Public Enemy’s public feud just a publicity stunt
So Flavor Flav is still a member of Public Enemy after all, the result of a self-described “hoax.” Earlier this month, what seemed like a public feud had boiled over, with Chuck D saying that Flav was out of the group after a dispute over a performance at a Bernie Sanders presidential campaign rally. But it turns out that all the dirty laundry being aired was nothing more than a publicity stunt—an early April Fool’s joke, of sorts—to promote a new album from Chuck D’s new project, Enemy Radio.
Chuck explains in a statement that he was inspired by Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds broadcast, and intended to draw attention to disinformation by, well, creating disinformation. “Out of this storm came a plan between Flav and me to remind people that what’s important should have as much, if not more, value than just what’s popular. Thus came the HOAX, our ‘War Of The Worlds.’ Believe half of what you hear and NONE of what you see,” he says.
Anyway, Enemy Radio’s Loud Is Not Enough is out now and you can hear it below.
Read our feature, How Public Enemy’s It Takes A Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back changed the shape of hip-hop.
