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I never got the sense that "Fight The Power" ended FOABP so much as it was tacked on because people desired the single. Its real home is on the Do The Right Thing soundtrack.

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This is a perfectly fair assessment, but it is the opening track of the soundtrack, and I wouldn't have been able to write about it! You are probably correct, though; there is an element of tacking it on for sure - I've chosen to give everyone the huge benefit of the doubt!

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Superb article about a superb song on a superb album and a superb film.

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Well, done. Mitchell. As I don't own 'Do the Right Thing', "Fight the Power" has always been the end of 'Fear of a Black Planet' for me, but really, it became its own thing, bigger than any soundtrack or particular album. I was probably at my peak hip-hop awareness and appreciation in late 80s-early 90s, and it was one of those sonic blasts that sounded like little else at the time. It's a more than worthy successor to the Isleys' song. Since I am basically Chuck D.'s age, the original FtP was something I also heard in real time, and transcended my white teenage suburban world. Loved it then, love it now. When I saw this post, I immediately remembered this NPR clip from a while ago with Ernie Isley and Chuck D. talking about their "Fight the Power"s. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bScwXhbY5VM

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