35 years later, and Public Enemy is still fighting the power. And not only that, because in 2025, Chuck D and Flavor Flav put their money where their mouth is. Or, more accurately, where it can do the most good.
When Public Enemy released their first single in five years, “March Madness”, the duo donated all the proceeds to two non-profits. The Black Music Action Coalition, which advocates for and protects Black artists throughout the music industry, and Everytown, which works to end gun violence in America.
Public Enemy is Still Fighting Against Corruption and Political Violence Decades Later
While the single was released in honor of Juneteenth, its subject is also highly relevant to those two organizations. Public Enemy described the track as “a powerful rebuke against crooked politicians and the ongoing crisis of gun violence.”
The iconic duo took it a step further by bringing in several collaborators. But these weren’t your average music industry songwriters or producers. Public Enemy brought together a collective of students from a few different college music programs. These included lyricists Anthony Bell, Ollie Marinaccio, and Rhiannon Rae Ellis from Harvard University, alongside Sydney DeLeonardis and Ciaran de Chaud from Berklee College of Music. Nigel Sanjai Sanders of Howard University produced the track.
Additionally, rapper Dee-1 collaborated on the writing. He was the 2022-23 Hip Hop Fellow at Harvard and teaches the course “The Intersection of Hip Hop and Social Change” at Tufts University.
In a statement at the time of the single’s release, Flavor Flav expressed his gratitude for the work of these student musicians. He added, “It’s horrible what’s going on right now around the world and especially here. I hate it. But I got a voice and a platform, and we are still fighting the power and for positive change all these years later.”
Chuck D added, “Gun violence is not normal behavior, but it’s been going on for so long that it’s normalized. We need to treat it like the sickness and the epidemic that it is.”
“March Madness” appeared on Public Enemy’s surprise-released 2025 album Black Sky Over the Projects: Apartment 2025. Dropped as a pay-what-you-want release on Bandcamp, the album didn’t chart and was barely covered in mainstream music publications. But the duo is still out there fighting the power despite it all, and that remains a comforting thought.
The post Public Enemy (Literally) Went Back to School On Political Protest Anthem ‘March Madness’ appeared first on VICE.
