The singer of one of the most important bands for American hip-hop, Public Enemy, has asked that one of the group’s songs stop being used in videos about the fires that ravage Los Angeles and that have already caused 24 deaths and thousands of hectares burned. It is ‘Burn, Hollywood, burn’, whose lyrics represent a powerful social criticism.
Chuck D, one of the founders of the group, has shared a brief publication in which he explains the context of the song released in 1990. In it he explains that the reason for its creation was to recount what are known as the ‘Watts Riots’ or the ‘ Watts’ Rebellion, which took place in the Los Angeles neighborhood of the same name in 1965.
“Burn, Hollywood, burn” is a protest song,” says the artist. A protest that was motivated by complaints of segregation and poverty in the neighborhood, after the attempted arrest of Marquette Frye, a 21-year-old African-American. When he resisted arrest, an altercation began that escalated and ended in a clash between police and neighbors. “It has nothing to do with families losing everything they have in a natural disaster,” laments Chuck D.
“Learn the history. May God be with those affected,” the singer concluded his writing.
The videos that relate the song and the devastating images of these days in Los Angeles can be seen more and more on social networks such as Tik Tok, in which some users have created edited videos with photographs of the destruction and, in the background, ‘ Burn Hollywood, burn’.
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