Conclusion Paragraphs

 

Introduction paragraphs

 

Strange Fruit

 Strange Fruit

Billie Holliday (Abel Meeropol) 1939

Southern trees bear a strange fruit

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root

Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees

Pastoral scene of the gallant south

The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth

Scent of magnolias, sweet and fresh

Then the sudden smell of burning flesh

Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck

For the rain to gather, for the wind to suck

For the sun to rot, for the trees to drop

Here is a strange and bitter crop

Fight the Power

Fight the Power

Public Enemy 1989

1989 the number another summer (get down)

Sound of the funky drummer

Music hitting your heart cause I know you got soul

(Brothers and sisters, hey)

Listen if you're missing y'all

Swinging while I'm singin'

Giving whatcha gettin'

Knowing what I knowin'

While the Black band's sweating

And the rhythm rhymes rolling

Got to give us what we want

Gotta give us what we need

Our freedom of speech is freedom of death

We got to fight the powers that be

Lemme hear you say

Fight the power

Fight the power

We've got to fight the powers that be

As the rhythm's designed to bounce

What counts is that the rhyme's

Designed to fill your mind

Now that you've realized the pride's arrived

We got to pump the stuff to make ya tough

From the heart

It's a start, a work of art

To revolutionize make a change nothing's strange

People, people we are the same

No we're not the same

'Cause we don't know the game

What we need is awareness, we can't get careless

You say what is this?

My beloved let's get down to business

Mental self defensive fitness

(Yo) bum rush the show

You gotta go for what you know

To make everybody see, in order to fight the powers that be

Lemme hear you say

Fight the power

Fight the power

We've got to fight the powers that be

Elvis was a hero to most

But he never meant sh%^ to me you see

Straight up racist that sucker was

Simple and plain

Moth&%$#"* him and John Wayne

'Cause I'm Black and I'm proud

I'm ready and hyped plus I'm amped

Most of my heroes don't appear on no stamps

Sample a look back you look and find

Nothing but rednecks for 400 years if you check

Don't worry be happy

Was a number one jam

Damn if I say it you can slap me right here

(Get it) let's get this party started right

Right on, c'mon

What we got to say

Power to the people no delay

Make everybody see

In order to fight the powers that be

Fight the power

We've got to fight the powers that be

https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20190628-fight-the-power-the-most-provocative-song-ever

What's Going On

 "What's Going On"

Marvin Gaye 1970

Mother, mother
There's too many of you crying
Brother, brother, brother
There's far too many of you dying
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today - Ya

Father, father
We don't need to escalate
You see, war is not the answer
For only love can conquer hate
You know we've got to find a way
To bring some lovin' here today

Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me, so you can see
Oh, what's going on
What's going on
Yeah, what's going on
Ah, what's going on


Mother, mother, everybody thinks we're wrong
Oh, but who are they to judge us
Simply because our hair is long
Oh, you know we've got to find a way
To bring some understanding here today
Oh

Picket lines and picket signs
Don't punish me with brutality
Talk to me
So you can see
What's going on

Changes

 Changes

Tupac Shakur 1998

Come on come on
I see no changes wake up in the morning and I ask myself
Is life worth living should I blast myself?
I'm tired of bein' poor and even worse I'm black
My stomach hurts so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch
Cops give a damn about a negro
Pull the trigger kill a nigga he's a hero
Give the crack to the kids who the hell cares
One less hungry mouth on the welfare
First ship 'em dope and let 'em deal the brothers
Give 'em guns step back watch 'em kill each other
"It's time to fight back, " that's what Huey said
Two shots in the dark now Huey's dead
I got love for my brother but we can never go nowhere
Unless we share with each other
We gotta start makin' changes
Learn to see me as a brother instead of two distant strangers
And that's how it's supposed to be
How can the Devil take a brother if he's close to me?
I'd love to go back to when we played as kids
But things changed, and that's the way it is

That's just the way it is
Things will never be the same
That's just the way it is
Aww yeah

That's just the way it is
Things will never be the same
That's just the way it is
Aww yeah

I see no changes all I see is racist faces
Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races
We under I wonder what it takes to make this
One better place, let's erase the wasted
Take the evil out the people they'll be acting right
'Cause both black and white is smokin' crack tonight
And only time we chill is when we kill each other
It takes skill to be real, time to heal each other
And although it seems heaven sent
We ain't ready, to see a black President, uh
It ain't a secret don't conceal the fact
The penitentiary's packed, and it's filled with blacks
But some things will never change
Try to show another way but you stayin' in the dope game
Now tell me what's a mother to do
Bein' real don't appeal to the brother in you
You gotta operate the easy way
(I made a G today) But you made it in a sleazy way
Sellin' crack to the kid (I gotta get paid
Well hey, well that's the way it is

That's just the way it is
Things will never be the same
That's just the way it is
Aww yeah

That's just the way it is
Things will never be the same
That's just the way it is
Aww yeah

We gotta make a change
It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes
Let's change the way we eat, let's change the way we live
And let's change the way we treat each other
You see the old way wasn't working so it's on us to do
What we gotta do, to survive

And still I see no changes can't a brother get a little peace?
It's war on the streets and the war in the Middle East
Instead of war on poverty they got a war on drugs
So the police can bother me
And I ain't never did a crime I ain't have to do
But now I'm back with the blacks givin' it back to you
Don't let 'em jack you up, back you up
Crack you up and pimp smack you up
You gotta learn to hold ya own
They get jealous when they see ya with ya mobile phone
But tell the cops they can't touch this
I don't trust this when they try to rush I bust this
That's the sound of my tool you say it ain't cool
My mama didn't raise no fool
And as long as I stay black I gotta stay strapped
And I never get to lay back
'Cause I always got to worry 'bout the pay backs
Some buck that I roughed up way back
Comin' back after all these years
Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat that's the way it is, uh

That's just the way it is
Things will never be the same
That's just the way it is
Aww yeah

That's just the way it is
Things will never be the same
That's just the way it is
Aww yeah

Some things will never change

Source: LyricFind

Songwriters: Bruce Hornsby / Deon Evans / Tupac Amaru Shakur

Changes lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group

Film openings

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Gladiator