“Fuck Tha Police” was a “courageous song” (Bittenbender, “Fuck Tha Police”: N.W.A’s Most Courageous Song is Still as Relevant as Ever”) represented young African Americans’ hatred towards the law enforcement system. Due to the message and explicit lyrics, this song stood out from any other song on the album, as well as sparking up some controversy. The song was released in 1988 by Niggaz Wit Attitudes (N.W.A) from their second album Straight Outta Compton under the Record Label, Priority Ruthless. The group N.W.A was initially formed in 1986 in Los Angeles, California with their genre being Rap. Their styles of Rap included: Golden Age, West Coast Rap, Hardcore Rap, and their most controversial, Gangsta Rap. N.W.A. consisted of the group members: …show more content…
Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, MC Ren, The Arabian Prince, DJ Yella, and The D.O.C (See Figure 1). They were active in their music from 1986 to1991. N.W.A is still widely known as “the unapologetically violent pioneers of gangsta rap and in many ways, the most notorious group in the history of rap for their hardcore lyrics” (Erlewine, “N.W.A Biography”). Moreover, N.W. A’s music continues to reach out and connect to minorities. Fig.1.
Left to right: Ice Cube, MC Ren, Eazy-E, DJ Yella, Dr. Dre (Massappeal)
During the 70’s, there was a tremendous rise in gangs amongst Crips and Bloods along with the drug trade in Compton, Los Angeles (Tse, “How Compton Became the Violent City”). Around late 80’s in Los Angeles, it was a devastating time for colored folks. About 45% of African Americans males in South Central, Los Angeles was left unemployed (Moore, “N.W.A.’s Most Courageous Song”). Consequently, gang activity, violence, and the drug trade kept increasing. Later, in the year 1987, Operation Hammer was launched by the Los Angeles Chief of Police, Daryl Gates (See Figure 2). Operation Hammer was meant to decrease gang violence. Although the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) had great motives to execute the operation, LAPD used excessive force, and racist tactics to “solve” the issue. A week before the release of the album, 1,453 people were arrested in South Central, Los Angeles. On August 1, 1988, as part of Operation Hammer, eighty-eight police officers decided to deliver a strong message to gangs by raiding two apartment buildings in South Central, Los Angeles. While raiding peoples’ homes, Los Angeles police officers completely destroyed furniture, food, and clothing. They even went beyond by attacking, beating the residents, and humiliating them in front of everyone else. Additionally, police officers spray painted graffiti with the words “LAPD Rules.” During the period of Operation Hammer (1987-1990),
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LAPD arrested over 50,000 black men and woman combined. This amount totaled to more arrests than any period since the Watts Riot of 1965. Nonetheless, Operation Hammer consisted of racial profiling, specifically targeting African Americans and Hispanics (Moore, “N.W. A’s Most Courageous Song”). Police brutality, racial profiling, gangs, and the drug trade was a major problem during the 80’s. Fig.2. Operation Hammer (Pinterest). The song “Fuck Tha Police,” was N.W.A.s’ work of art through Rap. The lyrics were a vivid painting of their reality. “It was more than just a song that was insulting the police, it was a revenge fantasy. I think that’s really what made people feel scared like we was really wanting to fight the police, you know? It’s just one of them things where that song was doing a little more than just expressing our anger: It was telling what we would do if you wasn’t a cop, if we could have a fair fight. All these things just scared the shit out of people” (Ice Cube). Indeed, law enforcement was so frightened of the message sent out in the lyrics that The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) took action. The Federal Bureau of Investigation sent a letter to Priority Ruthless Records stating that “Advocating violence and assault is wrong, and we in the law enforcement community take no exception to such action…I wanted you to be aware of the FBI’s position relative to the song and its message.” Yet, this letter did not stop N.W.A. from performing the song on stage. In spite of having radios ban their song from being played because of the explicit content, “the album still managed to become an underground hit” (Cooper, “Hip-Hop & Politics”). “Our people been wanting to say, ‘Fuck the police’ for the longest time. If something happened in my neighborhood, the last people we would call is the police. Our friends get killed, they never find the killer” (Ice Cube). MC Ren and Ice Cube were the lyricists of the song, “Fuck Tha Police.” Both amazing rappers knew how to express their anger in a form that was different and daring. Ice Cube was born O’Shea Jackson in South Central, Los Angeles. Ice Cube grew up in a neighborhood that revolved around violence, drugs, and guns. He attended high school in San Fernando Valley, where he first began writing his first raps. In the mid-1980’s he started a group called C.I.A (Cru’ in Action) with two young men. His Rap group caught the attention of another upcoming artist, Andre Romelle Young, also known as Dr. Dre. Dr. Dre joined C.I.A and together they teamed up to form a new group named N.W.A (Niggaz Wit Attitude). Lorenzo Patterson, also known as MC Ren was born on June 14, 1969, in Compton, Los Angeles. As a young teenager surrounded with violence, he joined the Kelley Park Compton Crips. By the time he saw that he was not making money, he decided to leave the gang. Immediately after he had left the Kelley Park Compton Crips, he began to sell dope. As he got older, MC Ren decided to abandon his old ways, and instead, he chose to focus on producing music. He attended Dominguez High School and during this time he started to develop an interest in hip hop. As a talented young man, MC Ren was signed as a solo artist to Priority Ruthless Records while still attending high school in 1987. After he had written more than half of the album for Eazy-E’s album “Eazy-Duz-It” he was added to the group N.W.A. At first glance of the lyrics, there is clearly a story being told that takes place in a courtroom. N.W.A flips the judicial system and puts the LAPD on trial rather than themselves. The song starts off with Dr. Dre playing the role as the judge. Ice Cube, MC Ren, and Eazy-E testify before the judge as prosecuting attorneys. Essentially, the song is a mocking of the judicial system. “Fuck Tha Police,” gives MC Ren, Eazy-E, and Ice Cube an opportunity to speak up about racial profiling. Additionally, the song is a fantasy revenge where the rappers tell a story of the things they wish they could do to police officers. Throughout the song, they are able to uncover the reality of life in the ghetto and the violence of gangs. They speak in behalf of all the kids in the hood. N.W.A is frustrated and criticizes law enforcement for police brutality and racial profiling. Additionally, the song is a fantasy revenge where the rappers tell a story of the things they wish they could do to police officers. “A young nigga got it bad ‘cause I’m brown/ And not the other color, so police think/ They have the authority to kill a minority.” In this lyric, Ice Cube angrily states how police officers think they are superior. Also, how the police used racial profiling and discrimination to target them. It is an exact interpretation of what the African American community felt during Operation Hammer. “For a punk motherfucker with a badge and a gun/ To be beaten on, and thrown in jail/ We can go toe-to-toe in the middle of the cell.” Ice Cube fantasizes about being able to beat up a police officer in a cell. He wants to treat them the same way he has been treated by them. He uses the word “punk” which was a popular term in the 80’s referring to someone who is disrespectful. “Fuckin’ with me ‘cause I’m a teenager.” In this line, Ice Cube is talking about the anti-gang laws Compton had during the 80’s and 90’s. Any group bigger than three would be classified as a gang. Therefore, this law allowed police to treat teenagers as criminals by harassing and arresting them if they were hanging out in big groups. “With a little bit of gold and a pager.” This line is quite interesting because he is referring to “gold” as a gold chain many teenagers would wear for fashion. Yet, this would make them stand out because police officers thought they were drug dealers. Even more so, if they had a pager, which was a device to get in touch with professionals, but also a way to keep in touch with a drug dealer. “Searchin’ my car, lookin’ for the product/ Thinking every nigga is sellin narcotics.” Product in this line means drugs, and this lyric is another example of how police officers discriminated black folks by thinking that all of them are drug dealers.
“Huh, a young nigga on the warpath/ And when I’m finished, it’s gonna be a bloodbath.” Ice Cube is tired of the LAPD and wishes to have a war with them to kill all police officers, especially the ones who have killed his friends and family. “Fuck tha police! / Fuck tha police! / Fuck tha police! / Fuck tha police!” The hook in this song is where they vent out their frustration towards the LAPD. Their repetitive use of the word “fuck,” including in the title, symbolizes their hate towards the police. “They put out my picture with silence/ ‘Cause my identity by itself causes violence,” This is a very powerful line because black men in American are depicted as criminals or as a symbol of violence. “Without a gun and a badge what do you got? / A sucker in a uniform waiting to get shot” Police officers are like any other person in a neighborhood. They only feel powerful by carrying a badge and a gun as stated in the lyrics. If police officers did not have a gun, they would have been dead in the dangerous neighborhoods of Los Angeles. “Just sit your ass on the curb and shut the fuck up! /Man, fuck this shit! / A’ight, smartass, I’m taking your black ass to jail!” “This type of commentary is what police officers would tell colored
people” (Genius). Their aggressive and excessive force inspired N.W.A to include a short skit of it in their song to show how minorities are really treated. Ultimately, “Fuck Tha Police” serves as a statement against the police. It uncovers the reality of minorities versus police officers. The song vividly depicts how they would like to beat and kill the police the same way police officers have done it to their people. Throughout the song, Dr. Dre parodies the manners of a racist judge by calling the witnesses “black ass.” He simply does this to show how racist law enforcement really is. Throughout Operation Hammer, people of color decided they could not take it any longer. Racial profiling and discrimination is still an issue. This song still holds the truth about the law enforcement system. Needless to say that “Fuck tha Police” is still relevant as ever. Nearly three decades have passed since Operation Hammer, yet it remains as an anthem against police brutality.
There were groups such as the Black Panthers, and the US Organization, which were known to have been rivals due to false rumors that had been spread by the government and the media. Black Panthers were known to have offered a more reliable source of protection during this time than the police did for African Americans. Sloan interviews current and former gang members from a variety of gangs spread throughout Los Angeles. He gives us a different perspective on where gangs came from and why they formed. Although they were originally formed to protect African Americans, they have strayed far from where they started.
The first chapter of Policing Gangs in America is entitled, “Studying the Police Response to Gangs.” The primary purpose of the chapter is to establish how police agencies; Inglewood, Las Vegas, Albuquerque and Phoenix in specific, respond to gang problems in their respective areas. This chapter served as an introduction, giving a brief history of gang-related policing, how the public and media see the gang problem, research studies done regarding gangs and the recent declaration to shift away from suppression-oriented strategies as a result of overly aggressive actions toward citizens. Examples of this misconduct are given in the forms of gang units from Las Vegas, Chicago and Houston.
However, in Crips and Bloods, the Los Angeles Police Department under the direction of Chief Officer William Parker regulated the Los Angeles area in a forceful way. One of the ways he did so was by locking down African-American neighborhoods. Also, in the time of the Watts Riot, many African Americans were being killed for small crimes. There is a difference between the documentary’s order-maintenance and the order-maintenance in “Broken Windows.” Small crimes or disorder were to be treated, but people in the documentary, specifically whom were African Americans were being killed for small crimes. Where does the broken windows speak about this issue? And though the theory thinks that crime is the issue, what if the problem is that there were not enough jobs for the minorities? During the 1950’s when industrialization started to come about, African Americans found themselves displaced in the job market because they did not have the skills, knowledge, or education to perform high-end jobs due to discrimination and lack of opportunities. They also felt they should not have to perform low-end jobs because they felt they were above the immigrant low level jobs. This resulted in total displacement from the labor market. Eventually, by the late 1960s, jobs and factories disappeared from Los Angeles regions. The consequences were
CNN presents the documentary, Homicide in Hollenbeck, spotlighting gang activity in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Hollenbeck. This documentary explores the subculture of gangs existing within Hollenbeck from a several perspectives. The people documented include a mother who lost both of her sons to gang violence, a priest that has tried to help rehabilitate gang members, a police officer that has worked in Hollenbeck for five years in the gang unit, and a current gang member. For a conclusion, Homicide in Hollenbeck focuses on a juvenile exposed to gang life on the cusp of decided where they want their life to lead; gangs or freedom. Problems attributed to the high rate of gang activity and number of gangs in Hollenbeck are the high poverty rate, low employment rate, and broken families that make up the majority of Hollenbeck. The crime most discussed, as per the title of the documentary, is homicide The number of gang related homicides has risen even though the criminal behavior of gangs has ultimately decreased in the neighborhood. In order to fight the overwhelming gang presence, the police believe in increasing the amount of gun power on the streets and number of jailed gang members. The priest who runs Homeboy Industries stated that he feels most gang members are just young men who can’t get out of the gang life. With more funds and opportunities, he thinks the problem could be decreased. In the end, the documentary mentions that the FBI has formed a gang center where local law enforcement agencies can share information to gain more knowledge and to better fight the presence of gangs.
... song entitled “Formation”. The filming took place in Los Angeles, but features references to Hurricane Katrina, with Beyoncé on top of a police car in a flooded street and later cuts to a man holding a newspaper with Martin Luther King Jr.’s face on it with the title “The Truth”. Later a young hooded boy dances in front of a line of police officers with their hands up before the video cuts to a graffitied wall with the words “stop shooting us “ tagged on it, at the end of the video the police car sunk with her on top. Not only did this song, bring awareness to the 10th anniversary of hurricane Katrina it also brought awareness to police brutality, racism, and the “black lives matter movement”. I stand with Lil Wayne, Beyoncé, the people of New Orleans and the countless others who are pushing for a change in the way minorities and the lower class citizen are treated.
Surprisingly, little has been written about the historical significance of black gangs in Los Angeles (LA). Literature and firsthand interviews with Los Angeles residents seem to point to three significant periods relevant to the development of the contemporary black gangs. The first period, which followed WWII and significant black migrations from the South, is when the first major black clubs formed. After the Watts rebellion of 1965, the second period gave way to the civil rights period of Los Angeles where blacks, including those who where former club members who became politically active for the remainder of the 1960s. By the early 1970s black street gangs began to reemerge. By 1972, the Crips were firmly established and the Bloods were beginning to organize. This period saw the rise of LA’s newest gangs, which continued to grow during the 1970s, and later formed in several other cities throughout the United States by the 1990s. While black gangs do not make up the largest or most active gang population in Los Angeles today, their influence on street gang culture nationally has been profound.
Growing up in a law enforcement family, police brutality and police race relations in the news are both something that have always made me feel uneasy. Nevertheless, in the poem “Cuz he’s Black”, I feel like Javon Johnson makes the problem of young black males being scared of the police obvious. Johnson states, “Still, we both know it’s not about able whether
Dr. Dre (b. Andre Young, February 18, 1965) became involved in hip-hop during the early '80s, performing at house parties and clubs with the World Class Wreckin' Cru around South Central Los Angeles, and making a handful of recordings along the way. In 1986, he met Ice Cube, and the two rappers began writing songs for Ruthless Records, a label started by former drug pusher Eazy-E. Eazy tried to give one of the duo's songs, "Boyz N the Hood," to HBO, a group signed to Ruthless. When the group refused, Eazy formed N.W.A. -- an acronym for Niggaz With Attitude -- with Dre and Cube, releasing their first album in 1987. A year later, N.W.A. delivered Straight Outta Compton, a vicious hardcore record that became an underground hit with virtually no support from radio, the press or MTV. N.W.A. became notorious for their hardcore lyrics, especially those of "Fuck tha Police," which resulted in the FBI sending a warning letter to Ruthless and its parent company Priority, suggesting that the group should watch their step.
Have you wondered what is the Gestapo? What did they do? Most people confuse the Gestapo with the SS. When Hitler came into power he appointed Herrman Goring the Minister of the Interior of Prussia, a major German state ,which gave him control of the police. The story that started all with one man, Herrman Goring.
The early 1980s was considered the “Golden-Age of Hip Hop”, this due to the fact that the genre was in its infancy and every new record that was released during this time period was seen as an innovation. Before 1982, hip hop records were boastful party-raps that illustrated the perseverance of young African Americans self-confidence even through dire circumstances. After Grandmaster Flash and the furious five released their classic hip-hop record “The Message”, the scope of hip-hop as a genre changed forever. Melle Mel’s verse in “The Message” utilizes Craig Werners 3 step processes by using personal experiences to explain the struggles of African Americans in New York’s inner cities.
African American communities faced issues in a variety of professions, locations, and venues. One of the main differences between Straight Outta Compton and Drumline is the difference in profession and venue between the two films even though the issue of being looked down upon due to their different nature was the same. In the film Straight Outta Compton, the group of musicians named N.W.A are subject to extra scrutiny in the less professional and less intelligent environment of the music industry. This is showcased in a scene outside of their studio where they are chastised by the two police officers who force them to get on the ground and be searched just because of the fact that they were African American youth in an area that African Americans would not usually be thought of as needing to be in that area (Gray, 2016). Another scene in Straight Outta Compton that relates to this is when N.W.A is read obscenity laws by law enforcement behind the stage of their concert (Gray, 2016). To further illustrate that point, one of N.W.A’s songs “informed Americans about police brutality in South Central, Los Angeles. In fact, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) sent a letter to NWA warning them about the violent content of the song”(Canton 3). All of these things are done in broad daylight to once again showcase that this behavior towards young African American men was not abnormal and that the dialog in the scenes is often extremely derogatory which signify the views of African American youth in the eye of the average non-African American. In contrast to Straight Outta Compton, the issue of being looked down upon exists in a far different situation. The situation in which the main character Devon faces the issue of being seen as a hoodlum, is conducted in professional school setting. Devon is a young man who is seen as a
These are the kinds of music that often use violent lyrics and violent beats, depicting urban street gangs. Typical themes and ideas deal with street life including pimping, and hustling as well as killing and shooting (Malek 108). “I’m bout to bust some some shots off. I’m ‘bout to dust some cops off” (Ice-T). The lyrics of Ice-T’s Cop Killer evoked a loud outcry about whether ideas about killing police officers should be expressed publicly. It is not only the violent ideas expressed within the lyrics, but the context of which they are expressed. Rap is criticized because rappers are known to “sing of guns with almost lascivious glee”. They talk about their “pieces” or “glocks”, “ninas” or pistols as the “object of their affections”
In America there has been a history of police treating black men unfairly and the Rodney King beating brought this problem to the forefront of the national conscience. Even popular music at this time commented on the mistreatment of black males by the Los Angeles Police Department, specifically NWA’s 1988 song “Fuck Tha Police.” Most black people believed
“L.A.S.M.” is one of the cleverer skits on the album, like “Are You Mad,” that seemingly opposes the duo. The women interviewers asked “serious questions” and the team laughed it off. In Coleman’s book, they said its intentions was to set a distinction between them and real gangsters that may genuinely have this stance against women (54). “Black With N.V” is one of the few songs that are both serious and direct with the message. The lyrics speak of the struggle that is attached with the African American community. A lifestyle where the system is against them. “For Doz That Slept” was a clear response to the system and to anyone who doubted the group. This rebellious spirit was seen throughout the album and follows the theme of being a “black sheep.” The choice is truly yours in deciding if you are with or without them. However, the group has made it clear it does not need your consensus to make there
Otero, Juan. “Curbing street gang violence,” National League of Cities. 21 Dec 1998. General Reference Center Gold. Jan 2007