Chuck D Lists Bob Marley’s ‘Get Up, Stand Up’ Among “Songs That Shook the Planet”
Public Enemy’s co-founder and frontman Chuck D has listed Bob Marley & The Wailers’ 1973 hit Get Up, Stand Up and Simmer Down, as among the songs by which he was influenced as a youngster.
In Audible’s Songs That Shook the Planet series, which delves into the world’s most politically and socially influential songs, Chuck D said Jamaican music, was among the songs which influenced his early life, when he listened to records which his mother played on the record player at in their home.
According to the veteran rapper, he grew up listening to Jamaica’s roots records and found that it was akin to the then-burgeoning hip-hop movement, among them Public Enemy, which he formed with Flavor Flav in New York, in 1985, and which came to global attention for their political messages which included topics such as American racism and the media.
“Get Up Stand Up was a song that called for action, both physical and spiritual. Co-written by Peter Tosh reportedly after visiting Haiti and seeing the impoverished conditions that mirrored their own Trenchtown experience, the song was a testament to the toughness they had growing up in Jamaica, struggling for respect and equality,” Chuck D, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee said.
“Marley’s early Ska songs like Simmer Down were directed to Jamaican ‘Rude Boys’ or Black Youth that were criminal juveniles…sounds similar right,” he added.
Chuck D also spoke about People Get Ready, a revolutionary anthem by Curtis Mayfield, which was covered by Bob Marley. “Bob Marley recorded the song twice, first in 1965 as a member of the original Wailers with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer, then again in 1977 as “One Love People Get Ready” on the Exodus album.”
People Get Ready, he said, was part of a long line of Black American freedom songs that used trade imagery to signify the movement from oppression to freedom and mobility in a world where black people were oppressed.
The Songs That Shook The Planet series is described as an entertainment and history lesson covering tracks spanning several genres and decades, which highlight the musicians, who authored and performed songs that changed the world and influenced generations. It is a part of Audible’s Words + Music Initiative, which is also described as “an innovative and unprecedented approach to musical story-telling”.
Get Up, Stand Up is renowned for being the world’s biggest protest song. It played a central role in the struggle of black people in Apartheid South Africa, who were being oppressed by a white minority.
It was written by Marley and Peter Tosh and originally appeared on The Wailers’ 1973 album Burnin’. Solo versions have also been recorded by Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer. It was later included on Marley’s celebrated Legend compilation album. The track was also the lead single on the Burnin’ album and is described as “a signature song with a more confrontational and militant tone than previous records”.
According to whosampled.com, Get Up, Stand Up has been sampled in 45 songs including Crown The King by American rap group Migos, Book of Life by Common in 1994, and Git Up, Git Out by OutKast featuring Goodie Mob in 1994. It was also and covered in 27 other songs and remixed in one.
The most recent remake of the song was in May 2021, by American singer/songwriter Nakkia Gold featuring rapper Wiz Khalifa. This version, however, was met with mixed views form Reggae fans, many of whom objected to Khalifa being featured on a Marley song, due to his unwholesome antecedents.
In September last year, during her address to the United Nations at the annual gathering of world leaders in New York, the Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley had drawn for the lyrics of Get Up, Stand Up, as she rebuked the 76-year-old organization for being in a constant state of inertia.
Mottley’s address, propelled by the Marley/Tosh quote, captured news headlines across the world, as she made her case to “spur meaningful action from the 193-member United Nations General Assembly on crises from climate and COVID-19 vaccines to poverty and education”.
Chuck D is himself described as “a primary architect of the movement that revolutionized rap as a means of serving truth to power”, who helped to pioneer “a new voice of Black-centered activism”. The co-founder of Public Enemy is credited with authoring anthems such as Fight the Power, By the Time I Get to Arizona, Bring the Noise, and State of the Union.
He has a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award among his accolades and is listed as one of XXL’s “top 20 MCs of all time”. Chuck D is also a best-selling author of the 2017 book This Day in Rap and Hip-Hop History, which is described as a comprehensive, chronological survey of rap and hip-hop from 1973 to the present” detailing “the most iconic moments and relevant songs from the genre’s recorded history”. He is also a preserved member of The Library of Congress for Fear of a Black Planet, which was among the third annual selection of 50 sound recordings, considered “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant, by the National Recording Registry.