Chuck D Quotes
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I spread the message of hope and of unity. That's what gets me up in the morning. I can tell you what is wrong, but I can't tell you how to fix it. I'm a raptivist, not a politician. I deal in hope.
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Music and art and culture is escapism, and escapism sometimes is healthy for people to get away from reality. The problem is when they stay there.
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The immediacy of the technology of the web allows us, as songwriters, to write something very sharp and quick. That has a lot to do with helping a songwriter be more reflective of reality, instead of being in an area where you have to process things. It's the difference between processing fish and catching it in a boat.
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I was inspired by the classic rock radio of the Seventies. They separated Chuck Berry and the Beatles from the Led Zeppelins and Bostons and Peter Framptons of the time. In many ways, classic rock became bigger than mainstream rock.
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My mother went to university, my father didn't. But they are very educated, very wise people. My father went to the military, so he's worldly.
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Right is right, and wrong is wrong, and when people start getting it confused, that means they need to sit down with some real people.
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People aren't going to support an artist just because they have an audio file. They have to feel a real connection.
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Public Enemy is the security of the hip-hop party.
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I totally hate when somebody takes a classic and desecrates it. I like Jimmy Page and P. Diddy, but what they did to 'Kashmir' was a debacle.
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I think traveling the world has helped to keep Public Enemy alive. We've never solely depended on the United States.
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I like Rick Ross as a person. I like Jay-Z and Kanye West as people. But I hate the companies that they record for.
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Government and culture are two diametrically opposed forces - the one blinds and oppresses, the other uplifts and unites.
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You're always going to sound like yourself, but you can make really strong attempts to keep some similarities, but move away from what you did before for popularity's sake.
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You have to wait for people to program you. The only difference is the amount of people that you're going to reach but that's going to even out in the next two or three years anyway. Computers are being bought faster than televisions right now.
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I came from a mother and father who always made me secure in my beliefs, and that's where the love came from.
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The Internet was a saving grace for promoting and exposing, and even creating. It's a parallel world to the music industry that already exists, and I'm glad to be a part of it.
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Of course voting is useful. But then again, I don't put a big glow to it. Voting is about as essential as washing yourself. It's something you're supposed to do. Now, you can't go around bragging, expecting to get props because you voted. That's stupid.
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I think right about now we have to beware of marketed Malcolms and Martins. Real people do real things.
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Downloadable music is the biggest musical phenomenon since the Beatles, and the music industry is slow to come to grips with that.
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When you travel the world, you have to watch and you have to listen. We're not going to come in to Ireland without an understanding that there's a history that's very sensitive.
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People are so confused about race and hip-hop that people didn't even consider the Beastie Boys one of the greatest rap groups of all time because they were white.
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I'm recording freely, and if I make a song, I release it immediately, so I'm more likely to believe in one song at a time as opposed to albums.
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I'm a multi-tasker. I was down with that stuff before they invented the term.
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I've signed with major labels, and I haven't had any control over the money.