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Monday, September 28, 2020

Public Enemy - 1989 Hip Hop Track "Fight The Power" (video, information, lyrics, & comments)



Channel Zero- July 2, 2020

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post presents information about and a YouTube video of Public Enemy's  1989 Hip Hop track "Fight The Power".

Lyrics for Public Enemy's "Fight The Power" are also included in this post along with a few selected comments from the discussion threads of that sound file.

The content of this post is presented for socio-cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Public Enemy for their musical legacy. Thanks also to the producers of this video and thanks to all those who are featured in this video. Also, thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the publisher of this video on YouTube.
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Pancocojams Editor's Note:
Because pancocojams is a family friendly blog, I usually don't showcase songs that include profanity. However, I've made an exception for this song because of its cultural significance. Although two curse words can still be heard in this showcase video, I've used amended spelling for those words in the lyrics that are given below. 
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/09/the-isley-brothers-1975-song-fight.html for the closely related pancocojams post entitled "The Isley Brothers' 1975 Song - "Fight the Power, Pts. 1 & 2" (with information, lyrics, & comments)"

Also, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/09/public-enemy-fight-power-2020-remix.html for the closely related pancocojams post entitled "Public Enemy - Fight The Power (2020 Remix) feat. Nas, Rapsody, Black Thought, Jahi, YG & QuestLove (video, information, & lyrics)".

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INFORMATION ABOUT PUBLIC ENEMY'S HIP HOP TACK "FIGHT THE POWER" 

Excerpt #1
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fight_the_Power_(Public_Enemy_song)
" "Fight the Power" is a song by American hip hop group Public Enemy, released as a single in the summer of 1989 on Motown Records. It was conceived at the request of film director Spike Lee, who sought a musical theme for his 1989 film Do the Right Thing. First issued on the film's 1989 soundtrack, a different version was featured on Public Enemy's 1990 studio album Fear of a Black Planet.

"Fight the Power" incorporates various samples and allusions to African-American culture, including civil rights exhortations, black church services, and the music of James Brown.

As a single, "Fight the Power" reached number one on Hot Rap Singles and number 20 on the Hot R&B Singles. It was named the best single of 1989 by The Village Voice in their Pazz & Jop critics' poll. It has become Public Enemy's best-known song and has received accolades as one of the greatest songs of all time by critics and publications. In 2001, the song was ranked number 288 in the "Songs of the Century" list compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts."...

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Excerpt #2
From https://genius.com/Public-enemy-fight-the-power-lyrics
"What have the artists said about the song?

Chuck D said the inspiration for the song came to him as he was flying over Italy during Public Enemy’s Run’s House tour:

'I wanted to have sorta like the same theme as the original ‘Fight the Power" by the Isley Brothers and fill it in with some kind of modernist views of what our surroundings were at that particular time.

He told Keyboard magazine in 1990:

‘Fight the Power’ has, like, 17 samples in the first 10 seconds. For example, there’s three different drum loops that make one big drum loop: One is a standard Funkadelic thing, another is a Sly [Stone] thing, and I think the third is the Jacksons.' "

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LYRICS: FIGHT THE POWER
(Chuck D, Hank Shocklee, Eric Sadler & Keith Shocklee)

[Intro]

Yet our best trained, best educated, best equipped, best prepared troops refuse to fight. As a matter of fact, it’s safe to say that they would rather switch than fight

[Alternate Intro]

W-E-L-O-V-E 108 FM

[Verse 1]

1989 the number another summer (get down)

Sound of the funky drummer

Music hitting your heart cause I know you got soul

(Brothers and sisters, hey)

Listen if you're missing y'all

Swinging while I'm singin'

Giving whatcha gettin'

Knowing what I knowin'

While the Black band's sweating

And the rhythm rhymes rolling

Got to give us what we want

Gotta give us what we need

Our freedom of speech is freedom of death

We got to fight the powers that be

Lemme hear you say

Fight the power

[Hook]

Fight the power

We've got to fight the powers that be

[Verse 2]

As the rhythm's designed to bounce

What counts is that the rhyme's

Designed to fill your mind

Now that you've realized the pride's arrived

We got to pump the stuff to make ya tough

From the heart

It's a start, a work of art

To revolutionize make a change nothing's strange

People, people we are the same

No we're not the same

'Cause we don't know the game

What we need is awareness, we can't get careless

You say what is this?

My beloved let's get down to business

Mental self defensive fitness

(Yo) bum rush the show

You gotta go for what you know

To make everybody see, in order to fight the powers that be

Lemme hear you say

Fight the power

[Hook]

Fight the power

We've got to fight the powers that be

[Verse 3]

Elvis was a hero to most

But he never meant sh&t to me you see

Straight up racist that sucker was

Simple and plain

Motherf&&k him and John Wayne

'Cause I'm Black and I'm proud

I'm ready and hyped plus I'm amped

Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps

Sample a look back you look and find

Nothing but rednecks for 400 years if you check

Don't worry be happy

Was a number one jam

Damn if I say it you can slap me right here

(Get it) let's get this party started right

Right on, c'mon

What we got to say

Power to the people no delay

Make everybody see

In order to fight the powers that be


[Hook]

Fight the power

We've got to fight the powers that be


Online source: 
 https://genius.com/Public-enemy-fight-the-power-lyrics

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SELECTED COMMENTS FROM THIS VIDEO'S DISCUSSION THREAD
All of these comments are from July- September 2020. Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.

1. Major Tom
"
Hip hop used to be about love, Black empowerment and the teaching of wisdom.  Now it's all about sex and buffoonery.  This is what happens when you allow someone else to take over your music."

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REPLY
2. 
Green MarineFive-O
"
Did @Major Tom actually say "buffoonery"?? Hahaha! That is great! And sadly true. Nothing empowers the private prison system and buries the criminal justice system like the use of gangsta rap to teach young men to idolize violent thugs and guns as tools to a get rich quick scheme, which is a downward spiraling slippery slope in disguise, mind control hidden behind visual and audio entertainment."

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REPLY
3. africanbella28
"
1-877 Beats4Kids While I agree that there are rappers who are actually talented but not promoted like Rhapsody, new school rap lacks artistry, lyricism, and individuality. There was a plethora of rap to choose from in the 80’s and 90’s but you simply don’t have that with this new generation. Everyone literally has the SAME beat and mumbling sound which makes their songs unoriginal and corny🤔"

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REPLY
4. The Colorization Channel
"I
 absolutely agree. A lot of these Classic 80s and 90s Hip Hop groups like Grandmaster Flash, Public Enemy, A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul had a lot of decent lyrics with inspirational and positive messages. I don't really know if NWA or Wu Tang Clan count as their lyrics are quite violent, but honestly, I'm someone who listens to Hip Hop for the samples and not for the lyrics. Sadly in the 90s, things kinda got dour as Rap continued to become more violent with more inappropriate lyrics, and the East Coast vs West Coast feud was also unnecessary, and I think both 2pac and Biggie are talented.

80s and 90s folks had all of these great bands mentioned above and songs like Fight The Power, It Was A Good Day, Can I Kick It, Me Myself and I, etc

Modern day folks unfortunately have Anaconda, WAP, and the pretentious Kanye West.  However, I won't argue that Childish Gambino, Kendrick Lamar, and Tyler The Creator are are some of the finest musicians to date, and I'm a huge fan of those 3. Awaken My Love and To Pimp A Butterfly are also some of my favorite albums."

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5. Denis Camdzic
"
This right here is one of the reasons why the record labels and music industry pushed gangsta rap to the forefront. They couldn't allow the trend to keep moving in this direction, but we have to bring it back. Fight the powers that be!"

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REPLY
6. 
KING PRODUCTION
"
Denis Camdzic your right"

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REPLY
7. 
John Breiner
"
I remember when the change came in, no disrespect to Gangsta rap ( which had already exsisted in forms ) but the industry latched on hard and messages like PE, X Clan, and many others got drowned out quick."

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REPLY
8
. Vegan Vocalist
"Major Tom , Well said !  , now THIS is real music , a real message . What these easily manipulated bands release now is part of the slave mentality and being paid off NOT to have a voice it is NOT Hip hop , they accept pay off to be dis empowered . Because this is from the heart it is also GREAT music , it has INTEGRITY"

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REPLY
9. The Colorization Channel
"​@Vegan Vocalist yes, that is true. The Message (by far the most iconic and influential hip hop song of all time) is one of the most introspective and honest songs every written. And like in a comment I wrote previously, this introspection still carries on with songs like This is America. But how did we go from the former to WAP in just a few decades?"

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10. Adventures With Phil
"I was a kid when I heard this for the first time. I didn't understand. I sure as hell do, now. This is as relevant now as it was the day it dropped."

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