{"id":804789,"date":"2020-03-02T09:33:45","date_gmt":"2020-03-02T16:33:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rollingstone.com\/?p=960317"},"modified":"2020-03-02T09:33:45","modified_gmt":"2020-03-02T16:33:45","slug":"public-enemy-radio-give-politically-charged-set-minus-flavor-flav-at-bernie-sanders-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/ksmt\/music-news\/public-enemy-radio-give-politically-charged-set-minus-flavor-flav-at-bernie-sanders-rally\/","title":{"rendered":"Public Enemy Radio Give Politically Charged Set \u2013 Minus Flavor Flav \u2013 at Bernie Sanders Rally"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Since the presidential race started, Bernie Sanders<\/a> has amassed a throng of endorsements from musicians prominent enough for a potential festival lineup to rival Coachella. Chuck D<\/a>\u2019s Public Enemy<\/a> Radio, the latest addition to that group, performed for Sanders\u2019 Los Angeles Convention Center rally Sunday night before Super Tuesday, delivering a charged, fists-up performance for the estimated 15,000 supporters in the audience. <\/span><\/p>\n

The show was not without controversy. Public Enemy Radio, the group\u2019s offshoot consisting of Chuck D, DJ Lord, Jahi and the S1Ws, noticeably does not include Public Enemy\u2019s longtime member Flavor Flav<\/a>. The affable hypeman sent Sanders a cease-and-desist letter<\/a> last Friday, claiming that Sanders\u2019 campaign painted a false narrative in which the entire group supported him. \u201cThe continued publicizing of this grossly misleading narrative is, at a minimum, careless and irresponsible if not intentionally misleading,\u201d the rapper\u2019s lawyer, Matthew Friedman, wrote in the letter. On Sunday night, shortly before Public Enemy Radio hit the stage, Public Enemy announced that it had fired Flavor Flav after more than 35 years<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u201cIt is my distinct honor to welcome to the stage one of the original hip-hop groups,\u201d Sanders said. \u201cA group which has spoken truth to power for decades.\u201d Chuck D was in a talkative mood for the band\u2019s 30-minute set, taking extensive time between songs to encourage the audience to be active and vote. \u201cVoting is [as] important as washing your ass in the morning,\u201d he said after 1991\u2019s \u201cCan\u2019t Truss It.\u201d \u201cYou ain\u2019t gotta wash. You have the right to run around funky. You just don\u2019t have the right to run around funky and tell somebody that \u2018it stinks down here.\u2019 You have to get your ass up and vote for something. You\u2019re a human being, use your mind, don\u2019t be a robot. Listen to somebody, be grown, make yourself important in your locale. It\u2019s a simple thing to do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Later in the set, the politically minded rapper further implored the audience to vote, whether it was for Sanders or not. \u201cEven if this man here tonight ain\u2019t the dude, use your common sense,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is 2020, the decade of supposedly clear vision and hindsight, there\u2019s going to be a lot of cataracts in this fucking decade. I know damn well there ain\u2019t gonna be no messiah Jesus in the White House of the United States of America. But you know what? I certainly can recognize a motherfucking Hitler.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The comments recalled a 2016 interview<\/a> Chuck D gave to Rolling Stone<\/em> before the presidential election. When asked what he thought a Trump presidency would look like, he responded, \u201cUppercase letters:  M-E-I-N T-R-U-M-P. There\u2019s fear around the planet because he\u2019s just uncivil \u2026 Would it be a far toss to say that if he had a real bad day or 48 hours that he would be the first president to say, \u201cFuck you, we\u2019re gonna come over there, bust your ass and bomb you the fuck out, how about that?\u201d<\/p>\n

The group also performed \u201cBring the Noise,\u201d \u201cBlack Steel in the Hour of Chaos\u201d and \u201cShut \u2018Em Down\u201d before finishing with their signature hit \u201cFight the Power.\u201d While some audience members had begun to pile out by the time Sanders brought Public Enemy Radio to the stage, several thousand stuck around for the set<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

While Flav\u2019s absence took a backseat to the rally, it wasn\u2019t unnoticed by fans. Some were talking about his firing before the rally started, and one attendee came decked out with a makeshift Flavor Flav clock fashioned out of a cheap wall clock and a gold mardi gras bead necklace. <\/span><\/p>\n

Public Enemy Radio Set (Starts at 1:57:00)<\/strong><\/p>\n