New poll! "Fuck the Police" vs. "Fight the Power"
Added 2024-11-18 04:16:19 +0000 UTCYeahhh boyyyyy! Lina decided to put us way over our heads so we're getting into some militant rap about how much we hate The Man. Which is the finest anti-establishment hip-hop song of the late '80s, N.W.A.'s "Fuck the Police" or Public Enemy's "Fight the Power"?
Comments
First time I ever heard the term „narrativist“.
Albert Farkas
2024-12-01 00:47:10 +0000 UTCWhen’s auntie diaries vs same love coming?
Nia
2024-11-30 02:11:44 +0000 UTCCan I vote for Fight the Power by The Isley Brothers instead? :)
ben-one-eye
2024-11-29 15:29:56 +0000 UTCI know I am very very late on this, but Fight the Power simply because a version by Barenaked Ladies is on the Coneheads movie soundtrack.
MintzBuck
2024-11-28 21:37:34 +0000 UTCA Fight the Power... That Great song from Gurren Lagan...
Ernesto Rodriguez
2024-11-26 17:15:59 +0000 UTCI meant this song, specifically - I typed "NWA" instead of "fuck the police" because I was at work when I was posting.
Martha Boatright
2024-11-24 21:49:50 +0000 UTCChuck D children's playground songs album when
Lanth
2024-11-24 19:52:10 +0000 UTCTo be fair I'm pretty sure the former and future president also thinks fuck the police, albeit for slightly different reasons. Not so much fight the power.
Lanth
2024-11-24 19:46:35 +0000 UTC"Fight the Power" is more about bringing awareness to systemic problems and wanting systemic change. On a personal political level, I agree with this more. On the other hand, "Fuck the Police" is rage at the establishment in such a pure form. Sometimes you just want to be angry at the system and NWA captures this anger in such a visceral way that other artists rarely do. I'm giving this one to NWA.
JazzySpF
2024-11-23 17:05:42 +0000 UTCI know you try to keep the match confined to just the songs, but since these two talk about real-world issues I gotta acknowledge the real world. So members of both these groups have made antisemitic comments and assaulted several spouses and colleagues, so I had to calculate which group did less antisemitism and assault and also didn't have any member who went on to work with the former and future president. Thankfully it's also the better group with the better song. "Fight the Power" all the way. And I actually like Elvis
Gal Hazor
2024-11-23 16:20:51 +0000 UTCI honestly can't imagine another matchup where Question #4 gets more problematic. Also, someone may have to literally DM Megan Thee Stallion on this one.
Michael Murphy
2024-11-22 14:10:10 +0000 UTCLook I learned m lesson. I'm too white to have a correct opinion here.
Nir revel
2024-11-21 19:23:17 +0000 UTCI have to give it to "Fight the Power." While "Fuck the Police" is an explosive flurry of righteous anger, the Bomb Squad's production on "Fight the Power" makes it feel like Chuck and Flav are drawing from decades, nay centuries, of simmering rage and pain to let their voices be known. That's what make the song feel so powerful to me.
KaiserBeamz
2024-11-21 17:46:20 +0000 UTCHowever I vote on this my reasoning is gonna feel white as hell
DIPDOP
2024-11-20 07:37:29 +0000 UTCMakes it all the more strange that they would go on to release an album titled “Muse Sick-N-Hour Mess Age” which is one of the strangest album titles I’ve ever heard. I know that it’s meant to be a soundalike for “Music in our Message” but I don’t get why they didn’t just title the album that instead.
Esherwatt
2024-11-20 07:31:17 +0000 UTCWhoops my bad! Anyways I prefer the latter song over the former.
RedBedroomRecords
2024-11-20 03:30:58 +0000 UTCWhen ‘Fight the Power’ first came out, I thought they were saying “Fight the power, Step B.” My 10-year-old brain wanted to know what Step A was.
Merda d'artista
2024-11-19 22:55:47 +0000 UTC“Fight the Power” all the way. How has no one mentioned the Bomb Squad yet? Those classic Public Enemy albums had incredible layers of sounds and samples
Max T
2024-11-19 21:59:18 +0000 UTCTo be fair to N.W.A., had it not been for the success of Straight Outta Compton, Priority Records would probably be forever milking the California Raisins for all they were worth.
Michael Murphy
2024-11-19 13:28:47 +0000 UTCMy friends and I have been watching House M.D. every week for months now, and every single intermission is a looping video of Dr. House in window-blinds sunglasses dancing into his patient’s room blasting Fight The Power on a giant jukebox. I cannot ignore Hugh Laurie saying “What’s it look like I’m doing? I’m fighting the power” But I live in Minneapolis, which means I have seen children shot by police more times than I can count. Fuck the police.
I hope you have a good day!
2024-11-19 08:41:15 +0000 UTCi'm tossing a coin
no
2024-11-19 02:35:12 +0000 UTCPublic Enemy refers to the Powers that be but it feels like NWA names them and calls them out directly. "Fuck tha police" is a stronger sentiment overall.
lukas
2024-11-18 23:48:23 +0000 UTCFight The Power! Chuck-D will not be denied. Flava-Flav is the best of a forgotten art.
Eric
2024-11-18 23:01:05 +0000 UTCI saw Public Enemy in 2010 for the 20th anniversary of Fear of a Black Planet. During the show, Chuck thanked everyone who came out, and said we were real fans, and not just people who came to see Flavor Flav (this was not long after Flavor of Love was a huge hit show). After the show, Flav was still on stage after Chuck left and said “For real, thank you to everyone who is here because you’re a fan of my show, your support means everything to me.” Classic Flav.
J.D. Laney
2024-11-18 20:29:55 +0000 UTCHave you heard “Meet the G that Killed Me” off the same album as “Fight the Power?” Way more homophobic than anything NWA put out.
J.D. Laney
2024-11-18 20:26:31 +0000 UTCI know a lot of the time when certain artists are “problematic” in some way, the votes reflect that, and both of these artists have had homophobic lyrics. “Fuck the Police” drops an F-bomb, obviously. But for real have you heard “Meet the G that Killed me” off the same album as “Fight the Power?” The single most homophobic piece of music I’ve ever heard. Still voted for PE, but fuck them for that song.
J.D. Laney
2024-11-18 20:18:35 +0000 UTCEven if I were completely unaware of the song "Fuck the Police", I'd have an incredibly hard time voting against it on principle alone. However even knowing that song... "Fight the Power" is just a universal bop that sneaks in some real shit that even a vapid pop-consumer who finds ACAB icky could feasibly consume.
Felix Forrester
2024-11-18 18:12:38 +0000 UTCShout out to Fight The Power by The Isley Brothers.
Eric J
2024-11-18 17:49:28 +0000 UTC"Fight the Power" not only because it's better, but because the 3rd verse would probably STILL enrage conservatives to this day. These assholes would be pearl clutching at the thought of calling the founding fathers "rednecks."
StuTheShoe
2024-11-18 17:28:54 +0000 UTCFight The Power's lyrics can feel vague and unrelated. Fuck The Police is about one thing and thing only. It's raw concentrated, anger makes it absolutely the better song imo.
Marie Isabelle Lunais-Adora
2024-11-18 17:12:56 +0000 UTCI will never understand how child predators are just proud of their lascivious behavior. Shit is preposterous
Connor Rankin
2024-11-18 16:59:06 +0000 UTCYeah grooming a 14 year old ten years his junior makes me unwilling to stand up for the dude about anything, Public Enemy can say whatever they want.
Martha Boatright
2024-11-18 16:37:17 +0000 UTCI appreciate the overall message of NWA, but don’t appreciate the homophobia that pops up randomly. Fight the Power had just aged better in that regard.
Martha Boatright
2024-11-18 16:32:52 +0000 UTCSimply I think It just comes down to the fact that Public Enemy is so much more important and such a better group than NWA, who I always thought were vastly overrated
Tori Schmidt
2024-11-18 15:21:12 +0000 UTCElvis Presley was also much, MUCH worse things than a racist 🤢
Connor Rankin
2024-11-18 13:47:17 +0000 UTCWhen I was a naive eighth grader, for whatever reason I thought it would be funny to scribble “fuck the police” on a math test even though I didn’t actually feel that way and I quickly erased it afterwards. The problem was, I didn’t erase it well enough and my math teacher threatened to lower my grade. In retrospect, what I should’ve done is said “no, I stand by it!” and failed that test
Connor Rankin
2024-11-18 13:46:29 +0000 UTCThe best line of Fight The Power might be at the end: "Don't Worry Be Happy" was a number-one jam Damn, if I say it, you can slap me right here I'm sure Todd can appreciate the sentiment.
Michael Murphy
2024-11-18 13:43:40 +0000 UTCThere's a part of me that wants to suggest Don't Worry Be Happy as a 3rd Party vote just as a joke because of the mention in Fight the Power but even I'm not that tone deaf and can read the room. I voted for Fight the Power for full transparency.
Evan Z.
2024-11-18 13:42:32 +0000 UTCAs just a song, this is pretty easily Fight the power for me, that is song that can slide into my day-to-day rotation and I will get hyped every time it comes on. As a message song, I'd give this to Fuck tha Police easily... First, racial profiling and police brutality are very specific and apparent injustices that are still seen today. Fight the power also still relevant but its just comparatively broad in scope. Also, hearing Public Enemy say fight the power is more or less expected, Chuck D is as much a social commentator as a rapper, and I'd expect him to inject a few bars of ideology into a cover of itsy bitsy spider. NWA. meanwhile, are not so apparently ideological so the visceral anger and more stream of consciousness verbally dense verses makes the message land harder even if some of it is very rough (as in borderline word vomit, not just brutally honest). As for my vote, I'm pretty drained and need the hype more right now.
Joel Thomas
2024-11-18 13:40:55 +0000 UTCWay too white to have a say in this, but it’s a pretty thorny issue. Sure Elvis himself grew up surrounded by Black music and that community, but he also hugely benefited from the racist power structures in place, and white people’s reluctance to listen to Black music from Black artists. He also often did pretty rote imitations of performances by Otis Blackwell, a Black songwriter. For me, the line works with the concept, the idea of Elvis, if not the man.
Andrew Behm
2024-11-18 13:35:35 +0000 UTCI think there are still some pretty divided opinions about this. But I don’t really know enough to have an opinion.
Jakob Eyjólfsson
2024-11-18 11:06:22 +0000 UTCThis line bothers me because Elvis was not racist, it's all the white people around him who were. I guess that was far less known in 1989 though.
giascle
2024-11-18 10:23:21 +0000 UTCFight the Power is one of the most visceral and immediate protest songs ever written. It makes it that much more depressing that Flavor Flav has fallen so far that he's a popcorn salesman these days. Younger folks would understandably have a hard time believing that the goofy Red Lobster spokesman was in one of the most radical political groups ever.
Lucy Daughter of None
2024-11-18 09:58:22 +0000 UTCFight the Power might have the more broadly applicable message, but I prefer the gritty specificity of Fuck the Police. I love how it's is a dramatic narrative song, a scene playing out in a courtroom. I also just love the rhymes, the variety of voices, and the production/scratching on it.
Stacyswirl
2024-11-18 08:56:19 +0000 UTCElvis was a hero to most, but he never meant shit to me
Jakob Eyjólfsson
2024-11-18 08:22:14 +0000 UTCMy third party vote would absolutely be "Cop Killer".
Dork Mode
2024-11-18 08:02:50 +0000 UTCSince the police also fall under "The Power", I had to vote for "Fight the Power".
Dork Mode
2024-11-18 08:01:51 +0000 UTCMostly comes down to Chuck D being such a good wordsmith for me. Chuck D lines can knock around in your head and make you realize new shit all the time. Just packed with wisdom.
seedmunch
2024-11-18 07:59:44 +0000 UTCYou need both the raw anger and disdain, and the directed attack on power structures. Can we vote for both and say they beat "The Message" or something?
Laura Robinson
2024-11-18 07:23:03 +0000 UTCIt's simple. You can Fight the Power without Fucking the Police, but you can't Fuck the Police without Fighting the Power.
James Smith
2024-11-18 07:14:37 +0000 UTCGotta say I'm partially going with the message here, and feeling like "Fight the power" connects with me the most right now
Birthe_bird
2024-11-18 06:45:33 +0000 UTCThird party vote for the Dean's Payday rap from Community.
Jeff
2024-11-18 06:42:31 +0000 UTCvoting Fight the Power cuz Chuck D's twitter is basically the radical left version of a facebook dad and its great, one of the reasons i hesitated before leaving the site
Tristan
2024-11-18 06:25:05 +0000 UTC"Fear of a Black Planet" is an absolutely killer album title, and I am just stupefied at the fact that it was released directly after "It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back". Like that has to be Top 5 Back-to-Back Album Titles of all time.
Gator McKinley
2024-11-18 05:40:38 +0000 UTCThird party vote for "Cop Killer"? No? Then "Fight the Power" because Public Enemy is a better group overall than NWA imo.
flibbertygigget
2024-11-18 05:15:39 +0000 UTCWhy stop at the police? I hear 911 is a Joke in general.
David P
2024-11-18 05:09:53 +0000 UTCI could've sworn you did this episode before but then I remembered it was just something that was only mentioned.
Annette Huang
2024-11-18 05:06:42 +0000 UTCThis is one situation where abbreviating the title isn't gonna work...
J
2024-11-18 05:05:46 +0000 UTCOphelia... call the police...
TimeBombMan
2024-11-18 04:59:11 +0000 UTCAll due respect, but the anime Gurren Lagann had the superior Fight The Power.
Zero
2024-11-18 04:50:43 +0000 UTCDefinitely gonna stand by N.W.A. thru and thru. Me, a white guy, performed the edited version of Straight Outta Compton for a high school talent show with two other friends. I still feel the white guilt. But it was honestly a TON of fun.
Joseph Bergeron
2024-11-18 04:48:24 +0000 UTCBoth are great songs. "Fuck tha Police" captures the raw, visceral anger at the day to day effects of a completely racist system. "Fight the Power" contextualizes that system and points its anger up to the top of it. But Chuck D has been a lot more politically active over the years, doesn't have a long history of beating up women, and "Fight the Power" doesn't contain any homophobic slurs, so my vote goes to it.
Tim
2024-11-18 04:47:50 +0000 UTCNot only is Fight the Power the better song, but Public Enemy is also the better group. I get the importance of NWA, but my god Fear of a Black Planet and It Takes A Nation are two of greatest hip hop albums of all time.
Mr Spaghett
2024-11-18 04:45:05 +0000 UTCI'm sure glad that these songs have no relevance today!
Jane Doe
2024-11-18 04:44:29 +0000 UTCVoting for Fight the Power because as Rap Critic pointed out FTP does kinda undermine it's point with Eazy E's verse(plus Ice Cube being an anti-vaxxer was a real letdown).
RedBedroomRecords
2024-11-18 04:44:07 +0000 UTCThis one is going to be so close, I honestly voted at random
Jane Doe
2024-11-18 04:42:27 +0000 UTCI'm voting Fight The Power ('there can never be justice on stolen land'? come on!), but would like to submit an honorable mention for KRS-One's Sound of da Police. Whoop! Whoop!
Julia
2024-11-18 04:35:58 +0000 UTCI'd like to believe theirs an alternative timeline earth where Easy E was the reality dating TV star, Flava Flav became a family movie star, and Chuck D had long run on SVU with, say, bobcat goldwaith as his partner.
Sladen377
2024-11-18 04:33:42 +0000 UTCWhile my all timer is 'Welcome to the Terrordome', much love to public enemy for being original and way ahead of their time
Sladen377
2024-11-18 04:30:10 +0000 UTCAt least “Talk Shit, Get Shot” rules lol
NoU
2024-11-18 04:29:24 +0000 UTCI'm not really a rap girl so I don't have a real stake in this fight. I'm gonna say third party vote for Viking Death March by Billy Talent. It's great takedown of religious hypocrisy, a good fit for a certain Cheeto flavoured politician using religion as a front to win followers and support.
Angela
2024-11-18 04:28:32 +0000 UTCAnyone else had "Fuck the Police" not ruined, but unable to hear the title without thinking of the Team Four Star episode with the Kermit aliens?
Nawf4
2024-11-18 04:23:18 +0000 UTCVoting for Fight the Power
Charlie L
2024-11-18 04:22:57 +0000 UTCThis is tough because the visceral anger in 'Fuck the police' is good and feels righteous to sing along with...but Ice's verse is way better than anything else in the song. Fight The Power has like 5 one-liners that have been in my head for many years. 'Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps' 'Motherfuck him and john wayne' 'Our freedom of speech is freedom or death'
Charlie L
2024-11-18 04:22:38 +0000 UTCOh man. I feel like anything I say here is gonna sound like that one awkward white person in everyone’s friend group who listens to hip hop and manages to sound like they belong in the fucking White and Nerdy video when they try and talk about it. That being said, fuck (tha) police.
Mara Copland
2024-11-18 04:22:26 +0000 UTCThe correct answer is Body Count’s Cop Killer, based on historical importance alone. Despite the fact that Ice T disavows it.
Jon Nepsha
2024-11-18 04:21:53 +0000 UTCFight the power is easier to misinterpret by media illiterate dumbasses with bad politics but but good taste in music, it’s hard to misunderstand the statement “Fuck the police”. That being said I voted for Fight The Power anyways, sorry N.W.A.
Michael Martin
2024-11-18 04:20:39 +0000 UTCIMHO ‘Fuck The Police’ is the winner as a song in terms of how broadly iconic it is BUT ‘Fight The Power’ being a huge centerpiece in ‘Do The Right Thing’ should make this a lot closer than it’s probably going to be. EDIT: Revising this a skosh, ‘Fight The Power’ is a lot smarter as a song and the bars are better, the beat and production and chorus of ‘Fuck The Police’ just go so crazy, it’s so hype. Maybe I’ll change my mind and vote later. EDIT EDIT: changing my vote to Fight The Power lol
Wagner Koop
2024-11-18 04:20:19 +0000 UTCFight The Power is the broader spectrum rabble rousing.
Gone
2024-11-18 04:19:31 +0000 UTCThat's a sample in "Fight the Power!"
Jon Heiman
2024-11-18 04:19:22 +0000 UTCSeriously is the answer this time just 'yes'?
BuckTurner
2024-11-18 04:19:07 +0000 UTCI really hope Darren "The Rap Critic" Jackson is back for this episode. I think a Black perspective is sorely needed (even more than for "It Was a Good Day" vs. "Regulate"). Speaking of Rap Critic, his video on "Fight the Power" is what really made me respect--and vote for--the song. He highlights how Chuck D. starts the first verse kind of simple and eases the viewer into the radical statements to come later.
Jon Heiman
2024-11-18 04:18:55 +0000 UTCDown with the Patreon-archy for making me choose.
Jace
2024-11-18 04:18:20 +0000 UTCI’ve heard of both groups, but never heard these songs before. Going in blind, I’m going third party for “Straight Outta Locash”.
A Good Brent - BlueSky Bitch for Let’s Talk About Snacks Podcast
2024-11-18 04:18:01 +0000 UTCRow row, fight the powah!
Nico Niconi
2024-11-18 04:17:27 +0000 UTC
