The song was written by frontman Chuck D in protest of the state of Arizona, where governor Evan Mecham had canceled Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the people voted against its reintroduction.

[2] Backlash to this decision included the NFL moving Super Bowl XXVII to California, losing around $100 million in revenue for Arizona.

[2] Gary G-Wiz produced the track, with the main riff sampled from funk band Mandrill's "Two Sisters of Mystery" (1973), and a 45-second bridge from the Jackson 5's "Walk On" (1971).

[3] According to Evan Serpick of Spin magazine, the organs in the latter sample "evoke civil rights protesters calling from the grave".

Footage of the paramilitary committing assassinations is interspersed with black-and-white recreations of King and the Civil Rights Movement receiving violent abuse.

[4] Public Enemy spokesman Harry Allen concurred that King would have radicalised if he survived being shot: "we wonder what he would have stood for, if he had been able to stand after that bullet ripped violently through his neck.

[5] Chuck D reiterated in 2011 that he did not see a problem with a violent video to honor a non-violent activist: "I’m for peace, but I can make a visual statement about how I feel about what happened.