Chuck D of Public Enemy will narrate and co-produce USE OF FORCE: The Policing Of Black America, a new documentary that looks at deadly police misconduct and reform solutions. The film has interviews with various people from the movement including Mrs. Valerie Bell, mother of Sean Bell who was shot and killed by New York City police in 2006. Bell states,

“This film sheds light on the need for police reform and my relentless focus to ensure no other family lives through the pain of fifty shots. What happened to our family was not good, but I am grateful to God for allowing me to fulfill my purpose. God will always get the glory while Sean Bell gets his rightful story.” 

Premo Studios, Stable Six Islabrava Productions are producing USE OF FORCE. Cary Grant, Lathan Hodge, Esteban Martin and NFL All-Pro Defensive End Calais Campbell are Executive Producers of this international production. 

Chuck D. says, “These experiences need to be told and retold and it’s the selflessness of these families that keeps us pushing for reform. Cary, Lathan, Calais and their team make USE OF FORCE a necessary history lesson – one that we’re still living through.”  

USE OF FORCE has interviews with victims’ families, law enforcement, prosecutors, political leaders and activists including:

• Valerie Jarrett, Former Senior Advisor to Former President Barack Obama
• John Choi, County Attorney (Ramsey County, MN) and prosecuting attorney in the Philando Castile case
• Valerie Bell, Mother of Sean Bell, killed by NYPD
• Alicia Garza, Principal at Black Futures Lab, Co-founder of #BlackLivesMatter and the Black Lives Matter Global Network, the Strategy & Partnerships Director for the National Domestic Workers Alliance and the co-founder of Supermajority
• Jonathan Parham, Former Police Chief (Linden, NJ)
• George Hofstetter, University Innovation Fellow at Stanford Fellow and founder of George Hofstetter Technologies
• Glenn Kirschner, Former Federal Prosecutor and MSNBC Legal Analyst
• Roy Austin, Former Deputy Assistant Attorney General under former President Barack Obama
• Jacquelyn Carter, Executive Director of the Alliance for Safe Traffic Stops
• Sean LaJacono, Former Metropolitan Police Department Officer (Washington, DC)
• Adanté Pointer, Civil Rights Attorney (Oscar Grant, Willie McCoy)
• “Pastor Mike” McBride, Director of Urban Strategies and LIVE FREE Campaign with Faith in Action, co-founder of Black Church PAC and the National Black Brown Gun Violence Prevention Consortium, Advisor on former President Obama’s Faith Based Advisory Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
• Dr. Taft Quincey Heatley, Lead Pastor, Shiloh Baptist Church (Alexandria, VA)
• Frank Baumgartner, Richard J. Richardson Distinguished Professor of Political Science at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, founding member of the Board of Directors of Healing Justice and author of “Suspect Citizens.”

USE OF FORCE will be screened at international film festivals in the fall of 2021. 

Public Enemy release animated video for “Public Enemy Number Won” featuring Run DMC, Ad-Rock and Mike D of The Beastie Boys. They become animated characters among archived footage of the band, posters and old flyers. Chuck D explains that the song is a tribute to “Public Enemy No. 1” from their first album that helped them get signed to Def Jam. “The song is an homage to ‘Public Enemy No. 1′ and that moment in time. The Beastie Boys and Run-DMC were playing it all the time and Rick Rubin kept coming at us to sign with Def Jam. So it’s my way of bringing it all back together again.” Public Enemy just released their timely What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down? as the world argues over whether climate change is real. Rapsody, George Clinton and Nas are some of the guest appearances on the album. 

Watch Public Enemy’s animated video for “Grid” featuring Cypress Hill and George Clinton and directed by Ice The Endless. The grid does go down and people are forced to get back into nature. The group then takes down a familiar figure wearing a KKK white sheet who was terrorizing them. They recently performed “Grid” on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert after the first presidential debate. What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down? is out now. 

Public Enemy’s What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down? is out now. There are appearances from George Clinton, Cypress Hill, Questlove, Black Thought, Nas, Rapsody, DJ Premier, YG, Run DMC, Ice-T, Mike D and Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys and more. Their fire is still lit like it was 3 decades ago and the album feels especially timely considering all the social strife, racial injustice and political and cultural wars taking place in America. They come full circle with remakes of “Fight The Power: Remix 2020” and “Public Enemy Number Won.” Chuck D spoke of “Fight The Power” and told the New York Post that “The bones of the song are supposed to carry it through decades…” The group is scheduled to perform “Grid” with Cypress Hill on CBS’s special live broadcast of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert on Tuesday, September 29th following the first presidential debate.