(From an earlier show)
Chuck D:
Our whole thing is to make our music grow and to show that we, as Black people, can have something and not lose it like how we lost the blues and jazz. You know?
(New show)
Arsenio Hall:
Yes. Relax, everybody. Thank you. Welcome back. Sitting with Chuck D
Chuck D:
That was a bold young man
Arsenio Hall:
Yeah. That's exactly what I was about to say, and then follow it with, "Have we lost it?"
Chuck D:
Well, you know, I mean, people say they love rap music and hip-hop, but, you know, it's very important-- since it was our expression as a people-- it's very important to kind of like dig the people too that it came out of. And even for ourselves to say that. So when we use degrading terms--
Arsenio Hall:
Self-love
Chuck D:
Yes. Self-love. So it's like, "Well, do you love Black people?" And people say, "What's that got to do with it?" It's got a lot to do with it because it was our main expression. We couldn't express ourselves through the community or politics the way everybody else did. So that's why I said what I said. And people continue to still say it to this day. So we got to watch out for whippings of mass distraction. Really, I don't like to talk about myself, but I'd like to commend and salute you. I mean, you were the first guy with a hot band, and now everybody's got a hot band as far as talk shows. And I told you backstage, man, you bring that warm feeling that make me also think of somebody who's warm to all of us that we all, you know, kind of portaled through, and that's the late great Don Cornelius. The Don
Arsenio Hall:
That was my idol in front of and behind the camera
Chuck D:
And so many people came through you. So yeah, you know, you're the new Don, and you always was the Don protégé. So I got to give you that
Arsenio Hall:
Thank you sir
Chuck D:
I got to give you that. Not going to talk about myself no more
Arsenio Hall:
You've always rapped about very important relevant things, but today, what needs to be rapped about? What do you think about a lot and write about?
Chuck D:
Well, when people say, "What do you hear today?" or "Who are you hearing now?" We have RapStation.com, designed by Gary G. Whiz, my partner, and I do a radio show every week on RapStation.com. And it's about-- there's hundreds of emcees, there's the underground, there's the underfound-- those are veterans that've been doing it for 10 years but got no local love-- there's the local emcees who need to get supported by their local radio stations that spend all their time in this country playing 99% of everybody who's probably not going to come through a Wichita; through a Cleveland; through a Birmingham-- you know? There's women emcees and deejays; no acknowledgment. How big can hip-hop and rap be if you can't name one or two or three rap groups entirely composed of women. You know? I mean, how big can it be? So it's top heavy. It's industry top heavy. It needs to be balanced. The community has to support the art form. If the community doesn't support the art form, which means an artist cannot make a living in their own hometown, that means how could you expect the art to protect or really kind of look out for the community? And when people ask me, "Hip-hop and rap music, really?" I boldly say, you know hip-hop is like a religion to me, and rap is like my military: it protects for the power of love and bringing us all together. But that's one of my biggest complaints: how local artists cannot be heard in their own home radio, or be seen. That has to change
Arsenio Hall:
Okay, you mentioned-- yes, yes-- you used the word "religion" earlier, and it reminded me of HipHopGods.com. Explain what HipHopGods.com is
Chuck D:
Well classic rock is even more explosive than mainstream. We want to say classic hip-hop, like you're about to have one. There's already a tremendous audience for it around the world. So what we wanted to make HipHopGods.com-- and y'all can lock it into your phones, along with RapStation-- you go there to see classic artists to new music and new songs, because that whole thing was about the performance. It didn't need drama to sell it. It's like sports: I mean, Peyton Manning and LeBron James don't need drama in order to make you go "Whoa!" It's about their performance. It's about what's happening on the field, on the court. And we say, in hip-hop, the classic artists-- and Spin, you can actually nod to this, that it was about performance art and about what you can prove on the stage. You had to be better than your record. You had to be better than your video. If you can't do that, if people can't leave better than how they came in, you're going to have diminishing returns. And that's why the art form means so much to me and that's why Public Enemy's still-- we're going on our 94th tour, our 9th time to Australia. You don't go to a place in the world, or anywhere, and you don't headline because you want to do it. There must've been a demand for it. So we want the United States to at least come up and, if there was a Hip-Hop & Rap Olympics, at least get the bronze, because so many countries are zoomed past it because they stay true to the root of it
