Chuck D: Why Today’s Artists Can’t Fight the Power
Rap pioneer breaks down fear that controls biggest, brightest stars
No one pushed cultural buttons like Public Enemy.
The rappers shook society in the late ’80s and early ’90s with anthems like “Don’t Believe the Hype,” “Fight the Power” and “911 Is a Joke.”
Today’s musicians genuflect to power, from obeying extreme COVID-19 mandates to ignoring attacks on free speech. When Eric Clapton and Van Morrison questioned pandemic bylaws the counter-culture bible, Rolling Stone, pounced and seized.
Public Enemy’s co-founder thinks he knows why.
Chuck D told Rolling Stone’s Australian division what keeps too many stars silent on key issues. Spoiler alert: It’s all about Cancel Culture.
“They’re all scared, man … Musicians, artists, entertainers have now been governed by fear, fear of being canceled.”
“In my case, I’m like, I don’t know who’s orchestrated this all. All I know is it’s madness.”
The rapper is either being disingenuous or has never visited a right-leaning news site.
Cancel Culture is overwhelmingly a byproduct of the Left. Progressives attack pop culture of yore, eager to find “offensive” material or shame the artists who created it.
The modern Left changes words to ensnare unsuspecting souls, demands progressive purity and rages against free speech. And when you’ve run afoul of their laws, it’s time for the “hostage apology.”
Except apologies aren’t always accepted.
In Public Enemy’s heyday, social conservatives weren’t keen on the band’s point of view, to put it mildly. Today? Conservatives are the major defenders of speech and creative freedom.
The saddest part? Chuck D appears just as fearful as his fellow artists, by his own admission.
He complained that what emerges from social media today, “is so loud that your best human intellectual response is to step back away and see it all kind of play out. I can’t make any statement on the lunacy I’ve seen the past six months.”
Is he referring to Hamas’ barbaric attack on Israel which killed 1,200 and left hundreds at the terrorist group’s mercy? Or is he attacking Israel for defending itself against said barbarians?
It’s unclear.
What’s obvious? If more artists stood up to Cancel Culture it would eventually fade like a concert T-shirt. Instead, old-school rebels like Chuck D, Howard Stern and Neil Young lack the courage to speak out.
Valerie Jarrett just happens to look uncannily similar to the white woman who played the sympathetic ape in planet of the apes. Roseanne joked about it and was accused of saying that Jarrett looks like an ape because she’s black.
Like the actress who played the ape, Jarrett does not look the slightest bit black. Only people who are knowledgeable about her background have any idea that she’s part black, and Rosanne is not one of those people.
But Roseanne apologized, despite having done nothing wrong, and that sealed her fate. The show trial had its admission of guilt and Roseanne could now be sent to the Gulag.
“The rapper is either being disingenuous or has never visited a right-leaning news site.”
My money is on the latter. If you talk to people who lean left and ask them if they’re aware of any of the goings-on that people an the right are talking about, they’re clueless. Like when Whoopi Goldberg told Ted Cruz she had no clue about all the rioting and looting going on during the Saint George Floyd riots in 2020.
If the New York Times doesn’t report on it. it didn’t happen.
Yup. Everyone loves info that confirms their belief system. Few like info that challenges it. Shame, because most important info will challenge you.