If you've ever seen Spike Lee's extraordinary 1989 comedy drama Do The Right Thing, then you'll never forget the scene where Italian-American pizzeria owner Sal (Danny Aiello) squares off with Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn) as Fight the Power blares out of his boombox, lyrically laying down the gauntlet, drawing a line at which Sal's racism has to stop and, as it turns out, laying his life on that same line.
Fight the Power is a melting pot of samples from some of the best funk and soul of the previous generation - notably James Brown's Funky Drummer and of course Fight the Power by the Isley Brothers - but its brilliance comes from Chuck D's unshakeable defiance. There's not a scintilla of uncertainty in this hip hop rant against a society that perpetuates injustice and the oppression of the poor and the coloured. With commitment like this, it's only a matter of time before the powers that be are quaking in their boots.