Chuck D

Carlton Douglas Ridenhour was born August 1, 1960. He is best known professionally as Chuck D the leader and frontman of the hip hop group Public Enemy, which he co-founded in 1985 with Flavor Flav.

Chuck D is a social activist, multimedia producer, visual artist, and digital music pioneer. He has been featured in more than one hundred documentaries on music, technology, politics, and race, and cocurated the Smithsonian Anthology of Hip-Hop and Rap. He has also been a national spokesperson for Rock the Vote, the National Urban League, Americans for the Arts, and the National Alliance of African American Athletes. As part of Public Enemy, he was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and earned a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Chuck is the Curator & Creative Lead of Enemy Books in partnership with Akashic Books.

Learn more at Chuck D’s official website.