Throwback Thursday: Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” (Video)

There was a time where instead of making whatever auto-tuned dance jams the record execs told them to, rappers actually cared about the message of their music. A time in which Public Enemy roamed the hip-hop landscape like an angry tyrannosaurus, Flava Flav was not yet a complete disgrace and "Fight the Power" was one of the best videos on TV.



The Refined Take:

1) I've seen "Do the Right Things' so many times it feels weird to watch this video without an extended Rosie Perez dance jam in the beginning. Yeah, you know you want to watch it again. You can't resist the appeal of Rosie Perez in neon spandex.

2) Chuck D's got to watch this video, see Flava Flav, think about "Flava of Love" and just start sobbing, "How did this go so wrong? How!!!???"

3) "Elvis was a hero to most, but he never meant shit to me / straight out racist / motherfucker was simple and plain / motherfuck him and John Wayne." Classic line, just classic. Plus, anytime you can get two "motherfuck"s into one line I'm a fan.

4) Maybe it's just because I'm from Boston, but I can't stand the amount of sports bigamy happening today, and apparently it was happening back in the day too. I'll let Chuck D slide on the Raiders jacket, everyone was rocking one then, but a Phillies hat? The man's from New York. That's a disgrace.

5) Never really picked up on this before, but they definitely call out Bobby McDarren and "Don't Worry Be Happy". It's a shame Bobby never responded with a diss track. That would have been a great battle.