Fight the Power : Rap, Race, and Reality

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Summary: Fight the Power Analysis
Review: Fight The Power, by Chuck D examined everything in the current world today from the education system right down to where he thinks our culture is headed and why. Chuck D breaks everything down in the world and examines it to the fullest. At first glance it may seem like he is a grumpy, washed up rapper but look closer and you will find so much more meaning in the words than you can possibly imagine. Like in the following quote, "Whatever you do, don't go to war for your country." Chuck D is very opinonated and set in his ways. He goes into a full chapter about why you shouldn't be in the army because it changes you forever and how you will never be the same. Therefore, he also shows how the army tricks you by coming to your school and showing all this glitz and glamor to you. People shooting big guns, driving tanks, waving the american flag which essentially is not what the army is like at all. It's very gratifying that a successful rapper has finally released a book like this. It's a great break from the mundane evening news and daily paper. And in the following quote, "There's only a few serious black roles on TV. We have to put pressure on the networks and station groups where pressure hurts." Chuck D make his book universal by showing both sides of the issue and he shows the reader what can be done to help rectify the current problems he addresses in his book Fight The Power. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes any kind of hip-hop or anyone who wants a break from their day to day life and have a great read and whats wrong with our culture and what we can do to help it.

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Summary: full of inconsistencies, makes very few good points
Review: I bought this book expecting Chuck D to have some major insights into race relations, not just black and white, with advice to the world on how to make them better. His advice is to only separate blacks further from the rest of the american community, in my opinion, bringing out the segregation blacks so fervently fought against in the early 1900's. Out of nowhere, he'll make a point which makes you admire him for standing out of the normal rap crowd. But he'll say it in one sentence, and go on to something else, making you wonder where his insight went. If the roles were reversed, and this were a white author, this book would have been considered racist propaganda. There are a hundred double standards in this book. Would have expected a more cohesive book. An example, he quotes a lyric from one of his songs as Elvis being a racist, and in the next paragraph backtracking saying the what Elvis stood for is what he's against, not the person. If this were a high school paper, I can't imagine it would get any better grade than a C. I left this book feeling very confused on where Chuck D stands. He makes many statements and his evidence to support it makes you thinking the opposite of his view. I expected much more out of this well respected icon.

Rating:
Summary: Decent book
Review: I picked this book up on a bargain rack and it is definitely a good read for conscious hip hop fans and Public Enemy fans

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Summary: A Fist Of Five
Review: Right On Chuck D.The Truth Hurts Some Folks Oh Well? Chuck D. Doesn't Front at all about The Realitys Of The Business&The World At Large.It's Very Important He Acknowledges and Discuss Black Life First&Foremost cuz who else is Gonna Speak Up about The Problems in the Biz&Life In General?I Have always Dug Chuck D.&Respected His Vision&Wisdom.This Book Speaks Volumes to the Truth.2Black&2Strong.

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Summary: mein kamph for the hip hop generation
Review: The lionization of this pusher of identity politics and victimhood is a sad commentary on the so-called "hip-hop nation",the agenda driven media like MTV (who gives this racist and self described "minister of informatin" undeserved legitimacy),and our universities who allow and invite this race baiter to sow his seeds of hatred to impressionable youth. Coincidentally, another minister of information, Joseph Goebbels also emphasized the youth.....hmmmmm.

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Summary: Excellent Book.Learned so much about rap and the real story.
Review: This book was such an eye opener about the history and the real story about rap. I am so glad to see something on this subject in context to African American empowerment. I truly understand how the greed and control of the music business can hurt the perception of a people to the point that they believe it. Don't believe the hype. -

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Summary: Rap the truth about the game... ChuckD keeps it real
Review: This was an honest account about one of the Iconz of the rap game. He gave a background about his family life that took us back to the 1960s in New York City. He was a cool kid who got in heavy into the hip hop game from college. Perhaps that set the tone for the book in my view. For Chuck D. Rap and Hip Hop are educational vehicle more than just news reporters about urban life. He insisted that only through education and higher learning are black folks in oppressive conditions around the world and mostly in the inner cities ever going to free themselves. I especially enjoyed the international aspects of his experience with Public Enemy. He loved travelling and rapping around the world from the US to Asia and Europe and the Motherland-Africa. Chuck should have a permanent position in a Comparative Studies program at a university. He lectures regularly at colleges which he wrote about in the book. I wish that he had written about his encounters with the students and the fans at concerts. Some of the highlights were his comments about his days as a DJ, opening and travelling with BONO of U2, Travelling to Africa-Ghana, specifically and his encounters with the press especially the troubles with being accused of anti-semitism.

Public Enemy was an experiment about the truth. They were a group of brothers who loved the game of Hip Hop and wanted it to grow so they did something about it by making opportunity and taking the ones that were offered. It was enlightening to read about the record deal with Def Jam and their relationship with Russel Simmons (he could have elaborated more about that). In the end I learn that rap (the old 80's & 90s style)was primarily a strong means of communicating a message about the conditions of life for young urban black (males).

I wish that Chuck D. would have addressed the issue of black on black that was so prevalent in the 1980s New York. I was dissappointed that he shied away from African American negative reactions to Haitians in particular. I mention this because Chuck D. is an Afrocentric who sees himself as an internationalist. However, he is mute when this perspective is not well received by others in his group.

There were practically no mentions of Christopher Wallace or Biggy Smalls, Lil' Kim, or the ill nana and many others who were well known in New York and in Hip Hop at the time. Published in 1997 I expected more about the violence within Hip Hop and some thoughts on how to solve it.Also, there was no accompanying cd. This would have been great. A sample of selected cuts from Public Enemy.

Finally, the structure of the book was well thought out. It was very influenced by newspaper and magazine layouts. On various pages some of his words were highlighted in and he listed his all time favorite Hip Hop artists and their work throughout the book. In all, the layout was a winner. We need a sequel from a now elder spokesman of the hip hop game about what has happenned since 1997 and the new involvement of hip hop in politics.