Richard Duane Griffin (born August 1, 1960), better known by his stage name Professor Griff, is an American rapper, spoken word artist, and lecturer[citation needed] currently residing in Atlanta.

[1] Before the release of It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, Professor Griff, in his role as Minister of Information, gave interviews to UK magazines on behalf of Public Enemy, during which he made homophobic and anti-Semitic remarks.

At the time, Public Enemy enjoyed unprecedented mainstream attention with the single "Fight the Power" from the soundtrack of Spike Lee's film Do the Right Thing.

[7] Def Jam co-founder Rick Rubin had already left the label by then; taking his place alongside Russell Simmons was Lyor Cohen, the son of Israeli immigrants who had run Rush Artist Management since 1985.

When Public Enemy reformed, due to increasing attention from the press and pressure from Def Jam hierarchy, Griffin was no longer with the group.

In a YouTube interview on August 2, 2018, Griffin recalled one of his many long conversations with record executive Lyor Cohen he said he used to have respectful debates about history: "I told him about the history of him and his people about the Ashkenazi, the Ashke-Nazis, and when I laid it on him he couldn't handle it and I'm like, all right, which is common knowledge today everybody talking about it, you understand what I'm saying people are making books about it.