Public Enemy - "Night of the Living Baseheads"

Now this video IS an unadulterated classic. Not only is the song a classic militant anti-drug song, but the video itself pretends to be some kind of pirate news broadcast. Not only do we have the irony of Flavor Flav appearing in an anti-drug video (spouting anachronisms like "Yo Sherrell, kick the ballistics, G!"), but we also get a very special appearance by the "Mayor of Rap City," Chris Thomas, doing impressions of both Rodney Dangerfield, Jesse Jackson and Richard Pryor. And brilliantly, I might add. Who else could toggle between the Reverend Jesse and Pryor in the same skit? How he never became a huge celebrity is beyond me.

The song is almost an afterthought really. There is high comedy (the "Beeper Tie" commercial) and high tragedy (all those poor Wall Street people getting caught doing drugs). And did you notice how much smaller the clock around Chuck D's neck is than that of Flav? How did that happen?

Yo, listen
I see it on their faces (First come first serve basis)
Standin' in line, checkin' the time
Homeboys playin' the curb
The same ones that used to do herb
Now they're gone, passin' it on
Poison attack - the Black word bond
My man Daddy-O once said to me
He knew a brother who stayed all day in his jeep
And at night he went to sleep
And in the mornin' all he had was
The sneakers on his feet
The culprit used to jam and rock the mike
Yo, he stripped the jeep to fill his pipe
And wander around to find a place
Where they rocked to a different kind of...BASS