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The Voice of Reason, a conversation with Public Enemy’s Chuck D. Part One:
In a time when “keeping it real” often means slinging commercialized gangster rhymes, revolutionary Hip-Hop legend Chuck D. is a rare light of truth, using his powerful voice to speak up for the voiceless and to stand for real change. Chuck—both a humanitarian and vegetarian—spoke with us about greed and pain, slaves and robots, and why the heart matters the most. Maranda Pleasant: What are you most excited about in
your life right now?
Chuck D: Well I’m most passionate about, you know, making everybody understand that we should all have equal access on this earth. And when somebody greedily comes along and thinks that they gonna snatch everything, and you have so many people that have not, the passion that drives me is trying to make them understand that they have to share. So, my art reflects that; the whole reason I do what I do reflects that. You can’t take anything with you. So I don’t understand this whole psychotic area of greed, I don’t get it... MP: What is the thing in your life that you feel the most vulnerability around? originmagazine.com | 24
CD: Well, everybody knows your name and all your adversaries still strike at you. I think that’s some coward shit, but you know. I tell people all the time, I say, “Look, to counter a point of view that I have, which is basically—share and enjoy the fruits of this planet— then anybody who really feels opposed to that should identify themselves and put their name next to that ridiculous greedy statement, right?” MP: Yeah, I can only imagine on the level that you’re on, there must be a lot of trust issues and hearing things about yourself. I’m sure that you can’t even walk around without people knowing who you are, so how do you keep an open heart and still keep a thick skin so it doesn’t get to you and drain you emotionally? CD: I don’t have any exteriors that would actually put me into some kind of different air that would actually intimidate somebody to stay away from me. Anybody can always come up to me and tell me I’m full of shit, and I’m good with that ‘cause I don’t believe everybody. I don’t believe that everybody is out of some kind of cookie cutter, so the thing that protects me is always being level with myself, even to myself. The minute I get swelled up about something, something has always brought me back down to earth... Ever since I was a teenager, I was always kind of, like, checking myself. You know, like, “Come on man, don’t get your head all swollen. Life and time itself will give you perspective on what you’re doing.” So, that’s actually what’s always been a reminder in my own head. MP: How do you transform your pain? How do you deal? How do you work with it?