Each Friday I pick a song–new, old, borrowed, blue–that’s been on my mind and in my ears, and write a short post about it.

This is “Fight the Power” by Public Enemy:

There is no better musical group in the world than Public Enemy, if you want your music aggressive, textured, and positive, matched with lyrics that are aggressive, textured, and positive. The challenge, though, reader and listener, lies in the fact that the message is as urgent to 2014 as it was to 1989, as it was (as the video says) to 1963.