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Public Enemy is the security of the hip-hop party.

Chuck D

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Chuck D
Age: 64
Born: 1960
Born: August 1
Composer
Journalist
Musician
Radio Personality
Rapper
Record Producer
Singer
Television Producer
Writer
New York City
New York
Carlton Douglas Ridenhour
Hops
Hips
Security
Enemy
Public
Party

More quotes by Chuck D

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A visit to the hood through a record, or through a video, or through a film, is a lot safer than actually visiting the people in real life. It became a business model. It became a revenue engine that, you know, you can get to the hood without ever going there.
Chuck D
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I let go usually by talking to many people in different areas, in different realms of life that make me look at what I'm dealing with as being small fries stuff, you know?
Chuck D
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The powers that be are trying to meld, shape, and corral the culture of hip-hop into another speaking voice for the government.
Chuck D
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I don't believe that everybody is out of some kind of cookie cutter, so the thing that protects me is always being level with myself, even to myself.
Chuck D
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They [US Administration] have exploited hip-hop and some of the culture around it - magazines, videos, etc. - to recruit people into the military. The Army says it will give out Hummers, platinum teeth, or whatever to those that actually join.
Chuck D
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Corporations have steered the industry into what it wants, and a lot of times they will make artists record what it wants or to make songs talk to who they want to talk to. But sometimes the heart and the head have to be able to talk and deal with a situation that's evident.
Chuck D
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Today, a young person that doesn't know themselves will totally be sold some other situation. Let's do your avatar. You know? And young people are going out, spending what little they have to try to buy themselves when they don't have themselves, or they feel like they don't have themselves. To me, that's like a damn pimp tragedy.
Chuck D
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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.
Chuck D
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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.
Chuck D
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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.
Chuck D
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Burn, Hollywood, burn, I smell a riot goin' on, First they're guilty, now they're gone!
Chuck D
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Truth is truth no matter what I think.
Chuck D
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We don't see the people who are doing real things getting enough props. We often see politicians who are everywhere but nowhere at the same goddamn time. You know the kind of person: You see them everywhere on television but nowhere in front of your face.
Chuck D
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When somebody greedily comes along and thinks that they gonna snatch everything, and you have so many people that have not, the passion that drives me is trying to make them understand that they have to share. So, my art reflects that the whole reason I do what I do reflects that.
Chuck D
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Knowledge, wisdom, and understanding don't come out of the microwave. You got to keep moving forward because the evil doesn't sleep.
Chuck D
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You know, it's nothin' quick overnight. If anything happens to you quick, you need to start questioning that. You know, you hear young people go, aw, I'm gonna blow up. You gonna blow up but with a controlled explosion. Don't just blow up all over the place.
Chuck D
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Find like-minded people and try not to be individualized to the point where you try to fight it all and think about it all on your own.
Chuck D
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Rap is supposed to be about keeping it real and not relinquishing your roots in the community. Without that, it's just posturing. Somebody who claims to speak for the 'hood don't need no private jet.
Chuck D
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Oh, America is slipping away from the rest of the consciousness of the planet - slipping away.
Chuck D
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Rap comes from the humble beginnings of rebelling against the status quo. Now, rappers have become the status quo themselves. You can't rebel against the Queen and then become the Queen yourself. I attribute much of the blame to testosterone-male dominance and patriarchy.
Chuck D