Chuck D 'Raps' with Chris Cuomo at Canoe Place in Hampton Bays

The U.N. should be turned into condos. Women should run business and government. And the internet is ‘socially bombing’ all human beings, most notably his 5-year-old granddaughter. Rap pioneer Chuck D has opinions. His friend and moderator Chris Cuomo encourages them.

It made for a lively, fast-paced and informative night at Canoe Place‘s Front Row series Sunday.

“He’s been a big brother to me,” Cuomo told the rapt rap audience of around 100. The excuse for the evening was hip-hop music turning 50 this year. But faster than a turntable screech, it pivoted into the Middle East, Long Island, the Yankees, the Mets and new age attention spans.

“I’ve got a granddaughter who’s 5,” the 62-year-old icon said. “The amount of super data that’s coming at her is mind-boggling. It’s almost like they’re socially bombing human beings,” he continued.

Cuomo, who’s wife Christina Cuomo cosponsored the event, admitted his own children know all the lyrics to most every song on the radio and that his teenage son is “spending 45 minutes in the bathroom not doing what I thought he was doing.”

The NewsNation host then made a scrolling telephone gesture. The audience ate it up. But as ‘one-man audiences’ go, you couldn’t get two better speakers on a Sunday night than Cuomo and ‘D.’

“We text one another,” Cuomo said.

During the audience Q & A, which amusingly had a large number of self-proclaimed DJs, the Public Enemy co-founder said he enjoyed the group’s ascent to stardom but liked “being in the background” while other performers got the attention.

He talked about his surprise at Spike Lee putting “Fight the Power” in Do The Right Thing around “500 times.” More audience laughter. But then added the song was just as relevant today. And the times we live in were clearly the take away here. He’d like that granddaughter to grow up and be in business or government because “there’s enough testosterone in there now.”

Cuomo mentioned Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s desire for an all-female Supreme Court. Then D suggested the United Nations didn’t mean what it used to and said, “Maybe it should just be converted to condos and lofts.”

These guys were killing up there. But to be honest there were probably a few realtors among the DJs in the audience salivating at the idea.

When it was winding down, there was mention of a book by D but no push to buy one. This was a casual conversation among friends. We were just lucky to be invited.

Okay, it was $15, but it really doesn’t matter. At any price, these Canoe Place Front Row chats are quickly turning into the ‘place’ to be.

Check out canoeplace.com to find out about upcoming Front Row chats at Canoe Place Inn & Cottages.

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Bill McCuddy is a frequent Dan’s contributor. He is a member of the Critic’s Choice Association, cohosts a movie podcast (“So I’m rolling in dough.”) with Neil Rosen and Bill Bregoli called “Sitting Around Talking Movies” and is a regular on the PBS/All Arts show “Talking Pictures” also with Rosen. He also writes for GoldDerby.com.