‘It’s a sickness’: Chuck D on his new graphic novel and the ‘madness’ of US gun culture

The Public Enemy frontman talks about why he returned to his first love of art to create a book about the violence dividing his country

They were the rabble-rousing rappers that brought the 1980s racially charged streets of New York to the masses and turned hip-hop into a potent political force. Public Enemy's lyrics were born of the violence of prejudice in America, turbulent anthems such as Fight the Power and Don't Believe the Hype captured the zeitgeist and planted political hip-hop into the heart of American culture.

Their subsequent catalogue of socially raging songs made them one of the most influential bands of the modern era, and culminated in the prestigious Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2020.