Chuck D. on the Future of the Entertainment Industry: Artist and the New Media

ZFellow and Urban Economy co-founder, Ahmad Mansur with Chuck D

CTFC Grantee, Urban Economy, a non-profit network membership organization dedicated to fostering innovation in urban communities, together with the Commonwealth Club's Inforum hosted an event featuring Chuck D., founder of the highly acclaimed group Public Enemy. Carlos Watson, CNN reporter and political columnist for CNN.com, interviewed the provocative and insightful, Chuck D.

For artists like Public Enemy, positive change means raising the social awareness of African American people about the country's oppression of African Americans and other minorities. Linked up with this idea are the goals of social justice, equality and economic mobility.

Largely credited with redefining hip-hop as music with a message, Chuck D. played a pivotal role in the MP3 peer-to-peer movement in the 90s. He sees technology as the great equalizer, allowing people from different socio-economic, political and geographic backgrounds to converge and use technology to connect and collaborate. Moreover, he saw the Internet as a distribution model to potentially bypass the media conglomerates. He shared his views on music, race, politics and culture and the role media plays in our daily lives. Today, he travels around the world speaking with industry leaders, community groups and university groups. For a transcript of the interview, please go to Inforum Events.

Hip Hop originated as a musical genre which emerged in the late 1970's from urban African American communities. It has grown into an international cultural movement which includes graffiti art, dancing, clothing and language. For many, hip hop is seen only as commercial entertainment which produces wealthy artists, record labels and offensive lyrics. In truth, hip hop was originally created out of a need to express social injustice and societal oppression. Hip hop is thus a vehicle for social, political and economic change.