Released: April 10, 1990

Featuring: Ice Cube Big Daddy Kane

Songwriter: Ice Cube Big Daddy Kane Chuck D Keith Shocklee Eric Sadler

Producer: The Bomb Squad

[Chuck D]
Burn Hollywood burn I smell a riot
Goin' on -- first they're guilty, now they're gone
Yeah I'll check out a movie
But it'll take a Black one to move me
Get me the hell away from this T.V
All this news and views are beneath me
So all I hear about is shots ringing out
About gangs putting each other's head out
So I rather kick some slang out
All right fellas let's go hang out
Hollywood or would they not
Make us all look bad like I know they had
But some things I'll never forget, yeah
So step and fetch this shit
For all the years we looked like clowns
The joke is over -- smell the smoke from all around
Burn Hollywood burn

[Ice Cube]
Ice Cube is down with the P.E
Now every single bitch wanna see me
Big Daddy is smooth, word to mother
Let's check out a flick that exploits the color
Roaming through Hollywood late at night
Red and blue lights what a common sight
Pulled to the curb, getting played like a sucker
Don't fight the power...(gunshot)..the motherfucker

[Big Daddy Kane]
As I walk the streets of Hollywood Boulevard
Thinking how hard it was to those that starred
In the movies portraying the roles
Of butlers and maids, slaves and hoes
Many intelligent Black men seemed
To look uncivilized when on the screen
Like, I guess I figure you to play some jigaboo
On the plantation, what else can a nigga do
And Black women in this profession
As for playing a lawyer, out of the question
For what they play Aunt Jemima is the perfect term
Even if now she got a perm
So let's make our own movies like Spike Lee
Cause the roles being offered don't strike me
As nothing that the black man could use to earn
Burn Hollywood burn

"Now we're considering you for a part in our new production. How do you feel about playing a controversial negro?"
"Yeah, I'm wid it. You mean somebody like Huey P. Newton or H. Rap Brown, right?"
"Well, it's a servant character that chuckles a little bit, and sings."
"Yo, man, what?? That's bullshit."

"Hey Cube, Kane, Flav, listen. I hope you ain't wastin' my time. You know how I feel about givin' these movies my money, know what I'm sayin'? I work hard for it"
"Yo, man, it's gonna be dope, man."
"Chill, man."
"Hey, I'm chill chill, but you know what I'm sayin', I just don't wanna, I can't go for this Steel Magnolia shit, know what I'm sayin'?"
"Come on, man, it's cool."
Ladies and gentlemen, today's feature presentation: Driving Miss Daisy
"No, no, no."
"Bullshit, just what I'm talkin' about, all this Terms of Endearment shit. I'm outta here, man, it's bullshit."
"Yo, check it out, man I got Black Caesar at the crib, man, y'all want to go check that out?"
"That's the idea. We could have rolled with that from the get-go!"
"Fuck Hollywood, man."

Public Enemy

Public Enemy is one of the most influential and powerful groups in the history of music. They are known for their conscious, pro-Black, politically charged messages from the “hard rhymer” Chuck D mixed with a bit of comic relief from Flavor Flav over sample-heavy production from The Bomb Squad. Along with DJ Terminator X, Professor Griff and the S1W (Security of the First World), Public Enemy released several classic albums and helped globalize hip-hop with their international live shows.

Chuck D and Flavor Flav met at Long Island’s Adelphi University and their first creation was the track “Public Enemy No. 1” while Chuck was working at the radio station WBAU. This song led to Public Enemy officially forming and signing with Def Jam Recordings in 1986, leading them to opening on tour for the Beastie Boys as they supported their classic debut album Licensed To Ill.

PE released a string of critically acclaimed albums, starting with their 1987 debut Yo! Bum Rush the Show, followed by their classic sophomore album It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back in 1988, Fear of a Black Planet in 1990, and Apocalypse 91…The Enemy Strikes Black in 1991. They also released the anthem “Fight the Power” in 1989 as the theme song for Spike Lee’s film Do the Right Thing.