Even hip-hop icons have a hard time catching a cab sometimes. Good thing for Public Enemy at least one fan in Sheffield, England, has their back.
When Public Enemy’s taxi failed to turn up to transport them from a record signing to a show supporting the Prodigy on Saturday, local man Kevin Wells gave them a lift instead — and in a hurry.
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Wells loaded the crew into his Ford Focus and rushed them across town with just 45 minutes until their scheduled performance.
“It was very, very surreal,” Wells told the Guardian. “We all walked to the car – Flavor Flav, Chuck D and two of their entourage — and they all just piled in. I’m local to Sheffield so I know all the back streets to get there pretty sharpish so I didn’t feel too tense. I knew I could get them there in time.”
He continued, “They were just asking me where I came from and whether I was local to Sheffield. They were saying how amazed they were in England, how close together all the cities are, because they are used to traveling in the [United] States. They said they love that –- though weren’t so big on the weather in England.”
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Wells got them to the venue in just 15 minutes but said he had a hard time convincing security it was Public Enemy crammed in his sedan.
“They looked at me a bit funny, as if to say: ‘Yeah right we’ve heard that before.’ But then Chuck D flashed his pass and the attendant looked flustered and said: ‘Yes, I’m sorry, come through’ and he directed us to the backstage area.”
The kicker is Wells wasn’t even able to enjoy the guest list pass rewarded for his good deed. He had to get to his own gig as the in-house photographer for Sheffield’s Leadmill venue and the O2 arena.
B4 photographing @theenemyband @Leadmill and @Scouting4Girls @O2AcademySheff I gave a lift to @PublicEnemyFTP pic.twitter.com/ZkzQ2gBXgC
— kevin wells (@BigwhopperKevin) November 30, 2015