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"Depending on your point of view, Riker&amp;apos;s Island Correctional Facility, in New York City, is either the first place or the last place you&amp;apos;d expect the controversial rap group Public Enemy to appear. Certainly, anyone who makes a statement like &amp;quot;If the Palestinians took up arms, went to Israel and killed all the Jews, it&amp;apos;d be all right&amp;quot; is an interesting candidate for a jail gig. And that&amp;apos;s precisely what attracted approximately 100 journalists to the group&amp;apos;s sweltering media circus at the prison on August 12th.\r\nPublic Enemy is one of the hottest-selling rap groups, with its seethingly militant album, It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, moving 750,000 copies in six weeks. The group&amp;apos;s outspoken endorsement of Louis Farrakhan, along with several blatantly racist comments made to the press by the band&amp;apos;s &amp;quot;minister of information,&amp;quot; Professor Griff, has also given Public Enemy a well-deserved infamy. That the group would be given clearance to perform at the prison was, to say the least, surprising.\r\nVote for the 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductees\r\nAlthough prison officials were aware of the group&amp;apos;s political nature, they did not know at the time the show was planned that the band&amp;apos;s song &amp;quot;Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos&amp;quot; describes a violent jailbreak. The possibility that Public Enemy would perform the song loomed over the entire proceedings. During the event, the band gave off mixed signals, ostensibly bearing a positive message but also revealing some disturbing beliefs.\r\nAccompanied by their onstage bodyguards, S1W (Security of the First World), the members of the group entered the prison&amp;apos;s gymnasium, where the audience of 250 prisoners was separated from the press by police barriers and a phalanx of TV cameras. More than thirty corrections officers were also present.\r\nThe 500 Greatest Albums of All Time: Public Enemy,&amp;#xA0;It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back\r\nThe three-man S1W team, dressed in black paramilitary outfits and sunglasses, took the stage and stood stock-still, arms folded, staring stonily ahead. For obvious reasons, the bodyguards were without the toy Uzi machine guns they normally tote onstage. Griff, SlW&amp;apos;s leader, announced, &amp;quot;Public Enemy feels like America is one big jail. So we want you to know that we feel what you feel.&amp;quot; After getting the inmates to stand, he said, &amp;quot;Everybody put your fist in the air&amp;#xA0;&amp;#x2013; whether you&amp;apos;re white, black, Chinese, whatever &amp;#x2013; don&amp;apos;t be afraid!&amp;quot; When the inmates stood with their fists in the air, the tension level in the room rose, causing the officers and the warden to motion for them to sit down, which they did. Immediately.\r\nPublic Enemy, including leader Chuck D, his foil, Flavor Flav, and DJ Terminator X, then jumped onstage and ripped into &amp;quot;Rebel Without a Pause,&amp;quot; a theme song of sorts. The inmates waved their arms, still sitting, as Flavor Flav swaggered about the stage and mugged for the cameras.\r\nWhen the song ended, Chuck D began the first of several long speeches, saying, &amp;quot;I curse a lot because I don&amp;apos;t have a regard for the English language. England was the hub of Western civilized culture, a culture which is the reason that black people are in the situation we&amp;apos;re in today. So if you hear me curse &amp;#x2013; fuck it.&amp;quot;\r\nHe plugged away for black economic self-sufficiency, the doctrine espoused by Farrakhan. &amp;quot;Black men and women are treated like bullshit,&amp;quot; Chuck D continued. &amp;quot;We are brainwashed to think nothing of ourselves. You&amp;apos;ve got to know the rules of the game so we won&amp;apos;t be falling into traps and keep coming back to motherfuckin&amp;apos; places like these!&amp;quot;\r\nAfter another blast of PE&amp;apos;s incendiary music, &amp;quot;Bring the Noise,&amp;quot; Flavor Flav reminisced about his brief jail term for possessing two &amp;quot;keys&amp;quot; of cocaine. &amp;quot;Those were the keys to my jail cell, man,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;Don&amp;apos;t be like me.&amp;quot;\r\nThen Griff, addressing the white people in the audience&amp;#xA0;&amp;#x2013; mainly the press &amp;#x2013; said, &amp;quot;When y&amp;apos;all lived in the caves of Europe in the Caucasus Mountains, and you did, you made it with animals. And you still do it today! That is the truth, brothers! Am I right or wrong?&amp;quot; There were cheers and applause from the inmates as Griff invited the press to call him a liar.\r\nNot coincidentally, the next song was &amp;quot;Don&amp;apos;t Believe the Hype,&amp;quot; which dismisses the more sensational statements attributed to group members as media distortions.\r\nAfter breaking the tension over &amp;quot;Black Steel&amp;quot; by saying the group would not perform the song, Chuck D then summed up Public Enemy&amp;apos;s message. &amp;quot;Our goal in life,&amp;quot; said Chuck D, &amp;quot;is to get ourselves out of this mess and be responsible to our sons and daughters so they can lead a better life.&amp;quot; Flav added, &amp;quot;When you get out, think about your future, because there&amp;apos;s no future in this motherfucker.&amp;quot; The show was over. As the inmates filed out eyeing the cameras, some smiled and said, &amp;quot;Don&amp;apos;t believe the hype!&amp;quot;\r\nThat night, after Public Enemy had opened for Run-D.M.C. at Long Island&amp;apos;s Nassau Coliseum, Chuck D elaborated on Griff&amp;apos;s comment about whites and bestiality.\r\n&amp;quot;There are nicer ways of putting it, but it is the truth,&amp;quot; he said, adding that Europe, &amp;quot;which is nothing but mountains,&amp;quot; was a hostile environment that created a hostile culture of people living in caves. He claimed that Africa never had cave men and that slavery and hostility are white inventions.\r\nDespite all the strong words, Chuck D maintained that he is not a black separatist. &amp;quot;First, you build amongst yourself,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;It&amp;apos;s no different from what the Jews do, no different than what the Japanese have done. My job is to build 5000 potential black leaders through my means of communication in America. A black leader is just someone who takes responsibility.&amp;quot;\r\nEarlier that day, one prison employee had said, &amp;quot;The message? Their message probably went in one ear and out the other. They just want to see some guys chillin&amp;apos;.&amp;quot;\r\nBut Chuck D believed he had made his point. &amp;quot;You get happy on the fact that people understood what you was saying, and it was some light in an otherwise dark situation.&amp;quot;\r\nThis story appeared in the September 22, 1988 issue of Rolling Stone."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
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