Chuck D

Rap's foundational firebrand on his new BBC docuseries, the new hip-hop acts he respects, and the future of AI in music

- MANKAPRR CONTEH

CHUCK D is humble about his contributions to Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World - the expansive, four-part PBS and BBC series where he joins other hip-hop icons, from Melle Mel to Eminem, as well as executives, journalists and academics, in unspooling rap's history as a social movement. "My work is as an initiator and giving the platform," says the Public Enemy MC, who executive-produced the project. "I know how to cut, edit and design audio, but when it comes to film and TV ..." Still, his voice and perspective are unmistakable as Fight the Power explores the symbiotic relationship between rap and sociopolitical struggles over the past 50 years. He was even more hands-on in crafting his new coffee-table book of fine art, Livin' Loud. "You make art for nobody but yourself," Chuck says. "The arts have set me free." 

Where did Fight the Power start for you?

A lot of things in the narrative about hip-hop [have] usually been covered from adolescents' perspective, and I always railed against that. I first got involved in hip-hop at [about] 27, so it was always a grown-folks dialogue to me. I wasn't a kid, and I wasn't speaking to kids. It's music for past, present and future; for ages as young as single digits up to 70 years old. I'm a big Ken Burns fan. So I was like, "Why couldn't hip-hop follow in the same form?"

You like to emphasise that hip-hop is a global phenomenon. Is that why it was important to you to partner with the BBC?