Play The Fighting Temptations

[Slikk Huisenga]

Fighting Temptation" is a song recorded by American singer Beyonc and American rappers Missy Elliott, MC Lyte, and Free for the film The Fighting Temptations (2003), starring Beyonc. It was written by Beyonc, Elliott, Lana Moorer, Marie Wright, Jonathan Burks, LaShaun Owens, Karriem Mack, and Walter Murphy. An R&B-funk song, "Fighting Temptation" samples Uncle Louie's "I Like Funky Music" (1979). Lyrically, the song makes a reference to fighting against negativity in life as well as waiting for the right person before falling in love. It was released as the lead single from the soundtrack for The Fighting Temptations on August 18, 2003, by Columbia Records.

"Fighting Temptation" received generally favorable reviews from music critics, who complimented the theme, Beyonc's vocal performance, and the verse-raps. Commercially, it received attention only in European countries, peaking at number 11 in the Netherlands. The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Antti Jokinen.

"Fighting Temptation" appeared on the soundtrack album for The Fighting Temptations (2003), as well as in the film.[1] As a whole, seven tracks featured the vocals of Beyonc,[2] who had a starring role in the film, along with a choir made up of gospel, R&B and hip hop recording artists. "Fighting Temptation" features additional vocals from American female rappers Missy Elliott, MC Lyte, and Free.[3]

"Fighting Temptation" was written by Beyonc, Missy Elliott, Lana Moorer, Marie Wright, Jonathan Burks, LaShaun Owens, Karriem Mack, Walter Murphy, and Gene Pistilli. Production was handled by Elliott.[3] An R&B-funk song,[4] it samples Uncle Louie's 1979 song "I Like Funky Music".[3] Lyrically, the song is about a group of women's strict "no sex" rule similar to a part of the film's plot, where the female lead Lilly (portrayed by Beyonc) abstains from being intimate with her love interest (portrayed by Cuba Gooding Jr.).[4]

Heather Phares of AllMusic wrote that the song's lyrics make reference to a "celebration of ladies' night out and waiting for true love."[4] According to Dani Boobyer of the United Kingdom-based website, The Situation, "Fighting Temptation" has "a well worn message about striving for the best and fighting against negativity."[5] Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine found that Elliott notices pleasure and joy in sins that make people go to church on Sundays, but in reality, the "party people" are no different from the churchgoers, who sin in their song and music.[6]

During a string of soundtrack releases, Beyonc commented on the song with Billboard stating: "A lot of music was written especially for the film. At first, I was concerned about the timing of the soundtrack, [because] my solo album was supposed to come out way before the movie. But then the solo album got delayed."[7] While later announcing the release of the soundtrack album in a press release, Beyonc said:

Once you hear the song 'Fighting Temptation', and all the music in this film, you can't help but fall in love with it. You'll definitely get emotional. You might become happy or even sad, but your heart will get full. All the songs are touching and spiritual, and that's what the movie itself is like.[1]

Heather Phares of AllMusic wrote: "[...] the seven tracks that feature Beyonc on her own or with other collaborators are more striking: in particular, the movie's title track, a surprisingly fun and funky celebration."[2] Dani Boobyer of The Situation UK commented that the soundtrack album "jumpstarts with the explosive 'Fighting Temptation' [...] setting R&B princess Beyonc's sweet vocals against the hard sounds of Missy and MC Lyte's raps."[5] Ed Gonzalez of Slant Magazine wrote that the song's artists are not fighting temptations like the song's title says, but are looking for them.[6]

"Fighting Temptation" charted across mainland Europe in early 2004, failing to chart altogether in the United States.[10] In the Netherlands, it debuted at number 20 on the Dutch Top 40, peaking at number 13 in its second week.[11] The song reached its peak of number 37 in its sixth week on the Flanders Singles Chart in Belgium, charting for a total of seven consecutive weeks until mid-April 2004.[12] On August 29, the song debuted and peaked at number 42 on the Swiss Singles Chart.[10]

The accompanying music video for the song was directed by Antti Jokinen and it features Beyonc, Elliott, MC Lyte and Free.[13] It was shot in an abandoned mansion near Los Angeles by the end of June 2003. Performance footage was seamlessly melded with clips from the movie.[13] On the set, Beyonc expressed herself:

"Basically, it's kind of like a ladies' night 'cause it's all us females and the song is about basically all these temptations you have with this guy and you're kind of fighting it. The house came from the movie because it kind of reminds me a lot of the house that we filmed in for the movie."[13]

The video begins with Beyonc in a red dress moving across a screen of multiple changing colors and then moves to multiple shots of Elliott rapping in a white and red jersey and matching hat, Lyte in a blue dress, and a church choir group. Next, Elliott is shown on roller skates in a white and black outfit rollerskating throughout the mansion. Shots are shown of Elliott in bed with a man and Beyonc at a party with a guy and singing to the people there. As the song moves to Beyonc singing the chorus, she is shown in a golden top and black shorts, sitting on a bed and dancing in a room, while back at the party, she is singing for her lover and blowing him kisses. The song then moves to a verse by Mc Lyte and we see her dancing in the middle of a semicircle of men wearing orange prison jumpsuits. Scenes of the movie and of Mc Lyte in front of an ever-changing background are intercut throughout this.

Beyonc then sings the chorus again and dances in her red dress in front of the background. Mc Lyte and Free are seen at a backyard barbecue party as Mc Lyte's verse begins and she mingles with the party guests, with Elliott as the party DJ. Again, Beyonc comes back to sing the chorus of the song, now at the barbecue party, with scenes of her dancing in a room of the mansion and scenes from the movie in which she is singing on a stage in front of a large audience with a group of people behind her. With the end of the final chorus, the song moves back to Elliott and Lyte, with the former on her rollerskates as at the beginning and the latter in front of the semicircle of men. The video ends with the four of them sitting at a picnic table at the barbecue party as two small girls clap hands on the opposite bench.

He went on to explain that we can have a moral playbook. We should talk about situations that may arise that will threaten our spirituality, and then plan a specific strategy to combat it. The concept of role playing is not new, but I love the analogy of having it written down in a playbook. Children can know the play, practice their responses, and feel confident that they can succeed.

I created a printable moral playbook for you to use in your home to help drive this concept home! It will give you the opportunity to find out what temptations your children may be facing. Everyone is different. Satan knows what types of things each individual is struggling with. You can make your playbook personal.

You can print it on regular 8.5 X 11 inch paper. It makes the playbook tiny! But, my boys loved the size and that it fit right in their pocket. Or, print it out at the copy shop onto a large size of paper! Either way works great.

Then, collapse the template so the pages fold into each other and it makes a little book. It really just falls right into place when you give it a nudge. The green Moral Playbook paper is the front of the book.

Here is an example of what I wrote with my kids. The alternate pages in the little playbook have quotes from the awesome talk from Elder Stevenson. They are some of my favorite thoughts from his talk that I found helpful when explaining the book to my family! I think they are great reminders of the power of being prepared.

Brooks: Pastor Steve, it is always a shock to hear about a leader who has fallen. While we live in a culture that has a lot of temptation, it somehow still surprises us when we are tempted. No one is expecting it from their leader especially. Before we get started though, I would like you to clarify for us if this is something that can happen to any Christian, no matter their circumstances.

Pastor Steve: Yes and no. It can happen to any of us, especially in the culture we live in today. So yes, in that sense. But no, in the sense that if you are really walking with the Lord and you are living a spiritually disciplined lifestyle with protective boundaries, there is no reason why you should fall into any kind of sexual sin.

Brooks: Well as we get into this, let's start with the basics of the Christian life, because you mentioned the need for a strong life that is reinforced with different protections. Is there any one area you would highlight as something that leaders need to focus on if they're going to avoid falling into sexual sin.

Pastor Steve: The Apostle Paul said, if we walk in the Spirit, we will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. Walking in the Spirit is the key to freedom from sin and I believe walking in the Spirit primarily comes from developing a strong devotional life. It comes from spending time in the Word of God and spending time in meaningful prayer to the Lord. When you're meeting with God every day, you will begin to be lifted up spiritually, above carnality and the World. I'm not saying that a guy with a strong devotional life is exempt from temptation, but it will strengthen you and the most important aspect of living in victory is to have daily devotion with God.

Brooks: I would just assume as somebody who is sitting on the other side of the pulpit, that the pastor or leader that I'm looking up to has a strong devotional life. What have you seen?

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