station a little cooler than he found it. The 129 00:08:56,720 --> 00:09:02,000 Speaker 1: transit cops watched and waited, and then they pounced. They 130 00:09:02,080 --> 00:09:03,840 Speaker 1: forced Michael to the ground and beat him with their 131 00:09:03,840 --> 00:09:07,120 Speaker 1: billy clubs. They hog tied his arms and legs behind him. 132 00:09:07,280 --> 00:09:10,840 Speaker 1: A nightstick wrapped around Michael's throat. He gasped for air, 133 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:16,320 Speaker 1: an hour later, Michael Stewart went into a coma. The 134 00:09:16,400 --> 00:09:19,960 Speaker 1: case went to trial. The defendants, the judge, the jury, 135 00:09:20,000 --> 00:09:25,680 Speaker 1: the attorneys, the court officers, all of them white. The 136 00:09:25,720 --> 00:09:27,880 Speaker 1: one person of color was unable to tell his side 137 00:09:27,880 --> 00:09:30,920 Speaker 1: of the story because less than two weeks after the incident, 138 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:34,920 Speaker 1: Michael Stewart was dead, all because he tagged the wall 139 00:09:34,960 --> 00:09:38,640 Speaker 1: of a subway station. The six officers went free, and 140 00:09:38,720 --> 00:09:42,120 Speaker 1: the NYPD made their point. People who looked like Michael 141 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:50,640 Speaker 1: Stewart be arrested, assaulted, even killed. Carlton Ridden aka Chuck 142 00:09:50,760 --> 00:09:54,160 Speaker 1: D wasn't about to accept that. He, along with his 143 00:09:54,200 --> 00:09:56,920 Speaker 1: fellow disruptors and public enemy, were ready to fight the 144 00:09:56,960 --> 00:10:01,240 Speaker 1: powers that be, ready to revitalize the movement. As Chuck saw, 145 00:10:01,600 --> 00:10:04,079 Speaker 1: that movement had gotten a little soft in the nearly 146 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:06,960 Speaker 1: twenty years since Malcolm and Martin. It was a movement 147 00:10:07,000 --> 00:10:10,520 Speaker 1: that never got what it wanted, not really anyway, not 148 00:10:10,600 --> 00:10:15,840 Speaker 1: what it deserved. Four years after the death of Michael Stewart, 149 00:10:16,040 --> 00:10:18,320 Speaker 1: New York had a new public enemy to contend with. 150 00:10:19,280 --> 00:10:22,920 Speaker 1: This one rode the Bomb Squad's relentless grooves, led by 151 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:26,600 Speaker 1: Chuck D's deep baritone, like Marv Albert calling a game 152 00:10:26,720 --> 00:10:28,960 Speaker 1: not from the court, but from the street. A game 153 00:10:29,000 --> 00:10:32,679 Speaker 1: of life and death. It was February nineteen eighty seven. 154 00:10:33,240 --> 00:10:36,480 Speaker 1: Yo Bum rushed the show public Enemy's debut, and Chuck 155 00:10:36,520 --> 00:10:40,640 Speaker 1: De's own words, kicked down that motherfucking door, not just 156 00:10:40,679 --> 00:10:42,880 Speaker 1: so they could give the people what they deserve, but 157 00:10:42,920 --> 00:11:11,520 Speaker 1: to free the people from their own minds. Nineteen seventy nine, 158 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:15,800 Speaker 1: New Jersey, the three men walking into the Clinton Correctional 159 00:11:15,800 --> 00:11:18,960 Speaker 1: Facility for Women pulled out pistols and aimed them at 160 00:11:18,960 --> 00:11:22,120 Speaker 1: the two security guards. They demanded to be taken to 161 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:28,600 Speaker 1: Joanne Chesimard. They were breaking her out. Joanne Chesamard aka 162 00:11:28,679 --> 00:11:32,319 Speaker 1: Asada Secure, one time Black panther, now a member of 163 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:36,760 Speaker 1: the Black Liberation Army, step aunt and godmother to Tupac Secure, 164 00:11:37,200 --> 00:11:39,760 Speaker 1: serving a life sentence for her role in the murder 165 00:11:39,800 --> 00:11:43,520 Speaker 1: of a state trooper, a murder she said she didn't commit, 166 00:11:44,280 --> 00:11:47,400 Speaker 1: a murder that took place six years prior in nineteen 167 00:11:47,480 --> 00:11:53,480 Speaker 1: seventy three. On that day, shots were fired on a 168 00:11:53,520 --> 00:11:56,800 Speaker 1: stretch of Garden State Turnpike. A Jersey trooper and one 169 00:11:56,800 --> 00:12:00,720 Speaker 1: of Securre's colleagues were dead. Asada Secure was sitting inside 170 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:04,520 Speaker 1: a car panicking she'd been shot twice. Every breath was 171 00:12:04,559 --> 00:12:08,880 Speaker 1: like razors in her lungs. Suddenly the car door ripped open, 172 00:12:09,240 --> 00:12:11,920 Speaker 1: a couple of stadies dragging her onto the pavement, those 173 00:12:11,960 --> 00:12:14,880 Speaker 1: fucking pigs squealing at her. Now, which way do they 174 00:12:14,960 --> 00:12:17,680 Speaker 1: fucking go? You better open your goddamn mouth or blow 175 00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:21,720 Speaker 1: your goddamn head off. She knew they weren't kidding. They 176 00:12:21,760 --> 00:12:24,800 Speaker 1: could end her right here, right now. Witnesses are not 177 00:12:25,280 --> 00:12:28,280 Speaker 1: and they fucking get away with it too, because they could. 178 00:12:29,200 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 1: She nodded in a direction to indicate where her crew 179 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:35,320 Speaker 1: was at. Honestly, though she had no clue, she was 180 00:12:35,360 --> 00:12:39,320 Speaker 1: losing blood and she could barely see straight. The law, 181 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:41,679 Speaker 1: on the other hand, said it could see very clearly, 182 00:12:42,280 --> 00:12:44,679 Speaker 1: clear enough to know that Asada Shakur was a killer. 183 00:12:46,040 --> 00:12:51,560 Speaker 1: And all white jury agreed. And now Asada Shakur was 184 00:12:51,640 --> 00:12:56,320 Speaker 1: pacing around her cell feeling nothing but contempt. Contempt for 185 00:12:56,400 --> 00:12:59,480 Speaker 1: the systemic racism running rampant in the so called land 186 00:12:59,480 --> 00:13:02,400 Speaker 1: of the Free, contempt for the system of justice under 187 00:13:02,440 --> 00:13:05,040 Speaker 1: which she'd been tried, a system that wouldn't allow a 188 00:13:05,080 --> 00:13:07,400 Speaker 1: side of Shakuur to get what she wanted, which was 189 00:13:07,520 --> 00:13:10,800 Speaker 1: actual justice. She wasn't going to wait around for someone 190 00:13:10,800 --> 00:13:13,920 Speaker 1: to give that to her, especially not the United States government. 191 00:13:14,760 --> 00:13:17,760 Speaker 1: It was like the Godfather said, open up the door, 192 00:13:18,120 --> 00:13:22,840 Speaker 1: I'll get it myself. A side of Shakira opened her 193 00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:25,600 Speaker 1: cell door with the assistance of three armed men there 194 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:29,280 Speaker 1: at Clinton Correctional with their forty fives locked and loaded 195 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:32,360 Speaker 1: in the two guards as hostages. The men ushered Shakira 196 00:13:32,400 --> 00:13:34,600 Speaker 1: into a prison van and they drove it to a 197 00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:37,640 Speaker 1: parking lot nearby, where a blue Pontiac and the two 198 00:13:37,679 --> 00:13:40,800 Speaker 1: toned blue Cadillac were waiting for them. If they carefully, 199 00:13:40,800 --> 00:13:44,360 Speaker 1: we set the two hostages free, and then the Pontiac 200 00:13:44,480 --> 00:13:47,720 Speaker 1: and the Cadillac roared to life. A side of Shakurra 201 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:54,880 Speaker 1: and her accomplices were gone. The next time Shakira was seen, 202 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:57,400 Speaker 1: she was in Cuba, where she was now living under 203 00:13:57,440 --> 00:14:02,280 Speaker 1: political asylum. Meanwhile, back home, the FBI made her the 204 00:14:02,320 --> 00:14:05,000 Speaker 1: first woman ever to be added to their most Wanted 205 00:14:05,080 --> 00:14:09,640 Speaker 1: Terrorist list. A nineteen year old Chuck D. Young Carlton 206 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:12,840 Speaker 1: ridden hour here growing up in Roosevelt, Long Island, heard 207 00:14:12,880 --> 00:14:15,280 Speaker 1: all about Asada Shakiro when this all went down in 208 00:14:15,320 --> 00:14:18,240 Speaker 1: the seventies, but he did not hear that she was 209 00:14:18,240 --> 00:14:25,840 Speaker 1: a terrorist. Instead, Chuck heard about how she been framed, persecuted, wrongfully, 210 00:14:25,840 --> 00:14:28,520 Speaker 1: convicted simply for standing up and fighting for what she 211 00:14:28,640 --> 00:14:33,160 Speaker 1: thought was right, her plight, her cause, her story. It 212 00:14:33,280 --> 00:14:37,080 Speaker 1: was one of many stories about cops, juries, judges, prison guards, 213 00:14:37,320 --> 00:14:39,560 Speaker 1: the nation of millions that wanted to hold them back. 214 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:43,240 Speaker 1: Stories told in the Roosevelt Community Theater that Chuck's mom ran, 215 00:14:43,720 --> 00:14:46,440 Speaker 1: in the summer programs at Host and Adelphi, where Chuck 216 00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:50,640 Speaker 1: learned from Black Panthers and Black Muslims their socio political discourse, 217 00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:54,480 Speaker 1: igniting a passion within his mind and his heart. That 218 00:14:54,600 --> 00:14:57,000 Speaker 1: passion was there, and the lyrics he was now writing, 219 00:14:57,320 --> 00:15:00,000 Speaker 1: the potent DJ sets that his friend Hank was performed 220 00:15:00,320 --> 00:15:04,280 Speaker 1: in roller rings, in elks clubs, in hotel ballrooms, any 221 00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:08,240 Speaker 1: place that would happen. Chuck's deep interest in the budding 222 00:15:08,320 --> 00:15:11,240 Speaker 1: genre that was hip hop was validated by the professors 223 00:15:11,280 --> 00:15:14,440 Speaker 1: at these higher institutions. Hip Hop was not a fad. 224 00:15:14,760 --> 00:15:17,200 Speaker 1: Hip hop was part of the fabric of American culture. 225 00:15:17,560 --> 00:15:21,600 Speaker 1: It was another story that was being told. Chuck Hank Flave. 226 00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:25,080 Speaker 1: They had their own story, a story about broken promises 227 00:15:25,120 --> 00:15:29,160 Speaker 1: and failed revolutions. The revolution was in the sound of 228 00:15:29,200 --> 00:15:32,640 Speaker 1: public Enemy, their new group and Public Enemy's goal was 229 00:15:32,680 --> 00:15:39,520 Speaker 1: to put that sound in people's ears. Disciplined, controlled, confident, strong, 230 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:45,160 Speaker 1: but as strong as their def Jam debut was, Chuck 231 00:15:45,240 --> 00:15:48,800 Speaker 1: didn't think it was enough. Just months after Yo Bum 232 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:51,560 Speaker 1: Rushed the Show was released, Eric B and Rock Kim 233 00:15:51,640 --> 00:15:55,080 Speaker 1: dropped their debut Paid in Full, a record so breathless 234 00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:57,280 Speaker 1: and made Yo Bum Rush the Show sound like it 235 00:15:57,320 --> 00:16:01,040 Speaker 1: was riding in the slow lane. Chuck and Hank Shockley 236 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:06,760 Speaker 1: knew they had the uppees game. The bpms became faster, 237 00:16:07,200 --> 00:16:11,920 Speaker 1: the layers of samples grew more dense, drones, feedback squeals. 238 00:16:12,360 --> 00:16:15,720 Speaker 1: The bomb Squad was coming at you with an auditory explosion. 239 00:16:18,080 --> 00:16:21,040 Speaker 1: Public enemy second album, It Takes a Nation of Millions 240 00:16:21,040 --> 00:16:24,360 Speaker 1: to Hold Us Back, came in fast and hot, Like 241 00:16:24,440 --> 00:16:27,800 Speaker 1: Mike Tyson in his prime. Public Enemy wasn't thinking about 242 00:16:27,800 --> 00:16:30,080 Speaker 1: Tyson so much as they were thinking about Marvin Gays. 243 00:16:30,120 --> 00:16:33,400 Speaker 1: What's going on? A record that equated music as art 244 00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:37,240 Speaker 1: as social commentary as the means necessary to get the 245 00:16:37,280 --> 00:16:42,160 Speaker 1: message across. This is what was going on now. Like 246 00:16:42,240 --> 00:16:44,960 Speaker 1: that big clock flav wore on a chain around his neck, 247 00:16:45,320 --> 00:16:49,360 Speaker 1: the time was here, and time was ticking. The effect 248 00:16:49,360 --> 00:16:51,680 Speaker 1: that it Takes a Nation of millions, had not just 249 00:16:51,720 --> 00:16:53,880 Speaker 1: on the public's perception of hip hop, but on the 250 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:57,520 Speaker 1: scope of what the music was capable of. Cannot be overstated. 251 00:16:58,120 --> 00:17:01,520 Speaker 1: Public Enemy created a whole new lean, and they did 252 00:17:01,560 --> 00:17:05,359 Speaker 1: it with Chuck's voice, with Flay's humor, with Hank Shockley's 253 00:17:05,359 --> 00:17:09,560 Speaker 1: walled sound. One hundred and fifty samples spread across sixteen songs, 254 00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:12,160 Speaker 1: twenty samples alone on the track Night at a Living 255 00:17:12,200 --> 00:17:16,040 Speaker 1: bass heads from Bowie to Aretha to run DMC even 256 00:17:16,119 --> 00:17:19,000 Speaker 1: sampling Chuck's voice from another song on the same album, 257 00:17:19,560 --> 00:17:22,879 Speaker 1: Bring the Noise, Don't Believe the Hype Louder than a Bomb. 258 00:17:23,320 --> 00:17:27,000 Speaker 1: These songs are just as urgent and relevant today as 259 00:17:27,040 --> 00:17:32,080 Speaker 1: they were thirty six years ago. Chuck D had a 260 00:17:32,119 --> 00:17:37,760 Speaker 1: lot on his mind. The crack epidemic, conscientious objectors, prophets, farakhon, 261 00:17:37,840 --> 00:17:40,800 Speaker 1: the Panthers, the Sada secure who Chuck name checks, and 262 00:17:40,880 --> 00:17:43,480 Speaker 1: rebel without a pause. And yeah, he did refer to 263 00:17:43,520 --> 00:17:46,000 Speaker 1: her by her given name, Joanne Chesimard, which she had 264 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:48,720 Speaker 1: long ago rejected as a slave name, but only because 265 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:51,520 Speaker 1: Chuck D is a dope MC who recognized that Chesimard 266 00:17:51,520 --> 00:17:54,439 Speaker 1: fit is rhyme better Shakira might have also been on 267 00:17:54,520 --> 00:17:56,720 Speaker 1: Chuck's mind when he wrote black Steel in the Hour 268 00:17:56,760 --> 00:18:01,080 Speaker 1: of Chaos, a track about a daring jailbreak. Chuck saw 269 00:18:01,119 --> 00:18:03,560 Speaker 1: that track like he saw most of his music, the 270 00:18:03,600 --> 00:18:07,640 Speaker 1: start of a dialogue, but not everyone saw things Chuck 271 00:18:07,720 --> 00:18:13,760 Speaker 1: D's way. August nineteen eighty eight, two months after the 272 00:18:13,800 --> 00:18:16,359 Speaker 1: release of It Takes a Nation of Millions, a record 273 00:18:16,359 --> 00:18:19,359 Speaker 1: that everyone was talking about, Public Enemy were booked to 274 00:18:19,359 --> 00:18:23,560 Speaker 1: perform an unusual show, this one for inmates at Rikers Island, 275 00:18:25,359 --> 00:18:29,199 Speaker 1: twenty years since Johnny Cash played fulsome prison in San Quentin. 276 00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:33,159 Speaker 1: Just like their fellow prophet and rebel from Arkansas, Public 277 00:18:33,240 --> 00:18:36,679 Speaker 1: Enemy saw their Riker's gig as an opportunity first to 278 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:39,000 Speaker 1: address the fact that the number of black men behind 279 00:18:39,080 --> 00:18:42,600 Speaker 1: bars in America was skyrocketing, but also to bring a 280 00:18:42,600 --> 00:18:46,080 Speaker 1: little light to the darkness inside those walls. That is, 281 00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:48,720 Speaker 1: until someone called Rikers to say, Hey, do you guys 282 00:18:48,800 --> 00:18:50,840 Speaker 1: know that the rap group you've invited to perform in 283 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:53,080 Speaker 1: your prison has a song on their brand new record 284 00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:57,720 Speaker 1: about breaking out of prison. The warden flipped out. Public 285 00:18:57,800 --> 00:19:00,480 Speaker 1: Enemy had a promise not to play blacks Deal in 286 00:19:00,520 --> 00:19:02,960 Speaker 1: the Hour of Chaos, so that the show could go on. 287 00:19:04,400 --> 00:19:08,040 Speaker 1: Two hundred and fifty prisoners packed inside Riker's auditorium. Add 288 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:10,720 Speaker 1: to that two guards per inmate, and another couple dozen 289 00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:17,919 Speaker 1: guards standing outside the auditorium. In the place was a sauna, hot, sweaty, loud, 290 00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:27,360 Speaker 1: chuck flave terminator X. They brought the noise. Professor Griff, meanwhile, 291 00:19:27,720 --> 00:19:32,320 Speaker 1: brought the rhetoric pride in oneself, pride in black nationalism. 292 00:19:32,720 --> 00:19:35,280 Speaker 1: Fuck the man, whether it was here at Rikers or 293 00:19:35,320 --> 00:19:38,080 Speaker 1: out there on the outside, simply being a black man 294 00:19:38,119 --> 00:19:40,919 Speaker 1: in America. A prison was a prison was a prison. 295 00:19:41,880 --> 00:19:46,359 Speaker 1: Griff's rap was uncompromising, not just the things he said 296 00:19:46,359 --> 00:19:48,879 Speaker 1: on stage at Rikers and around the world, but what 297 00:19:48,960 --> 00:19:52,200 Speaker 1: he was now saying off stage. The truth be told 298 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:56,600 Speaker 1: public Enemy's Minister of Information was starting to get fucking weird. 299 00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:01,040 Speaker 1: His wrap of self empowerment was skewing, homophobic, an anti Semitic. 300 00:20:01,520 --> 00:20:04,320 Speaker 1: There's no place for gaze, he told the UK press. 301 00:20:04,960 --> 00:20:08,000 Speaker 1: He also said, quote, if the Palestinians took up our arms, 302 00:20:08,000 --> 00:20:10,480 Speaker 1: went into Israel and killed all the Jews, it'd be 303 00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:15,840 Speaker 1: all right, unquote. One confronted about those statements, Professor Griff 304 00:20:16,080 --> 00:20:20,040 Speaker 1: dug in, he stood by them. He wasn't budging, not 305 00:20:20,080 --> 00:20:24,800 Speaker 1: for anyone, certainly not for Flavor Fucking Flave. Griff's whole 306 00:20:24,920 --> 00:20:29,040 Speaker 1: vibe grated against Flave, and the feeling was mutual. And 307 00:20:29,119 --> 00:20:31,439 Speaker 1: when Flave came to the studio high on crack and 308 00:20:31,440 --> 00:20:33,879 Speaker 1: weed like one of those living bass heads Chucks so 309 00:20:34,080 --> 00:20:37,920 Speaker 1: urgently spoke out against on record, Professor Griff took it personally. 310 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:41,359 Speaker 1: He broke Flay's boombox, and then he fractured Flay's ribs 311 00:20:41,359 --> 00:20:46,800 Speaker 1: and shin real tough love. Chuck found himself caught in 312 00:20:46,840 --> 00:20:49,320 Speaker 1: the middle, trying to explain what was coming out of 313 00:20:49,320 --> 00:20:52,359 Speaker 1: Griff's mouth, trying to understand why Flave kept doing the 314 00:20:52,440 --> 00:20:57,240 Speaker 1: things he did, trying to keep the peace. But Flave 315 00:20:57,359 --> 00:21:00,000 Speaker 1: had a different kind of peace in mind. He started 316 00:21:00,200 --> 00:21:02,479 Speaker 1: showing up to the studio with a gun in his pocket, 317 00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:06,639 Speaker 1: safety off, finger on the trigger, ready to react to 318 00:21:06,680 --> 00:21:11,880 Speaker 1: Griff's bullshit at a moment's notice, close range. No errors. 319 00:21:12,480 --> 00:21:18,320 Speaker 1: Flave wasn't bluffing, Griff couldn't chill, and Chuck well, Chuck 320 00:21:18,400 --> 00:21:25,320 Speaker 1: had a choice to make. We'll be right back after 321 00:21:25,359 --> 00:21:37,399 Speaker 1: this word word word. Chuck d was in a tight spot. 322 00:21:37,960 --> 00:21:40,760 Speaker 1: The press wanted him to answer for the things Professor 323 00:21:40,800 --> 00:21:44,159 Speaker 1: Griff was saying. They wanted him to denounce hatred of 324 00:21:44,240 --> 00:21:47,920 Speaker 1: any kind. And though we didn't agree with Professor Griff's 325 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:51,800 Speaker 1: increasingly problematic point of view, Chuck D also didn't feel 326 00:21:51,880 --> 00:21:55,800 Speaker 1: right acting as Public Enemies leader and spokesperson. Despite being 327 00:21:55,840 --> 00:21:59,400 Speaker 1: the group's front man. Hank Shockley was two years Chuck 328 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:03,439 Speaker 1: sor since the beginning, back when Hank was DJing Elks 329 00:22:03,440 --> 00:22:06,520 Speaker 1: Clubs under the name Spectrum City, back when Chuck was 330 00:22:06,560 --> 00:22:08,919 Speaker 1: just a kid with some rhymes written down on paper 331 00:22:09,119 --> 00:22:12,359 Speaker 1: jumping on a mic, Hank had been the de facto leader, 332 00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:15,600 Speaker 1: at least to Chuck's eyes anyway, so Chuck wanted to 333 00:22:15,640 --> 00:22:18,840 Speaker 1: defer it was more mature musical partner. Maybe he just 334 00:22:18,880 --> 00:22:22,440 Speaker 1: wanted to hide behind him. At any rate, Chuck D 335 00:22:22,720 --> 00:22:25,239 Speaker 1: was the one being asked to step up now, just 336 00:22:25,240 --> 00:22:28,199 Speaker 1: like he'd been asked to step up and pe first formed. 337 00:22:28,920 --> 00:22:32,080 Speaker 1: So he did. Chuck called a press conference and read 338 00:22:32,119 --> 00:22:36,119 Speaker 1: from a prepared statement. Professor Griff was no longer a 339 00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:40,320 Speaker 1: member of Public Enemy. Public Enemy had a code a policy, 340 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:43,679 Speaker 1: and that policy wasn't to offend any individual or group, 341 00:22:43,800 --> 00:22:47,840 Speaker 1: as Chuck explained. Instead, it was a policy intended to 342 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:51,080 Speaker 1: quote offend the system that works against us twenty four 343 00:22:51,119 --> 00:22:53,520 Speaker 1: hours a day, three hundred and sixty five days a 344 00:22:53,600 --> 00:22:57,840 Speaker 1: year unquote, a system that was working overtime to do 345 00:22:58,000 --> 00:23:06,400 Speaker 1: just that, especially a pe hometown, New York City. April 346 00:23:06,720 --> 00:23:10,440 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty nine, the nine one one calls started coming in. 347 00:23:11,080 --> 00:23:14,879 Speaker 1: A wandering group of thirty maybe forty males young kids 348 00:23:15,160 --> 00:23:20,520 Speaker 1: harassing people in Central Park, some delivering beatdowns. The NYPDU 349 00:23:20,640 --> 00:23:24,560 Speaker 1: was dispatched. Patrol cars swarmed the area, kids hanging around 350 00:23:24,600 --> 00:23:28,000 Speaker 1: West one hundredth and Central Park West. The cops surged, 351 00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:32,200 Speaker 1: the kids scattered. Five unlucky ones were nabbed, all boys, 352 00:23:32,440 --> 00:23:35,480 Speaker 1: all between the ages of fourteen and sixteen, all of 353 00:23:35,480 --> 00:23:42,440 Speaker 1: them black or Hispanic. Brought down town for questioning inside 354 00:23:42,440 --> 00:23:46,200 Speaker 1: the park. Shortly before midnight, a grizzly discovery was made 355 00:23:46,240 --> 00:23:49,639 Speaker 1: near a ravine. A twenty eight year old investment banker 356 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:54,200 Speaker 1: out for her regular job, brutally beaten, raped and left 357 00:23:54,240 --> 00:23:58,920 Speaker 1: for dead, covered in blood, barely alive, her cheekbone crushed, 358 00:23:59,080 --> 00:24:05,679 Speaker 1: her left eye, saw get crushed, skull fractures laceratious. The 359 00:24:05,720 --> 00:24:08,120 Speaker 1: cops down at the twentieth Precinct turned up the heat 360 00:24:08,160 --> 00:24:10,879 Speaker 1: and the five boys they now had in custody told 361 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:13,359 Speaker 1: one kid that his friend was ratting them out, told 362 00:24:13,400 --> 00:24:15,760 Speaker 1: another they had evidence to put them all at the scene. 363 00:24:16,320 --> 00:24:18,080 Speaker 1: The boys had no way of knowing they were being 364 00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:23,160 Speaker 1: played individually. They were interrogated over and over for hours 365 00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:27,080 Speaker 1: at a time. They were disoriented, scared, not allowed to 366 00:24:27,119 --> 00:24:29,680 Speaker 1: see their parents, and they just wanted it all to end. 367 00:24:30,040 --> 00:24:32,760 Speaker 1: To leave the precinct, go home and get in bed. 368 00:24:33,440 --> 00:24:42,080 Speaker 1: They do anything, even confess, so they did. Over twenty 369 00:24:42,119 --> 00:24:46,639 Speaker 1: four hours after the interrogations began, the cops finally turned 370 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:49,400 Speaker 1: on the cameras. All but one of the five kids 371 00:24:49,400 --> 00:24:53,120 Speaker 1: allowed the NYPD to videotape their confession to that unspeakable 372 00:24:53,119 --> 00:24:56,520 Speaker 1: crime in Central Park, and it wasn't until thirteen years 373 00:24:56,600 --> 00:25:00,000 Speaker 1: later in two thousand and two, the DNA evidence proved 374 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:02,359 Speaker 1: what many had long known to be true, that the 375 00:25:02,400 --> 00:25:04,960 Speaker 1: Central Park Five, as the boys came to be called, 376 00:25:05,240 --> 00:25:09,000 Speaker 1: were innocent. In fact, a serial rapist had been the 377 00:25:09,000 --> 00:25:12,960 Speaker 1: sole attacker of the Central Park jogger. The boy's convictions 378 00:25:13,000 --> 00:25:16,240 Speaker 1: thus were vacated, but not before they'd done between seven 379 00:25:16,320 --> 00:25:20,080 Speaker 1: and thirteen years in prison. Back in the spring and 380 00:25:20,160 --> 00:25:23,280 Speaker 1: summer of nineteen eighty nine, when the young boys delivered 381 00:25:23,320 --> 00:25:26,600 Speaker 1: their coerce confessions and were charged with, among other things, 382 00:25:26,600 --> 00:25:29,840 Speaker 1: attempted murder, New York City was ready to split apart. 383 00:25:30,480 --> 00:25:33,480 Speaker 1: On the one hand, Mayor Koch expressed a disbelief that 384 00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:36,800 Speaker 1: anyone would support these teenagers who'd been out wildly, to 385 00:25:36,880 --> 00:25:38,800 Speaker 1: use the term that was being thrown around by the 386 00:25:38,800 --> 00:25:41,520 Speaker 1: press of the time, while Donald Trump took out full 387 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:44,440 Speaker 1: page ads in all four of the city's major newspapers 388 00:25:44,480 --> 00:25:47,479 Speaker 1: to call for the reinstatement of the death penalty. On 389 00:25:47,520 --> 00:25:50,320 Speaker 1: the other hand, Reverend Al Sharpton took to the streets 390 00:25:50,520 --> 00:25:54,120 Speaker 1: calling for justice, as did the boy's parents, who were 391 00:25:54,160 --> 00:25:57,359 Speaker 1: furious at their boy's lack of knowledge of the justice system. 392 00:25:57,520 --> 00:26:01,200 Speaker 1: The very system that Chuck d called out fire Professor 393 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:07,440 Speaker 1: Griff had been used against them. It was into this turmoil, 394 00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:11,200 Speaker 1: just two months after the Central Park attack that Spike 395 00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:15,080 Speaker 1: Lee's incredible movie Do the Right Thing debuted in theaters. 396 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:19,160 Speaker 1: Spike's critics said he was careless for releasing this kind 397 00:26:19,200 --> 00:26:22,439 Speaker 1: of movie at this particular time, a movie about racial 398 00:26:22,480 --> 00:26:26,439 Speaker 1: tensions boiling over into violence. There was real panic in fear, 399 00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:29,240 Speaker 1: fear that people would be pushed over the edge that 400 00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:32,359 Speaker 1: they'd mimic what had happened in the film trash cans, 401 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:37,520 Speaker 1: smashing pizza, hia windows, buildings on fire, riots. And that 402 00:26:37,640 --> 00:26:40,560 Speaker 1: was not Spike Lee's intent, nor was it the intent 403 00:26:40,600 --> 00:26:43,159 Speaker 1: of Public Enemy, who Spiked tapped to come up with 404 00:26:43,200 --> 00:26:45,800 Speaker 1: a new track that would thunder out of radio Raheem's 405 00:26:45,840 --> 00:26:49,760 Speaker 1: boombox as he stopped the streets of Brooklyn. Hank Shockley 406 00:26:49,800 --> 00:26:52,800 Speaker 1: went cinematic with the track Sonic Palette. He wanted to 407 00:26:52,840 --> 00:26:55,919 Speaker 1: concrete an asphalt in near ear drums. He wanted it 408 00:26:55,960 --> 00:27:01,640 Speaker 1: to sound like New York felt. The resulting track, Fight 409 00:27:01,720 --> 00:27:05,320 Speaker 1: the Power wasn't an invitation to riot, as some Americans 410 00:27:05,320 --> 00:27:10,120 Speaker 1: loudly feared, but rather to revolution, a revolution that Chuck 411 00:27:10,160 --> 00:27:13,240 Speaker 1: d had been leading since day one. Free the people, 412 00:27:13,720 --> 00:27:16,960 Speaker 1: first from their own minds, recognized that there was work 413 00:27:16,960 --> 00:27:20,680 Speaker 1: to do, worked that hip hop could facilitate. Hip Hop 414 00:27:20,760 --> 00:27:24,040 Speaker 1: was art, it was power, the seeds of any great revolution. 415 00:27:24,880 --> 00:27:27,960 Speaker 1: Pe had an arsenal of weapons at their disposal, not 416 00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:30,720 Speaker 1: the least of which were Chuck's rhymes, which intended to 417 00:27:30,760 --> 00:27:34,880 Speaker 1: assassinate the long accepted hierarchy of cultural icons like Elvis 418 00:27:34,920 --> 00:27:38,800 Speaker 1: Presley and mother Fuck John Wayne, the King and the 419 00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:43,560 Speaker 1: Duke were dead. Rock and Roll was dead. Public Enemy 420 00:27:43,960 --> 00:27:47,760 Speaker 1: Hip Hop Chuck D's Revolution they were very much alive. 421 00:27:48,960 --> 00:27:51,400 Speaker 1: In a year of cheese ball hot one hundred hits 422 00:27:51,440 --> 00:27:55,880 Speaker 1: by Paula Abdull, Millie Vanilli, Poison, and Richard Marx Fight 423 00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:58,880 Speaker 1: The Power was louder than a bomb and realer than 424 00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:01,960 Speaker 1: anything else on the ear. It sold nearly half a 425 00:28:02,000 --> 00:28:04,280 Speaker 1: million singles and went straight to number one on the 426 00:28:04,280 --> 00:28:08,399 Speaker 1: Billboard Hot Rap Singles chart. But a hit single and 427 00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:11,359 Speaker 1: a renewed sense of purpose couldn't make the still fresh 428 00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:17,400 Speaker 1: Professor Griff controversy go away. Demonstrators disrupted do the Right 429 00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:22,119 Speaker 1: Things opening weekend chanting we hate Public Enemy. Anonymous callers 430 00:28:22,160 --> 00:28:25,600 Speaker 1: even rang Russell Simmons, Deaf Jam's co founder, at home 431 00:28:25,800 --> 00:28:27,879 Speaker 1: with a message of the roan we know where you 432 00:28:27,960 --> 00:28:32,320 Speaker 1: live and where your parents live. Russell added this latest 433 00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:35,040 Speaker 1: bullshit to a growing list of concerns that included an 434 00:28:35,080 --> 00:28:38,080 Speaker 1: imminent fallout with his business partner, Rick Rubin in a 435 00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:42,360 Speaker 1: lawsuit filed by the Beastie Boys over unpaid royalties. At 436 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:45,560 Speaker 1: the moment of Public Enemy's greatest creative and commercial triumph, 437 00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:49,520 Speaker 1: Chuck D felt the weight of it all, Griff Spike's 438 00:28:49,520 --> 00:28:53,800 Speaker 1: movie Deaf Jam, and then there was Flave, his old 439 00:28:53,960 --> 00:28:56,960 Speaker 1: vices beginning to get the best of them again. Chuck 440 00:28:57,360 --> 00:29:00,680 Speaker 1: needed a break. He had Russell Simmons break the news 441 00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:04,000 Speaker 1: to the masses. Public Enemy would be disbanding for an 442 00:29:04,000 --> 00:29:09,080 Speaker 1: indefinite amount of time. Just like that. The music, the revolution, 443 00:29:09,560 --> 00:29:36,000 Speaker 1: the dialogue, the noise, it all fell. Silent revolutions never 444 00:29:36,040 --> 00:29:39,800 Speaker 1: really die it neither did Public Enemy. They just needed 445 00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:42,120 Speaker 1: a few weeks to collect their thoughts and catch their 446 00:29:42,160 --> 00:29:45,440 Speaker 1: breath do the right thing. Was still playing in theaters 447 00:29:45,480 --> 00:29:48,720 Speaker 1: when Chuck D released a news statement declaring pees and 448 00:29:48,840 --> 00:29:52,360 Speaker 1: pending return, which read, in part, the show must go on. 449 00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:56,640 Speaker 1: Brace yourselves from nineteen ninety. We're still pro black, pro 450 00:29:56,760 --> 00:30:00,560 Speaker 1: black culture, and pro human race. Please direct any further 451 00:30:00,640 --> 00:30:06,840 Speaker 1: questions to Axel Rose. Axel, of course, was busy punching 452 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:09,120 Speaker 1: his way out of his own controversy over some lyrics 453 00:30:09,120 --> 00:30:11,680 Speaker 1: and a Guns N' Roses song. If what people were 454 00:30:11,680 --> 00:30:15,080 Speaker 1: saying about Axel Rose bothered, Axel Rose, that didn't show. 455 00:30:15,720 --> 00:30:17,760 Speaker 1: G and R were selling a shit ton of records, 456 00:30:17,800 --> 00:30:22,240 Speaker 1: so what did he care? The controversy sells just ask 457 00:30:22,280 --> 00:30:25,239 Speaker 1: Public Enemy their next album to be released following their 458 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:28,720 Speaker 1: own controversy. Fear of a Black Planet became their highest 459 00:30:28,800 --> 00:30:31,360 Speaker 1: charting record to date with the hit singles nine to 460 00:30:31,440 --> 00:30:33,960 Speaker 1: one one as a Joke and Welcome to the Terror Dome. 461 00:30:34,680 --> 00:30:37,800 Speaker 1: The album after that went even higher. By the early 462 00:30:37,880 --> 00:30:42,000 Speaker 1: nineteen nineties, Chuck d was the undisputed rebel without a pause. 463 00:30:42,760 --> 00:30:45,560 Speaker 1: Flavor Flave, on the other hand, always a flip side 464 00:30:45,560 --> 00:30:48,480 Speaker 1: to Chuck's thing, was a straight up rebel what it 465 00:30:48,480 --> 00:30:51,200 Speaker 1: would long ago lost the message he was supposed to 466 00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:57,880 Speaker 1: be delivering. Nineteen ninety three, Flavor Flave hadn't slept in 467 00:30:57,920 --> 00:31:01,840 Speaker 1: three days, a seventy two hours stretch fueled by crack cocaine, 468 00:31:02,200 --> 00:31:06,160 Speaker 1: a stretch during which Tupac secure Asada, Securre's step nephew 469 00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:09,680 Speaker 1: and godson, was arrested for shooting two off duty cops 470 00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:15,600 Speaker 1: in Atlanta. Back in the Bronx, Flave was paranoid, delusional, 471 00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:19,400 Speaker 1: distraught over losing custody of his kids, the kids he 472 00:31:19,520 --> 00:31:22,440 Speaker 1: was convinced are now being held inside his neighbor's apartment 473 00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:25,680 Speaker 1: along with his ex wife. It was the drugs talking, 474 00:31:26,160 --> 00:31:29,120 Speaker 1: but no one was going to tell Flave otherwise, he 475 00:31:29,240 --> 00:31:32,120 Speaker 1: broke into that apartment, chased his neighbor down twenty three 476 00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:34,800 Speaker 1: flights of stairs from a three eighty semi automatic gun 477 00:31:34,840 --> 00:31:37,719 Speaker 1: in his hand, out into the street, where a single 478 00:31:37,760 --> 00:31:45,040 Speaker 1: gun shot rang out. The next thing Flave remembered, he 479 00:31:45,160 --> 00:31:48,200 Speaker 1: was sitting in his apartment. The cops were there and 480 00:31:48,280 --> 00:31:52,120 Speaker 1: had his gun unlicensed, missing one bullet from his five 481 00:31:52,200 --> 00:31:56,120 Speaker 1: round clip. Flave was charged with attempted murder and locked 482 00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:59,440 Speaker 1: up for ninety days, but the judge ruled that the 483 00:31:59,480 --> 00:32:02,760 Speaker 1: gun can be used as evidence because the cops confiscated 484 00:32:02,760 --> 00:32:06,120 Speaker 1: it during a illegal search. No bullet was ever found, 485 00:32:06,360 --> 00:32:09,640 Speaker 1: a no bullet hole, no witnesses, not even the neighbor 486 00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:12,040 Speaker 1: whose back was to Flave when the shot was fired. 487 00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:15,880 Speaker 1: The only thing Flave was found guilty of was gun possession. 488 00:32:17,160 --> 00:32:24,120 Speaker 1: Other incidents followed, other charges domestic violence, cocaine, marijuana. In 489 00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:27,360 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety five, still on probation for the ordeal with 490 00:32:27,400 --> 00:32:30,600 Speaker 1: his neighbor, Flavor, Flave was busted in the South Bronx 491 00:32:30,680 --> 00:32:34,800 Speaker 1: with once again an unlicensed gun in his possession, this 492 00:32:34,880 --> 00:32:39,400 Speaker 1: time along with three vials of crack. Flavor Flave's routine 493 00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:42,880 Speaker 1: run ins with the law, his crippling addictions, addictions that 494 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:45,640 Speaker 1: at one point were allegedly costing of twenty six hundred 495 00:32:45,640 --> 00:32:48,040 Speaker 1: dollars a day. He knew that these things were letting 496 00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:51,120 Speaker 1: Public Enemy down, that his own troubled image was now 497 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:55,160 Speaker 1: undermining the image Pe worked so hard to define. Flave 498 00:32:55,280 --> 00:32:58,520 Speaker 1: was the antithesis to Chuck. By design, yes, but now 499 00:32:58,560 --> 00:33:02,240 Speaker 1: he was the personification of a broken promise, a failed revolution, 500 00:33:02,640 --> 00:33:05,560 Speaker 1: effectively closing off the dialogue the Public Enemy was trying 501 00:33:05,600 --> 00:33:10,520 Speaker 1: to raise with their music, not that they were giving 502 00:33:10,600 --> 00:33:14,600 Speaker 1: up on that dialogue. Just two years prior to Flav's arrest, 503 00:33:15,000 --> 00:33:19,400 Speaker 1: PE released their fourth studio album, Apocalypse ninety one, The 504 00:33:19,520 --> 00:33:23,400 Speaker 1: Enemy Strikes Black, which featured the powerful song By the 505 00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:26,880 Speaker 1: Time I Get to Arizona. This was at a time 506 00:33:26,960 --> 00:33:30,520 Speaker 1: when Arizona's governor refused to acknowledge Martin Luther King Junior 507 00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:33,320 Speaker 1: Day as a holiday. It was put to a ballot, 508 00:33:33,320 --> 00:33:36,720 Speaker 1: but wroters struck it down. For six years in a row, 509 00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:39,640 Speaker 1: Arizona citizens have been taken to the streets to voice 510 00:33:39,680 --> 00:33:43,400 Speaker 1: their frustration to get MLK Day on the calendar. They 511 00:33:43,480 --> 00:33:47,960 Speaker 1: marched and sang old protest songs. But this wasn't the sixties. 512 00:33:48,440 --> 00:33:51,920 Speaker 1: We Shall Overcome was overdone. Chuck and his crew had 513 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:55,640 Speaker 1: a new protest song for a new era. In the 514 00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:58,280 Speaker 1: video for By the Time I Get to Arizona, Chuck 515 00:33:58,400 --> 00:34:02,000 Speaker 1: leads a group of assassins to the state where they poison, shoot, 516 00:34:02,160 --> 00:34:06,240 Speaker 1: and blow up politicians. To Chuck in Public Enemy, the 517 00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:09,239 Speaker 1: shock of it was the point, after all, that's what 518 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:13,160 Speaker 1: they made. Wake the Fuck Up music, music whose purpose 519 00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:16,920 Speaker 1: was to start a dialogue. The video aired once on 520 00:34:17,080 --> 00:34:20,600 Speaker 1: MTV and then it was pulled. The governor of Arizona 521 00:34:20,719 --> 00:34:24,520 Speaker 1: called it racist. An Arizona pastor said that it perpetuated 522 00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:27,760 Speaker 1: a stereotype, the same stereotype that led to the murder 523 00:34:27,800 --> 00:34:31,160 Speaker 1: of graffiti artist Michael Stewart, the incarceration of the Central 524 00:34:31,200 --> 00:34:37,799 Speaker 1: Park five, and the assassination of Malcolm X. Back on, 525 00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:40,880 Speaker 1: it takes a nation of millions. Public Enemy opened the 526 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:44,080 Speaker 1: song bring the Noise with the sound of Malcolm's voice. 527 00:34:44,440 --> 00:34:48,719 Speaker 1: Too black, too strong. Now, the band was being accused 528 00:34:48,760 --> 00:34:53,560 Speaker 1: of being just that, But to Chuck d that was impossible. 529 00:34:53,920 --> 00:34:56,840 Speaker 1: There was no such thing as too black, too strong. 530 00:34:57,480 --> 00:35:01,879 Speaker 1: To be anything less would be a disgrace. Yes, I'm 531 00:35:01,960 --> 00:35:27,799 Speaker 1: Jake Brennan and this is Disgraceland. Disgraceland was created by 532 00:35:27,840 --> 00:35:30,840 Speaker 1: Yours Truly and is produced in partnership with Double Elvis. 533 00:35:31,120 --> 00:35:33,399 Speaker 1: Credits for this episode can be found on the show 534 00:35:33,440 --> 00:35:37,200 Speaker 1: notes page at disgracelampod dot com. If you're listening as 535 00:35:37,200 --> 00:35:40,520 Speaker 1: a Disgraceland All Access member, thank you for supporting the show. 536 00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:43,319 Speaker 1: We really appreciate it, and if not, you can become 537 00:35:43,360 --> 00:35:46,760 Speaker 1: a member right now by going to disgracelampod dot com 538 00:35:46,760 --> 00:35:51,120 Speaker 1: Slash Membership. Members can listen to every episode of Disgraceland 539 00:35:51,239 --> 00:35:55,120 Speaker 1: ad free, Plus you'll get one brand new exclusive episode 540 00:35:55,200 --> 00:35:59,400 Speaker 1: every month, weekly unscripted bonus episode, special audio collections in 541 00:35:59,480 --> 00:36:04,000 Speaker 1: early as, access to merchandise and events. Visit disgraceslampod dot 542 00:36:04,040 --> 00:36:07,439 Speaker 1: com Slash membership for details, Rate and review the show, 543 00:36:07,440 --> 00:36:10,439 Speaker 1: and follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and Facebook at 544 00:36:10,440 --> 00:36:14,120 Speaker 1: disgrace lampod and on YouTube at YouTube dot com slash 545 00:36:14,239 --> 00:36:20,839 Speaker 1: at disgracelampod, Rock and roll Up. He's the bed Don 546 00:36:21,040 --> 00:36:21,239 Speaker 1: Man