Public Enemy's Can't truss it - Research Paper Example

Chuck D. one of the Public Enemy in an interview with Melody Maker in the year 1991 gave an insight to the song meaning or rather what their song was addressing by saying, the song was about how the corporate world of today had perfected the demoralizing act of slavery. In addition, he talked on how they cannot control what they create in the music industry and because of the presence of the media, they can neither control on how they run their lives or their state of mind-what they are thinking.

Furthermore, that the various circumstances that they do not have power over force them to limit their working and restricts them from having ownership on any property or business. Consequently, there will be lack of jobs while the greater forces he identified as the white people had jobs because they owned businesses. He goes on to explain how the white people have put in place various institutions that that provides lessons on how to live in America when the blacks did not have any institutions to teach them.

He argues that the only institution that the blacks could turn to is their families but that too could not help as they were subjected to slavery. Chuck D finally remarked that the song was about the ongoing cost of the black holocaust which people choose to ignore while the others such as the Jewish holocaust was being addressed (Lemelle, p38). By the use of the term holocaust Chuck D referred to the systematic, bureaucratic, state-sponsored persecution and murder of the blacks who tried to stand up and make a change by denying them their rights.

This has changed ever since through the years as an increasing number of rappers have taken control of their marketing and business opportunities. They have grown so opportunistic that by mentioning a product on their lyrics they would be paid. A good example is Jay-Z on his 2000 track “give it to me” where he gives a rap placement to Motorola, using a line in the lyrics “Motorola, two way page