Doug E. Fresh’s peers have dubbed him “The World’s Greatest Entertainer.” Chuck D, co-founder of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducted group Public Enemy, coined the moniker after touring with Fresh and marveling at his unrivaled ability to electrify any crowd, of any age, race or gender, night after night.

Pre-pandemic, he averaged a whopping 200 live performances per year for 20 straight years – a rare feat for an any artist, especially one whose career has remained active for nearly four decades, thanks, in part, to his cultural classics “The Show” and “La Di Da Di,” both released in the mid 1980’s, when he was a teen, as duets with fellow rap legend Slick Rick.

Never one to rest on his laurels and with unforeseen time offstage due to the 2020 lockdown, Fresh began work on his first full length album since 1995, a passion project called “This One’s for Chuck Brown.” It’s a salute to one of Fresh’s late musical mentors, also known as the Godfather of Go-Go, a super syncopated, heavily percussive subgenre of funk music native to Washington, DC, which gained national exposure with the help of Experience Unlimited’s (E.U.’s) 1988 #1 R&B hit, “Da Butt,” featured in Spike Lee’s film “School Daze,” and most recently at the 2020 Academy Awards.

After this past year-and-a half of unthinkable tumult and tragedy, Fresh seeks to sonically transport people to happier times and unite hip-hop and go-go audiences with “This One’s For Chuck Brown.” He safely drums up the excitement of being at a live show, while paying homage to one of his heroes, in a mixture of original recordings and go-go renditions of some of his own hip-hop fan-favorites. He begins the album with a song titled “Chuck Brown,” which offers an audio history lesson of Brown’s significance. Elsewhere on the album, he delivers new, live versions of “Play This Only at Night,” “Come Again, and “The Show,” re-imagined with go-go instrumentation, recorded live in Washington, DC. “The Show” features a guest appearance by Fresh’s longtime friend and one-time beatbox mentee turned lovable hip-hop great, the recently departed Biz Markie. The album also includes “I’m Getting Ready” and new song called “Age,” on which Fresh raps over R&B vocals in an ode to maturing women, many of whom have remained loyal Fresh fans throughout his career. Additionally, the album features a COVID-inspired PSA bonus track, “20 Seconds or More,” recorded and released at the start of the pandemic to urge listeners to wash their hands to better reduce the spread of the coronavirus. Proceeds from that track raise money for the Hip Hop Public Health non-profit Fresh co-founded more than a decade ago in an effort to foster healthier behavior changes through the transformative powers of music, art, and science.

Ever reverent to those who have inspired him and ever ready to use his art to uplift, educate, and ignite positive change, Doug continues to be an “ever so” Fresh breath of air.