Q 13

PLAYBOY: What are Public Enemy groupies like compared with, say, Mötley Crüe groupies?

Chuck D: [Laughs] They're a lot neater.

They're more correct, they got their heads together, they want to learn more. They're just happy that we're some brothers taking a stand. When we first came out, our whole thing was not to appeal to women. Every time a rap group would come along, they'd turn into sex symbols. I said that when I started Public Enemy, it was going to be the best group in the world, and I'd look out for the brothers first. Our program is to rebuild the black man so he's got respect for himself, and for the black woman, too. You're not going to see us singing songs like [falsetto] "I love you, baby, and let me get you in the back and sex you in the corner." Our song Revolutionary Generation is about true love for our sisters. If you have children, take care of them. Help your sister out, help your community out by being a man and leading that community. 'Cause our sisters have been holding the weight of the community for so long.

Q 14

PLAYBOY: The Professor Griff controversy sidelined Public Enemy for months. During the hullabaloo, you made the almost plaintive remark, "I was looking forward to spending the summer talking about Elvis Presley and John Wayne." You were referring to the calculated insults from Fight the Power: "Elvis was a hero to most/But he never meant shit to me, you see/Straight out racist that sucker was simple and plain/Motherfuck him and John Wayne." We'd like to give you the opportunity now to tell us what you have against Elvis.

Chuck D: Elvis' attitude toward blacks was that of people in the South at that particular time. The point of the song is not about Elvis so much, and it's not about the people who idolize that motherfucker, like he made no errors and was never wrong. Elvis doesn't mean shit. White America's heroes are different from black America's heroes. John Wayne could go around in these movies and kill Indians and he was all right. But a black man like Louis Farrakhan comes out for the uplifting of black people and whites pick at things and throw shit at him. The people I look up to are [Illinois Representative] Gus Savage, Farrakhan, Angela Davis and even Jesse Jackson. Nat Turner--who went into Virginia and wreaked havoc on his oppressors--was righteous. You know who meant shit to me? Marcus Garvey. Marcus Garvey is not an American icon. He was dogged by the American Government. You know what I'm saying? Not John Wayne. Not Elvis Presley. Not Marilyn Monroe. I give less than a fuck about those motherfuckers.

Q 15

PLAYBOY: One of the things that Public Enemy does best is manipulate the media by making deliberately controversial statements. At the same time, there's a risk of going too far: Your account of the Griff controversy in Welcome to the Terrordome started a new round of anti-Semitism charges against the group. Would you give us an explication of those lines?

Chuck D: A lot of times, I'll say something just to make people jump. Then I can say, "See, I caught you offside." I plan the dangers of it. This time, everyone was accusing me of bringing back Hitler's reasons for killing the Jews, something that I never heard of in my life. Now, out of one hundred lines in the song, they looked at four. The lines go like this: "Crucifixion ain't no fiction." I believe that Christ was a brother who got crucified. "So-called chosen frozen." That was my only reference to the Jewish community, which was appalled by the remarks in the Griff article. "Frozen" means stopped in their tracks. And I said "so-called chosen" because I don't think one group of people are God's chosen people. "Apology made to whoever pleases." That's what I did in 1989 after all this happened. "Still they got me like Jesus." My whole point is that the media are still taking me out. I made the apology and people are still taking me out.

And the response was, "Well, I don't believe it." What's your criteria for not believing me? A lot of people were mad because I put Griff back in the group after taking him out. But then again, it's my group, and this is the black community I live in. I could live down the block from this man, but that's not white America's concern. I said that this was wrong, and now let's move on.

Q 16

PLAYBOY: Once and for all, explain what separates blacks and Jews today.

Chuck D: It's bullshit. No one in the black community gives a fuck about Jewish people. The issue with black people is when do I get paid, and why are these white motherfuckers fucking with me? Black people do not separate Jews from gentiles. Really, I don't understand it.

Q 17

PLAYBOY: You've said that you have no problems with whites; it's just "acting Caucasian" that causes problems. Are you using Caucasian in the way some whites use the word nigger?

Chuck D: Historically, acting Caucasian hasn't done one motherfucking positive thing for black people. If whites want to do something positive, they can realize that they're a small part of the human family and not the big part of it that they think they are, trying to convince the world that they are.

Q 18

PLAYBOY: Who can tell you you're full of shit?

Chuck D: [Laughs] Oh, shit, man, yeah! I got some parents who put me in my place. Hank will put me in my place. That's what happened last year. Hank said, Listen: Give a fuck. You're responsible for thirty motherfuckers. Family and structure are more important.

Q 19

PLAYBOY: What is the proper target for black rage? Are you advocating hate?

Chuck D: Hate is not a nice word. You got to hate your oppressor, but you have to know who your oppressor is, and your oppressor is not an individual. It's a collective train of thought; it's a collective state of mind. You should hate that shit. But you shouldn't hate a person.

Although, if that person claims that he's at the steering wheel of that force of oppression, then you make your move, you know what I'm saying? [Laughs]

Q 20

PLAYBOY: Arsenio Hall has not yet asked you to be on his show. How come?

Chuck D: Arsenio has a lot of pressure on him. He's got to please everybody, but at the same time, he has a black responsibility. He shouldn't be so scared to put us on. Public Enemy has a larger white audience than any of the rappers who have been on Arsenio's show.