N.W.A - Fuck Tha Police [NEW]
"Fuck tha Police" is a protest song by American hip hop group N.W.A that appears on the 1988 album Straight Outta Compton as well as on the N.W.A's Greatest Hits compilation. The lyrics protest police brutality and racial profiling and the song was ranked number 425 on Rolling Stone's 2004 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.[2] In 2021, Rolling Stone re-ranked the song at number 190 in an updated list.[3]
N.W.A - Fuck Tha Police
"Fuck tha Police" parodies court proceedings, inverting them by presenting Dr. Dre as a judge hearing a prosecution of the police department. Three members of the group, Ice Cube, MC Ren, and Eazy-E, take the stand to "testify" before the judge as prosecutors. Through the lyrics, the rappers criticize the local police force. Two interludes present re-enactments of stereotypical racial profiling and police brutality.
At the end, the jury finds the police department guilty of being a "redneck, white-bread, chicken-shit motherfucker."[6] A police officer, who is revealed to be the defendant, contests that the arguments presented were all lies and starts to demand justice as Dr. Dre orders him out of the courtroom, prompting the police officer to yell obscenities as he is led out.
On 10 April 2011, New Zealand musician Tiki Taane was arrested on charges of "disorderly behaviour likely to cause violence to start or continue" after performing the song at a gig in a club in Tauranga during an inspection of the club by the police.[16][17] On 13 April, Tiki told Marcus Lush on Radio Live that the lyrics often feature in his performances and his arrest came as a complete surprise.[18]
The lyrics for the song talk about police violence and police brutality, along with racial profiling. These are felt all too often in Black neighborhoods and have been for decades. In fact, some police reformists, including the NAACP, allege that the police department itself was created as a means to find and punish runaway slaves.
The song parodies the courts by presenting N.W.A. producer and DJ, Dr. Dre, as a judge who is hearing various trials prosecuting the police department. The rappers in N.W.A., from Ice Cube to MC Ren and Eazy-E, each take the stand to testify before Judge Dre. Each rapper criticizes the police.
Afterward, Gregory returned to the hotel. He handed N.W.A.'s production manager a briefcase full of cash from the show as well as all the plane tickets back to LA. He called the bus driver to check on the two cases full of guns the group carried on the road. They tried to drive the buses into Canada, "just in case something happened," but police arrived shortly after that.
Nearly a year removed from the release of their incendiary debut album, Straight Outta Compton. N.W.A were pretty far along on their journey into rap stardom before an ill-fated performance at Detroit's Joe Louis Arena on June 19, 1989. With in your face, aggressive songs that marked some of the very first pieces to explore the perils of life on the streets of Compton, Calif., the group had become living emblems of gangsta rap. N.W.A also made time to comment on police brutality on a tune by the name of "Fuck tha Police."
With "Fuck tha Police" becoming a rallying cry for both champions of the First Amendment and folks who felt oppressed by law enforcement, N.W.A had seen their national profile continue to rise in the summer of 1989. This was the backdrop of the group's performance at Joe Louis Arena. Speaking with The Detroit Free Press around the time N.W.A's Straight Outta Compton film hit theaters in 2015, retired Detroit police Sergeant Larry Courts remembered telling the controversial group that they wouldn't be able to perform "Fuck tha Police" at the Detroit venue because they believed the song could incite violence.
N.W.A.'s "Fuck Tha Police" has seen a resurgence amidst the ongoing protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. As the Black Lives Matter movement continues, N.W.A.'s iconic track has become one of the top protest songs. So much so that "Fuck Tha Police" is seeing a massive jump on streaming charts.
Over the years, the song has seen an increase in streams when other police brutality protests have taken place. In August 2015, "Fuck Tha Police" saw a surge in streams during the protests in Ferguson following the fatal shooting of Michael Brown at the hands of police. However, it seems as though the song is being streamed more than ever now. The data reveals the N.W.A. track is being streamed more than double what it was during the Ferguson protests.
N.W.A.'s \"Fuck Tha Police\" has seen a resurgence amidst the ongoing protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. As the Black Lives Matter movement continues, N.W.A.'s iconic track has become one of the top protest songs...\nRead More
Between 1984 and 1989, there was a 33% spike in citizen complaints of police brutality, complaints that went largely ignored by the LAPD. Between 1986 and 1990, 1,400 officers were investigated for using excessive force, but less than 1 percent were prosecuted. Operation Hammer saw the arrest of over 50,000 people by 1990, with more young black people being arrested by the LAPD than at any time since the Watts riots, which took place 50 years ago this week.
"Fuck the police / Coming straight from the underground / A young n***a got it bad 'cause I'm brown / And not the other color so police think / They have the authority to kill a minority / Fuck that shit, 'cause I ain't the one / For a punk motherfucker with a badge and a gun / To be beating on, and thrown in jail / We could go toe to toe in the middle of a cell / Fucking with me 'cause I'm a teenager / With a little bit of gold and a pager / Searching my car, looking for the product / Thinking every n***a is selling narcotics."
[The DOC]Right about now, N.W.A court is in full effect, Judge Dre presiding!In the case of N.W.A versus the police department, the prosecuting attorneys are: MC Ren, Ice Cube, and Eazy Motherfuckin' E!
[Ice Cube]Fuck the police!Comin' straight from the undergroundA young nigga got it bad 'cause I'm brownAnd not the other color some police thinkThey have the authority to kill a minority
And on the other hand, without a gun they can't get noneBut don't let it be a black and a white one'Cause they'll slam ya down to the street topBlack police showin' out for the white cop
[MC Ren]Fuck the police!And Ren said it with authorityBecause the niggas on the street is a majorityA gang, that's wit' whoever I'm steppin'And the motherfuckin' weapon is kept in
[Several]Get down and put your hands up where I can see 'em!Move, motherfucker! Move! NOW!What the fuck did I do? Man, what did I do?Just shut the fuck up and get yo' motherfuckin' ass on the floor!But I didn't do shit.Man, just shut the fuck up!You've heard it! Man, just shut the fuck up!
This is new information from the NWA experts on the sociology of these strange creatures called motherfuckers. We see here that some of these creatures even wear Schummin uniforms, which, in my faith, when one claims to represent something as monstrous as the State, looks like nothing more than a joke of bad taste. ?
Punk police: So, it does not mean that these cops listen to punk music, because otherwise they would not drink their beer in their office but in jail. So punk here designates a social waste, an underdog.
I am sending a political message here to NWA: dear criminal court, you have bluntly deceived yourself in your judgment, you have dared neglect to accuse this police of collaboration to a kind of permanent ethnocide, to the maintenance generation after generation of blatant racial inequalities, the killing for no reason of hundreds of black citizens who had the misfortune to look criminal in the eyes of white policemen who were shooting at them out of fear or hatred. The court dared to forget all that? Was not there a Black Panther politician in the corner to instruct these little idiots about the role played by American, federal, and municipal police in the oppression of the descendants of slaves? 30 years later, the Black Lives Matter movement is still reminding people that the police are killing African Americans for nothing. 041b061a72