Veteran rap group Public Enemy using the Internet to stay fresh
Many artists still feel conflicted about the role the Internet plays in the distribution and consumption of music these days.
Not rapper Chuck D.
"It's the best thing that's ever happened to (the music business)," he said. "Before, you had to get permission for everything - permission to record, to write music your own way, even to get your albums into certain retailers. Now, you can do just about all that yourself."
If these sentiments seem surprising coming from the 49-year-old leader of a rap group that first appeared on the scene in the technological Dark Ages of the 1980s, it shouldn't.
Chuck D, aka Carlton Ridenhour, and his politically charged band Public Enemy have been at the forefront of the digital revolution in music for more than a decade.
The group was one of the first to release a full album in digital form - 1999's "There's a Poison Going On," which came out two years before iTunes. In the early 2000s, the band encouraged fans to download songs from publicenemy.com and remix them. A few of these tracks made it on to the group's "Revolverlution" record.
Today, Public Enemy is taking fan involvement even further with sellaband.com, a website that allows fans to invest in an album by sharing in the recording costs.
"It's an experiment we're trying, a new way to do things," Ridenhour said. "It gives the fans a chance to be a bigger part of the music. We plan to have the record out in 2011, and we'll see then if the model works."
As focused as Ridenhour is on the future, he's not afraid to look back. Which is a good thing, as the band continues to be known best for a stellar series of records it put out two decades ago: 1998's "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back," 1990's "Fear of a Black Planet" and 1991's "Apocalypse 91: The Enemy Strikes Black."
All three albums, which rank among hip-hop's best ever, continue to grow in stature. (In 2006, for example, Time Magazine placed "Nation of Millions" on its list of the 100 best records of all time.)
"When we made those records, we really wanted them to work as full albums, like you had with the Beach Boys' 'Pet Sounds' or the Beatles' 'Rubber Soul' or Marvin Gaye's 'What's Going On,'" Ridenhour said. "At the time, rap was teetering on the edge of becoming a singles genre. We showed that you could expand the borders a bit."
The albums created a sensation when they were released. Ridenhour's rhymes were angry, confrontational and unabashedly political, blasting the powers that be for suppressing blacks and other minorities: "Day to day America eats its young/And defeats our women/There is a gap so wide we all could swim in" Chuck D snarled on the "Fear of a Black Planet" record.
The music was just as startling. The group created a dense swirl of beats and noise that captured the chaotic din of life in America's streets. Layered on top of all the samples were Ridenhour's booming baritone and the high-pitched comic relief of fellow rapper Flavor Flav.
Ridenhour said Public Enemy will draw from those records during its show this weekend at the Congress Theater in Chicago. Though the band is approaching its 25th year of existence, Ridenhour said he still sees a lot of kids at Public Enemy's shows.
"That's another interesting thing about technology," he said. "It makes it a lot easier for kids to check out the music that came before them. I look out from the stage sometimes and I wonder just what year it is."
<p class="factboxheadblack">Public Enemy</p>
<p class="News"><b>When:</b> 8 p.m. Saturday, June 26</p>
<p class="News"><b>Where:</b> Congress Theater, 2135 N. Milwaukee, Chicago</p>
<p class="News"><b>Tickets:</b> $20. Go to <a href="http://congresschicago.com" target="new">congresschicago.com</a>.</p>