Chuck D. Programs TV For Trio

Public Enemy’s Chuck D. will take over programming at cable channel Trio for a week and will show viewers films relating to the African-American experience in the United States. From time to time the network hands programming duties over to celebrities, who are given creative control over a block of time. The first film to […]

Public Enemy’s

Chuck D. will take over programming at cable channel Trio for a week and will

show viewers films relating to the African-American experience in the United States.

From time to time

the network hands programming duties over to celebrities, who are given creative

control over a block of time.

The first film

to be shown by PE’s frontman and author of the memorable song “Burn

Hollywood Burn,” is “The N Word,” a world premiere documentary

by author Stanley Crouch, which features the rapper.

The documentary

chronicles the history of the word n**ger from its origin in the early 1700’s,

to its present use in today’s language. The

documentary features a variety of entertainer’s opinions on the word,

including Whoopie Goldberg, Ice Cube and others.

“I can’t

remember anyone calling me a n#####, not in a derogatory fashion,” Goldberg

says during the film. “I can’t even actually thing about anyone

calling me a n##### to my face or within hearing distance ever. Who’s

gonna call you a n##### in New York?”

Ice Cube, who with

N.W.A. released the groundbreaking album Straight Outta Compton, which

helped usher in the “Gangsta Rap” era, said use of the word did

not bother him.

“We’ve taken this

word that’s been a burden to us, we’ve been able to digest it and spit it back

out as a badge of honor, as defiance,” he says in the film.

Chuck D. will show

a wide variety of films including “Nothing but a Man,” “Coolie

High” and “Biggie & Tupac,” which dissects the feud between the

two slain rappers.

Chuck D. reasoned

that while the word may be used as a term of endearment for some, widespread

use of the word might be dangerous.

“If somebody

throws a rock at you and you don’t say to them ‘don’t throw that

rock at me,’ they’ll end up throwing a bigger rock. [And] then they’ll

throw a brick at you eventually,” Chuck D. told NPR’s Day-to-Day

radio when questioned about the use of the word.

Chuck D’s

programming begins every night at 9:00 pm starting today (July 2) through July

10.