Reagan by Killer Mike (2012)
Reagan is a song by American rapper Killer Mike and as a track of his fifth studio album, R.A.P. Music. The song is the 6th track from the album which was released on May 15, 2012. The "R.A.P." itself is an acronym of "Rebellious African People". [1]
Key Lyrics
They declared the war on drugs like a war on terror
But what it really did was let the police terrorize whoever
But mostly black boys, but they would call us “niggas”
And lay us on our belly, while they fingers on they triggers
They boots was on our head, they dogs was on our crotches
And they would beat us up if we had diamonds on our watches
And they would take our drugs and money, as they pick our pockets
I guess that that’s the privilege of policing for some profit [2]
Black Empowerment
Killer Mike exposes and explains issues with the U.S government through his song. The song especially tells about slavery period time and specifically during Ronald Reagan’s Presidential period. Mike expresses his distaste towards Reagan and the government with countless references of prejudice towards black community. [3]
Ronald Reagan’s presence in the R&B music industry gives a quite big impact in gangsta rap. Mentioning his name in the rap song, summon everyone’s attention to the message of the song about the injustice in two syllables. [4]
The song specifically discusses many important historical and political events, especially during Ronald Reagan’s period such as the war on drugs, Iran-Contra scandal, and how Reagan’s policies destroyed the black community in many ways. The rapper begins to mention The War on Drugs in his song, in which popular belief it started with Ronald Reagan, but rather with Richard Nixon in the 1970s, contrary to what people believe. Nixon introduced New Federalism which offered the states to preserve race-base hierarchies after civil rights. This means black people were allowed to join the political landscape, but they could not get any political power. [5]
References
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R.A.P._Music
- ↑ https://www.insidehook.com/article/music/25-songs-about-racism-that-are-still-sadly-relevant-today
- ↑ https://genius.com/Killer-mike-reagan-lyrics#about
- ↑ https://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/13626-killer-mike-reagan/
- ↑ https://afterlivesofslavery.wordpress.com/2018/04/13/reagan-by-killer-mike/