Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised eyebrows by referencing a lyric by the rap group Public Enemy as he spoke about the United States bombing Iran today.
Speaking during President Trump’s Cabinet meeting in support of the ongoing attacks on Iran, Rubio said: “Every day, the Department of War lets the drummer get wicked over every portion of Iran that has military capabilities.”
This echoes a line from Public Enemy’s hit 1990 single “Welcome to the Terrordome”, where Chuck D raps: “I got so much trouble on my mind/Refuse to lose/Here's your ticket/Hear the drummer get wicked.”
The Independent has approached Chuck D for comment.
The group are outspoken and longstanding critics of the Trump administration. Speaking to The Independent last year, Chuck D said about Trump: “I won’t even say his name. We call him 47, 45. We don’t even believe he believes half of the things he even says, but the problem is you don’t know whether he’s putting on an incredible acting job or not. He’s a showman – he’s an incredible showman. He is an entertainer.”
Rubio has long professed his love for the rap genre and has slipped references into his public statements. Earlier this year, following the ousting of Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, Rubio quoted Biggie Smalls’s “Juicy” when he said: “If you don’t know, now you now.”
The 54-year-old Miami-born Republican politician has previously spoken about his love of Public Enemy in particular.
Back in 2012, he talked to GQ following the publication of his autobiography, during which his interviewer noted that the book was likely the first time a politician had cited a love of pioneering hip-hop DJ Afrika Bambaataa.
Asked whether he has a favorite Afrika Bambaataa song, Rubio responded: “All the normal ones.”
He then went on to talk about his love of rap more generally, saying: “People forget how dominant Public Enemy became in the mid 80s. No one talks about how transformative they were. And then that led to the 90s and the sort of East Coast v. West Coast stuff, which is kinda when I came of age.”
In 2015, while appearing on the Fox News show Outnumbered, Rubio described Tupac’s 1996 album All Eyez On Me as “one of the greatest rap albums ever.”
Asked about the rivalry between Tupac and Biggie Smalls, Rubio added: “I’m a West Coast fan. I don’t think they should have shot each other and had a dispute that way, but I was a West Coast fan.”
