Chuck D has returned with a new single “New Gens,” which will appear on his upcoming solo album Radio Armageddon. “New Gens” is his first solo single and video in seven years. The song begins with a PSA voice commenting on adolescence: “Everyone asks themselves, ‘How will I turn out?’” Chuck immediately cuts in, “Weird, I’m weird, too.” Radio Armageddon is out May 16 via Def Jam Recordings.
The 14-track album features guest appearances from Daddy-O of Stetsasonic, Schoolly D, Philadelphia hip hop legend Phill Most Chill, Donald D and Jazzy Jay of the Universal Zulu Nation, hip-hop’s first hype woman 1/2 Pint, ULTRAMAG7, NYC’s Miranda Writes and artists from Chuck’s own SpitSLAM Record Label Group: The Impossebulls and Blak Madeen.
The Public Enemy co-founder’s last solo effort was 2018’s Celebration of Ignorance.
In 2020, Chuck D and Public Enemy unleashed their 15th album What You Gonna Do When The Grid Goes Down? on Def Jam. It featured collaborations with Beastie Boys, Cypress Hill, George Clinton, Ice-T, Nas and more. Public Enemy was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.
In 2023, Chuck D narrated Can You Dig It? A Hip-Hop Origin Story, an Audible Original series commemorating the 50th anniversary of hip-hop. The 5-episode docu-drama explores the events surrounding the 1971 murder of Cornell “Black Benjie” Benjamin, a respected peacekeeper and member of the influential Ghetto Brothers gang in the Bronx. That same year, he co-produced the PBS documentary Fight the Power: How Hip Hop Changed the World.
Chuck D was also a member of Prophets of Rage, an American rap rock supergroup composed of members of Rage Against the Machine/Audioslave, Public Enemy, and Cypress Hill. They released a self-titled album in 2017. The group disbanded in 2019 after Rage Against the Machine reunited.
