For the iconic, politically charged hip hop group Public Enemy, with album titles such as 1988’s “It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back” and 1990’s “Fear of a Black Planet,” the legacy of the collective is cemented. The AmNews spoke exclusively with frontman Chuck D about the making of 1989 anthem “Fight the Power,” celebrating Jay-Z and the 30th anniversary of his debut album, performing in 2026, his rap magazine, and why the Hip Hop Museum is needed for the culture.
“[Critics] say [“Fight the Power”] is the number one or two greatest political hip hop songs,” said the Queens native, with 1982’s “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five being the other. “It was written with the same amount of vigor as ‘The Message’ was speaking to, seven years apart from each other, but ‘Fight The Power’ would not be possible if it wasn’t for Spike Lee coming up with the film [the two-time Academy Award-nominated “Do The Right Thing”] being able to depict what was going on in a neighborhood that was being imbalanced and disfranchised. That was simply Brooklyn in New York City around the time that he did a movie, so ‘Fight the Power’ spoke to a lot of that because it had to speak to the idea that was inside the movie, so it built on that. Spike played it a million times in the film, so I think ‘Fight the Power’ automatically became political because that was the politics that was driving that film and the politics of that particular time that Spike spoke so clearly to.”
With more than four decades in music, Public Enemy still performs and is currently on the Guns ’N’ Roses: World Tour 2026, which will hit the New York City area on Wednesday, August 12, at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
“Public Enemy was built as being something that will prove its ground touring-wise and show-wise, more than just thinking you’re going to listen to a song and love it right away,” said Chuck D. “Matter of fact, we thought the opposite. We thought we built it like a rock band coming off the heels of Run-DMC. We always looked at rap and hip hop from the rock edge of it.”
He also said Public Enemy built itself as a touring machine and has performed in more than 120 countries around the world.
As New York City and the world celebrate the 30th anniversary of Jay-Z’s debut album, Chuck D chimed in on what it means.
“I think Jay-Z is what you call the evolution of a superstar rapper,” he said. “He’s evolutionary. I think he was able to take the best attributes of every single great thing up to his point and make use of it. It’s like Michael Jordan: He wasn’t Dr. J (Julius Erving), but he was able to take the best of what Dr. J and Jerry West and Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar] did, and make it his own super game of his own. Same thing with Jay-Z when he came to rhyming and hip hop. He was able to take a lot of those elements and stylize. He came at a period where people grew up with that style as being his style, but he’s truly an evolutionary beast.”
