BET Awards 2020: Watch Nas, YG and More Stars Join Public Enemy for 'Fight the Power' Remix

Public Enemy is bringing their 1989 anthem "Fight the Power" to a new generation

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Published on June 28, 2020 10:05 PM

Public Enemy is bringing their 1989 anthem "Fight the Power" to a new generation.

After 12-year-old Keedron Bryant kicked off the 2020 BET Awards on Sunday by singing his viral hit "I Just Wanna Live," the hip-hop group recreated the music video for the song — which was originally created for Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing — with footage from the recent George Floyd protests.

Public Enemy's Flavor Flav, Chuck D, DJ Lord, S1Ws and Professor Griff reunited for the performance and were joined by Nas, Rapsody, YG, Public Enemy Radio's Jahi and the Roots' Black Thought and Questlove on new verses pertaining to the Black Lives Matter movement and the protests over the deaths of Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Rayshard Brooks and other Black victims killed by police.

"They say a suicide when dead bodies are swinging/Cowards are hunting Black men that's what I’m seeing," Nas rhymes during his verse.

The performance comes a week after Public Enemy released their new song and music video, "State of the Union," as a statement against President Donald Trump's current administration.

"Our collective voices keep getting louder. The rest of the planet is on our side. But it's not enough to talk about change. You have to show up and demand change," said Chuck D, who has been a vocal critic of Trump's policies and rhetoric, in a statement. "Folks gotta vote like their lives depend on it, 'cause it does."

"Public Enemy tells it like it is," added Flavor Flav. "It's time for him to GO."

The BET Awards — held virtually this year because of the coronavirus pandemic — are airing Sunday at 8 p.m. on CBS