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Hip hop legend Chuck D paints Swiss city of Basel

The Local
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Hip hop legend Chuck D paints Swiss city of Basel
Rapper Chuck D of Public Enemy in Las Vegas in 2015. Photo: Getty Images North America/AFP

A key figure in the history of rap music, Public Enemy front man Chuck D is also a talented artist.

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The 57-year-old who all but invented political hip hop is currently on tour in Europe with the supergroup Prophets of Rage which also includes members of Rage Against the Machine and Cypress Hill. 

The band are due to play on Thursday at the massive Gurtenfestival in Bern. 

Read also: Seven great summer music festivals in Switzerland

But instead of tearing up hotel rooms in the time-honoured tradition of big-name stars, Chuck D, whose real name is Carlon Douglas Ridenhour, prefers to take out a brush and paint the places he performs. 

A painting dated last Saturday and posted on Twitter shows a Basel tram from what appears to be outside the Hotel Les Trois Rois, according to Swiss news portal 20 Minuten

An earlier painting from May shows a view of the Rhine from the same hotel. 

He has also recently painted scenes in other European cities including Barcelona, Milan and Bergen in Norway.

Ridenhour has a Bachelor of Fine Arts from New York's Adelphi University and now holds an honorary doctorate from the instituion. 

The rapper's first art show was held in California this year. It featured watercolour and ink illustrations of life on tour priced from $550 to $1,500 dollars. 

Read also: How Zurich finally made peace with its very own Banksy

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