Chuck D of Public Enemy spoke Thursday night at Sac State's Union Ballroom. Students from Sac State, Sacramento High School and community members braved the rain to listen to him speak for an hour-and-a-half. D directed his speech to the younger students in the room, the freshmen and sophomores who are new to the higher learning system. He spoke about the importance of education, stressing that it is a way for people to improve their lives. He credited his wife,Gaye Theresa Johnson, a college professor who was in attendance, with instilling a love of knowledge in him. D captured his audience by using slang and references of the younger generation. "(Chuck) gave us the tools necessary t

Chuck D is a rebel without a pause. The co-founder of seminal hip-hop group Public Enemy is a rapper, author and activist. He refers to himself as a "raptivist," and "an ambassador for hip-hop." Thursday night, D will give a free speech at Sacramento State, where he'll be talking about rap, race, technology and communication. The event will also be a celebration of Black History Month. D likes to talk. Given that he writes a blog, tours the world on speaking gigs, and owns the SLAMjams music label, which recently threw together an iTunes album for Haiti, he is surprisingly available. He called me for an unscheduled interview, just a few minutes after I e-mailed him. "You can't go throug