ThaFormula.com - What is "Revolverlution" about?

Public Enemy - "Revolverlution" actually was a line on "There's a Poison Going On." We did a song called "Crash" and "Revolverlution" was actually the combination of revolution and revolver which to me was an influential album by the Beatles. I think in this album "Revolverlution" it's going full circle, its almost like the style of this record which is a trilogy within a trilogy.  We're planning to put out 3 records through our new off-line component Slam Jamz Records and a trilogy within is just a combination of 3 styles.  One style is brand new tracks.  We have 8 new tracks on this album.  We also have 3 live renditions that we have done from various concerts across the world.  The third component is probably the most interactive component where we had 4 acapellas uploaded on SlamJams.com downloaded 11,000 times by 11,000 producers and remixers around the planet. 462 submissions came in that were evaluated by Slam Jams virtual staff of 25 individuals at the time.  Now they are up to 50 and 25 individuals judged 462 remixes and 4 of them were picked.

ThaFormula.com - That's kind of revolutionary in that way because, that's something I've never heard of it ever being done by a rap act?

Public Enemy - Well the process in this was showing that if technology has allowed hundreds of thousands of people to create music.  Not demos but actual music, then the world must have something to offer better then you can do on your own, but you have to be interactive with it and the Internet has been interactive with this world full of beat makers and music makers. By hosting acapellas out there into the world and judging what comes back is another way of looking at how to produce a record.  So I think just single-handedly we have re-evaluated how production is done. Using production in the past, was like "well I got lyrics, I'll find somebody that makes music or beats and together we will make a song." Well this way you got the lyrics you put them out there, you find out who makes the music or beats and then you're evaluating songs.  So this is why "Revolverlution" has been "revolverlutionary" in this process of the remix. 4 mixes came back as the winners. We called them gold finalists and first winners is on "Public Enemy No. 1." A group called the Jeronimo Punk and they were from Argentina.  The second winners were a group called Scattershot, which were 2 college kids from Wisconsin and the third winner was the Functionist from Austria. The fourth winner was Mike The Moleman from Long Island, but we didn't have nuttin' to do with that (Laughs).  Strong Island had a winner, so we just think that was one revolutionary process in the way that we were interactive with the world that's able to make digital ready records right away. The other component that we think is gonna be revolutionary is how a classic group puts together an album in today's market place.  I'm a firm believer in that I think albums should be about 8 cuts max anyway, but the ways the stores and the record companies actually have put the rules together is that you have to deliver 12 cuts.  I mean today's kids don't wanna listen to 12 cuts by anybody so if your gonna be an old classic group I think there is a new way that we can present it to the marketplace.  A little bit of old, a little bit of live, and a little bit of new so therefore your album actually has a way to fit into today's marketplace and be listened to as opposed to jumped over tracks.  So an old head can say "yeah, yeah, I'm feelin' this," and a new head can say "okay I'm feelin' this and I wanna hear some of the classics."  I'm a fan of Ray Charles, but I don't know if I would wanna hear 12 Ray Charles cuts in a row. But if Ray Charles had a remix of "Georgia On My Mind," you know you would be open to hear some new Ray Charles tracks.

ThaFormula.com - How do you explain your diversified fan base, especially with how Public Enemy has been associated as being very controversial?

Public Enemy - Diversity happened to come 'cause we were older cats doing music in the first place.  You had people in the group coming from a different musical background in the first place.  We all came up in a different place and area.  We knew records and we knew music so that handled that part of the equation. The next part of the equation is saying "okay if your gonna come out differently with a different type of sound and touch all these eclectic areas then are you also gonna go to these different parts of the world," and that's what Public Enemy set out to do. We knew that we were gonna make our mark immediately in the United States. We were the first guys to go to Europe and not complain about it.  We were the first guys to go and stay in Asia.  We were the first guys to go to Australia 3 times and not complain about the 18 hour plane flight from Los Angles.  For 44 tours over the years you know you're making a conscious effort to build on that diversity to the point where we planted seeds around the world so all we have to do is play our music and that's like pickin' fruit. If you compare that to other music like blues and jazz where I run into these kind of artists in a airport in Thailand and they're saying "yo Chuck, I do 300 gigs a year all over the world so hey, welcome to the club."  I mean you feel honored from hearin' that and you say that's what you pushin' the envelopes for music.  So were pushin' the envelopes for musicians and rap music to actually go to these places, play their music and have a great time.

ThaFormula.com - And also put on a show 'cause a lot of these new artists are just grabbin' the mic and just talkin'.  They're not puttin' on a show out there?

Public Enemy - I don't think they are developed and if they are not developed a record company is gonna be out to develop and market the song. When you develop an artist, you make them a fan of whatever you do and that has to be backed up with you believing in your music in order to do a good show.  If you just market and promote a song then people are gonna be fans of the song only which also leads them technically into just sayin' well I'll just download the song, but I'm not a fan of the group.  I mean 'cause when somebody is a fan of the group like Metallica, they are gonna buy the T-Shirt and the music and be at the show.  If they're just a fan of the song then they are gonna take the new artist record and just move on and have it compiled with maybe 20 other cuts or have a mp3 cd with 300 cuts.  I mean your not gonna get it right away.  You're not gonna be good right away.  When Public Enemy started, our first 7 months were probably one of the rockiest times ever in rap music/hip-hop performances, but with anything you got to work at it and you get a niche and capitalize on the niche. That's what all the new artists need to understand. You're not gonna get good right away and that you gotta work at whatever you wanna get good at.  First your music stands mightier than anything, then you got to be able to be greater then the record itself personally in performance, but that's not a quick thing.  Usually the song towers over the artist in the beginning, but if the artists are able to really, soulfully wise connect into that songs fabric, then that song is a part of them and then they loom over their song.  Take in the case of Public Enemy.  The songs don't stand stronger than P.E., P.E. stands stronger then the songs because it's about being dominant over your songs instead of your songs being dominant over you.

ThaFormula.com - How did the collabo you did with Paris come about?

Public Enemy - Paris actually contacted a couple of guys on the Enemy Board and he was going back and forth also sayin' he wanted to get down.  After an email conversation, which also shows the Internet at work once again, we were trading emails and he was just saying how he wanted to get down on the next P.E. project and one thing led to another.  I emailed him and then he got back with me and then the peeps record was just done and he wanted to get down on that cause we thought it would be the best move since it was getting' done, but Juice had already completed it. Then we said "well you know we got room for a remix version" and then the remix version came about when Juice said I could get him in on the remix, and the remix came out smokin'.  It comes full circle because I in doing "Anti-Nigga Machine" as a video, uh, the video director that was doing P.E.'s video was also doing Paris' video. so he asked can he throw Paris into the P.E. video and I said sure why not, which also gave him some love at the time that got Paris his spot. It just shows that we're in this whole rap game together.  We're in this one world together so that relationship has come full circle and you know the beauty in all this is just waiting and seeing.  Not really expecting anything.  Just waiting and seeing because we know that let's say if the record don't jump off in Atlanta, New York, Boston, or California, this record is gonna jump in a lot of more places across the world.  If it's just 50 places out of a hundred, we'll go to the 50.

ThaFormula.com - Who are some of the producers on the album?

Public Enemy - I think that Professor Griff in the Atlanta studios has just stepped up unbelievably in the fact that he presented "Revolverlution" the song.  It's done like James Brown style and also "Son of a Bush" which is self explanatory you know, talkin' about the situation and it wasn't really crashin' George Bush.  It was just basically saying you cheated to get there and people seem to have forgot there is certain things that you got away with when you was Governor that you locked people up and killed them in Texas for.  So that's what that record is addressing and Griff nailed the production on that. He also presented "Now A Daze" and also the bonus cut on the album, "What Good is a Bomb" from his group the 7th Octave.  So he's brought some metallic, soulful elements to the table and also Gary G-Wiz out West has brought "Can a Woman Make a Man Lose His Mind," which might be the second single as well as "Put It Up," and "54321 Boom." I think the combination of Johnny Juice who did  "Gotta Give the Peeps," Griff and G-Wiz along with the combination of the production of the remixes and also the live cuts which you know had the classic Bomb Squad, it's almost like a re-visitation.

ThaFormula.com - So you got studios in the South, East, and West?

Public Enemy - Well we got 2 studios up here in Long Island run by Johnny Juice and the one in Atlanta, which is being reconditioned now.  A guy by the name of Trinity was actually the engineer on those mixes and sessions and did a great job. Then G-Wiz out West so you know we're trying to cover the corners.

ThaFormula.com - What are the PESA's all about on your album?

Public Enemy - Instead of PSA's these were PESA's Public Enemy Service Announcements that were done years ago and I just though why not put some things on this album that would make it a collector's item.  My thing is that if I'm an old head or if I'm a young head and pick up a Public Enemy album it should be a collector's item and in this particular case I had these PESA's layin' around so I said "yeah you know, ain't nothin' changed." This whole thing of "oh you're sayin' things and they are soundin' a little bit too preachy."  I mean why is being preachy considered not the way to go but you can say I'm stupid as fuck and that's cool? So I said "nah I'm gonna reach back and stick these public service announcements on the album as well.  Also in the album is another piece of a collectible. It's like the phone conversation as we we're doing "Burn Hollywood Burn" and it was real funny because as myself, Flava and Kane was actually puttin' it together. We were on the phone going through the renditions and stuff like that. Ice Cube was in the studio but he wasn't part of the phone call.  So that was the funny thing about it and uh, that just worked out to be a real funny occasion.  I think when a person plays that track he'll say "whoa, okay this is something that a album should offer other then giving you 12 tracks of music." I mean come on man, we're in the multimedia age so at least you should give a person multimedia with your one dimensional audio component.   

ThaFormula.com - It's "Revolverlutionary" right?

Public Enemy - Yeah, but you know also what "Revolverlution" speaks for is like who's speakin' for the common man or woman today you know? It's like as we drift off into dream land it's like the person that's washing clothes at the Laundromat and the person that's catching the bus are being pushed into the depths of forgotteness. My whole thing is you know what the person that's 35 or 36 years old they wanna listen to the radio but they might not wanna give into something that might just be instant gratification or trickery.  They wanna say I come back from James Brown, I listen to Eric B  & Rakim and P.E. and BDP and I could take Jay-Z in this.  But I'm not gonna try and take the 50th person that's trying to sound like Jigga today and I'm like sayin' how come they can't be a part of hip hop as well? It's like when you see a 21 year old person and he's got jewelry up the yin-yang driving by in a brand new car next to the 37 year old woman who's trying to catch the bus. What does it signify? So therefore, the collecting of the masses of the people who have been forgotten (which is the masses of the black community), and in the midst of all this hip-hop has exploded type of thing, I would like to look at the community as being interactive instead of just looking at them as just being consumed as a product.  I just think that somebody has to speak for the people.  Something has to be grass roots.

ThaFormula.com - How does Public Enemy fit in with today's "Bling Bling" society?

Public Enemy - As a silver and plastic wearer myself and the driver of 4 or 5 year old cars we hope that maybe people can fit in with the sound. They might like a sound and equate it into poppin' champagne or that party they never could get in the middle of and maybe we can present the same sounds but say a little bit more with our music and that's the more we can ask for.  I mean the "bling bling" thing I think was a beautiful thing as opposed to the gangster thing.  You know the gangster thing was straight out talkin' about "rat-tat-tat never hesitate to put a cap in his back," where the "bling bling" thing came along and said "well you know go in the club, get yourself some, forget your problems and have a good time with a girl and just chill."  So I really wasn't opposed to that because I understood what that music did.  That music got people out of this murder thing. If they are partying and having a good time, then you wanna be able to say "well some balance needs to be out in there," to the point where if it just comes down to just a money game, it's still gonna bring animosity up to those that have not.  Then you got the murder thing comin' again cause the cat that ain't got being flossed out with a cat that got everything that this person wants.  He's gonna try and retaliate and we back to the murder thing again.  So my thing is you know just spread love and there should be enough for everybody and spread knowledge and wisdom as well as you spread love.  It's all right to have nice things, but to worship them is not good.

ThaFormula.com - What do you say to the people that say "yo Chuck I ain't feelin' that shit, why don't you bring back that shit like you did on this album here, and that album there?"

Public Enemy - I be tellin' people I don't even remember (Laughs).  Number 1, I be tellin' people like this.  Artists don't sell records, I don't sell records, companies sell records and my job is to make them.  So I'm not tryin' to get into what's gonna be able to sell to this demographic. I'm goin' off field.  It's like this makes me feel good so I'm gonna do this.

ThaFormula.com - Could it also be the fact that you don't answer to any "yes" men?

Public Enemy - I don't have any "yes" men.  I think the environment that I have worked around has always been healthy in more ways then one. Sometimes you know I've had my kindness taken for weakness 'cause I am a little democratic and diplomatic to a point where I was like "hey just do your thing, whatever, we'll hook up."  But I think that's the way I like to live my life.  I don't wanna tell no person other then your children (up to a certain extent) what to do and I also like to work in relationships where we pick up where we left off.  I mean I picked up and I actually worked with Juice indirectly after a 10 year period in '98 on the "He Got Game" record.  Him working indirectly with me and then directly 4 years later. So it was almost like Eric Sadler, pick up where I left off.  Same thing with Keith Shocklee.  Pick up where we left off.  So you know it's nothing too deep. Life and death is deep where you have to deal enough with that, so when it comes down to making music everybody should be able to share the pie, have a good time, and take their bread to their families and watch their young ones come up.  So pickin' up where we left off is a philosophy that I go by.

ThaFormula.com - What is your favorite Public Enemy cut if you have a favorite Public Enemy cut?

Public Enemy - Well, albums are like children so there's no favorite album.  But the single, "Welcome to the Terrordome" because it came at a time when I actually spilled all my soul on wax.  I was definitely mad, angry, and confused.  I was everything rolled up in one and I've said what should have been a time celebratin' and drinkin' a little bit, slowly ended up being a total opposite time. I think that taught me a lesson to say you know "god said you know don't be cocky because if I give you a time to celebrate you better celebrate by yourself, celebrate with your boys on the bus, but don't be going out there sayin' yeah I did this," so I never really, really got a chance to celebrate any of our accomplishments.  So I mean that was just like sayin' "well fool this ain't for you, you brought here in a different way. You're supposed to do this job and you can celebrate with your friends and family, but don't get cocky with it cause I'll knock you right back down."  Every time I've gotten up and tilted my head up a little bit I've been slapped right back.  I'm always scared to celebrate.

ThaFormula.com - Are you a very spiritual person?

Public Enemy - Yeah, I think deep within.  Back when I was growin' up in Long Island, I was 19 years old trying to figure myself out.  I would take long walks and just walk back trying to figure myself out so that summer of '79 walkin' in the dark was a good way to figure myself out and I decided then that whatever I would do, I would make 3 to 5 year plans.  So every year I would make a 3 year plan and make a 5 year plan and every uh, especially in the first 10 years from that period 79 to 89, every 3 year plan came true and every 5 year plan came true.  It was just like make the plan focus on it and do it.

ThaFormula.com - What do you think the future of rap music will be?

Public Enemy - I would like to say that the future of rap music right now is broken down into 3 components. You have your major labels, you have you're independents, and you have your Internet artists.  I think that 3 tier works just like in sports where you have your high schools, your colleges, and you got your pros and I think that that's how people are gonna be able to present their rap music.  Now the level of recruitment by the cream of the crop shouldn't be like well I'm gonna have my man make a record because he's down with us.  It's gotta be like yo, you gotta seek the best that's out there.  The person whose vocals are totally unbelievable and unduplicatable, if that's such a word.  The music that he rides with is totally out of left field and actually engaging.  I think also can this person transmit this performance to a public and make them a fan.  Also, is this person humble enough to continue to make changes and make people think of rap records differently then they have thought of them before? But that's also required on the level of recruitment.  If you got a company then you should be able to look into that.  I think the problem is that when everybody comes into the music industry and they think that they're gonna step into the game and they need to get the check right away because they need to be a pro right away.  I'm like damn whatever happened to minor league ball? Whatever happened to you got to be the best on your high school team?  How you gonna go from sitting on the bench in high school to sayin' you gonna play starting guard for the Lakers? Unfortunately in music because of lack of proper recruitment, you seen people ascend to great heights and not understand how far they have come or how far they leapfrogged. They don't understand where they at and how many people tryin' to get where they at all of a sudden.  I think that had something to do with the Nelly and KRS thing.

ThaFormula.com - What do you mean?

Public Enemy - I mean I like Nelly as far as I think he loves rap music, but you know to me you know it's about the marathon, and not the 60 meter dash.  I mean you want Nelly to go through his 8th album.  Now if his eighth album comes in like 2043, you know come on man. You want the next Nelly out and you wanna be able to pull Nelly to the side and say "well you know yes it's about your art, but also at the same time your the choice of Universal music to make their bottom line" and you just have to understand that and you have to decide if that rap game is what you wanna do for a long time.  And so if you're really into just do it and understand that there's been people that made sacrifices for you to do what you do.   

ThaFormula.com - So you feel that he hasn't paid enough dues to go around and start criticizing?

Public Enemy - Well everybody feel that they paid dues. The level and amount of dues have to be judged from people who have had a long time concern about the existence of the game and I think KRS-1 is one of those people.  I'm not gonna get into who's better, who's right or who's wrong. I'm just saying that if you compared it to sports.  You know in sports a guy that had a fantastic rookie season or had a great 2 or 3 years and looks like they are going to the hall of fame, they bow when they get to Jim Brown.  They could say Jim Brown is crazy or whatever, but it's the fact that Jim Brown made it possible for them to do what they do.  So it takes humility on both ends, but me as a peer of KRS-1 would never ever ever cross him (Laughs).  Because really it boils down to this, it's like Yeah, ok you can spank him in verses, but you got to spank a cat live. Your objective has to be clear where people know that your gonna flip.  I think it's beyond a song.  It's about presence.  If KRS-1 walks into a room, all of a sudden you got people changing their pattern of what they gonna say to him (laughs).  That's the test right there.  When Rakim walks in the room people are like changing the way that they gonna present whatever they gonna say.  He's changing people's speech up immediately with just the fact that he's in the room.  Being a Dr. Dre people are like, "ok, if I'm up there braggin' in the corner about how great I am, I better just kinda like go over there and say "yo what up duke?"

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