You know what I think hurt PE? Flav getting arrested for crack possession. That shyt was similiar to the WTF moment when Hacksaw Jim Duggan was caught smoking weed with The Iron Sheik, And that all started right when gangster Rap was in full effect. Shan said it best how he would promote being against drugs while he was a fiend and that was cool and would have worked for Flav had he not gotten caught. After they did the spotlight show showing Flav getting arrested on the news for crack..PE's image was never the same and their 94 album went right under the radar.
By 94, pe succumbed to the change in sonic landscape. as chuck never worked to up skills and eventually later on really succumbed to selling out and hired a gw in The coup and paris. Which goes against the culture based ideal of what pe is supposed to be. Flav getting caught for crack would not have hurt PE.
if they adjusted to the change in sonic landscape. Not to mention chuck also never applied himself in the sonic landscape and then the actual change of the technical revolution occurred in the coming of the rap herald in nas. Of which everyone tried to compete from anyone to fat Joe.
Surely if fat Joe can fake the funk but still somehow have better writing. Surely chuck should be able to up skills on his own being whom he is. Except chuck never adjusted in the sonic landscape or the technical revolution. Where he should have adjusted because now he did not have to be stylez war based at all. Which also hampered pe in the conversion of the golden age to the styles war era. When chuck did not adjust like all the other legends and pioneers of the new school way of thought. Chuck crippled pe beyond repair.
as that would be looked at and was looked at as pe being culturally fake and not willing to compete.
to escape the obsolete mantra, which damaged the old school way of thought artist in the conversion to the new school way of thought. Which is frowned upon in the new school because chuck was an emcee and to not adjust and not improve. was against what the new school way of thought was about as well. With everything changing it made chuck being vocal in his own launched pr appear fake.
[Especially when in the jacket cover of it takes a nation. The ol school and new school is printed in the j card of the original first printing as well.]
which was probably not Murdoch associated because of griff's comments and flav's issues. Couple that with chuck's unwillingness to improve emcee wise and the mix created and made PE a dead draw.
Then later on the exposal and openness of pe getting ghosted by Paris and coup. completely damaged pe beyond repair, even though they were transparent. It was never going to work.
as pe is basically looked at in its glory drawing years.
as what exactly rap should sound like. With them not adhere'n to the culture. It destroyed that entire sentiment of their legacy and when you put it all there in real time via their history in timeline. That was as counter productive as any group could be to themselves.
So as time went on and or pe Continued to pr themselves and also not have chuck improve on his own with his real skills. That eventually put pe in the obscure artist realm that they inhabit now. Yet pe all time and for its time is the most important rap group via scope, content and actual sonic presentation. Yet in that there is no wiggle room for PE to flodge like other acts and imo, I believe the entire group underestimated that. Especially after 92, and their subsequent projects. As their pr basically painted them in the light of belly ache'n and sellout turmoil. Of which could have been fixed and repaired.
if chuck would have applied himself to the emcee side.
to at least attempt to comeback in the super saiyan skilled essense of how pe is revere'd. pe never tried to get back to being looked at as good as they were.
like say Kane worked hard, on three occassions to show he was writing himself back into being what the public personification of what Kane was or looked at in basic scope. Kane went back to the pad, even pulled out the dances and ditched his sellout shyt that hurt him and even in pr admitted his mistakes. Kane took three opportunities to never give up being what Kane is. He released vet day,...which lead to platinum plus and then his vjnuk twelve inch run and that created his comeback visually at the vh1 honors special and crowned Kane's second coming and real return.
With PE, chuck never took responsibility emcee wise and that is why pr to this day is not looked at by this Gen as what pe is and most importantly.
how in the original two stellar rap release run pe is viewed.
It is more pe and chuck hurting PE's legacy. Not actually a black balling. If chuck remains skilled and up skills. He does what kool g rap did in the mid to late nineties did. Which is seriously make an argument as the goat content genre rapper and rap's true goat as well by actual activity and skill. If rakim never drops seven seal to show Ra was skilled on a level g rap would and could never attain. G rap would be the goat. In that chuck never did what Kane did, nor did he even attempt to reach for the crown like g rap did out of sheer quality of work. That is why pe has never recovered in sentiment and draw. If they did pe would still be at least Kane to g rap to the mythos of nwa was in basic scope. Where the griff shyt and flav issues just acted as hiccups. Chuck never did what the roots did with Malik b and to this day. Almost no one even utters Malik b's name. It is always the roots for their sonic presentation and direction. Then black thought's improv and stage performance skills. In that or should have been the same thing in basic scope for PE.
Yet, chuck never worked on and built skills to do what should have been done.
Also in complete closing pe will never return to be what pe is. As the media outlet that repaired Kane, LL and any other close to dead draw based ol to new school artist is no longer relevant in mtv/vh1 as music outlet. So in those vh1 fascination with the history of rap to basically take it over and cement their take on what they want rap to be globally via Viacom. PE was not attempting nor was adhere'n to the culture and the skills of their piller to capitalize on that wrinkle in time. Now that window is lost and also closed as there is not visual actual media outlet based around relevent tv programming.
to pull pe out the way, everyone from salt to la, to kane to LL did.
All that is known about pe is basically flav being the ugliest talked about lady's man in history. Of which PE could have used as part of its prohibitive tale based content to even solidify women keeping their virtue intact. By using tv's new ideal and how flav was perceived to the new Gen via viacom.
Instead chuck just pr'd an angry sentiment towards flav and never absolved flav of blame. While also never realizing that chuck having a gw and never up'n his own actual skill set in the changes sonically and from the technical revolution ushered in by nas. That will always hurt them because they never appeared about solidarity in turmoil from griff to flav.
Art Barr
