There is no group more dedicated to providing knowledge and power to the people in their hip-hop career than Public Enemy. Today’s #DefJam30 mix is in honor of the strongest group to ever speak the truth to masses. All 30 minutes are slammed by DJ Mister Cee, the wax master of NYC’s Hot 97 FM and the original DJ for Big Daddy Kane. He’s also one of the main reasons you enjoy Notorious B.I.G’s rhymes, as he was the one that passed his demo on to the powers that got Big in the game.

The fact that Public Enemy can command their own singular mix is enough to praise the musical accomplishments and influence they’ve had on the culture. Not only uplifting and bringing light to political themes, Chuck D personified the strength of a hardcore rhymer that could flip his aggression into a rally cry for justice. He is the voice of Def Jam. Period. Flavor Flav cut the tension with wit, humor and unchained style. Plus he is just dope. Terminator X on the cuts, no one could see him on the tables. The production team The Bomb Squad are as much of PE as the group members. Public Enemy also hold the title of greatest remix in hip-hop with “Shut ‘Em Down” produced by Pete Rock. No debate.

Get into the mix as Mister Cee grabs select cuts from PE’s glorious Def Jam history.

In partnership with iHeartRadio, check the previous six mixes featuring DJ Tony Touch, DJ Scratch, DJ Big Jeff, DJ Jay Cee, DJ Boogie Blind and DJ Daddy Rich at www.defjam.com/30mixes/

The post #DEFJAM30 MIX 7 OF 30: All Public Enemy by DJ MISTER CEE OF HOT 97 FM appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

In the letter, Tupac greets Chuck by expressing the love and respect he has for the Queens native and how gracious he was to receive a letter from him. Tupac also goes on to make known how much knowledge he picked up while touring with Chuck and how he played a major role in the then 25-year-old’s life, before going on to request a collaboration with him on not just new music, but a program and movie that he had up his sleeve.

Read the letter for yourself below.

The post News: Chuck D Shares 1995 Letter from an Incarcerated Tupac appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Photo by Chelsea Memmolo

It’s easy to view Rhode Island rapper B. Dolan as a man of contradictions: he rejects the term “political rapper,” yet he pens songs like “Film the Police” and “Lucifer;” he performs at metal bars, yet he smiles during his set; he’s an independent rapper (i.e. not rich), yet he gives discounts at the merch table. How can one person sustain these discontinuities? By rejecting them, of course.

Joining us for an engaging, 50 minute conversation before his riveting performance at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn, B. Dolan gave us one of our best interviews of the year. Read it below. He’s passionate about hip-hop and its artistic and political potentials in wholly original and refreshing ways.

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RESPECT. So my first question is what have you been listening to lately?

B. Dolan: I’ve been listening to a lot of Circle Takes the Square and United Nations because for the past ten days I’ve been on tour with them [laughs].  Which has been really cool. Because I don’t always make an effort to seek out hardcore music, but I’ve been around that scene and that scene is big in Providence. We came up around those shows as well as rap battles and hip-hop events and spoken word events. But it’s been cool to be on this tour and listen to these guys a lot. And see them in a live environment with their friends and how their music is translated and all that.

I’ve been listening to James Blake this summer. I really like that album a lot. The song “Retrograde” is still the song of the year for me. So I’ve been really inspired by him. Also a lot of my friends have put out music this year. Prolyphic & Buddy Peace from Strange Famous put out an album and produced a bunch of new material, Dan Le Sac vs. Scroobius Pip have a new record. Strange Famous has put out a lot of stuff and obviously I’m very involved in that and hear everything that’s going out. I think there’s been a lot of inspiring music out this year. And I’m also always listening to old stuff for digging and inspirational purposes. I have weird little obsessions with labels and imprints.

Do you follow their entire history or something?

Yeah, like there’s an imprint called Cadet Records and I obsessively collect all the records that they put out. They were an offshoot of Chess Records and they worked with a lot of famous blues musicians like Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters. But the engineer at the time was a psych rock engineer and so there’s this group of albums that has like blues songs with psych rock production and engineering, which is really interesting. There’s a lot of separation: drums in the left channel and guitars in the right channel, that kind of stuff. There’s a lot of breakbeats on it too. I’m always seeking a lot of music and listening to a lot of music at the same time.

What do you think the significance of “Film the Police” is after learning about the NSA’s mass surveillance?

I think in general filming the police is…we made that song in the wake of what happened with Oscar Grant. And that was a great demonstration of how important it can be for citizens to document what’s happening in the streets, especially when it comes to the people who have a monopoly on force, which is the police. And certainly I do think that since 9/11 there’s been a large trend towards more surveillance, less civil liberty and expanded police privileges and protections, as well as just money that’s been dumped into police departments for homeland security budgets that has resulted in militarized cops with these like futuristic weapons and riot gear. And so it’s more important than ever that we be able to document them.

The NSA stuff is almost a separate issue to me because that deals with our privacy and our ability to communicate with each other without being monitored by the government. I guess in some ways you could draw a comparison and say that filming the police is our way of counteracting the government’s surveillance of us. It’s just symptoms of an information age where power is in images and information. To the degree to which we can capture those things and disseminate those things ourselves, that’s how we’re going to have to resist huge overreaching government and all that comes with it.

I ask because one of messages of “Film the Police” is that you see your rights being violated in your face and you respond to it by documenting it. And with mass surveillance, even though you’re right in the sense that it’s a different kind of violation, I feel like just thinking about The Wire, they use that surveillance to be more brutal as police officers. You don’t even have to be charged with anything, but what they do to you is “justified.”

Yeah, I can see that. I’m not quite sure what else to say about it. What do you think?

On the relationship between “Film the Police” and the NSA?

Yeah.

It’s kind of embedded in another question I was going to ask, so I’ll ask that. So John Pike, the UC Davis guy that maced those students, was recently awarded a worker’s compensation amount that was greater than the settlement received by the people who he assaulted. And I was kind of wondering, what do we do when filming the police isn’t enough?

It certainly seems to have been that kind of summer. George Zimmerman got his gun back from the state of Florida. They really gave that guy his gun back. You don’t need a better symbol than that [laughs]. And certainly, filming the police was never meant and has never meant to be a fix-all. I try not to even make statements…I try to be clear that this isn’t a fix-all. It’s just an immediate practical thing that you can do. To me, when I think about making political music, I personally am turned off by emcees who rap in sort of feel-good bumper stickers and generalities about social issues. I think it’s really easy to get applause saying something like, “Every politician is the devil!” You know, just the generalities that we all know are true. Yeah, politicians are fake and fucking government is corrupt and shit’s fucked up, etc. You can say that shit and people will go along with you because it feels good to agree with that, but in the end, you’ve just produced a song that to me isn’t going to do anything.

So when I make an [overtly] political song, I try to be very clear and very explicit and even narrow in what I’m talking about. So “Film the Police” is literally about filming the police. It’s a reminder that if cops are doing some shady shit in front of you and you have a camera in your pocket and should use it. It’s just a reminder like, “Hey, that phone you’re carrying around can take pictures!” So if you find yourself in a situation where you see someone is being abused or you yourself are being intimidated or harassed, you’ve got a weapon there and you should use it. That’s literally the beginning and the end of that. Yes, it’s attached to other issues. Yes, it’s become a thing that’s gone beyond that song. And it will mean other things to other people and I’m happy about that.

If you search the hashtag “#filmthepolice” there are plenty of people talking about it that have never heard my song and I’m excited by that. I think that’s really great that I can contribute just a useful phrase. But at the same I time I know that it’s not a – when I perform it live, during one of the choruses I say, “And fuck the police. Still fuck the police.” “Film the Police” is not meant to supersede “Fuck the Police.” It’s more like we have a new way to fuck the police: this camera in our pockets. But I know…what does filming the police do to fight globalization? Nothing. The fucking device you’re taking out of your pocket is itself probably a violation of worker’s rights in another country and has not been produced under ethical standards, and represents people being taken advantage of. And that’s apart of things we’ll have to fix before we can get to being a more just society and world. There’s a lot of shit to tackle [laughs]. And I try not to get lost in that. If you think about everything, you get overwhelmed. If you narrow your view and think about something immediate and tangible, I think we can make small, incremental steps. Children of Men is my model for revolution [laughs].

I haven’t seen it yet.

It came out around the same time as V for Vendetta and I began thinking that the contrast between those movies was like fantasy vs reality. The fantasy is V for Vendetta, where a guy with a mask is gonna get on tv and say the right combination of words that will trigger a mass consciousness shift in the world population and the revolution is going to start today. With Children of Men, everyone does what they can for five minutes and will pass this precious cargo along to the next person, who does what they can for five minutes. Most people probably don’t even get to see the end result, but we’re still working and just handling what we can in the present and offering ourselves where we have the power to act, which is often in our immediate environments with family and friends.

You mentioned being narrow, or rather being very specific. I think that’s apparent in songs like “Lucifer” and “Come to Jamaica” where you mention Warren Anderson and Bugsy Siegel. I feel like by focusing on them you’re able to make your criticism and also note how that criticism is very specific. I think that that actually helps the songs travel further than ones full of generalities.

I’ve always been conscious of characters and of the power of a character, like the name and a person with a certain personality. That’s interesting. Whereas a generality is powerful in other ways, I feel like people connect more immediately when they can picture a person. And that for whatever reason seems to find it’s way into my writing a lot. I do a lot of character studies in my writing. Whether it’s people like Warren Anderson or Justin Timberlake, or Joan of Arcadia or Vin Diesel. I like describing people and personalities. Because the personal is political. The generalities are kind of boring. They’re kind of abstract and kind of stale and sterile. But all of these political ideas do touch down in peoples’ lives. And that’s where the stories and the humanness are. So yeah, in any instance, I’m more interested in where the political ideas come home and manifest in people’s actual lives. Which is why I object to the term “political rapper.” What’s political? What’s personal? Where is that line? Politics is in my day to day life if I can’t feed my family. Or even if I never have to worry about feeding my family. Politics is deeply entrenched in peoples’ realities.

That really relates to my next question. In “Which Side Are You On,” you say hip-hop is “folk music grown from the struggle” and I agree with that statement, especially as far as the origins of hip-hop. But considering its origins as well as what it has become, what do you think the politics of rap are at the most fundamental level? Not just in terms of a song being overtly political, but even a song like “The Hunter,” how is that  a political utterance?

“The Hunter” is actually a really political song but nobody knows it.

I know it’s about becoming that which you hate.

Yeah, I’m glad that you dealt with it on that level. A lot of people think that it’s just a cool ghost story about a vampire hunter. But I was thinking about soldiers in Iraq doing horrible things for what they thought were good reasons. And they have that moment of realization where you look in the mirror and realize that you are the monster. You think you’ve been out there hunting monsters all your life, but then you realize that you are the thing to fear.

Okay, well maybe that wasn’t a good example.

[laughs] But no one knows that because it doesn’t necessarily come across in the song. But to talk about hip-hop is almost dangerous at this point because it’s such a huge genre with a lot of different artists making a lot of different kinds of music for totally different reasons. So for me I try to just judge people on the merits of what they were trying to make. So I’m not judging Kanye against Chuck D against Pharoahe Monch against nerd rap against Lil Jon. Those emcees might as well be in different genres. It’s like who’s a better jazz musician, Miles Davis or Louis Armstrong? They’re years and years apart and playing in different eras and niches of jazz. So I try to be careful about blanket statements for all of hip-hop. But for me, what inspired me about rap was when I heard Chuck D say that hip-hop is black people’s CNN. And Scarface, in a song with Ice Cube, said, “We were always considered evil. Now they’re trying to bust our only mode of communicating with our people.” And I was like, “This is what rap is.”

As time has gone on and the influence of rap has spread, I consider rap at this point to be poor people’s CNN too. It’s kind of transcended the black experience and become something that millions and millions of people worldwide are apart of. And I think that the power poltiically in it is that yeah, at it root, it’s a decentralized art form that can happen spontaneously anywhere. All you need is a dude that can bang on a lunch table and enough rhythm to rap your thoughts. In that, it has a power for people to speak with each other and be with each other in a way that doesn’t have to pass through a filter.

So commercial rap is what commercial rap is and if you’re making music for the club, then you’re making music for the club and if it bangs in the club, then I guess it’s a good song. For me, I choose to utilize it in the sense that I can say whatever I want. and I’m lucky to be on Strange Famous with Sage, which is an independent label. We don’t owe anybody anything, so we totally control our content and say what the fuck we want. I think that’s the power. I think there’s something political about people being in a room and not at home looking at a tv or the internet. Even if nothing “political” gets said on stage, the experience of coming out into the public and being physically present with a group of people and experiencing the same thing fights against the alienation that people experience and the push to just isolate yourself from other people and just look at a box and experience reality through that. Again, the personal is political, and a lot of what we do is at its root political even if you don’t think about it.

So I guess, to sum all that up, rap in some sense, gives people a voice. And whether they use that voice to make people dance, or whatever, giving nearly anyone a voice is kind of unique.

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When hip-hop began as a subculture in the South Bronx in the 1970s, its practitioners were hardly setting out to make a historical mark, but the mark was made nonetheless. Today, the cultural impact of the genre’s music, dance and art is worldwide. The content ranges from ratchet to romantic, violent to victorious. Braggadocio and party anthems are intermingled with social commentary and political protest, the likes of which have found their ways onto university radars. The post-secondary educational world had no choice but to take notice of this pulsating new world of words and ideas. Making sure that the music itself is well represented in the classroom, and also that its heroes are known to be educational beacons, many of hip-hop’s biggest names have ventured into the realm of the academic. Read on for our list of The 13 Most Important Rappers In Academia.

1. Tupac

We would be remiss if we began with anyone other than Tupac Amaru Shakur. Hailed as a poet by some, even a prophet by others, the Harlem-born MC was both conscious and gangster, often within the same verse. From the delicate ode to his oft-troubled mother to the brash act of spitting at reporters capturing footage of him leaving court, Tupac is as enigmatic a figure as the rap world has ever encountered. Unsurprisingly, he is perhaps the most discussed rapper in academia. There have been courses on his life and writings at the University of California, Berkeley, University of Washington and the University of Oslo in Norway. Harvard University not only offered a course on the man but also financed a symposium, entitled All Eyez on Me: Tupac Shakur and the Search for the Modern Folk Hero. In 2011 the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation loaned a 26-box collection of artifacts to the Atlanta University Center’s Robert W. Woodruff library, which serves Clark Atlanta University, Spelman College, Morehouse College and the Interdenominational Theological Center.

2. Nas

The hip-hop community acknowledged a coup last week when the Hip Hop Archive and the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute at Harvard University announced the Nasir Jones Hiphop Fellowship, the first honor of its kind to be bestowed upon an MC. The gritty and intricately woven street tales of Nas‘ debut, Illmatic forever seated the Queensbridge lyricist in rap’s upper echelon, earning him praise and worthwhile analysis in classrooms nationwide. Thanks to his unmatched expressive abilities, promising scholars with “exceptional capacity for productive scholarship and exceptional creative ability in the arts in connection with hip-hop” have the opportunity to receive scholarship funds to study at an Ivy League college.

3. KRS-ONE

For decades, Lawrence Krisna Parker has been one of the most vocal proponents of hip-hop, education and their intersections. He views the music as not only a powerful cultural force, but also a viable religion. He began the Stop the Violence Movement in 1989 after his Boogie Down Productions partner Scott La Rock was killed and has been heavily involved in activism ever since. Self-christened as “The Teacha” of hip-hop arts and sciences, KRS-ONE has lectured at over 500 colleges and universities including the University of Illinois, the University of Las Vegas, Yale University and Trinity College.

4. 9th Wonder

Patrick Douthit is a rapper, DJ, hip-hop historian and producer’s producer. One listen to the emphatic urgency of Young Guru as he describes the Grammy Award-winner’s importance to the culture explains why North Carolina Central University, Duke University and now Harvard University have all jumped at the opportunity to put 9th Wonder in front of their students. Formerly one-third of Little Brother and currently 100 percent intellectual, the North Carolina native explained to Life+Times how he uses well-known artists as a starting point to delve into the social contexts that shaped the music:

“Y’all like Kendrick Lamar?” “Yeah, we like Kendrick, he’s the man.” “Ok, you see who he’s on the cover of XXL with?” “Yeah, that’s Dr. Dre. Who’s he part of?” “N.W.A.” “Oh, Ok.” “N.W.A. is from Compton.” “Oh, Ok, cool.” “Well let’s talk about Compton for a second, let’s talk about the movies they made for Compton like Boyz N The Hood and Menace 2 Society.” “Oh, Ok.” “Well now let’s talk about Watts.” “What happened in Watts in 1965?”

In January 2013 9th Wonder began a three-year fellowship at Harvard where he will complete an academic research project and teach a class, These Are the Breaks. For his research project of the same name, he will be uncovering the original records used to create his top 10 produced albums. The records, along with the albums and his synopsis, will all have a permanent home in the Harvard Library. Check out his Top 10 below.

5. Bun B

Bernard Freeman was a hip-hop legend well before he set foot on Rice University‘s campus as Distinguished Lecturer in Religious Studies. Freeman, who performs as Bun B, saw the opportunity arise after giving a guest lecture thanks to the H.E.R.E. (Houston Enriches Rice Education) Project. The course, Religious Studies 331: Religion and Hip-Hop Culture, explores the role that faith plays in one’s artistry within hip-hop. From the prevalence of the Five-Percent nation early on to songs speaking directly to a higher power, religion shapes perception and informs the articulation of life’s events. The UGK ambassador hopes to solidify a permanent position at the University.

6. Chuck D

It has been well over 20 years since Public Enemy forcefully burst onto the scene with their frenzied beats and socially conscious lyrics. Time hasn’t softened the aspirational edge of Carlton Douglass Ritenhour, who is as active as ever. These days the Bomb Squad behemoth’s preferred form of revolution is dropping jewels at universities, on radio shows and in prisons. The long list of colleges where he has been invited to speak includes the University of Georgia, Prairie View A&M University, Indiana University, California State University, Sacramento and Drexel University. He often uses the topic “Race, Rap & Reality,” touching on the devolution of hip-hop. Upon taking the floor at New York University he had this to say: “Don’t clap for me. Clap for yourselves. Clap for the possibility of a better world. It ain’t about me.”

7. David Banner

Lavell Crump, a graduate of Southern University, has lectured at Rhodes College, the University of Delaware, Harvard University and Morehouse College. His topics of choice include ethical leadership, misogyny in music and African-American students maintaining their identity within majority white institutions. In interviews he has been outspoken on issues including how mixtapes devalued hip-hop music, the L.A. riots, Trayvon Martin and even Al Shartpton. The rapper and activist made headlines in 2007 when he spoke before the House of Representative’s Committee on Energy and Commerce concerning stereotypes and degrading images in music. While the majority of the audio of the hearing has been overlaid with white noise, a transcript of his testimony can be found here.

8. GZA

Gary Grice is in high demand these days. He is one of the founding members of the Wu-Tang Clan, arguably one of the most talented and influential hip-hop groups of all times. For this reason the stories of his youth are priceless knowledge and a part of hip-hop history. Harvard, MIT, NYU, Cornell University and Oxford University have all invited The Genius to drop science in the form of lectures.

9. Talib Kweli

Coming from a family of educators, Talib Kweli Greene is excellent at orating the various facets of consciousness within the hip-hop dynamic. The New York University graduate has been featured at St. Johns University, Southern University and Princeton University. Check out this article for an insightful look into his interaction with students at the Metropolitan State College of Denver.

10. Jay Z

Sean Carter often appears on “Top Five MCs” lists for his lyrical agility, but his cultural impact is heavy as well. In 2011, Michael Eric Dyson began teaching a much-publicized course entitled The Sociology of Hip-Hop: Jay Z at Georgetown University. Delving into the poetry which underlies Jigga’s empire, the course uses texts such as Decoded and Empire State of Mind: How Jay Z Went from Street Corner to Corner Office. Due to Mr. Carter’s industrious pursuit of the “American Dream” since his 1996 debut, there are countless rhymes and an array of business ventures to be dissected. Steve Stoute, who has been a guest lecturer, commented that the class “offers practical value for students interested in business.”

11. Common

Rapper, poet, actor and renaissance man Lonnie Rashid Lynn, Jr. is highly inspirational. His New York Times-bestselling memoir, One Day It’ll All Make Sense saw him visiting a slew of campuses starting in 2011. Often beginning with a region-specific freestyle, the G.O.O.D. Music artist has spoken at the University of North Carolina, St. Johns University, The Ohio State University, Washington University, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and Stanford University, just to name a few. Though his subject matter spans more than just hip-hop alone, his music fame draws diverse and eager listeners who often are surprised at what they take away from the presentation.

12. Lil’ Kim

Kimberly Denise Jones was one of the first female rappers of her kind. She was hyper-sexual, bold and a diva all while spitting legitimate rhymes alongside some of the most respected rappers of her day. While her in-your-face lyrics garnered scathing criticism from hip-hop’s resident antagonist, Syracuse University professor Dr. Greg Thomas saw fit to create (and defend) a course focused on her persona. “Hip-Hop Eshu: Queen Bitch 101” explored the roles of sex and gender apparent in Lil’ Kim’s lyrics. While the course is no longer offered by Syracuse, Dr. Thomas parlayed the material into a book in 2009.

13. Lil B

Brandon McCartney shocked some and thrilled others early last year when he announced an upcoming speaking engagement at New York University. The result was a bizarre 80-minute barrage of personal musings touching on love, humanity and environmental consciousness among other topics. While some may question the validity of his presence at a top-tier research university, viewing the event through the perceptive lens of pop cultural phenomena may provide a more clear understanding of why he graced the stage only to face over 500 adoring fans, many of whom cried out passionately, “Thank you, Based God.” As hip-hop evolves the characters springing forth from it continue to diverge from the beaten path. Purists may scoff at the prevailing acceptance of these divergences, but academia has opened wide its arms, careful not to discredit too soon what may become the impetuses of tomorrow.

Bonus: Questlove

DJ, producer and drummer Ahmir Khalib Thompson is a fixture in hip-hop, R&B and music at large. Adding to his unmistakable cool is the fact that, when he’s not performing with The Roots as the house band for Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, he’s teaching a class on classic albums at New York University with Harry Weinger (Vice President of A&R for Universal Music Enterprises). 

The post “What, You Tryna Kick Knowledge?”: The 13 Most Important Rappers in Academia appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

Made in America was a monumental event. Trust us: we were there. That being said, not everyone was enthused about it, particularly Chuck D. In a recent interview, the Public Enemy veteran spoke about his decision to turn down Jay-Z‘s the festival and spoke about the Public Enemy song “Catch the Thrown.” Whether you like his music or not, you can’t say that Chuck D fails to keep it real.

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Their latest project is Most of My Heroes Don’t Appear on No Stamp, which came out today. “I Shall Not Be Moved” is one of the singles. Most of My Heroes Don’t Appear on No Stamp is set to be followed by The Evil Empire of Everything sometime later this year. If you’re feeling the new PE (Progressive Era) rather than the old one, that’s understandable. Just remember, it’s hard being in the game for 25 years. Get the album here or try imagining Odd Future 20 years from now.

The post New Video: Public Enemy – “I Shall Not Be Moved” appeared first on RESPECT. | The Photo Journal of Hip-Hop Culture.

The (R)evolution of Immortal Technique, a documentary chronicling the life and career of the Harlem-bred emcee, is set to premiere two weeks from today at the Harlem Film Festival.  The trailer for the documentary has hit the Internet despite the lack of a concrete release date, but if the trailer is a precursor of what’s to come we’re in for a special film.  Additionally, there are a number of high profile cameos throughout the film, including Chuck D, Ice T, Woody Harrelson and more.  The IMDB description says it all though:

Immortal Technique emerged from prison a changed man. As his inner journey continues, he travels the world promoting a revolution of consciousness through hip-hop. His path from a troubled youth to a fearless revolutionary is an inspirational must-see

All I know is that trailer is giving me chills, check it out below and stay tuned for more news.

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