(3 of 3)
This militancy has resulted in charges of anti-Semitism against Public Enemy. Jewish groups were alarmed last spring when Richard Griffin, then the group's "Minister of Information" and head of the S1W squad, told the Washington Times that Jews were responsible for "the majority of wickedness going on across the globe." Ridenhour promptly condemned the statement and said that Griffin, known as Professor Griff, would leave the group. A few days later executives at Public Enemy's record label, Def Jam, announced that the group would disband. In the end, however, the group stayed together and Griffin stayed on, albeit in a demoted position. Griffin, a devoted follower of Black Muslim leader Louis Farrakhan, now says he went too far in blaming all Jews.
Less than six months later Public Enemy released a new single, Welcome to the Terrordome, on which Ridenhour, in an apparent reference to the earlier incident, says, "Crucifixion ain't no fiction;/ So-called chosen, frozen./ Apology made to whoever pleases./ Still they got me like Jesus." Upset by the references to deicide and the term so-called chosen, the Anti-Defamation League wrote a protest letter to CBS, the record's distributors. The company eventually issued an internal memo instructing its employees to ensure "that none of our recordings promote bigotry." But Public Enemy and its supporters remain unapologetic. "This is Chuck's point of view as an African man living on this planet," says Harry Allen, a self-described hip-hop activist. "The notion of saying things to Europeans to make them comfortable is not part of the game."
Despite the controversies swirling around Public Enemy, rap continues to move into the mainstream, gaining acceptance among audiences well outside its black constituency. Not too many years ago, radio stations, both black and white, refused to play rap records. And when the press wrote about rap, it was usually to chronicle a violent incident at a concert. Now hip young whites have hijacked rap to downtown clubs. Suburban teens, on the lookout for something new, have carried it out to the shopping malls. Fashion designers have picked up on the baggy pants and dark sunglasses of rap couture, while advertising executives have copied its semantic style ("Reeboks let U.B.U.," declares one ad in fluent hip-hop).
Over the past few years major record companies like Columbia and RCA have < scrambled to hook up with rap labels. MTV, once criticized for ostracizing hip-hop videos, gives Yo! MTV Raps 30 minutes on its daily schedule. Master rappers D.J. Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince have appeared on the David Letterman show. The Grammy Awards got into the act last year when it created its first rap-music category. Meanwhile, mainstream musicians like pop producer and jazz trumpeter Quincy Jones are including rap tracks on their new albums.
The epicenter of rap still lies in black urban communities, and it is from such communities in Los Angeles, in Seattle, in Miami, that the new talent is rising. "Hip-hop is a black thing," says Fab 5 Freddy. "But if you want to get with it, come on over." Yo, home. Listen up.