Tracing the rise of rap and hip-hop with Chuck D, one of the genre's pioneers

When Chuck D came on the music scene in the mid '80s as frontman of the rap group Public Enemy, he not only changed the way hip-hop was perceived by the outside world, he changed the way hip-hop perceived itself. 

Rap has, by default of its creators, always been the voice of young black and Latino America, but Public Enemy set the bar for what rap, combined with the spirit of political activism, could sound and look like.

Over his decades-spanning career, Chuck D has kept his voice, eyes and mind on the pulse of hip-hop and black America, and not just as a musician. He hosts his own internet radio show on rapstation.com, he's been a prominent voice on social media, and more recently, he joined forces with members of Rage Against the Machine, Audioslave and Cypress Hill to form the supergroup, Prophets of Rage.

Now, the Rock n' Roll hall of famer has a new book called This Day in Rap and Hip-Hop History. It traces the genre's rise from a music initially rejected by the mainstream establishment to becoming one of the most-consumed genres in pop music today. He joins Tom Power today to discuss his latest project.

— Produced by Ty Callender