As fires rip through Los Angeles, rapper Chuck D wants to put an end to anyone misinterpreting Public Enemy‘s “Burn Hollywood Burn” as a sick celebration of the devastation.
The song, from 1990 classic Fear Of A Black Planet, “is a protest song extracted from the Watts rebellion, coined by the magnificent Montague in 1965 against inequality when he said ‘burn baby burn’ across the air,” he wrote on Instagram. “We made mind-revolution songs aimed at a one-sided exploitation by a industry. Has nothing to do with families, losing everything they have in a natural disaster. Learn the history. Godspeed to those in loss.”
In the caption, Chuck D wrote, “PRAY 4 LA.”
The California fires have displaced over 130,000 people, including many musicians. “Me and my children’s home is gone,” Jhené Aiko wrote on Instagram. “Burned to the ground with all our things inside. Lord have mercy. Thankful we still have each other. Starting from scratch. My heart is so heavy.” A GoFundMe was launched for DIIV frontman Zachary Cole Smith after his house burned down, while Speedy Ortiz’s Sadie Dupuis put together a spreadsheet for music industry folks who have been affected by the fires.
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