English 101

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Tatiyana Freeman
Professor Chandler
English 1301
06/18/2021

I am looking to analyze the song by the group Public Enemy called “Fight the Power.” I want to focus on the lyrics, video, and tone, and message of the song. I would also like to contrast the Rodney King event in the 90s and show how police brutality and the same issues still exist today from what the song is all about.

ANSWER

Fight the Power: Protest Music

Protest music is any music associated with social change movements and is associated with broader controversial and political topics. Protest music usually alludes to the current events happening in the socio-political atmosphere. It can be any form of music, folk, classical or commercial. Due to the nature of the music and its reasons, protest music catches attention depending on the popularity of the artist or artists involved. Public Enemy “Fight the Power” is a protest song as the lyrics of the song and the video both allude to the injustices that faced and still face the African American community, such as racism.

Fight the power was written and produced in New York in the problematic 1980s when the black community was under attack by racist mobs, and there was police brutality in the country. Chuck D and Flavor Flav in the lyric say, Elvis was a hero to most, but he never meant shit to me, straight out racist- that sucker was simple and plain. The tone and body language in the video are confrontational and unapologetic as the artists shout fight the power and power to the people. It is a depiction of what the African Americans felt about their life in America. Elvis was a controversial white artist who brought African American music to light. The lyrics are confrontational, as if calling on somebody to fight back. Fight the powers that be also refers to fighting for themselves and the system that does not favor them.

The video setting of the video is like that of a protest where people are chanting, holding banners written ‘Fight the Power,’ and the use of a microphone to talk to the crowds. The song in the 1980s was regarded as controversial but in reality, their message was for the African Americans to start fighting for themselves and against the institutionalized racism that continues in the country. Within the same period, the song was released, the central park five were arrested and charged falsely and hence the relevance of the song fight the power. From the incidents going on, it was clear that the system is rigged against African Americans.

Within the same period, Los Angeles policemen were acquitted for savagely beating Rodney King, an African American man. The video of Rodney being beaten was caught on camera and watched all over the nation and world, which led to the eruption of protests. The protests led to the conversation about police brutality, which continues to date. The song fight the power was highlighting the same injustices that continue to face African Americans. The racism against them and the police brutality. Fight the power is still significant today because African Americans are still fighting the injustices they were facing 25 years ago.

The protest song was relevant and is still relevant today because the same issues that were there in the 1980s are still there today. The police brutality is still there, and African Americans continue to experience racism from fellow Americans. Progress has been made since the 1980s, but the system is not yet free of the injustices and racism experienced then. The artists were right to talk about fighting the power because the injustices faced by African Americans need to be fought.