Public Enemy frontman Chuck D has become a kind of elder statesman of hip-hop. His group helped bring a socially conscious edge to the music genre during the mid-1980s with an explicit criticism of politics and racism in America — most famously, in their song “Fight the Power.” Public Enemy has since released 15 studio albums, earned a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Meanwhile, Chuck D has remained active in political causes like Rock the Vote and ending mass incarceration. He co-founded the Hip Hop Alliance, which organizes for the labor rights of hip-hop and R&B musicians. Now he’s published a series of graphic novels under the publishing imprint called Enemy Books. The latest is titled Summer of Hamn: Hollowpointlessness Aiding Mass Nihilism.
While the term Hamn is made up, Chuck D tells KCRW that it represents his desire to create something new, alongside his graphic novels, which he calls naphic grovels.
“Sometimes we can take the vernacular, and flip it and turn it around,” he explains. “I'm actually making some words fit the terms that I create … alongside the illustrations that I've done inside my naphic grovels … which are day-to-day journals depicting what was on the screens that we see and what’s surrounding our daily life.”
Summer of Hamn specifically focuses on summer 2022, Chuck D says, because it was the first year of freedom after the pandemic and people didn’t know how to act. It’s his latest chapter of reflections.
“I don't think a lot of people have gotten that therapy that basically [is] a response to what they went through. … I kept a day-to-day journal of what was coming through the news.”
Today, he says, “There's a deep sensitivity to the bloodshed that's still going on now.”
Chuck D has published a series of graphic novels under the publishing imprint called Enemy Books. The latest is titled “Summer of Hamn: Hollowpointlessness Aiding Mass Nihilism.” Credit: Enemy Books.
Chuck D got his start in illustration after his dad died in 2016. Coming off of two Ayahuasca “journey visits,” he started drawing. He compares his work to courtroom sketches.
“That was actually to find out what my dad’s spirit was. And that was done. I didn't have to necessarily frequent it. But the second time, I did it with community and I said, ‘Okay, what the hell, let me get a ream of paper, and try to draw what I'm experiencing.’ And I did 70 illustrations in four hours,” he says.“
He describes his art tools as rudimentary, such as Wite-Out, Sharpies, watercolor paints, and color pencils.
He also doesn’t mind making errors: “Really, more importantly … as we move further into technology and AI becoming the domineering wow factor, the whole beauty … of Hamn and some of my naphic grovels is the enjoyment of embracing your mistakes. And I think a lot of people when they go to the arts, it's about trying to perfect something. And this actually was in reverse.”
In Summer of Hamn, Chuck D says he wants to speak out against the ills of the world, but also reinforce the good.
“Attention is the cheapest price to pay. But now we have calamity, drama, and trauma always floating to the top of the news. And peace, love, and understanding is something that never really gets talked about, passed around as easily. So we have to reinforce that in our artistry.”
He adds, “Negative energy is always gonna get people to turn around. But positive energy is taken for granted these days. A well-balanced diet is what we need, whether you're eating some food, especially in the United States, or you're taking in data and information and misinformation. How much are you consuming from a screen?”
When it comes to social media, Chuck D says people have been “dancing” with it for more than a decade, and he wonders: “Does it dictate us? Or do we dictate it?”
“I would do a lot of catchy things on social media, and my art found a life on social media because I could do it fast, comment on something and upload it real quick. Like they used to say, a picture's worth 1,000 words. But now images online are worth 10,000 words.”