“History’s a Mystery”
How Public Enemy became the soundtrack for the Black Lives Matter movement
A man was killed. A movement was reignited. An anthem was needed. Who else should answer the call but Public Enemy?
After George Floyd’s death at the hands of a white police officer, the nation erupted in protests. Everybody was tired: of the pandemic, of the President, of the new videos of police brutality that seemed to emerge every day. The fatigue and frustration was about to boil over. But one thing was still missing: a killer anthem to march to.
So naturally, when a generation stood up to fight the powers that be, Public Enemy picked up the megaphone.
In typical PE fashion, the “State of the Union” music video harkens back to the glory days of “Fight the Power” and “Don’t Believe the Hype.”
Not only is the beat (Courtesy of DJ Premier) reminiscent of classic Public Enemy but Chuck D’s lyrics and the flow manage to fall into place just as elegantly as they always have.
“Whatever it takes, rid this dictator
POTUS my tail, Ass debater”
It’s these lyrics more so than anything else that make the song so poignant. Then-President Donald Trump is clearly the subject of the song, referenced in practically every line of all three heart-pounding verses. But the song speaks to something much greater than just one man. It brings the frustration and disgust with not just the entire system that perpetuates both him and his behavior to front of the conversation and uses that anger to spit some of the best bars in all of Public Enemy’s arsenal.
“It’s not what you think, it’s what you follow
Run for them jewels, drink from that bottle”
After a brief intro featuring that classic Public Enemy sound full of record scratches and with the backdrop of Flavor Flav’s shouting, Chuck D begins to let loose firing off searing disses of Trump and his followers one after the other. Nothing the doubly impeached POTUS touches is safe from this first verse, from his stint as a reality TV star to his performance on the debate stage, Trump is thoroughly dragged through the mud and tenderized for a firm chewing out in the second verse. Before we can get there though, we must first survive the chorus.
“State of the Union, shut the f___ up
Sorry-ass motherf_____, stay away from me”
The second verse is arguably the best part of the song; Flavor Flav and Chuck D harmonize for twenty seconds of pure, unadulterated anger. While the rest of the song is certainly clever and topical, it’s the chorus that really gives this piece its meaning. It speaks to the frustration behind the Black Lives Matter movement and the anger towards a system which has disenfranchised blacks for centuries. This unhinged, uncompromising display of force is what makes the song more than just a hit piece on Trump. If you manage to pack some variation of the word ‘f___’ into eight out of the twelve lines that make up your chorus, you’ll get people to take notice and take a stand.
Once past the chorus, the second verse is ready to treat your ears to some of the best songwriting in rap today. From a line like “Orange hair, fear the come over,” a relatively lighter hearted the former President to “When he wanna talk, walk y’all straight to them ovens,” a much more scathing criticism, the variety of shots taken at Trump is simply astounding. That is what makes the second verse so special. It has such a depth to it. The verse manages to cover so much ground on such a small subject and still be engaging the whole way through. Not mention the flow that keeps the whole thing moving.
“Make America great again the middle just love it
When he wanna talk, walk y’all straight to them ovens”
In the final verse, the beat drops back and lets the words stand almost totally alone. It’s in those final moments of the song that you get that classic Public Enemy feeling once again. It doesn’t come off as smug necessarily but there is definitely a feeling of victory there, as if they finished recording the song with the satisfaction of knowing for certain that they had just made the track that would define a moment, a movement.
