4.28.01  Domain Man!
(from NME website)
PUBLIC ENEMY's CHUCK D is to make a guest appearance on stage with UK hard house act PUBLIC DOMAIN.

D, who has collaborated on their single, 'Rock The Funky Beats', will join them at London ICA on May 1, where they are showcasing their new album 'Hard Hop Superstars'. Professor Griff is also reported to be appearing on the album, which is released on June 11.

It is preceded by the single on May 21, released through Xtravaganza.

D has additionally revealed on the band's official website, www.publicenemy.com, that he has been collaborating with Japanese group Boom Boom Satellites on a track, 'Your Reality's A Fantasy, But Your Fantasy Is Killing Me'.

The Public Enemy men are in the UK this week and D is to make a keynote presentation at NME.COM's NetSounds Internet conference for the music industry, which runs from May 2 - 4 in London. Griff will additionally participate in a panel discussion on "Internet Radio: How the web will personalise the listening experience."


4.25.01  We Could Do With A D!
(from NME website)
PUBLIC ENEMY's CHUCK D and PROFESSOR GRIFF are to appear at the NETSOUNDS 2001 conference, presented by NME.COM and IBC at LONDON's HILTON HOTEL on May 2 and 3.

Chuck D will make the keynote speech while Griff will take part in a panel discussion.

NetSounds provides a forum to debate every aspect of how the British music industry must move its business forward, including issues such as file-sharing and webcasting. Other speakers for the weekend include former Radio 1 controller, now Trust The DJ's Chairman and CEO, Matthew Bannister.


4.10.01 05:24 PM PDT  A Word With Chuck D
(from TheStandard.com website) by Julene Snyder
A week after the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on digital music, the Public Enemy frontman and outspoken file-trading advocate says his patience with the major-label record industry has worn thin.

Chuck D sounds tired, and understandably so. The rap pioneer has found himself in the spotlight for much of the past year's public discourse on digital music. Last week, he was in Washington, D.C., for the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on digital entertainment and copyright and for a Napster-sponsored "teach-in." Then he was off to San Francisco, where he spoke about digital music at an event sponsored by the nonprofit Electronic Frontier Foundation. Despite the hectic schedule, Chuck D - who was born Carlton Ridenhour - took some time out to talk about file-trading, rap and the changing face of the music industry. He's proud of being at the forefront of the digital-music distribution issue, although he laughs ruefully at the way history tends to get rewritten: "It's funny that sometimes you can pave a road and build a ditch, and in the future, you'll probably be discredited for it, and somebody else who was against it at first will claim to be the king of it all." His seminal rap group, Public Enemy, was the first to offer a full album as a digital download, before it was available in stores. The online exposure - via the now-defunct online record label Atomic Pop Records - helped the group sell 300,000 copies of "There's A Poison Going On" in 1999. While he views last week's events on Capitol Hill as mostly a rehashing of material he's heard time and again, Chuck D did come away with newfound hope. He took part in Napster's teach-in, the discussion dubbed a "love-in" by some reporters given the somewhat skewed panel made up of Napster co-founder Shawn Fanning, Chuck D, former Grand Royal Records President Mark Kates and moderated by Napster VP Manus Cooney. Though contrarian views were notable by their absence, the event rallied Napster aficionados to show Congress their support for the file-trading service, and Chuck D says that the event's young audience should give the labels something to think about. "Their enthusiasm - that this business always says that they're reflecting - is for technology. That's the thing that these young people are totally into." For now, he's got shotgun responses to questions about recent developments in the digital-music space. On major label contracts: "Artists are pretty much where major league baseball players were in 1965, five years before free agency. Obviously, as things go forward, you look for things to change and equity to be placed in the hands of the creators themselves." On Courtney Love's call for musicians to form a union: "A lot of artists are between the ages of 18 and 25 ... young people are looking for immediate dividends. To get them to vote for something that might be good for the long run might be beyond their scope." On the Recording Industry Association of America's Hilary Rosen: "At the Senate hearing, she was very clear and passionate about what she was protecting. But I just call the heads of the big labels cowards to let Hilary do all of their work as opposed to them coming out themselves." These days, Chuck D is heavily involved in several online projects: His group's extensive official site, PublicEnemy.com; his online radio station, Bringthenoise.com; the Web site RapStation.com. He's also about to launch an online version of his record label, SlamJamz Recordings. Influenced by these projects, he hints he may be done making traditional albums entirely. "I no longer believe in album concepts," he said. "Maybe there'll be just three songs I release. That's the beauty of digital distribution. You're not locked into doing something just because the industry tells you that you have to release an album with 12 songs." For now, his patience with the major-label record industry has worn thin: "That system, well, to me, I'm burnt out on it," he says. "I just think that whole process is old and tired."