An MC from South London stands in front of arguably the greatest rapper of all time and asks him about the state and future of the music industry.
"Do you make your own music?"
"Yes"
"Good. Do you make your own videos?"
"No."
"Learn how to. Do you deal with your own contracts?"
"No."
"Learn how to. The illusion of the record label has been shattered. It no longer exists; as an artist you are out on your own. If there is something you can't do, you are gonna have to pay someone from your slice to do it. You don't want to do this. Learn every aspect of the music industry and you will control it. Trying to get a record deal is like trying to get a window cleaning job at the World Trade Center; it doesn't exist."
In a brief and typically eloquent moment, Chuck D has demystified the music industry in a way that countless journalists, scribes, commentators and sages have tried to, without success and with many more words.
It's Friday night and in a city determined to party like its 1999, some 500 people (multi-ethnic, cross generational, even gender split) sit in a room grateful to listen, which demonstrates the esteem in which this artist is held on these shores.
We are rewarded. In 2 hours of animated dialogue, we are afforded a peek into the very active, passionate and poetic mind of Chuck D – topics range from Barack (even though naturally distrustful of politicians, he endorses him, but only after going to the democratic convention and hearing for himself), his unique and sometimes exasperating sidekick Flavor Flav (after yet another no-show to an arena of 20,000 people he gave out Flav's home phone number and urged the crowd to call him if they wanted an explanation), the disintegration of capitalist society, the UK gun and knife problem being the downside to British embrace of contemporary American Mc-culture, , the importance of study, and the true meaning to Soulja Boy's "Superman" lyric (its sexual, obscene, puerile, disrespectful to women, and (I think) very funny).
This is a man, who ignores his status as a musical icon and seems genuinely interested in direct contact with a global audience, so much so that he gives out his personal email address at the end of the evening, urging the audience to stay in touch directly. When was the last time you saw an icon do that?
The realization is that in a world where the abuse of language has rendered words all but meaningless, how rare, refreshing and important it is to listen to a man who lives by and through his own word.
