About the Author

Both as a solo artist and as the leader of the ground-breaking hip-hop group Public Enemy (which was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013), Chuck D helped pave the way for political, social, and culturally conscious hip-hop. Public Enemy's albums remain among the most critically acclaimed works in the genre, including It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and Fear of a Black Planet. A visionary in digital entertainment, Chuck D helped lead the file-sharing movement, launched one of the first online entertainment websites, Rapstation.com, and digital-only record labels, the SpitSlam Record Label Group and Public Enemy were the second act to ever release an album in MP3 format. He is on the road three weeks of each month touring with Public Enemy and his supergroup Prophets of Rage or speaking at tech and music conferences and colleges. He splits his days off between Long Island, Atlanta, and Southern California.

Reviews

Reading this book is like reliving my life all over again. Chuck D is Dope!!!
*LL Cool J*

If you want to understand our culture. To learn knowledge itself. Truth about the art form of poetry in motion. The struggle of our community through rhyme and rhythm. This is the book that inspired me long before I found my place in hip-hop. The power of self-expression. Unapologetically. Taught by the teacher himself. Chuck D!!!!
*Kendrick Lamar*

This book is required reading for those who claim to know hip-hop, love hip-hop, and want their information from a true Master and General of the hip-hop culture...Public Enemy #1, Chuck D!
*Ice T*

Chuck D wasn't put here to play any games. He created the greatest hip-hop album in my opinion to date, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back. But the very first minute he sonically appeared to us, I knew rap was changed forever. Power, awareness, strength, and militancy is his stance in a world obsessed with punishing poor people. I knew he would righteously and boldly die so that a little young boy he didn't even know from Queensbridge could live. He attacked wickedness head-on being the rappin' rhino terror that he is. He represented for all of us putting his life on the line and making the right music fighting for hip hop, the youth, truth, and justice. Chuck D made the lane for people like me to walk.
*Nas*