Carlton Douglas Ridenhour (born August 1, 1960 in Roosevelt, New York), better known by his stage name, Chuck D, is an American rapper, author, and producer. He helped create politically and socially conscious rap music in the late 1980s as the leader of the rap group, Public Enemy.

Early life
Ridenhour was born in Roosevelt, Long Island. After graduating from Roosevelt Junior-Senior High School, he went to Adelphi University in Long Island, graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in Graphic Design.

Career
Upon hearing Ridenhour's demo track "Public Enemy Number One", fledgling producer/mogul Rick Rubin insisted on signing him to his Def Jam label.

Chronologically, their major label albums were: Yo! Bum Rush the Show 1987, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back 1988, Fear of a Black Planet 1990, Apocalypse 91...The Enemy Strikes Black 1991, Greatest Misses 1992, and Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age 1994. They also released a full length album soundtrack for the film He Got Game in 1998. Ridenhour also contributed (as Chuck D) to several episodes of the PBS documentary series The Blues. He has appeared as a feature artist on many other songs and albums, having collaborated with artists such as Janet Jackson, Kool Moe Dee, The Dope Poet Society, Run-DMC, Ice Cube and many others. In 1990, he appeared on "Kool Thing", a song by the alternative rock band Sonic Youth. In 1993, he executive produced Got 'Em Running Scared, an album by Ichiban Records group "Chief Groovy Loo and the Chosen Tribe".

Later career
In 1996, Ridenhour released Autobiography Of Mistachuck on Mercury Records. In November 1998, he settled out of court with Christopher "The Notorious B.I.G" Wallace's estate over the latter's sampling of his voice in the song "Ten Crack Commandments". The specific sampling is Ridenhour counting off the numbers one to nine on the track "Shut Em Down".

In September 1999, he launched a multi-format "supersite" on the web site Rapstation.com. A home for the vast global hip hop community, the site boasts a TV and radio station with original programming, many of hip hop's most prominent DJs, celebrity interviews, free MP3 downloads (the first was contributed by multi-platinum rapper Coolio), downloadable ringtones by ToneThis, social commentary, current events, and regular features on turning rap careers into a viable living. Since 2000, he has been one of the most vocal supporters of Internet music file sharing in the music industry.

He loaned his voice to Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas as DJ Forth Right MC for the radio station Playback FM. He appeared with Henry Rollins in a cover of Black Flag's "Rise Above" for the album Rise Above: 24 Black Flag Songs to Benefit the West Memphis Three. He recently contributed a chapter to Sound Unbound: Sampling Digital Music and Culture (The MIT Press, 2008) edited by Paul D. Miller a.k.a. DJ Spooky.

Politics
Ridenhour is extremely politically active; he co-hosted Unfiltered on Air America Radio, testified before Congress in support of peer-to-peer MP3 sharing, and was involved in a 2004 rap political convention. He continues to be an activist, publisher, lecturer, and producer. Addressing the negative views associated with rap music, he co-wrote the essay book Fight the Power: Rap, Race, and Reality, along with Yusuf Jah (ISBN 0-385-31868-5). He argues that "music and art and culture is escapism, and escapism sometimes is healthy for people to get away from reality", but sometimes the distinction is blurred and that's when "things could lead a young mind in a direction." He also founded the record company Slam Jamz and acted as narrator in Kareem Adouard's short film Bling: Consequences and Repercussions, which examines the role of conflict diamonds in bling fashion.

In an interview with Le Monde published 29 January 2008, Chuck D stated that rap is devolving so much into a commercial enterprise, that the relationship between the rapper and the record label is that of slave to a master. He believes that nothing has changed for African-Americans since the debut of Public Enemy and, although he thinks that an Obama-Clinton alliance is great, he does not feel that the establishment will allow anything of substance to be accomplished. He also stated that French President Sarkozy is like any other European elite: he has profited through the murder, rape, and pillaging of those less fortunate and he refuses to allow equal opportunity for those men and women from Africa. In this article, he also defended a comment made by Professor Griff in the past that he says was taken out of context by the media. The real statement was a critique of the Israeli government and its treatment of the Palestinian people. Chuck D stated that it is Public Enemy's belief that all human beings are equal.

In an interview with the magazine N'Digo published in late June 2008, he spoke of today's mainstream urban music seemingly relishing in the addictive euphoria of materialism and sexism, perhaps being the primary cause of many people harboring resentment towards the genre and its future. However he has expressed hope for its resurrection, saying "It’s only going to be dead if it doesn’t talk about the messages of life as much as the messages of death and non-movement", citing artists such as NYOil, M.I.A. and the The Roots as socially conscious artists who push the envelope creatively. "A lot of cats are out there doing it, on the Web and all over. They’re just not placing their career in the hands of some major corporation."

Most recently Chuck D became involved in Let Freedom Sing: The Music of the Civil Rights, a 3-CD box set from Time Life. He wrote the introduction to the liner notes and is visiting colleges across the nation discussing the significance of the set. He's also set to appear in a follow up movie called Let Freedom Sing: The Music That Inspired the Civil Rights Movement.

Rapper and Roosevelt Alumnus “Chuck D” returns home to offer wisdom to our students.

Group Members

 

William Jonathan Drayton Jr. (born March 16, 1959), better known by his stage name Flavor Flav, is an American rapper, television star, and member of the politically and socially conscious rap group Public Enemy. He is known for his clowning antics as well as outlandish costumes, including wearing over-sized clocks around his neck; he wears the clock to remind people how precious time is. He is also known yelling "Yeah boy!" and his name during performances.

After falling out of the public eye for a number of years, he has recently reappeared as the star of several VH1 reality series, including The Surreal Life, Strange Love, and Flavor of Love.

Flav grew up in Freeport, Long Island with parents William Sr. and Angie Drayton. His father owned a greasy spoon called the Soul Diner. Flav began playing the piano at age five; he claims to be self-taught. A musical prodigy, he sang in the youth choir at his church and mastered the piano, drums, and guitar at an early age. He eventually became proficient in 15 instruments. His childhood included legal trouble, he set a house on fire as a small child while playing with a lighter, and by the time he dropped out of school in the 11th grade, he had been in and out of jail for robbery and burglary.

He attended Adelphi University in Long Island where he met Carlton Ridenhour, who would become known as Chuck D. Flavor Flav took his stage name after his graffiti tag. They first collaborated on Chuck D's hip-hop college radio show, then began rapping together. The two worked for Chuck D's father's delivery service.

 

Gary Rinaldo (born May 3, 1969), better known by the name Gary G-Wiz, is an American record producer and composer. Most known for being a member of the hip hop production team The Bomb Squad, G-Wiz is a longtime Public Enemy producer and contributed to many albums including: Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black, Greatest Misses, Muse Sick-n-Hour Mess Age, Autobiography of Mistachuck, There's A Poison Goin On, Revolverlution, and the 2007 release, How You Sell Soul To A Soulless People Who Sold Their Soul?, that features the singles "Harder Than You Think" and "Amerikan Gangster".

G-Wiz began, like many East Coast hip hop producers, began as a DJ spinning at basement parties and small clubs in Long Island, Queens and NYC in the mid 1980s.

He made the transition to record producer in the early 1990s, when he handed fellow Long Islander Chuck D a tape full of beats. The hip hop production team, The Bomb Squad, had silently gone their separate ways after Fear of a Black Planet (1990) and no new Public Enemy album was imminent. After hearing G-Wiz’s music, Chuck D immediately planned to do an EP with G-Wiz being the sole producer. The two had such chemistry, the original 8 cuts soon turned into 12 and Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black was born. Apocalypse 91: The Enemy Strikes Black, as of 2007, is Public Enemy's greatest selling album to date, selling close to 2 million copies and spawning the hits "Can't Truss It" and "Shut Em Down."

G-Wiz went on to produce the artists: Janet Jackson, Aerosmith, U2, Busta Rhymes, Rakim, Run-D.M.C., Method Man, Redman, Ludacris, Twista, KRS-One, Bell Biv Devoe, Peter Gabriel, Lisa Stansfield, Aaron Hall, Big Daddy Kane, Anthrax and Sinéad O'Connor. In 1992, G-Wiz was introduced to the world of film when he composed the score for the Paramount Pictures film, Juice starring Tupac Shakur, as well as producing on the film’s certified platinum soundtrack.

Since then, G-Wiz has contributed songs and score to Spike Lee's He Got Game, Bulworth with Warren Beatty, Paramount Pictures Mad City, Fox Television's King of the Hill, and a collaboration with Chuck D to create the main title theme to Fox's Dark Angel starring Jessica Alba

 

Norman Rogers (known by his stage name Terminator X) is best known as the producer DJ of the rap group Public Enemy, which he left in 1999. He has also produced two solo albums, Terminator X & The Valley of Jeep Beets (1991) and Super Bad (1994), featuring, among others, Chuck D, Sister Souljah, Kool DJ Herc, the Cold Crush Brothers, and a Bass music track by the Punk Barbarians.

Due to his publicly reserved nature, it has been said that Terminator X "speaks with his hands" in reference to his adept scratching abilities. Terminator X quit the hip-hop scene in 2003 and has been running an ostrich farm in South Carolina.

Terminator's original stage name was DJ Mellow D. This was the name by which he is mentioned in the lyrics of the Public Enemy single Public Enemy #1. Chuck D later gave him the name "Terminator X". As Chuck D recounts: "I gave him the name Terminator X, which meant that he was terminating all the nonsense, and the X symbolized the unknown, a terminating of all the things we think we believe, that we really don't know about." Chuck D goes on to explain that Terminator initially did not like his new name.

 

Richard "Professor Griff" Griffin is an American rapper and spoken word artist and is a former member of the hip hop group Public Enemy and head of the Security of the First World.