CHUCK D
"...one of the most politically and socially conscious artists of any generation..."
--Spike Lee
"Chuck D is the towering artist of hip hop culture and a leading public intellectual of and for young people. His voice challenges all of us."
--Cornel West
As leader and co-founder of legendary rap group Public Enemy, Chuck D redefined rap music and Hip Hop culture with the release of PE's explosive debut album, Yo Bum Rush The Show, in 1987. His messages addressed weighty issues about race, rage and inequality, with a jolting combination of intelligence and eloquence never seen before. The group's subsequent seven albums were released over the next 13 years, all meeting with critical acclaim from publications as disparate as Time and The Source, and worldwide sales in the millions. And at the close of 1999, The New York Times named Public Enemy's music to their list of the "25 Most Significant Albums of the Last Century."
The numbers that reflect their extraordinary career are staggering: The band has embarked on over 33 tours, performing over 1200 concerts to fans in 40 countries. Three albums are certified multi-platinum, three more are gold, with four gold singles and a platinum-selling home video.
The critical and commercial success of Public Enemy opened the doors for Chuck to deliver his message through a number of different mediums, extending his reach to all segments of the population. He has hosted his own segment on the Fox News Channel, published a best-selling autobiography, "Fight The Power," is a highly sought after speaker on the college lecture circuit (lecturing at universities ranging from Harvard to Howard), is a prominent member of music industry non-profit organizations such as Rock The Vote (which honored him with the Patrick Lippert Award in 1996 for his contributions to community service) and started the record label SlamJamz. He served as national spokesperson for Rock The Vote, the National Urban League and the National Alliance of African American Athletes, and appeared in public service announcements for HBO's campaign for national peace and the Partnership for a Drug Free America. He is also a regular guest on numerous television shows including Nightline, Politically Incorrect, MSNBC's HardBall
and on CNN.
Most recently, the media has anointed Chuck as the spokesperson and major proponent of music on the Internet. In September 1999, he launched a multi-format "supersite" on the Web, Rapstation.com. A home for the vast global hip hop community, the site boasts a television and radio station with original programming, a slew of hip hop's most prominent DJs, celebrity interviews, free MP3 downloads (the first was contributed by rap star Coolio), social commentary, current events, and regular features dedicated to empower aspiring musicians with the knowledge to turn their craft into a viable living. The site has partnered with some of the most exciting and innovative companies on the Web, including RealNetworks, House of Blues Digital, Launch, Rioport, Tucows, Communities.com, NewWorld Culture, AllEarth and AudioGalaxy.
Chuck has also launched a radio station on the Internet, BringTheNoise.com, and in a landmark move, made Public Enemy the first multi-platinum selling act to release their album in MP3 format via the Internet before it was available in retail stores. He challenged and expanded the traditional methods of retail distribution, arranging for the album to also be the first-ever to be released on a Zip disk. He is currently preparing for the launch of the first true Internet-only record label, SlamJamz. Chuck's involvement in the Internet has landed him on the cover of The Net, Wired, Bomb and Yahoo Internet Life magazines, and he was the guest editor of the 1999 year-end issue of Red Herring, one of the tech industry's leading business magazines. He has also been a guest contributor to Time magazine and The New York Times. His outspoken advocacy of the Web has also been profiled in Forbes, Time, USA Today and The Industry Standard, and he was named to Upside magazine's "Elite 100" list of Internet leaders, alongside the likes of Bill Gates and Steve Jobs.
He recently released a rock album with the group Confrontation Camp (Artemis Records), and is planning a national tour with the band. A mixture of sounds ranging from the Roots on through Rage Against the Machine, Confrontation Camp has been hailed for putting a poetical spin on political subjects. Chuck D is also currently working on a second book, is booked to deliver keynote addresses and sit on panels at over two dozen conventions throughout this year alone, and continues to appear as a guest lecturer at colleges across the country.
