Public Enemy ~ “Fight the Power” (1989)
Lyrics:
📝 Genius ~ Fight the Power
“As the rhythm’s designed to bounce, what counts
Is that the rhyme’s designed to fill your mind.”
“Fight the Power” is a sonic Molotov cocktail. A masterclass in revolutionary energy ~ loud, layered, proud, and disruptive.
It’s the kind of track that shakes you up and gets you moving.
A musical manifesto.
The kind that demands volume.
The kind that still makes sense ~ decades later.
Commissioned by Spike Lee for the film Do the Right Thing — and released on Public Enemy’s seminal Fear of a Black Planet — it became the sonic anchor of the movie’s message: systemic racism, gentrification, generational tension.
The movie opens with Rosie Perez dancing like the block’s on fire.
That energy doesn’t let up ~ in the film or the track.
The song calls out:
- Media bias
- Racial icon worship
- Political gaslighting
- The need for radical self-empowerment
It’s loud on purpose.
It’s confrontational on purpose.
It’s chaos with a message.
Even the samples want to get involved.
The crisp Funky Drummer break provides a rhythmic spine for The Bomb Squad’s ever-escalating tension ~ layering dozens of overlapping loops, stabs, and sonic textures. It’s overwhelming by design.
It’s not “clean” music. It’s necessary music.
“We’ve got to fight the powers that be.”
Yeah.
Still do.
🧪 Anatomy of a Break: The Samples Behind “Fight the Power”
“Fight the Power” is stacked with over 20 samples, but here are some of the most important ones — and how they fuel the song’s message:
🥁 The bedrock. The legendary ~ and still under-appreciated ~ Clyde Stubblefield lays down one of the most iconic breakbeats in music history, giving the track its crisp, relentless snap.
The Isley Brothers ~ “Fight the Power (Part 1 & 2)”
🎤 Where the title and hook come from.
Sly & the Family Stone ~ “Sing a Simple Song”
🎚️ Key vocal stabs and funk fills.
This story is always entertaining
🔊 Adds go-go energy and hype-man flavor.
~DC Style~
Syl Johnson ~ “Different Strokes”
💥 One of the most-sampled funk tracks in history. Here, it adds punchy rhythm elements and vocal stabs.
Bob Marley ~ “I Shot the Sheriff” (Live)
🎸 A revolutionary nod tucked into the layers.
Fred Wesley & The J.B.’s ~ “Hot Pants Road”
🎷 Horn stabs in the mix.
🔍 Full breakdown: WhoSampled ~ Fight the Power
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