Chuck D & Public Enemy @mrchuckd

Chuck D is an OG of the hip hop culture and musical artform.  He was born in Queens NY and his real name is Carlton Douglas Ridenhour.  He was born on August 1, 1960 and a happy belated born day to the brethren.  He began his business in the hip hop music and rap scene in the mid-80’s as a leading social and political voice, being very vocal, and a style and music that many people feel.  Although touching some serious subjects, Chuck and his Public Enemy hip hop crew, was also known for adding fun and humor into their sets and videos, and generally high intense drums and raw hitting vocals and rhymes.  I’d also say that Chuck D is also a very deep, intelligent, and down to earth, approachable person, that genuinely thinks about and cares about others and he spreads a lot of love and wisdom.

He has been atomically bombing the world with his raps and emceeing, having found fans all over, influencing musicians of other genres, and working with lots of musicians, from Benny Benassi to Melloncamp.  He is an emcee, rapper, producer, and author, as well as working on many community organizations and frequently speaking to the youth and the world at forums.  He presently runs the Rapstation and you can follow Chuck D on twitter @mrchuckd.  Chuck plays all types of hip hop music and presently goes on tours with his Public Enemy crew as well as continuing his speeches at many locations for the people.

My personal introduction to Public Enemy and Chuck D, was when I was a little kid at the record store.  I really loved hip hop music and rap music, as that was my favorite type of music as a little kid, and I’d often sit and hang out for hours going through record after record that the record store employee would let me listen to on the store headphones.  What caught my attention with Public Enemy’s tapes and CD’s were their titles and covers, which often used puns and plays with words and some hard hitting imagery.  As a kid in Vancouver BC Canada, there was and still really, no real urban music station and it was hard to watch a lot of American videos, however, I was still able to cop and listen to tapes and CD’s.

Here is a few of my personal selections of Chuck D and the PE crew

Note:  Biggie sampled Chuck’s distinct vocal rap style and verse in this song, and they ended up in a small legal tiff but was settled out of court

There’s a lot more awesome songs and videos and performances but we will end this short blog with my personal favorite PE jam

Peace, love, and unity