Peter Rosenberg Apologizes To Chuck D (Video)

Throughout June, Public Enemy’s Chuck D and HOT 97’s Peter Rosenberg had a debate-possibly perceived as a war of words on social media.

The Hip-Hop legend—who has long run an online radio platform, RapStation.com, called out the New York City station’s 2014 Summer Jam event, in regards to the station’s alleged crimes against Hip-Hop.

Rosenberg responded less than one week later, in a video, stating:

“Listen, Chuck, I respect the hell out of you, but you sir are trolling and you are above that. First of all, Chuck D has always hated radio. He hated WBLS and KISS when they were Black owned and now you hate HOT 97. Hip-Hop’s doing pretty well. Last time I checked we had some amazing artists out there selling tons of albums. Last time I checked there are two tours selling out football stadiums with Hip Hop. Not too bad. Now is Hip Hop perfect? Absolutely not. But was it perfect when Chuck D was active in the game? Absolutely not.

Lastly two things and this first one’s gonna upset some people. Chuck D, no one elected you President of Hip Hop. We love you, you’re a father of this game. You contributed. But we did not elect you President of this culture. No one owns Hip-Hop. I don’t own Hip-Hop. Ebro doesn’t own Hip-Hop. HOT 97 doesn’t own Hip Hop. It’s a collective culture and we all do our best to support it. Speaking of which, last thing, Chuck, what are you doing to support this culture besides Tweeting confusing messages in 140 characters or less. Are you going out to shows? ‘Cause we’re all at shows booking new artists every single day. Working with them. Getting them on the festival stage, getting them on the main stage, and building artists. What are you doing? ‘Cause if all you’re doing is trolling on Twitter, you ain’t doing that much.”

The response led to a lengthy back-and-forth dialog, involving artists including Jay Electronica, who sided with Chuck D, as well as another Long Island icon, Bumpy Knuckles (a/k/a Freddie Foxxx), who spoke at the request of friend/collaborator Chuck, at The Combat Jack Show.

A month later, in the wake of Do The Right Thing‘s 25th anniversary, Peter Rosenberg responded this morning (July 7) on his “The Realness” segment, the same platform he used to respond previously. The member of The Low Budget Crew, which also includes Oddisee and Kev Brown, publicly apologized to Chuck D, citing “Fight The Power” as a massive inspiration to his career. The Maryland native, who also DJs outside of radio, added that he wished no sign of disrespect to the Long Island legend and front-man of P.E.:

Do you think the book is now closed on this debate and discussion in Hip-Hop, of the radio paradigms and respect for the greats?

Related: Read 2Pac’s 1995 Letter From Prison To Public Enemy’s Chuck D