Legendary Rapper and Songwriter, Chuck “D”, Of Public Enemy, To Receive Social Justice Honours Award At Canadian Music Week

TORONTO, Ontario (Wednesday May 18, 2022) — American rapper, singer and songwriter, Chuck D, Founder and Leader of the legendary group, Public Enemy, will receive Canadian Music Week’s (CMW) Social Justice Honours Award, next month.

Co-founder of the super-group, Prophets of Rage, the social activist, author and digital music pioneer will also appear for a keynote interview, at the 40th Anniversary of the CMW Music Summit, on June 9, as part of the event.

CMW is Canada’s leading annual entertainment event, dedicated to the expression and growth of the country’s music, media and entertainment industries. It combines multifaceted information-intensive conferences; a trade exposition; awards shows and the nation’s largest new music festival.

“Chuck D will receive the Social Justice Honours Award for using every opportunity, throughout his career, to speak his mind and stand up for what is right,” explained Canadian Music Week President, Neill Dixon.

“Chuck D is a champion and an innovator, with the unique ability to identify new platforms to get his message across. We look forward to hosting this living legend as part of our 40th Anniversary conference.”

Born August 1, 1960, Chuck D — whose birth-name is Carlton Douglas Ridenhour — first rose to acclaim in the 1980s, with a string of critically-lauded and commercially-successful albums that addressed weighty issues about race, rage and inequality, with a jolting combination of intelligence and eloquence, never seen before.

The New York Times has named Public Enemy’s music to their list of the “25 Most Significant Albums of the Last Century” and, in 2005, The US Library of Congress included “Fear of a Black Planet” in a list of 50 recordings, worthy of preserving that year, in its National Recording Registry.

In 2013, Public Enemy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and, in 2020, the group received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the GRAMMYs.

In 2015, Public Enemy’s “Say It Like It Really Is” provided the powerful backbeat to the trailer for the critically-acclaimed film, Selma, and “Harder Than You Think” was selected for NBC’s official Super Bowl XLIX commercial, after being the cornerstone of the 2012 Paralympics campaign (which drove the song into the UK Top 5).

When the new National Museum of African American History and Culture began curating its archive, the group was asked to donate iconic items from itsr history.

Chuck D released the single, “SOTU (STFU)”, in June 2020 with Public Enemy and, a few weeks later, the group opened the 2020 BET Awards with “Fight the Power Remix 2020”, featuring guest performances and new lyrics by Nas, Rapsody, Black Thought, YG and Questlove.

In August 2020, Public Enemy announced a return to Def Jam, the record label that launched the group’s career, led by the release of “Fight the Power Remix 2020”, and followed with the album, “What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down”, on September 25, 2020.

In June 2016, Chuck D debuted Prophets of Rage, a new “super-group” with former Rage Against the Machine members, Tom Morello, Tim Commerford and Brad Wilk, Cypress Hill’s B-Real and DJ Lord of Public Enemy.

He is also a visual artist, whose work has been shown in galleries across the US; a best-selling author (including 2017’s 300-page “This Day In Rap and Hip Hop History”); a highly-sought after speaker on the college lecture circuit; has been a prominent member of music industry non-profit organizations, MusicCares and Rock The Vote (which honored him with the Patrick Lippert Award in 1996 for his contributions to community service); runs his own record label, SpitSlam; and launched the websites, Rapstation.com, HipHopGods.com and SheMovement.com.

Chuck D has served as national spokesperson for Rock The Vote, the National Urban League and the National Alliance of African American Athletes; and in 2018, was named the Chairman of the Celebrity Board for the forthcoming Universal Hip Hop Museum in New York.

Earlier this year, he curated “Songs That Shook The Planet” for Audible Originals, and is currently co-producing a docu-series on the history of hip hop for PBS and BBC.

All CMW conference functions will take place from June 7 to 10, at the InterContinental Toronto Centre, at 225 Front Street West in Toronto.

For more information and to register visit: www.cmw.net/conference/online-registration.