\n<\/p>\n
\n\tFrom the time he first met Chuck D<\/a> at a Public Enemy<\/a> concert nearly 40 years ago, director Janol Ture was on his way to befriending and working with the members of the groundbreaking hip-hop<\/a> collective, including a stint as president of Chuck D\u2019s SLAMJamz label. But when he saw Straight Outta Compton<\/a><\/em>, the dramatized 2015 version of N.W.A\u2019s story, something clicked for him and others in that camp. \u201cIt was a phenomenal movie, and we thought, \u2018That\u2019s a great story,’\u201d he says. \u201cBut we were looking at it like, \u2018We have<\/em> to have a Public Enemy movie.\u2019 It has to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tLittle by little, the market for hip-hop nostalgia has been percolating. For years, back catalog and streaming numbers for vintage rap<\/a> records were paltry compared to those for classic rock. But in recent years, some of the genre\u2019s legends have been getting more of their due, from Straight Outta Compton<\/em> (which has grossed $161 million domestically) to a 2013 arena tour by Nas and Wu-Tang Clan that grossed $18 million, among many other examples.<\/p>\n \n\tIn that context, has Public Enemy\u2019s time arrived? Ture and those close to the group seem to think so. Talks are currently underway to produce a dramatized feature on the PE story, a la Straight Outta Compton<\/em>, or possibly a stage musical \u2014 either of which would surely include socially conscious and sonically ambitious hip-hop landmarks like \u201cFight the Power,\u201d \u201cBring the Noise,\u201d \u201cRebel without a Cause,\u201d and \u201c911 Is a Joke.\u201d In what he calls a \u201cteaser\u201d for a potential feature film, Ture has completed To My Rescue, It Was the S1Ws (A Public Enemy Story)<\/em>, a two-hour doc on the mysterious, uniformed crew that, in various configurations, has been part of the Public Enemy live show and organization as long as the group itself has existed.<\/p>\n