Don't Watch This: Confucius
You're hot then you're cold. What gives, North Korea?
China's sick healthcare system breeding antibiotic-resistant "superbugs"
Meet the Spanish pavilion's Miguelin: the first female Expo mascot?
Video: Riding down Da Jing Lu
Two days ago, we received this email from a local event promoter:
Believe it or not, after alot of back and forth, Public Enemy is coming to Shanghai on September 11. You heard me. If you don't know who they are, you need to re-evaluate your knowledge of Hip Hop.900 tickets are left as of this email.
You excited? I am.
We were excited — we (despite being white and rural) grew up listening to PE. But we were also somewhat unexcited — we are going to be out of town on September 11. We skipped over the part where the press release claimed this would be the "Hip Hop event of the year" and found the part that said the show was going to be at the Paramount and that advance tickets were going to be RMB 250. We would have paid that ... in a second.
And then yesterday, from the same promoter, we got this:
Due to an internal fight in the band, the Public Enemy event has been cancelled. I feel sorry for the organizers in Beijing.My apologies for getting your hopes up. Keep your eyes out for 50 cent in November.
Not surprising, we suppose. Supposedly Chuck D, age 47, and Flavor Flav, age 48, had a fight. Kids will be kids.
The "organizers in Beijing" reference refers to the Beijing Pop Festival, where Public Enemy was supposed to perform later this month. The wording of the email makes it seem like that gig would be off, too ... but the festival's site hasn't been updated to reflect that. Nine Inch Nails are headliners, and they have a launched a web page in Chinese.
We are choosing to ignore the "50 cent" reference.
Also on Shanghaiist
Public Enemy, Nine Inch Nails to play Shanghai?
Photo from gilles.suignard.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
post to facebook
Public Enemy to 50 cent is like Thomas Jefferson to George Bush...
Come on, Public Enemy is old, but they aren't *that* old.
@ #2:
The comparison is to how real PE is compared to today's pouty, bling laden, money and hoes rapper.
Back in the day, most rap was about politics, living in the 'hood, shopping at the swap meet (where you get Louis Vuitton sweats in any number of colors), popping the hood ornaments off of Benzes and Cadis, who was diggin' the neighborhood skeez, the po-lice, and playing ball at the local court.
You didn't have to be a hard core gangster because everyone was already broke and just trying to get by. Back then you had to put some effort into being a DJ because there were no auto drives or mixers on the turn tables.
nanheyangrouchuan
I'm just sayin' do you want your rap inspired by Malcolm X or Calvin Klein is all. All ya'all think 50 cent is dope are whack. Public Enemy come from the days when rap was made for a black audience now its made for dumbass posers wearing their hats sideways. Long live the B-Boys and NWA.
Ehh...PE had some great singles, but the Bomb Squad productions are way dated, Flava Flav couldn't rap and said "yeah, boy" in every single line, and Chuck D's lyrics were more didactic than your average Cultural Revolution poster. Still better than 50 Cent, but to say nothing current matches up, come on!
Rap in PE's time was about as white as it is today, Beastie Boys and Vanilla Ice were PE's contemporaries. Because black people keep it real and would never wear baseball hats sideways, I guess? I'm not sure of the significance of the racial stereotyping.
A Chinese NWA would be amazing, though.
1. Beastie Boys go back to the early 80s as a skater thrash band and they discovered PE. So while the BB may be white, they've been underground for a long time. Vanilla Ice was a kind of a sign of things to come, but what is your point? LL's neighborhood wasn't some ghetto nightmare, but he wrote and put on a show that few could match.
2. Chuck D's lyrics weren't supposed to be lyrical, they were supposed to be Malcom X put to music and one of PE's biggest hits was written and rapped by Flav (911 is a joke).
nanheyangrouchuan
Who was the "promoter"? I'm guessing it was bullshit and there never was a Shanghai PE gig.
I am absolutely floored that nanhe has such a good grasp of hip hop...
He's right . (no sarcasm here). Vanilla Ice was a one hit wonder that won't go away.
And Bomb Squad productions arent dated. Listen to "It takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back". It sets a gold standard for production, and if you don't agree with me you can search the net for a lot of critics that do.
And did anyone say "nothing current matches up"?
I mean Lil' Wayne may be superior to Chuck D lyrically, but what are any of the current top mc's all about anyway except themselves. Bring back the BOOM BAP!
Yeah Boyyyyyeeeeee! You bein' schooled. That's what I'm talkin' about! Flav wasn't the rapper, he was playin the fool, fool! You know like in that Willie the Shake joint, King Lear? PE is deep like the Yangtze, ya see? What Time Is It? .....and even the boops rap was better back in the day! "I like the cars that go BOOM!"
@ #8
What would make you think I didn't know the time?
Sorry for the misunderstanding, I'm talking about @ # 5. Your comments are right on the money. You clockin' cuz...