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Jordan Paulo
Li-Anne Dela Vega
English 100
7 April 2015
Disregard the Constabulary
“Police shoot and kill blacks almost twice as frequently as any other racial group,” is
a report from MotherJones.org. This website is a non-profit news organization that
specializes in political, investigative, and social justice reporting. And after examining piles
of federal crime data, this website has also reported that “Black people were about four
times as likely to die in custody or while being arrested than whites.” Police brutality
towards black is still a strong conflict in today’s society, dating to the recent Ferguson
shooting. According to the New York Times, they say that if anything good has come out of
the fatal shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, it’s the fact that this death has “shined
a spotlight on the plague of shootings of black men by white police officers.” All of these
things narrow down to two subjects: the stereotypes of African American men as well as
the severity of police brutality in society. Being a part of the hip-hop community, I feel that
the song “Fuck tha Police,” by N.W.A does a great job portraying as well as addressing their
stand on the major topics of police brutality and stereotypical black males. They mock and
criticize the local police and government as well as explaining to their fans and audience
the stereotype of blacks and how it is wrong.
For those that don’t know of N.W.A, it stands for Niggas With Attitude.
NWAworld.com, the number one website for N.W.A states that N.W.A “was a Compton,
California-based hip hop group widely considered one of the seminal acts of the gangsta
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rap sub-genre.” This group went through a lot of controversy due to the vulgar and explicit
nature of their lyrics. Their second album, “Straight Outta Compton,” which contains “Fuck
tha Police,” sparked the start of the new gangsta-rap era. The reason being was the
production and commentary of their lyrics was very revolutionary and relatable during
that time in rap. N.W.A continued to demonstrate perseverance. They were banned from
many U.S. radio stations that were mainstream and were even prevented from touring, but
they still sold over 9 million hits in just the U.S. The rappers within the group, including Ice
Cube, Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, and MC Ren all became platinum-selling stars in their own right.
“Fuck tha Police” is a protest song that provokes the FBI to caution N.W.A’s record
company about the lyrics. Genius.com, a website that presents songs with their lyrics as
well as a brief description and explanation, says that “Fuck tha Police” takes the form of a
trial case against the LAPD, with Dr. Dre as a judge, MC REN as a court officer, and Ice Cube
as a witness. For Dre, the use of his lyrics shows that he is criticizing the local police force.
The song starts off with Dre being a judge presiding in the case of N.W.A versus the police.
This action alone proves that he’s taking the formalities of the judicial system and basically
stands them on their head. He then goes into mocking the prosecuting attorneys. He
ridicules the way these attorneys use their witnesses to prove their side of the story, while
still respecting it. He then takes it on his own way allowing the other rappers to state their
cases to focus on the major fact and prove that police officers are primarily focused on
young black minorities. Lines like, “Searchin my car, lookin for the product, thinkin every
nigga is selling narcotics,” prove the lyrics come to show that these officers assume that
these blacks are a criminal, murderer, or drug dealer. According to Wikipedia, the criminal
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stereotype of African Americans in the United States of America is an ethnic stereotype
according to which black males are said to be both dangerous and criminal.
This song, containing these very inflammatory and vulgar lyrics, really stood out on
the “Straight Outta Compton” album. “Fuck tha Police” calls attention to many of the
tensions between the police and black urban youth. The use of the numerous police
brutality scenes and riots throughout the music video help portray this as well. The use of
vulgar language helps illustrates N.W.A’s support and passion for what they are fighting for
in the song itself. Their cussing helps bring a form of sharpness and anger in their music,
showing that they are pissed about what the cops are doing and won’t stand for it. The song
alone led to other events later in society. It was predictive in its widespread resentment
towards the police that later boiled over in 1992 as a part of the Los Angeles riots following
the Rodney King incident.
Rodney King was beat by L.A.P.D officers in 1991, which was videotaped. According
to PBS Frontline, subsequent riots were triggered by the “acquittal of the officers involved,
rocked L.A. and the nation.” These events brought concerns about racism and police
brutality within the L.A.P.D. Immediately after the beating, the L.A.P.D. had an image that
was sent out to the nation and the world was that this racist organization took this
opportunity alone to express its thoughts and racism by brutally beating a black guy.
Certain lyrics within the song and music video helped N.W.A prove their cases such
that the song has alleged that whites in the police weren’t as bad as the blacks with lines
like: “But don’t let it be a black and a white one, cause they’ll slam ya down to the street top,
black police showing out for the white cop,” Ice Cube. N.W.A took their lyrics to the next
level as they began to condone violence towards police authorities, which became quite
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controversial and may have lead to the numerous riots and outbreaks of crimes. These
lyrics include “A sucka in a uniform waitin’ to get shot by me, or anotha nigga” and “I’m a
sniper with a hell of a scope, taking out a cop or two, they can’t cope with me.” These lyrics
are directly referring the murder of police officers.
This song itself got the feds really angry, and N.W.A has reported to be monitored by
the F.B.I. Since its release in 1988, the title of the song continues to influence pop culture to
this very day in many forms of expression. Maybe now, with the amount of cases regarding
police shootings of blacks, the nation will begin to address the racism behind these acts.
The evidence is clear that some police tactics, such as traffic stops, significantly target
African-Americans. In most cities, the percentage of people dying in police shootings easily
exceeds the African-American share of the communities.
The album cover for the song always presents a resounding image. The cover is pure
black and white, which shows the contrast not only between the two colors, but the fighting
and racism between the two races. The album cover almost looks like a mug shot, which I
think they are trying to represent how N.W.A and their music is being locked up and held
back by the police force. N.W.A is bolded at the top and right under that it quotes, “The
World’s Most Dangerous Group.” This term mocks the racism of the police officer’s
portraying this rap group as very dangerous due to the color of the skin, which is why these
officers’ enforce brutality onto African American males. Lastly, all five members of the
group have their picture taken facing completely forward in black and white. The faces of
the group members are also fierce and serious, portraying a sense of anger as if they were
arrested and taking a mug shot. The album cover may be a small thing to most people, but if
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you look at it and break it down, it shows exactly what N.W.A and the rap community is
trying to tell their audience about police brutality and racism.
Police brutality was a serious case in the past, and still is to this day, especially
towards African Americans. This controversy ranges over time from incidents such as the
Rodney King beating all the way to the Ferguson shooting. The hip-hop community has
thoroughly expressed their feelings and opinions on this with a song called “Fuck tha
Police” by N.W.A. In this music video, the rappers of N.W.A mock and criticize the works of
the police force and government system while speaking out passionately about the
negative attitudes and stereotypes towards African American males. N.W.A took a stand as
they produced “Fuck tha Police” to let the system and everyone else know that they
wouldn’t back down and be stepped on. This set a pathway for the hip-hop community and
rappers today. They do what they want and achieve greatness through their hard work and
dedication. The media took these lyrics as harsh and unnecessary, but maybe N.W.A and
the rap community were trying to get a simple message across for the betterment of their
people and the nation itself. Their explicit lyrics were used to enforce their point and stand
on the position, not as means of disrespect, which it’s usually portrayed as. If you think
about it, what would you take more seriously? “Fuck tha Police” or “Disregard the
Constabulary.”