Hip Hop Police
| "Hip Hop Police" | |
|---|---|
| Song |
"Hip Hop Police" is the first single of Chamillionaire's second album, Ultimate Victory. It features Slick Rick. It was produced by Jonathan Rotem. Chamillionaire recently confirmed this on Wordofsouth.com.[1] The clean version of the song leaked to the internet June 18, 2007. A little while after the clean version leaked, the explicit version leaked as well. (Chamillionaire uses no vulgarities, but various other words of his are censored out of the edited version, including gun and controlled substance references.) Chamillionaire describe the track by saying, "The 'Hip Hop Police' record is like a 'Murder Was the Case' record. It's really a concept record. ... Most records now are dance records or for the club. It's so much of that, I need to go a different direction. I think that's why I decided to come with 'Hip Hop Police.'
It's automatically different because Slick Rick and Chamillionaire, that's automatically gonna raise eyebrows," he added. "Slick Rick has always been one of those guys real good at telling stories. That's what we're doing ... telling a story about a murder. The metaphor means, nowadays, just loving hip-hop and being a rapper and loving music is the same as committing a murder. ... With all the controversy surrounding rap, that's what the record is about.
Even though there were leaks on the song, the song officially was released through Chamillionaire's myspace at June 22, 2007 with new features on his myspace.[2]
The song was available for download on iTunes as of July 10, 2007.
Music video
The music video for the song premiered on BET's 106 & Park on July 27. The video begins with Chamillionare standing outside on a public sidewalk with his artist Famous when two street clothes police officers pull up in an unmarked police vehicle. The officer (in the form of song) proceeds to interrogate Chamillionaire about his doings in that location, and how he is able to afford so much jewelery. Chamillionaire is defiant, and as the police officer attempts to arrest him, he begins running. He is later caught and the scene switches to a police station, wherein Chamillionaire is (again, through song) further interrogated as to what he is doing and with whom he is associating. Although Chamillionaire claims that he has done nothing wrong, the police insist that he is guilty of "hip-hop crimes" (in this case, meaning free expression of ideas concering risque topics like racism and drugs). Later, Chamillionaire appears on a news channel, and tries to tell his side of the story, but the reporter insists on focusing on unimportant gossip issues (such as how Paris Hilton is doing), instead of the things Chamillionaire wishes to discuss. The final scene of the video shows the news reporter pointing to a five day weather forecast, which resembles the Biblical armageddon, with temperatures between 131 and 137 degrees fahrenheit.
The video alternates between the actual song, and small spoken dialogue parts (skits). Most of these skits are part of another of Chamillionaire's tracks, Evening News.
Chamillionaire acts as three different roles in the video: himself, Bill O'Wildy, and the detective who chases him early on.
Chart position
| Chart (2007) | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | TBR |
| U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 | 6 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs | 76 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Rap Tracks | 36 |
| U.S. Billboard Pop 100 | 99 |
| U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 | 29 |
| U.S. iTunes Top 100 Songs | 51 |
| U.S. iTunes Top Music Videos | 4 |
| U.K. Singles Charts | TBR |
Trivia
 | This article contains a list of miscellaneous information. (July 2007) |
When the video switches to "Bob O'Wildy" (an obvious parody of Bill O'Reilly), there are rapper's names who are wanted by the police under him. Those rappers are:
Lil' Kim, Lil' Wayne, UGK, Busta Rhymes, Akon, Cam'ron, Redman, Method Man, Young Jeezy, Mike Jones, Slick Rick (who is featured on the track), Fat Joe, RZA, Ice T, Dr. Dre, Eminem, 50 Cent, The Game, Nas, Rakim, Yung Joc (who is misspelled as "Young Joc," which may be on purpose), Scarface, Trick Daddy, Xzibit, KRS-One, Juvenile, Kanye West, T.I., Big Boi, André 3000, Ludacris, Twista, Pharoahe Monch, Fabolous, Juelz Santana, Memphis Bleek, Lil' Flip, Juicy J, MJG, Paul Wall, Slim Thug, DJ Paul, Birdman, Luther Campbell, Q-Tip, Lloyd Banks, Sean Combs (aka Diddy), DMX, Jadakiss, Killer Mike, Timbaland, Bubba Sparxxx, Young Buck, Jim Jones, 8Ball (which is written as "Eightball"), Murphy Lee, Baby Bash and Hurricane Chris.
External links
http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/charts/chart_display.jsp?g=Singles&f=Bubbling+Under+Hot+100+Singles