When Public Enemy released their new video for “Gotta Give The People What they Need”, they didn’t expect it to cause a huge uproar. Chuck D says that MTV says they will not play the video until audio and visual references to Mumia Abu-Jamal are taken out of the video. In a statement to Daveyd.com Chuck D says, “The new power elite in America the selection board of MTV. The new power breed of selectors who govern images to feed to the world youth, invisibly anonymous to most, while being the choosers of who, what, when, why, and how. In the words of my friend Kyle Jason we’ve (black people on screen) been reduced to comedy.”
“As an artist I¹ve been fighting all my career in a genre that has been hijacked by ‘culture bandits’, simply cats who’ve used rap music and hip hop as a personal whatever without putting anything back where they’ve got it from in the first place,” Chuck D continued. “But here’s the deal, MTV standards (whoever this roundtable of culture caretakers are all I got was a cat by the name of Tom Calderone who waffled so much on the issue I swore he was swimming in syrup.) has clarified to my people both at KOCH and SLAMjamz records that the ‘Gotta Give The Peeps What They Need’ video would have to delete all affixed logos (a policy to not promote gear, although I’ve long thought this to be ridiculous..but whatever I’ve conceded that this is their little thing to keep situations from making the money they make) and the thing that has myself going to war..and that’s to vanish ALL AUDIO AND VISUAL references to Mumia Abu Jamal..the Free Mumia lyric. This is serious.”
