Edsel Dope, frontman of the long-running industrial-metal band Dope, has issued a statement regarding the newly announced group doPE comprised of Public Enemy’s Chuck D and The Doors’ John Densmore.
As reported last week, Chuck D and Densmore formed a bond after meeting at a Record Store Day panel more than a decade ago. They decided to team up as doPE (using the first two letters of “Doors” and the initials of Public Enemy), with plans to release an album on this year’s Record Store Day (April 18th). In fact, their yet-to-be-released single “every tick tick tick” has already been selected as the Record Store Day Song of the Year.
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Edsel took to Instagram on Monday in reaction to the news, sharing a screenshot of Consequence‘s article and a photo of himself wearing a Public Enemy shirt and a Doors hat. He explained that he owns the “Dope” trademark, while at the same time suggesting a collaboration with two of his musical heroes:
“Yooooooo!
I am a huge fan of Chuck D, Public Enemy, and the Doors, so the last thing that I want to do is interrupt a creative endeavor from two legends that I admire and respect.
However, it is important for me to highlight the 25 years I have devoted to building a band/brand, which has found a good bit of success and built a sizable fan base around the globe.
Those 4 letters ‘dope’ have been tattooed on my knuckles since 1998.
I appropriately registered the artist name dope and I have owned the Trademark, ever since I hit the scene, more than 25 years ago…
Unfortunately for Chuck and John, choosing to call themselves doPE would invite a good bit of market confusion, especially on the streaming services like Spotify, where I have more than a million monthly listeners, along with several hundred million combined streams…
The paperwork is up to date, and my rights regarding the name are indisputable.
Next to the two of you, I humbly consider myself ‘the little guy’.
So if YOU TWO LEGENDS are committed to using MY FOUR LETTERS, Please hit me up directly, as I would love to be part of some form of collaborative effort with you.
I know every word from Apocalypse 91 & I have smoked more weed listening to The Doors than one could ever imagine.
LOVE AND RESPECT TO YOU BOTH!
-Edsel Dope”
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Dope have been around since 1997, and have put out seven studio albums from 1999 through 2023. They’ve recently supported Static-X on multiple tour legs, and will continue to do so on a newly announced run of summer US dates (pick up tickets here).
See Edsel Dope’s Instagram post below.
