Chuck D traces hip-hop from 1980s counterculture to today's commercialized mainstream, comparing it to rock 'n' roll and 70s music. He criticizes artists obsessing over follower counts instead of authenticity, and warns rap risks becoming pure entertainment rather than the "CNN of the streets" it once was.
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So thinking back to the '80s, could you ever imagine seeing Ice-T in a Cheerios box? Or Ice Cube in a Disney film?
Yeah, I mean, it's evolution. I mean, revolution means it's changed everything.
I'm saying how commercial and how mainstream hip-hop has become.
Well, they're the same guys, it's just that everybody else got hip-hop. They're the same guys. Yeah, I mean, when I first started out, you know, I signed with CBS Records and people had just finished figuring out how to promote, you know, Tony Bennett and, you know, Lou Rawls and, you know what I'm saying, from the '60s in the same company. You had the same people there, but time moves on, you know, they turned 70, 80, and 90, they transition on and now We're 50, 60, and 70.
Yeah.
And the demographics around us also grow and they have an understanding. They're less shocked about what's around them because they've been around it all their life. So the same thing when rock and roll first emerged in the '50s, you know, you have a lot of cool people who used to dance in the '50s. Didn't matter, like, you know, they were Black, white, whatever, they're dancing in the '50s. And all of a sudden, it turned turned in in the '60s, it was like, yeah, oh wow, a flower, a rock. And then you had the cocaine '70s, it was like snort the table off. And those people walking around at 80 years old acting like they never did that shit. It was like, what the hell? You was at that cocaine party, Grandma. And it's not one of, you know, music is not meant to be big me, little you. It's supposed to be interactive. Inexchangable and be able to give people their props for what they do. I've never seen a time like it is right now in 2023 where people sort of like are embarrassed by what they do and who they are just because they don't have a lot of followers. And that's just the worst fucking thing ever. You know, be you. You know, more important than any other number is the number one. And that number one starts with you. Throughout the first pitch, the Pittsburgh Pirates Washington Nationals game last week.
You threw out the first pitch? How'd that go?
It sucked, but it was on. It was—
there's one celebrity, an artist last year that did it completely.
You, you coming with the 50 Cent joke, right?
Oh, the 50 Cent. Yeah, that's right.
No, but mine was on online. It just, you know, hit the dirt like a knuckleball, but it was online.
It was online.
Yeah, it was online. It wasn't like I'm throwing in, it's over there. It's like, nah, they made me look good.
They did that. Huh? It was 50 Cent that threw it?
I'm not going to say.
Okay. Rapid-fire questions and then we'll head out. Rapid-fire. Rapid-fire. Favorite MC of all time?
Favorite group is Run-DMC. Run-DMC.
There we go. Finish this sentence: Back in the day, rap spread knowledge. Today it— This is kind of what Jamie was going at before.
Well, I'm putting my own stuff in it. We used to call it the rap is the CNN. Today we try to keep it from being the Cartoon Network. It.
