Chuck D will be in the house.
The co-founder and leader of Public Enemy, and part of the supergroup Prophets of Rage, will discuss his life, work, and recent graphic novel STEWdio: The Naphic Grovel ARTrilogy of Chuck D, as the kickoff conversation to VersoFest 2024.
The event — a conversation with Johnny Temple, publisher of Brooklyn’s urban/political Akashic Books — is set for the Westport Library on Wednesday, April 3 (7 p.m.).
Chuck D is a hip hop icon, social activist, author, film producer and digital music pioneer.
VersoFest is the Library’s annual music and media festival and conference. Most performances, panels and workshops are free.
“We are absolutely thrilled to have Chuck D join us,” says Library executive director Bill Harmer.
“His groundbreaking contributions to music and social activism have made a profound impact on our culture. We can’t wait for our community to engage with his incredible insights and talent.”
Chuck D rose to acclaim in the 1980s with albums addressing issues about race, rage and inequality. The New York Times named Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back to their list of the “25 Most Significant Albums of the Last Century. In 2005 the Library of Congress added Fear of a Black Planet to its National Recording Registry.
In 2013, Public Enemy was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. When the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington curated its archive, the group was asked to donate iconic items.
(Photo/Travis Shinn)
In 2020, Public Enemy received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys. “Fight The Power” was named #2 on Rolling Stone’s 2021 list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time (which also included “Bring The Noise”).
“I wanted to curate, present, navigate, teach, and lead the hip hop art, making it something that people would revere,” Chuck D told the New Yorker last year. “I was educated in the arts ever since I was a little kid. My mother started Roosevelt Community Theater in 1973 in New York. I was under Frank Frazier’s tutelage as an art teacher [in] 1972. I go to Adelphi University to become a commercial artist. But as what? I had no idea. Hip hop as an idea got me through college.”
In June 2016, Chuck D debuted Prophets of Rage, with former Rage Against the Machine members Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk, plus Cypress Hill’s B-Real and DJ Lord of Public Enemy. He formed Enemy Radio in 2019, the DJ-MC sound system component of Public Enemy and toured Europe with Wu-Tang and De La Soul.
Chuck D is also a visual artist whose work has been shown in galleries nationwide, a best-selling author (This Day In Rap and Hip Hop History), a highly sought speaker on the college circuit, and a record label founder of SpitSlam.
Chuck D also has served as national spokesperson for Rock The Vote, the National Urban League, the National Alliance of African American Athletes, and Hip Hop Public Health. In 2018, he was named the chairman of the Celebrity Board for the Universal Hip Hop Museum in New York.
Tickets are $50 and available for purchase here. Click here for more information on VersoFest 2024.
Wish I could be there. What you have omitted here is that Chuck D is a very knowledgeable and passionate Knicks fan! He’s a great guy.