Fight the Power Rhetorical Analysis

"Fight the Power"

Rhetorical Analysis

By Kandice Linwright

Fight the Power was released in 1989, the same year of the Central Park Five incident, though there is no known connection between the song as commentary on the event. The lyrics are full of rhetorical devices aimed to push through, advance, a specific purpose. Analyze the lyrics as you would a poem.

"Fight the POwer" by Public Enemy

​Trigger Warning for Language

This block we'll be looking not only at our novel, but also at different mediums of art that could be considered persuasive. Remember, Rhetoric is the art of persuasion through emotions (Pathos), logic (Logos), and credibility (Ethos).

Music as a Rhetorical Force

​Trigger Warning for Language

1989 the number another summer (get down)

Sound of the funky drummer

Music hitting your heart cause I know you got soul

(Brothers and sisters, hey)

Listen if you're missing y'all

Swinging while I'm singin'

Giving whatcha gettin'

Knowing what I knowin'

While the Black band's sweating

And the rhythm rhymes rolling

Got to give us what we want

Gotta give us what we need

Our freedom of speech is freedom of death

We got to fight the powers that be

Lemme hear you say

Fight the power

This is a nod to Malcolm X’s “Ballot or the Bullet” speech where he criticizes the more moderate liberal elements of the civil rights movement:

"Anytime you live in the twentieth century, 1964, and you walkin' around here singing “We Shall Overcome,” the government has failed us. This is part of what’s wrong with you do too much singing. Today it’s time to stop singing and start swinging."​

Multiple Choice

What is a reference, typically brief, to a person, place, thing, event, or other literary work with which the reader is presumably familiar?

• Rhetoric

• Allusion

• Metaphor

• Parallelism

Open Ended

Why does Public Enemy use this specific rhetorical device in their lyrics? What effect does it have on listeners? (Be specific)

As the rhythm's designed to bounce

What counts is that the rhyme's

Designed to fill your mind

Now that you've realized the pride's arrived

We got to pump the stuff to make ya tough

From the heart

It's a start, a work of art

To revolutionize make a change nothing's strange

People, people we are the same

No we're not the same

'Cause we don't know the game

What we need is awareness, we can't get careless

You say what is this?

My beloved let's get down to business

Mental self defensive fitness

(Yo) bum rush the show

You gotta go for what you know

To make everybody see, in order to fight the powers that be

Lemme hear you say

Fight the power

Multiple Choice

"No we're not the same

'Cause we don't know the game"

What rhetorical device is being used here?

• Rhetoric

• Allusion

• Metaphor

• Parallelism

Open Ended

From a rhetorical point of view, what "game" is the author talking about? Explain.

Elvis was a hero to most

But he never meant ******* to me you see

Straight up racist that sucker was

Simple and plain

************ him and John Wayne

'Cause I'm Black and I'm proud

I'm ready and hyped plus I'm amped

Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps

Sample a look back you look and find

Nothing but *********** for 400 years if you check

Don't worry be happy

Was a number one jam

Damn if I say it you can slap me right here

(Get it) let's get this party started right

Right on, c'mon

What we got to say

Power to the people no delay

Make everybody see

In order to fight the powers that be

For the next part, I need you to do some research. You must find explicit textual evidence and cite your sources for the next questions. You also must use complete sentences, Claim - Evidence - Reasoning, and proper grammar. The goal is not only to understand what Public Enemy is saying, but how they're using rhetoric to say it effectively to their audience.

Your Turn...

​Trigger Warning for Language

Open Ended

RESEARCH and ANSWER: Why does Public Enemy bring Elvis into this discussion? What does Elvis have to do with fighting the power?

Open Ended

RESEARCH and ANSWER: Why does Public Enemy bring John Wayne into this discussion? What does John Wayne and the myth of the American Cowboy have to do with fighting the power?

Open Ended

The author uses loaded language when referring to Elvis and John Wayne. I want you to look at the tone of that specific stanza. Think about connotation. Think about audience. Think about you previous answers.

With that in mind, what is the purpose of the Elvis and John Wayne stanza?

Is the author effective in achieving this purpose?

Open Ended

Can music be sued to persuade? Give examples from this song or from others you've heard. Explain in detail.

Extra Credit:

Here is a very long video breaking down every aspect of Same Love by Macklemore. Watch the video, then answer the following questions....

Open Ended

Cite specific examples of rhetoric used in Same Love:

Open Ended

This song makes me cry every single time because it emotionally (Pathos) resonates with me (target audience). What song resonates with you and why? Using the language of rhetorical analysis, explain w