Professor Griff
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Professor Griff (born 1 august 1960) was a member of the music group Public Enemy and head of the S1W.
Solo career
His first solo album appeared on Luke Records. Musically, it is partly an interesting mix of PE's' hardcore hip hop and Bass music, courtesy of "Pawns in the Game"'s co producer Beatmaster Clay D. Griff's love for the spoken word à la Gil Scott Heron and The Last Poets is obvious on "Real African People", a track that samples Scott Heron's greatest hit, The Revolution Will Not Be Televised. There are even more spoken words on the following albums: "Kao's II Wiz*7*Dome" (1991, Luke Records), "Disturb N Tha Peace" (1992, Luke Records) and "Blood of the Profit" (1998, Lethal Records).
Controversy
Griff was accused of anti-Semitism around 1990. According to Rap Attack 2, he "suggested that Jews are responsible for the majority of the wickedness in the world" (p. 177). That is a charge he denies to this day calling it "crazy...really, really, crazy." This was part of an interview for the Washington Post and it caused a media furor. In an attempt to diffuse the situation, Chuck D first fired Griff. Griff later rejoined the group, but Chuck D then disbanded the group. When Public Enemy reformed they did so without Griff, but Chuck D and Griff still work together as a part of the Rapcore outfit Confrontation Camp. Coincidentially, Rick Rubin, producer of PE's early albums and cofounder of their label Def Jam is Jewish.
Afrocentrism
Although himself partly Native American, Griff has embraced a radical kind of Afrocentrism. "Muslim, Christian, Jew - here's a little somethin' I thought you knew/ there is only one God and God is one - the Rich praises none". After his departure from PE, Griff formed his own band, the Asiatic Disciples. The results were mixed, an Islamic and Afrocentric slant can be detected on efforts like 1998's Blood of the Profit.