Chuck D. factoids

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Okay, i've been away for a while. But I may have possibly hooked up an interview with Chuck D tomorrow.

Anyone have and weird factoids or curveballs to throw at him? I've got some things down now and searched through the archives here. But anyone got any tidbits?

― Andrzej B. (Andrzej B.), Monday, 25 September 2006 22:48 (nineteen years ago)

Frisbee got its name from William Russel Frisbee, who was a pie baker. He used to sell his pies in a thin tin pan, which had Frisbee written on it. When Walter Frederick Morrison thought of the idea of making saucer like disks to play catch, he visited the campus of Yale and noticed people there were using the pie pan to play catch so he therefore renamed his invention to Frisbee.

― n/a (Nick A.), Monday, 25 September 2006 22:59 (nineteen years ago)

ask him about psychedelic rock, he's definitely into it but interviewers rarely (ever?) talk about it.

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Monday, 25 September 2006 23:01 (nineteen years ago)

* Got a letter from the government the other day.

* Most of his heroes don't appear on no stamps.

* Once told a rabbi to get off the rag.

* Never really had a gun.

― and what (ooo), Monday, 25 September 2006 23:07 (nineteen years ago)

Half of these are useless! more like "I Love Puns"

― Andrzej B. (Andrzej B.), Monday, 25 September 2006 23:09 (nineteen years ago)

ask him where he was when he heard phil hartman was dead

― j blount (papa la bas), Monday, 25 September 2006 23:10 (nineteen years ago)

Ask him if he's so famous how come he doesn't have his own kitsch reality show.

― Sadly, he will be the next Alexis Petridish. (Dom Passantino), Monday, 25 September 2006 23:12 (nineteen years ago)

Ask him what he thinks of Flavor of Love, and ask him what Flav thinks of it.

― mark 0 (mark 0), Monday, 25 September 2006 23:19 (nineteen years ago)

he'll probably say it's modern minstrelsy.

― Squirrel_Police (Squirrel_Police), Monday, 25 September 2006 23:23 (nineteen years ago)

I need to ask him about the public enemy COMIC book!!

― Andrzej B. (Andrzej B.), Monday, 25 September 2006 23:26 (nineteen years ago)

just start beatboxing. it'll be on.

― tremendoid (tremendoid), Monday, 25 September 2006 23:31 (nineteen years ago)

There's some interesting facts about Mistah Chuck here:

http://www.shutemdown.com/pehistory.htm

― rattusnorvegicus (ratty!!), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 00:42 (nineteen years ago)

Ask him about that Lee Jeans commercial he was in.

― My name is Kenny (My name is Kenny), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 01:16 (nineteen years ago)

Oh God, I'd probably end up talking to him for 20 minutes straight just about doing the pause-mix of Blow Your Head in 1986 that became Public Enemy #1 in 87.

I perform interviews with artists I grew up listening to roughly 3 to 4 times a week, and usually am pretty calm and researched before the fact, but when I met Hank Shocklee at a bar recently, I turned into a babbling fanboy for the first time in my life.

I met Chuck very briefly at a job I had once. He was overly nice to every sngle person he encountered in the office, but he seemed to know how to subtly avoid getting cornered by anyone (including me).

I'd probably harp on his college radio days and each detail of how his relationship with Rick Rubin developed as a result of that radio show, but those are the types of things I harp on in general (clearly).

Also about the generational relevance to subject matter in music. He was older than most of his peers, which I know he credits to his subject matter. I've often theorized this as being the reason Too Short was referrencing Blaxploitation (Playboy Short) in 1983 when most of us were still stuck on Star Wars (Planet Rock). Shortdog's much older than we were, so Shaft (et al) might've still been in his mind.

― PappaWheelie demands you to ''only pick any'' (PappaWheelie 2), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 01:44 (nineteen years ago)

The two times someone asked me for interview questions, they completely
fucked up the questions I gave them and asked completely pointless things.
(One interview was with RMS, the other was with DMR.)
I'd love to know which Melt-Banana drummer is Chuck D's favorite.

― shieldforyoureyes (shieldforyoureyes), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 02:28 (nineteen years ago)

Ask him how much of Forthright MC was scripted and how much was him.

― Dedicated to Jaggers Who Do Drive-Bys (noodle vague), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 05:20 (nineteen years ago)

Ask him what he thinks of Flavor of Love, and ask him what Flav thinks of it.

ask him about his blog post (linked on ILM a couple years back) where he blamed teh jews for Flav humiliating himself on VH-1.

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 09:26 (nineteen years ago)

or steer clear of politics and discuss music

― PappaWheelie has no answers to any question that requires actual thought (PappaW, Tuesday, 26 September 2006 18:13 (nineteen years ago)

yeah why drag politics into a conversation with chuck d

― s1ocki (slutsky), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 18:17 (nineteen years ago)

I'd be curious to hear more about Son of Bazerk, who I think was involved in the early days of PE (maybe even later)...what role he played, if any, in PE.

― M@tt He1geson: Real Name, No Gimmicks (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 18:21 (nineteen years ago)

You could ask him about the New Orleans stuff, with the lead in that he just guested on the Dirty Dozen's Marvin Gaye record (haven't heard it).

Also a friend of mine did a remix that PE put on that record a few years back (Revolverlution or whatever). It was really good. You could ask him...uh, nothing, I guess.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 18:25 (nineteen years ago)

funny you should say that matt...when I did meet shocklee recently, I was kicking myself over and over after the fact for not asking about Berzerk.

I doubt Chuck had much of a hand in that though.

― PappaWheelie has no answers to any question that requires actual thought (PappaW, Tuesday, 26 September 2006 18:31 (nineteen years ago)

I almost brought up Coolin' in Cali by 7A3 being the Bomb Squad produced the title track, but it seemed pointless...like work for hire kinda thing.

7A3 would be a touchstone for DJ Muggs/Cypress Hill first, and maybe Daddy-O next

― PappaWheelie has no answers to any question that requires actual thought (PappaW, Tuesday, 26 September 2006 18:35 (nineteen years ago)

funny you should say that matt...when I did meet shocklee recently, I was kicking myself over and over after the fact for not asking about Berzerk.

damn! The Son of Bazerk album, for me, is the real apex of the Bomb Squad...sometimes I think it's even more bonkers than any of the PE stuff...

Pappa, did you see that Tape Op article w/Hank Shocklee? Really cool nerdy stuff about how they recorded all the PE album, like real detailed accounts of them having 5 dudes doing a mix in real time, pulling up and down faders, putting it down to 2 inch tape.

― M@tt He1geson: Real Name, No Gimmicks (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 18:53 (nineteen years ago)

whoa, no! I went to a seminar they did at NYU about a year or two ago, and they did go in depth, but this sounds more in depth.

The NYU seminar was plagued with rock critics retelling how they discovered PE and the usual rhetoric. When Hank took stage though, the focus went straight 87 hip-hop, so I was in heaven of course.

― PappaWheelie has no answers to any question that requires actual thought (PappaW, Tuesday, 26 September 2006 18:58 (nineteen years ago)

there's a thread on that Tape Op article, its really good

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 19:02 (nineteen years ago)

here's scans of the tape of article pappa

http://www.savehiphop.org/blogg/?p=187

― M@tt He1geson: Real Name, No Gimmicks (Matt Helgeson), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 19:15 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah, that's a good interview. They didn't have triggers or sequencers that looped more than a couple seconds so a lot of the samples were "played" live. Probably part of the reason those early PE records are so jammin'.

― Edward III (edward iii), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 19:15 (nineteen years ago)

Ask him whether he & DJ Premier are still feuding over Chuck's lawsuit against Biggie's estate.

― ramon fernandez (ramon fernandez), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 19:26 (nineteen years ago)

On that Son of Bazerk tangent, I somewhere picked up the idea that they were somehow related to Kings of Pressure - maybe not the same band with a new name, ala Original Style/Naughty By Nature, but with one or two of the same members, ala Masters of Ceremony/Brand Nubian.

Anybody know for sure about that?

― 100% CHAMPS with a Yes! Attitude. (Austin, Still), Tuesday, 26 September 2006 19:41 (nineteen years ago)

oh man, thanks for the link matt

― PappaWheelie has no answers to any question that requires actual thought (PappaW, Tuesday, 26 September 2006 20:00 (nineteen years ago)

Ask Chuck what possessed him to rerecord himself for Public Domain's "Rock The Funky Beats". I'm still surprised that it didn't kill his career.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Friday, 29 September 2006 14:40 (nineteen years ago)

What does Terminator X do when he's not with Public Enemy?
Ostrich farmer

― how much, latebloomer? (latebloomer), Friday, 29 September 2006 17:24 (nineteen years ago)

http://i19.ebayimg.com/03/c/05/a8/f2/5e_7.JPG

― PappaWheelie burried Paul. The clues are there man! (PappaWheelie 2), Friday, 29 September 2006 18:21 (nineteen years ago)

I thought this was going to be a parody of all those Chuck Norris factoids. Er, "parody."

― Eppy (Eppy), Friday, 29 September 2006 18:33 (nineteen years ago)

Did you know Chuck Norris has a doplegonger?

― PappaWheelie burried Paul. The clues are there man! (PappaWheelie 2), Friday, 29 September 2006 18:38 (nineteen years ago)

seven years pass...

http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/the-juice/6114004/chuck-d-hot-97-comments-urban-radio-summer-jam-controversy

― curmudgeon, Friday, 20 June 2014 14:14 (eleven years ago)

When my brain stopped failing me it suddenly made a whole lot more sense that we're not talking about Chuck Dukowski

― Michael M., Sunday, 22 June 2014 08:51 (eleven years ago)

Ha, never heard Dukowski referred to as Chuck D.

― curmudgeon, Monday, 23 June 2014 14:12 (eleven years ago)

I'm with Chuck D on all of this, but

Citing the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival as an example, D added that he felt it would be proper to include a contract clause for performers "to at least be civil in the presentation of the art form they've been granted with."

makes him sound older than Bill Cosby.

― pplains, Monday, 23 June 2014 14:14 (eleven years ago)

Yep

― curmudgeon, Monday, 23 June 2014 14:18 (eleven years ago)

It's pretty understandable that older/middle-aged African-American trailblazers would be irritated to see the ground gained by their struggle against oppression and stereotypes used by the generations that follow them to reinforce said stereotypes in the name of chasing cash.

― Star Gentle Uterus (DJP), Monday, 23 June 2014 14:44 (eleven years ago)

Okay that was poorly edited on lol iphone but I hope the kernel of the point is legible

― Star Gentle Uterus (DJP), Monday, 23 June 2014 14:44 (eleven years ago)

I completely hear and agree with that point.

Just kinda weird hearing Public Enemy No. 1 say "These whippersnappers need to do what they do in Louisiana and sign a contract to keep it clean!"

― pplains, Monday, 23 June 2014 14:51 (eleven years ago)

Go back and listen to the classic PE tracks and you'll be surprised at how clean most of them are. IIRC the only instances of cursing on Fear of a Black Planet come from Ice Cube on "Burn, Hollywood, Burn"

― Star Gentle Uterus (DJP), Monday, 23 June 2014 14:55 (eleven years ago)

"Aaron Neville is a prophet and I think you ought to listen to him."

― pplains, Monday, 23 June 2014 14:59 (eleven years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.