Professor Griff
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Richard "Professor Griff" Griffin is an American rapper and spoken word artist and is a member of the hip hop group Public Enemy and head of the Security of the First World.
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[edit] Early years in Public Enemy
After returning from the army, he started a security service to work the local party circuit, calling it Unity Force. At the time, Carlton Ridenhour (aka Chuck D) was part of the Spectrum City DJ-for-hire service led by Hank Shocklee, and Spectrum City and Unity Force frequently worked side-by-side at local events. When Public Enemy was formed and signed to Def Jam, Ridenhour invited Griffin to be a sideman. Unity Force was renamed "The Security of the First World", or S1W for short. The S1W’s were brought along, and became a curious combination of bodyguards/dancers for the band. Their stage routines were a loose combination of martial arts, military drill and "step show" dances lifted from black college fraternities.
His role was also that of road manager and "Minister of Information", the intellectual public face of the band for interviews et cetera, as Flavor Flav was the "fun" one. He was rarely MC'ing, except between songs.
[edit] Controversy And Departure from Public Enemy
Before the release of It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Professor Griff, in his role as Minister of Information, gave interviews to UK magazines on behalf of Public Enemy, during which he made homophobic and antisemitic remarks. [1] [2] However, there was little controversy until May 22, 1989, when Griffin was interviewed by the Washington Times. At the time, Public Enemy enjoyed unprecedented mainstream attention with the single "Fight the Power" from the soundtrack of Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing.
During the interview with David Mills, Griffin made numerous statements such as "Jews are responsible for the majority of the wickedness in the world", citing Henry Ford's antisemetic tract, The International Jew.[3][4] When the interview was published, a media firestorm was set off, and the band found themselves under intense scrutiny.[2][5]
In a series of press conferences, Griffin was either fired, quit, or never left. Def Jam co-founder Rick Rubin had already left the label by then; taking his place alongside Russell Simmons was Lyor Cohen, the son of Israeli immigrants who had run Rush Artist Management since 1985. Before the dust settled, Cohen claims to have arranged for a Holocaust Museum to give the band a private tour.[6]
In an attempt to defuse the situation, Ridenhour first expressed an apology on his behalf,[7] and fired Griffin soon thereafter. Griffin later rejoined the group, provoking more protests, causing Ridenhour to briefly disbanded the group. When Public Enemy reformed, due to increasing attention from the press and pressure from Def Jam hierarchy, Griffin was no longer with the band.
Griffin later publicly expressed remorse for his statements after a meeting with the National Holocaust Awareness Student Organization in 1990.[8]
[edit] 1990s
At the same time, Ridenhour was in talks with 2 Live Crew leader Luther Campbell, who then signed Griffin as a recording artist for his label Skyywalker (later, Luke) Records. He recorded three albums for Luke, Pawns in the Game (1990), Kaos II Wiz-Dome (1991) and Disturb N Tha Peace (1992). These LPs were critically acclaimed by most in the hip-hop press, while getting heavily mixed reviews from the rock press, which tended to cite his recent controversies as a sticking point. Griffin eventually moved to Atlanta and did a brief stint working as a bounty hunter for a family member's bail bondsman service.
By 1996, he and Ridenhour resumed their relationship as Griffin did some guest vocals on Chuck D’s solo album, The Autobiography of Mistachuck. By 1998, he had formally re-joined the band, performing on "Game Over" on the He Got Game LP and he went on tour with Public Enemy for the House of Blues/Smokin’ Grooves tour, a kind of hip-hop-centered Lollapalooza. That same year, he released his fourth solo album, Blood of the Profit, on Lethal/Mercury Records.
[edit] 2000s
In 2000, Ridenhour and Griffin took on a side project, the rap rock outfit Confrontation Camp.
Griff's last solo effort And the Word Became Flesh followed in 2001; in an unfortunate coincidence, it was released on September 11 of that year. Griff's early Luke/Atlantic Records catalog is out of print, due to the absorption of the masters by new ownership after Luther Campbell went through bankruptcy proceedings in 1994. Many of Griffin's early recordings were re-recorded for And the Word was Made Flesh.
Griffin's role in Public Enemy has expanded, as he has contributed vocals and production work to Public Enemy’s There's a Poison Goin' On, Revolverlution and New Whirl Odor LPs. When not on tour with PE, he fronts a funk/metal/rap side project called The 7th Octave. The four-piece unit released their debut EP in 2004 on MVD Recordings, and plans to re-release it in 2005. He has recently been critical of the popularity of Flavor Flav's show Flavor of Love, denouncing it as degrading towards Black women.
On February 10, 2008, Professor Griff's house in Atlanta was destroyed by an explosion that was blamed on a gas leak; no one was hurt.
In 2009, he appeared as one of the only voices of the hip-hop community (along with KRS-ONE) in The Obama Deception, a movie critical of United States President Barack Obama.
[edit] Afrocentrism
Although himself partly Native American, Griffin has embraced a radical kind of Afrocentrism. "Muslim, Christian, Jew - here's a little somethin' I thought you knew/ there is only one God and God is one - the Rich praises none."
After his departure from Public Enemy, Griffin formed his own group, the Last Asiatic Disciples. Griffin's albums were of an Islamic and pseudo-Afrocentric style combined with increasingly spoken word lyrics.
He is a member of the The Nation of Gods and Earths, also known as the Five Percenters, an offshoot of Nation of Islam which his lyrics and record titles as a solo artist referenced. He also is a speaker against New World Order conspiracy, some believe this is related to his involvement with the Five Percenters; though it has not been verified.
[edit] Discography
| Year | Album | Chart Positions | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US | US Hip-Hop | ||||
| 1990 | Pawns in the Game | 127 | 24 | ||
| 1991 | Kao's II Wiz*7*Dome | - | 70 | ||
| 1992 | Disturb N Tha Peace | - | - | ||
| 1998 | Blood of the Profit | - | - | ||
| 2001 | And The Word Became Flesh | - | - | ||
| "—" denotes the album failed to chart or not released | |||||
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Robert Christgau (1989). "The Shit Storm". LA Weekly. http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/music/pe-law.php. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
- ^ a b "Today in Music History". http://minnesota.publicradio.org/collections/special/columns/music_blog/archive/2009/05/today_in_music_52.shtml. Retrieved 2009-05-26.
- ^ Robert Christgau (1989). "The Shit Storm". LA Weekly. http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/music/pe-law.php. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
- ^ David Toop: Rap Attack 2: African Rap To Global Hip Hop. Serpent's Tail 1992, pp. 177. ISBN 978-1852422431
- ^ Robert Christgau (1990-01-16). "Jesus, Jews, and the Jackass Theory". The Village Voice. http://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/rock/pe-90.php. Retrieved 2007-10-25.
- ^ Rich Cohen (2001-06-21). "Little Lansky and the Big Check". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5932745/little_lansky_and_the_big_check/print. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
- ^ Pareles, John (1989-08-11). "Public Enemy Rap Group Reorganizes After Anti-Semitic Comments". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/1989/08/11/arts/public-enemy-rap-group-reorganizes-after-anti-semitic-comments.html. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
- ^ Baker, Greg (1990-07-11). "The Education of Professor Griff". Miami New Times. http://www.miaminewtimes.com/1990-07-11/news/the-education-of-professor-griff/. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
