Public Enemy has been in the game for well over 30 years. According to Chuck D, they've played 4,162 but not all of them went on according to plan. Chuck D, who's getting ready to hit the road on the "Gods Of Rap" tour, recently spoke to HipHopDX about the time that the group was forced to have an entourage take his place during his absence.
In 1988, Run-DMC recruited EPMD, JJ Fad, DJ Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince and Public Enemy for the "Run's House" tour. The tour was scheduled for a show in Omaha, Nebraska but Chuck D was in New York and had to fly in to make it there for the show.
“Our position was usually third in the lineup,” he explained. “So it started out J.J. Fad, EPMD and then third, P.E. would play and then Will and Jeff would play between us and then Run-DMC to give it great contrast."
He explained that he tried to get his tour manager to switch the set times in order for him to make it on time but by the time he got to the venue, Public Enemy just wrapped things up.
"I was going to get out there late and I told the tour manager at the time, ‘Look, have Will and Jeff go on in our slot this one time. I’ll get there in time to go right before Run," he explained. "Sure enough, I get there, I get out of the cab, run through a cornfield, right? [Laughs] and get to the Omaha Music Hall. I see the dressing room and everybody’s getting dressed. I’m like, ‘What the hell? We ready to go on?’ They said, ‘We did the show.’ ‘I said, ‘How you do the show?’ This was before videos, so Mike Williams, one of the S1Ws, was able to pull the hat over his eyes and be inconspicuous.”