BLACK TO THE FUTURE: Wherever you look...

BLACK TO THE FUTURE: Wherever you look these days, you see the influence of rap kingpins Public Enemy. The latest entry: Follow for Now, an Atlanta-based black rock band whose debut album, due Sept. 10, features a raucous version of PE’s “She Watches Channel Zero.” In fact, the band takes its name from a lyric in PE’s “Bring the Noise.” The new album also features such originals as “Holy Moses,” “Evil Wheel” and “Six’s and Seven’s.” The group is at the Music Machine tonight . . . Speaking of Public Enemy, we hear Anthrax and PE (who just collaborated on an Anthrax remake of “Bring the Noise”) are talking about doing a tour this fall. Will arena managers go for a package with a raucous headbanger band and a hard-core rap act? If it happens, we’ve got the perfect tour moniker--When Worlds Collide. . . . Matty Rich, the 19-year-old Wunderkind who made “Straight Out of Brooklyn,” just directed “Step Into the Arena,” the new video from rap duo Gang Starr. . . . Before rap, rock and R&B; got much of their inspiration from jive-talk and hep-poetry. To hear how the tradition has evolved, watch for “JazzSpeak,” due in early September from New Alliance Records. Co-produced by word-music maven Harvey Robert Kubernik, the collection features Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek backing poet Michael McClure, playwright Amiri Baraka, ex-Guess Who singer Burton Cummings, writer Ishmael Reed and poet Wanda Coleman.