No matter what the name, we’re all the same pieces in one big chess game.

Chuck D., “Rebel Without a Pause,” from Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, 1988

They claim we’re products from the bottom of Hell,
But the black is back, and it’s bound to sell.
Picture us coolin’ out on the Fourth of July…
And if you heard we were celebratin’, that’s a worldwide lie.

Flavor Flav, “Louder than a Bomb,” from Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, 1988

Comin’ from the school of hard knocks,
Some perpetrate…they drink Clorox.
Attack the black, cause I know they lack exact
The cold facts, and still they try to Xerox.

Chuck D., “Don’t Believe the Hype,” from Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Million’s To Hold Us Back, 1988

CIA, FBI, all they tell us is lies.
And when I say it, they get alarmed…
‘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

Bass! How low can you go?
Death row…what a brother know.
Once again, back is the incredible,
The rhyme animal, the uncannable “D!”
Public Enemy Number One.
Five-O said, “Freeze!” and I got numb.
Can I tell ‘em that I really never had a gun?
But it’s the wax that the Terminator X spun.

Chuck D., “Bring the Noise,” from Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, 1988

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

Who gives a fuck about a goddamn Grammy?

Flavor Flav, “Terminator X to the Edge of Panic,” from Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, 1988. More P.E. quotes…

Who gives a fuck about a goddamn Grammy?

Flavor Flav, “Terminator X to the Edge of Panic,” from Public Enemy’s It Takes a Nation of Millions to Hold Us Back, 1988. More P.E. quotes…