Chuck D mads his feelings clear on the state of society amid this week’s presidential race in the wake of the release of a music video for his collaboration with Consequence, What Has America Done.
The track from the Public Enemy rapper, 64, and Consequence, 47, focuses on the challenges Black people pace in America, coming at a turbulent time in which President-elect Donald Trump was elected to a second term.
Chuck D spoke to TMZ Thursday, two days after Vice President Kamala Harris fell short in her bid to become the first female Black president.
The Fight the Power rapper said that Harris’ campaign was sabotaged by bad cyber actors during the election cycle.
‘Avatars like they’re the new Klan hoodies – the more things change, the more they stay the SAME!!!’ the musical artist, whose full name is Carlton Douglas Ridenhour, told TMZ Hip Hop Thursday.
Chuck D, 64, makes his feelings clear on this week’s presidential race in a music video for his recent new collaboration with Consequence, 47, titled What Has America Done
The Fight the Power rapper said that Harris’ campaign was sabotaged by bad cyber actors during the election cycle
He added: ‘Like it or not, especially if you’re African American, we must continue to pursue our equality and make sure we do everything in our power to level the playing field as best we possibly can.’
The Bring the Noise performer, who drew promotional art for the single, said that ‘in doing so, we can forget where we’ve been and what it took to get where we are.’
Lyrics in the track include: ‘So what has America done for me?/Push the goal line further?/Accuse me of murder?/Fed me French fries and burgers?’
The track is featured on Consequence’s album Nice Doing Business With You, and also includes vocals from Tony Williams of The Wrldfms, TMZ reported.
The socially-conscious video from the artists – which depicts scenes of racial discrimination, homelessness and police activity – is among the early returns focused on the changing times amid Trump’s second win.
Since President-elect Trump clinched his return to the White House, Margaret Atwood’s dystopian classic The Handmaid’s Tale – about a country in which women are brutally repressed – has been high on the Amazon.com best seller list.
The Handmaid’s Tale was popular throughout Trump’s first term, along with such dark futuristic narratives as George Orwell’s 1984 and Ray Bradbury’s Fahrenheit 451, both of which were in the Amazon top 40 as of Thursday afternoon.
Another best-seller from Trump’s previous time in office, Timothy Snyder’s On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century, was in the top 10.
The track from the Public Enemy rapper, 64, and Consequence, 47, focuses on the challenges Black people pace in America, coming at a turbulent time in which President-elect Donald Trump was elected to a second term
The track is featured on Consequence’s album Nice Doing Business With You, and also includes vocals from Tony Williams of The Wrldfms
The Bring the Noise performer drew promotional art for the single, making reference to Project 2025
Another sketch from Chuck D appeared to depict Trump tearing apart an American flag
Pro-Trump books also were selling well. Former first lady Melania Trump’s memoir, Melania, was No. 1 on the Amazon list, and Vice President-elect JD Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy was in the top 10. Donald Trump’s photo book Save America was in the top 30.
At Barnes & Noble, ‘Fiction and non-fiction books that feature fascism, feminism, dystopian worlds and both right-and-left leaning politics rocketed up our sales charts with the election results,’ according to Shannon DeVito, the chain’s director of books.
She cited Melania On Tyranny and Bob Woodward’s latest, War, which covers the responses of Trump and President Joe Biden to the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
DeVito also cited ‘a massive bump in dystopian fiction,’ notably for The Handmaid’s Tale and 1984.