Our freedom of speech is freedom or death,
We got to fight the powers that be!

- Chuck D., “Fight the Power,” from Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet, 1990

I got a letter from the government the other day
I opened and read it…it said they were suckers.

- Chuck D., “Black Steel in the Hour of Chaos,” from Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, 1988

These days you can’t see who’s in cahoots
Cause now the KKK wears three-piece suits.

- Chuck D., “Rebirth,” from Public Enemy’s Apocalypse ‘91…The Enemy Strikes Black, 1991

I’m even lethal when I’m unarmed…
‘Cause I’m louder than a bomb.

- Chuck D., “Louder Than a Bomb,” from Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, 1988

Burn, Hollywood, burn, I smell a riot goin’ on…

- Chuck D., “Burn, Hollywood, Burn,” from Public Enemy’s Fear of a Black Planet, 1990

I never live alone,
I never walk alone.
My posse’s always ready
And they’re waitin’ in my zone.

- Chuck D., “Louder Than a Bomb,” from Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, 1988