KNOW YOUR ENEMY

Rip It Up, Issue 182, 1 September 1992, Page 4

KNOW YOUR ENEMY

American rap superstars Public Enemy performed in the Auckland Town Hall last month to a sell-out crowd — due in part to the controversy raised by their support act: rap superstar Ice T. Nick D'Angelo caught up with Chuck D and Flavor Flav the following day, and forgot to get their autograph.

One thing I noticed last night was that both PE and Ice T performed a medley of their hits. I suppose with so many albums under your belt that's the only way to get through them all? Chuck: "We've only got an hour so let's give the people what they want to hear. They want to hear some hits, they want hear some cuts, maybe some solid statements, maybe blend it in with the total package. If you happen to be the only rap group that's appeared in town that year then you better bring your old joints. We're doing our fifth album now called Public Enemy's Greatest Misses with six new cuts, and when you do something new something old has got to go. Can you imagine guys like David Bowie and the Rolling Stones, who've been around 25 years, it would be ridiculous if they played all their material ..."

I missed you last time you played NZ but I saw you in the UK in 'B7 as part of the Def Jam Tour. You were very subdued in your performance - very staunch. Last night I saw you and I thought: My God! This is showbusiness - this is a 'performance' from you two. Flav: "That was you in the UK? Man, I thought I recognised you! Good to see you again Homey. Word up G." "I'll tell you man," continues Chuck, "as far as grading a show from 1 to 10, last night was definitely a 5! [laughs]" Well, actually that's what I heard today from people who saw you here last time. I'm just

comparing you to the UK performance which was very serious.

Flav: "Last time when we came here we were in real full effect. Our energy level was Full Impact then but last night was our first show of the tour and when you're cold you're going to do a cold show. The show was still hitting and we put in all our energy, but still it could've been better. The stage wasn't looking right. Last night we didn't have our backdrop and sometimes I get some power from that backdrop! I look back at that big ol' punk and I go: Whooah!"

Chuck: "That's when your professionalism kicks in. You can play it off like you're having a good time. To be honest I'm a little tired of doing the old records. But you have to do them, it's what the people want to hear. When we were here in 1990 we was fresh off Fear of a Black Planet. Right now we're on a our third tour and I want to get a new record out man. When we do our next tour in the States at Christmas, I'm just going to do those six new joints off the new album with a couple of the old ones and I'm going have a ball doing it."

You had a bit of mic trouble last night-, Flav in particular, and you seemed pissed off because when you tried to talk politics the crowd wasn't responding. I think it was beacause they couldn't hear you.

Chuck: "No, I wasn't pissed off — I couldn't find a subject [laughs]. J wanted to talk about

the Maori people but I wasn't honed in on the subject. When I get to Australia I'll be honed in. Australia's somewhere I really want to hit at. The Aboriginal people... when I went there before there were so many things that pissed me off. This time they're going to get a bit of dialogue." It seemed ridiculous to me last night that when you mentioned George Bush everyone booed on cue, yet most of them don't know shit about Bush Bush has not touched their lives yet as soon as Chuck D says Bush is a bad dude suddenly everyone ... < Flav interjects: "What Chuck is doing is letting the people see his point of view of the reality in the United States." Chuck: "I. didn’t feel that street corner vibe of: Yo man we're trying to overthrow this NZ Government cos it's been fucked up since the 1800's. I talked to the Maori people last time I was here and I had a vibe. This time we got into the country late so maybe that had something to do with it. This time I didn't feel that vibe." , You spoke last night about how the US Police motto 'Protect & Serve' means protecting property and how the Black people have no property therefore they, get no Police service ... •“ ' - ‘ Chuck laughs: "That's one of the few things I made sense on ..."

You guys have been around, you must have property. I hear Ice T lives in Beverly Hills now — how rich are Public Enemy? Chuck: Ice T is large, he got his shit together. PE aren't large like that [laughs] I ain't got no property — all I got is my jeans and my jacket!"

Flav: "We aren't rich financially, but we are rich. We're

rich from the heart. We're a rich people, and we like to teach the people. As long as you want the best for somebody you're rich." Chuck: "We're moving on up. We've got a lot of people in our structure and things are intertwining. It's always a struggle to get your business totally straight. People are always trying to snatch yo'money. Always! We've now got a business team, and as of. the last two years everything has been airtight and solid. They're making a lot of right and correct moves for us, whereas in the beginning of our career there were people who we later found out were, uh, criminals! There's probably 15-20 people in the Public Enemy structure and it's not just Chuck D and Flav who've got to be correct, it's everyone in the totem pole." Have you got a Master Plan? ft Chuck: "TO RUUULE THE WORLD!!!!" (Everyone laughs and rolls around the floor for 10 minutes clutching their sides with mirth.) Obviously you're more than just 'Entertainers'? . .Chuck: "No, you're right. We're adults, we're black men that ant to be in control of our destiny and tell people that this wickedness that has come about in the past has not been progressive for all peoples. This world has to be shared. If anything is going to be our goal to rule it's to rule people with the

right word. It's beneficial for them to know that this is the only planet that we can live on. The word is love. Love this world you're on, love your fellow man. And that can only come about if you know the real deal. That's the thing that we've been about: do right over wrong.

The common criticism for rap is that it's so sexist. It still

seems to be a problem, the image of black women projected through rap lyrics ... . Chuck:/'You say it's rap music that's sexist?. It's black life that's sexist! It's been taught that way since slavery. Rap just reflects what's going in the community — don't blame the messenger. Black men always , had respect for black women in Africa. We've been touched by slavery, white supremecy, imperialism — we was actually taught to hate ourselves as black men so if we hate ourselves ' we're going to hate our women and children as well. Of course - we're going to disrespect every- - thing that's black/ and that's f reflected in rap music." Ice T has made the point that the controversy is not about 'Cop Killer', but rather the fact that rap music is getting into ' the hearts and minds of white - kids. , ' Chuck:; "It's about. media conquest, especially the battle over the transmission of signals through the medium of television and radio, which is controlled by he Government. The Federal Communications Commission monitors every transmission, every message, putout over the air. That's why the Government say you can't curse ' over the air. The Government give you your license and they say if you allow these words to be said over the air we're going to take your license away and you won't be able to broadcast any messages." ' ■ There's also the problem of Black-on-Black violence. When are we going to reach a state of - Utopia when that stops? ■ ' . Chuck: "When is black-on-black violence going to stop? That's easy— it'll stop when we start committing violence on whites [laughs]. Straightup!! As I said before, it's about blacks

hating themselves: If ' I hate myself then that nigga over there is going to die because 1 hate myself and I could kill him ■! in a minute. It goes right back to Africa when, we was told: Nigga get yo' ass on that boat. All that stuff about how we don't look after our kids, how , we hate our women, it's all imbedded in the indoctrination of slavery. ' "So when the Cripps and the Bloods in LA formed a truce

and said we're gonna fight the common enemy that's when we're gonna see the end of black-on-black violence. No we aint gonna kill ourselves, ,we're gonna kill John Adams living in Beverly Hills right down the street. That's when the threat came in. Black people say: 'You know, I'm killingyouand I aint getting nothing out of it! I'm gonna kill that ' muthafucker over there and get rich!' That's when you saw the Governmentmove in, that's when you saw the National Guard move in. That LA thing was much bigger than you saw on the TV. The Government realised that when LA went there was six other cities ready to go up as well." Flav: "Black-on-black crime will only stop when we learn respect of ourselves The main thing that's destroying us is drugs and alcohol. When black people get drugs in their system, (and white people too!) their blood goes a different temperature and they act different. You can get so drugged up that when you get shot you don't even know you're bleeding. You don’t care, all you're thinking is kill, kill, kill! You're gonna

do whatever it takes to get the money to get the drugs to make your blood still feel like that. The worst crime that there ever was, outside of greed,was the first blood crime, and that was white-on-black crime, 'cos they drew first blood. Nobody told them to come over there [Africa] and fuck with us. We was minding our own business and next thing they came over there and upset the law of nature. They took us against our own will, they killed our families, and made us do things to each other. And right now we're still very bitter about all that. "The thing I'm trying to tell people is that even though that

happened, and it can never be forgotten — never ever ever but sometimes we got to put things behind us and worry about how we're gonna put bread & butter on the table for our families tommorow. It's all a disciplining process. That's the reason why I call Brother Louis Farrakhan one of the most strongest brothers in the world. [lt's] because he teaches all black people discipline, and respecting their enemy. Anybody that makes you kill yourself, or do things to yourself, they're not your friend — they're your enemy." Who is the enemy? Flav: "The white man is the black people's enemy." Does that make me your enemy? ’ ■ Flav: "No, that d >n't make you my enemy, be ause you personally did noth ng to me, but it was your ancestors." So when the Revolution comes, how am I going to be protected? Chuck: "We don't know [laughs]." Flav: "That's for you to find out! [laughs louder]" Chuck: "You're on your own kid [laughs again] I got a lot of

white friends, but when the LA situation went down, it was like: Muthafuckers, Yo, I feel for you man! It was no-one's fault now,' they just fucked up in the past. Nobody is saying it was right or wrong, we're just saying that's the end result of what's been happening. , / / "Look. For me. as a black person — as far as going to South Central LA man? No way! Over the past six or seven years? Pshhh! Those muthafuckers is crazy!! Right now brothers are like: 'even we don't understand that shit before, we was crazy. Now we've found our common enemy.' Ice Cube explained it better: not only is there a truce, but at the same time there is [relief] money in the black community. If these brothers don't find a constructive way to use this money to set up their own businesses.... brothers sell drugs to get paid. They don't sell for no other reason than to get paid. If they can find another way to get paid, using the skills that they've got, then they won't sell drugs. See, that's basically what the Cripps and Bloods was: drug warfare over drug territories. Then it mutated into something else when the ; young kids got involved: colours. You in the wrong place at the wrong time wearing the wrong colour — pow! "Now you have a lot of people that are smarter than they was before. Now they know the Real Deal. The real truth is who's been messing up LA? The white man has been throwing drugs into the situation, the white man has been denying people their proper place in society. The community is getting smarter — when they brought other contractors in to clean up the South Central area the people immediately said: No! We gott a get our own people paid, we gotta set up these businesses. What you're seeing now is an economic takeover, a community the brothers & sisters can really call our own." NICK D'ANGELO

WHEN IS BLACK-ON-BLACK VIOLENCE COINC TO STOP? IT'LL STOP WHEN WE START COMM ITTINC VIOLENCE ON WHITES