Song of the Day 6/16: Public Enemy, “Fight the Power”

Chuck D issued this call to action just over 30 years ago. The track debuted as the theme song to Spike Lee’s “Do the Right Thing” in 1989, the year before it was released on “Fear of a Black Planet,” PE’s most highly lauded LP.

Public Enemy was the biggest thing happening in hip-hop in the early ’90s, but it wasn’t long before Chuck’s calls for black empowerment were swamped by the backlash against gangsta rap, the crack epidemic and the pro-police Biden crime bill.

So far, at least, today’s pleas for justice and complaints about the police state are being taken more seriously, as video makes it easier to show there are more killer cops than cop killers roaming our streets.