Inside PBS Blog

Last week we invited hip hop artist Chuck D to take your questions. Why Chuck D, you ask? The popular performer is featured in the upcoming PBS documentary, “Freedom Songs: The Music of the Civil Rights Movement.” (check local listings)

Check out his answers below and let us know what you think.

My question is, do you think that the times shape the music, or the music shapes the times? N4P

The times shape the music, I would say.  Back then [the 60’s], radio was the chief vocal point that exposed music from one central place --TV too, to a slightly lesser extent. Sights and sounds were able to reach many people through just a few means and so there were fewer messages.  Today's technology is so scattered, with many different choices and options so the messages are splintered. But the times today still do shape the music, it's just that there is so much more being expressed.

Will the program you are hosting pay homage to how slave songs (Christian Hymns) organized the underground railroad and later after freedom, blues reported the violent abuse and suffering of a people who never gave up? Jamie

I think the film is well put together and the songs are great guidelines for telling the story in sight as well as sound. 

I read your comic book series and loved it. I thought it was brilliant to turn yourselves into comic book characters in order to reach a younger audience that may not have been aware of your music and yet still reach your core audience. How did you come up with the idea and where are you planning on taking this? Will there be even more reality based themes or historical events interwoven with the fictional drama? Skeep

One of our contributors at Publicenemy.com, Adam Wallenta, happened to also be an illustrator and he came up with the idea.  I was a comic book fan so it was pretty easy to give names to the group's characters in a "comic super hero" sense even before it started.  It was a no brainer to embellish the characters this way.   Plus [Public Enemy] was initially formed to be superheroes who set out to save the black world  (laughs a little). Hopefully we'll expand on what we've done so far, all within the right context of the art form.

Recently, (MSNBC host) Rachel Maddow described you as having a Zen like quality about you. Do you study any Eastern philosophy? Justin

I kind of take all philosophies and gel them into something I'm comfortable with in my life, so I guess that's Zen-like.  My wife and my father in law are far more versed in it and have added greatly to what I already know. 

With every generation it seems we have walls to break down. Last century was civil rights and prohibition. What are the major walls we have to break down this generation in your eyes? Jon

Weapons of mass distraction: getting people to focus and pay attention to detail is a much more difficult task today than ever before.  Instead of information, all we get are headlines and flashbacks.  Pieces of a story just won't do and detail is usually something that protects us, makes us aware and engages us.  When you don't have the full story, a lot of misinformation can be slipped in and turn it into something it's not.