The rapper, 60, on forgetting lyrics, visiting Africa and confronting institutions with Public Enemy
I have a great memory, but it’s complicated. I can recall events, occasions – I surprised my mother the other day by sketching out the apartment we lived in when I was a one-year-old. But I have a terrible memory for lyrics. It’s caused problems for almost 40 years.
Hip-hop rerouted my life. I wanted to be an artist and I came out of university highly skilled, but hip-hop music bit me in 1979 and I immediately knew where I had to take my art and my politics and my attention.
