Revolutionary rapper and activist Chuck D has always had his art and voice on the pulse of society and cultures. His reflections on the ‘music that shook the world’ in an audible original speaks on how Bob Marley influenced his career as he dissects the Marley classic “Get Up, Stand Up”.
The rapper also lent his voice to the Astro World Tragedy where she laid the blame squarely at the feet of producers Live Nation for the series of events that took place in Texas at the Travis Scott concert. He said, “Live Nation, your stock is up. The White Corporate Music Biz keeps cashing in on Black Pain, Trauma and Death. This has to stop yesterday. You’re part of the problem. Grow the fuck up, fix this and let us all LIVE in PEACE.”
In the audible original he reflects on his early years where reggae music played in integral role in his upbringing and how it paralleled hip-hop.
The Fight The Power rapper notes that Marley’s early ska songs with the Wailers, like “Simmer Down,” were “directed to the Jamaican ‘rudeboys,’ or the Black youth that were criminal juveniles… that sounds similar, right?”
Chuck D also explores Marley’s transition from ska artist to reggae star to Rastafarian, exemplified on the 1973 single “Get Up, Stand Up.”
“Co-written with Peter Tosh, reportedly after touring Haiti and also seeing the impoverished conditions that mirrored their own Trench Town experience, the song was a testament to the toughness that they had growing up in Jamaica, struggling for respect and equality,” Chuck says.
“‘Get Up, Stand Up’ was a song that called for action, both physical and spiritual,” he asserts.
Earlier on Songs That Shook the Planet — Chuck D’s contribution to Audible’s ongoing Words + Music series, available to stream now — he speaks about the revolutionary anthem “People Get Ready” by Curtis Mayfield which was covered by Bob Marley.
“Bob Marley recorded the song twice, first in 1965 as a member of the original wailers with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, then again in 1977 as “One Love People Get Ready” on the Exodus album.”
People Get Ready he says is part of a long line of black America freedom songs that uses trade imagery to signify the movement from oppression to freedom and mobility in a world where black people were oppressed.
He also speaks about songs like Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit,” Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin’ On?,” Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come,” Too Short’s “The Ghetto,”.
Listen to the audio here
