Public Enemy have released a new protest song, ‘March Madness’.
Marking the hip hop group’s first original song in five years, the track was written and recorded with a collective of student collaborators.
Initial proceeds from the track, which was released to mark this year’s Juneteenth, will go to The Black Music Action Coalition Human Rights Fund and the anti–gun violence organisation Everytown. The student contributors, from Harvard, Berklee, and Howard, include lyricists Anthony Bell, Dee-1, Ollie Marinaccio, Rhiannon Rae Ellis; musicians Sydney DeLeonardis and Ciaran de Chaud; and producer Nigel Sanjai Sanders.
Referencing the Trump’s administration ongoing clampdown on migrants in the US, as well as continued gun violence in the country, Public Enemy’s Flava Flav said in a statement: “It’s horrible what’s going on right now around the world and especially here. I hate it. But I got a voice and a platform and we are still fighting the power and for positive change all these years later.”
Chuck D added, “Gun violence is not normal behavior, but it’s been going on for so long that it’s normalised. We need to treat it like the sickness and the epidemic that it is.”
Public Enemy’s last album, What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down, was released in 2020.
Listen to ‘March Madness’ below.
