Chuck D Discusses Why Hip-Hop Benefits from and Welcomes Haters

Chuck D of Public Enemy shared his opinion of haters and the role strict critics play in hip-hop in a recent interview with Real Hip-Hop.

Chuck D's new solo album The Black in Man, his third solo release, came out in August and the title was inspired by Johnny Cash's identity as "The Man in Black."

His earlier two releases are The Autobiography of Mistachuck (1996) and 2010's Don't Rhyme for the Sake of Riddlin'. The 2010 release was in a digital-only format, which Chuck D says was ahead of the times by being available online only, in that "it wasn't an understood format" the way it is today.

Chuck D spoke in the interview about how Public Enemy's production team, Bomb Squad, was not making music to appeal to the masses or for people's approval.

"We dared to make records that people would hate. We would twist it until they ended up loving it," he says. "We never really looked to see if anybody would love our s--t. We ain't never make a move for popular things — at least that's the Public Enemy program."

Chuck D reflected on the Ice Cube track "The N---a You Love to Hate" that followed in the footsteps of the mantra Public Enemy was creating.

"But that's all people talk about nowadays. Not how much they're loved, but how much people hate 'em," the rapper muses.

There is a place for the haters in hip-hop, and if constantly reported on beef between artists says anything, it is that people pay attention. If anything, hopefully it can be used as a motivational tool for rappers to create the music they want to make.

Readers: Do you agree with Chuck D that there is an important and visible role haters play in hip-hop? Let us know what you think down in the comments section.