F*** tha Police by N.W.A. (1988)

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N.W.A.

Fuck tha Police is a protest song released on August 9, 1988 by American hip hop group N.W.A. The song is as a track on the group’s album Straight Outta Compton as well as on the N.W.A's Greatest Hits compilation. The hip hop song was ranked 425 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The lyrics of the song tell about police brutality and racial profiling.

The "Fuck the Police" slogan continues influence pop culture since its release in 1988 into many forms, t-shirts, political expression, artwork, and more. [1]

Key Lyrics

F*ck the police comin' straight from the underground

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

F*ck that shit, 'cause I ain't the one

For a punk motherfucker with a badge and a gun

To be beatin' on, and thrown in jail

We can go toe to toe in the middle of a cell

Fuckin' with me 'cause I'm a teenager

With a little bit of gold and a pager

Searchin' my car, lookin' for the product

Thinkin' every nigga is sellin' narcotics

You'd rather see, me in the pen

Than me and Lorenzo rollin' in a Benz-o [2]

Black Empowerment

The N.W.A’s song Fuck the police becomes pioneers of gangsta rap and introduced their lyrics that reflecting the violent and harsh condition as Compton’s residents, California. [3]

The song got FBI's attention and was sent a letter to Priority Records about the group’s album. FBI did not mention the song’s title explicitly, yet they claimed in the letter that the album “encourages violence against and disrespect for the law enforcement officer. [4]

Though there were strong push back for the song as claimed to encourage doing violence against the police, The group confirmed that they are not condoning the violence in the lyrics, but describing it. [5]

Fuck tha Police has become the anthem of revolution, as protesters have taken to the streets in outrage over the wrongful killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. Masses crawled and waved on their homemade board signs and spray-painted the title into the walls.

Ice Cube has echoed Ren's viewpoint for over the years, during the interview with rollingstone.com. “That song is still in the same place before it was made,” the rapper said in 2015. “It’s our legacy here in America with the police department and any kind of authority figures that have to deal with us on a day-to-day basis. There’s usually abuse and violence connected to that interaction, so when ‘Fuck tha Police’ was made in 1988, it was 400 years in the making. And it’s still just as relevant as it was before it was made.”

“It seemed like all throughout junior high school, high school, [police] would just fuck with you for no reason,” Ren says. “It was like, if you black, you young, you in the hood, you in the ghettos of America, you just get fucked with. What you hear on the record is all the frustration, all the times getting harassed, getting pulled over for no reason at all, getting disrespected, having them try to disrespect your parents all because of your skin color. All of that builds up and you make a record. But we never thought the record would be around today with people still playing the record and into it. But shit, to me, it’s a perfect protest song.”

Another group member, D.O.C gives comment saying that racism is a symptom, “Racism is just the symptom, but the fight is economic,” the D.O.C. says. “Black people have been marginalized and kept away from the economics of this country. I think people are starting to understand that and are trying to figure out how we can change that and allow everybody to join in this game of capitalism. That more than anything else is going to solidify people of color to really care about peace in their own neighborhoods, policing their own streets, not unlike the Black Panther party were doing back in the Sixties. [The Black Panthers] weren’t going to allow rogue police to come into their neighborhood and do the stuff these guys are doing to George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery or Breonna Taylor. You couldn’t have done that in the Panthers’ neighborhood. They weren’t going to allow it.”

Ren said that though he never gone out for any George Floyd's protest, he support for people out there who did it.

“I’m protesting in spirit,” he says. “I’m protesting with my song, ‘Fuck tha Police.'” He supports protesters’ calls to defund police as well as the need for better training, but mostly he wants to see justice for Floyd. “These motherfuckers got to pay,” he says, referring to the four officers involved in Floyd’s killing. “I saw something the other day, saying, it’s going to be hard to prosecute ’em. Man, if them motherfuckers get off, come on. You think it’s bad now, this is just the appetizer.”

As well as D.O.C, who has not attended any protest saying that he is currently working on a plan where people of color can get an effect of change in a place where he lives, the Dallas–Fort Worth area. “You have to understand what it is you want, create a plan for what you want, and don’t allow them to give you any less than what it is you want, and that’s it,” he says. “Once you get a seat at the table, just like other communities, you will no longer allow [killings like] George Floyd’s [to happen].”

Ren, though, is less optimistic. “It’s unfortunate somebody had to lose they life for [streams of ‘Fuck tha Police’ to go up], but it’s going to continue to happen,” he says. “That shit will happen long after I’m gone and Cube gone: People will still be saying, ‘Fuck the police.’ You’ll see it on posters. You’ll see it on the walls. People will listen to it again, because police brutality is never gonna end in this country for black people. Hopefully something will change, but black people have been getting killed for so long. Since we came to America, we’ve been getting lynched and shit for no reason at all. It’s like, when do this shit end?” [6]

References