Public Enemy co-founder Hank Shocklee is lending his production expertise to score the upcoming John Oluwole ADEkoje-directed film YE! A Jagun Story.
While the movie is set to arrive next year, work on the soundtrack has already begun with the lead single “Sun Down” being released earlier this week thanks to a collaboration between Ninety and Teknimension.
In addition to scoring YE!, the Bomb Squad leader also curated the soundtrack with help from emerging Pan-African artists spanning the globe from the U.S. to Nigeria and South Africa.
Check out ‘Sun Down’ below:
According to a press release, the plot of the film is described as “the origin story of Stellar (Egbuson-Akande), the future leader of the Ajumose, a covert, celestial league of brilliant women who use ancestral memory to reconstruct the colonized minds of black people throughout the diaspora.”
After Stellar’s family is brutally murdered by child soldiers, she then creates a plan to find the killer and exact their revenge.
YE! A Jagun Story serves as the first of three installments of an independent African trilogy.
Watch the trailer for YE! below:
Elsewhere in the Public Enemy universe, Shocklee’s running mate Chuck D sold off a portion of his lucrative catalog in September.
The deal with Reach Music includes Chuck D’s full songwriting share of royalties and half of his “copyright interest” as the publisher. Although, he’ll still keep half of the interest in his publishing royalties.
“Doing this deal was the right timing for a forward and logical evolution of [their] business together in an ever-changing industry,” he said. “Reach has always been ahead of the curve on establishing respect for the Hip Hop genre songwriting and publishing-wise, and they will continue taking care of my works.”
The deal spans more than 300 tracks bearing Chuck D and Public Enemy’s namesake from 1987 through 2012, including acclaimed PE albums It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back and Fear of a Black Planet.
In August, Chuck D made a surprise appearance during the Anthrax and Hatebreed show at the Coney Island Amphitheater.
The two music titans performed “Bring The Noise,” their collaboration from the 1991 Anthrax album Attack of the Killer B’s.
Anthrax singer Scott Ian asked the crowd if they could “bring the noise,” and shortly after Chuck D popped up out of nowhere and delivered his verses.
