- Hardcover: 288 pages
- Publisher: Payback Press (Oct 1997)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0862417201
- ISBN-13: 978-0862417208
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.2 x 3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 779,342 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Fight the Power: Rap, Race and Reality with Yusuf Jah
and over one million other books are available for Amazon Kindle .
Learn more
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Did you know you can trade in your old books for an Amazon.co.uk Gift Card to spend on the things you want? Plus, get an extra £5 Gift Certificate when you trade in books worth £10 or more before June 30, 2012. Visit the Books Trade-In Store for more details. |
Product details |
More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Chuck D, the creative force behind Public Enemy and one of the most outspoken, politically active and controversial rappers in music, discusses his views on everything from rap and race to the problems with politics in society today. Before Gangsta Rap dominated the media and rode the airwaves, Chuck D and Public Enemy were redefining the sound of contemporary music with their brand of socially conscious, politically charged, bass-crunching music. His lyrics challenged mainstream notions of racial justice and rallied for self-empowerment, so much so that he became known as "Black America's CNN". The book draws on the material Chuck D discusses in the lectures he gives across the United States, the result of provocative assessments of black culture today. He was honoured by the Patrick Lippart Humanitarian Award for his work with the "Rock the Vote" campaign. Yusuf Jah is the author of "Uprising: Crips and Bloods Tell the Story of America's Youth in the Crossfire".
Suggested Tags from Similar Products(What's this?)Be the first one to add a relevant tag (keyword that's strongly related to this product)
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is a must-have for anyone, initiate or expert, who is vaguely interested in any of the following; hip-hop, racial issues in the USA, rebellion, radicalism, struggle, and many more. The book itself is magisterial. Chuck covers it all, and in an eloquent, and readable (but never patronising) voice. More to the point, though, his arguments are always backed up and one always gets the sense that here is a man who knows what he is talking about, and knows how to get it across to others.
As well as being a succinct history of the black 20th century in the States, however, the book is also the book to rescue hip-hop; it highlights the positive side of the most important and controversial musical movement since rock & roll, and dispels a lot of the negative myths surrounding it.
I couldn't put it down, nor can I stop re-reading it. I can't recommend Chucks book highly enough; it really is that good. Read it. Do the right thing, as Spike Lee says in the introduction.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is what they don't tell you about. The book talks about racism, rap and rebellion. All you would want to know but it is still written in a simple way that even teenagers could enjoy. I read this book twice already and I am going for a third. It will change your view of life. This is the perfect buy for anybody who claims to mildly like rap music and those who are experts alike. This could be the best money you ever spend.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
21 reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Fight the Power Analysis
8 Jan 2001
Format:Paperback
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.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Rap the truth about the game... ChuckD keeps it real
4 Sep 2004
Format:Paperback
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.
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.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
pleasant surprise
19 Oct 2000
Format:Paperback
Chuck D takes his talent with words from the mike to the pen, sharing his views on these current topics.
Although he writes as he speaks, with a..."colourful" vocabulary, I found that the tone is one of urgency, such that if the language is distracting, the reader hasn't grasped the gravity of the content.
Chuck D and Public Enemy continue to produce music for higher purposes than simply to make money and entertain; they clearly wish to educate, stimulate and elevate any who are willing to seriously look at what's going on in our world.
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
