Chuck D advised the audience to use college as a way to develop skills rather than just an avenue to obtain wealth while he spoke to an auditorium of Syracuse University students Wednesday night.

‘Get money out of your mind if you’re a college kid trying to be valuable,’ Chuck D said. ‘No job is going to be laughed at in the next 10 years.’

His discussion in Gifford Auditorium, presented by the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity, was titled ‘Combating the Whippings of Mass Distraction: Race, Rap and Reality.’ Among other topics, Chuck D suggested ways for students to overcome problems in the United States today and spoke about hip-hop’s lost connection to the community.

Chuck D is the leader and co-founder of Public Enemy, an influential rap group that was prominent throughout the ’80s to mid-’90s and is still active today. He recorded several songs that topped Billboard’s U.S. Rap chart, including ‘Fight the Power,’ ‘Can’t Truss It’ and ‘Shut ‘Em Down.’ Public Enemy’s studio albums are internationally renowned, and three have reached platinum status.

Along with his music career, Chuck D is a political activist, lecturer and author. His last appearance at SU was in 2004 as a speaker for a University Union lecture.

He further advised students to embrace their intellect and not to waste time on campus. While in school, students should care about their major and share their knowledge with others, he said.

‘Don’t dumb yourself down for anything,’ he said, adding that mainstream influences can program people into valuing things they shouldn’t. ‘If you look at mass culture, they make the hip-hop rite of passage the prison industrial complex.’

He addressed troubles that are being seen in the world today, saying that Occupy Wall Street began because of dissatisfaction in America. He cited ethnic and socioeconomic inequalities as major factors that affect the country.

‘The game of race is still being played in the western world like it’s a shame. After race, it’s a game of class,’ he said.

Chuck D also commented on how hip-hop has changed in the past 18 years — in his opinion, for the worse. In 1993, he said, hip-hop was taken hostage by corporations. He cited the East Coast/West Coast rivalry as one example, saying that the conflict was started by corporations in New York and Los Angeles during the ’90s. It eventually resulted in the unnecessary loss of two of hip-hop’s greatest rappers, Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur.

His solution to the problem was to rekindle the connection the community and music used to have.

‘If the community doesn’t support the arts, how can the arts support the community?’ he asked, stating that high schools needed to be revised to support music the same way athletics are supported.

Oladotun Idowu, a sophomore public relations major, said she enjoyed hearing about the history of hip-hop from someone who had lived it.

‘He came with knowledge about the past that our generation never really knew about,’ she said. ‘It was really nice to come here and see there was once a side of hip-hop and rap that spoke to the community, that lived and breathed and did their work to cater to the community.’

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Published on November 2, 2011 at 12:00 pm