Fuck tha Police

"Fuck tha Police"
Song

"Fuck tha Police" is a protest song by the gangsta rap group N.W.A that appears on the album Straight Outta Compton as well as on the N.W.A's Greatest Hits compilation. Despite not being a single, it ranked #417 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The song even provoked the FBI to caution N.W.A's record company about the lyrics.

Since its release in 1988, the "Fuck the Police" slogan continues to influence pop culture today in the form of t-shirts, artwork, and even transitions into other genres as seen in Rage Against the Machine's version.

Sections of the Song

The song "Fuck tha Police" is divided into three main parts. Three members of the group, Ice Cube, Eazy-E, and MC Ren, take the stand to "testify" before the judge of the court, Dr. Dre. Through the lyrics, the rappers criticize the local police force. Dr. Dre starts the song off posing as a judge presiding in the case of NWA versus the police department. By doing this, Dr. Dre takes the formalities of the judicial system and stands them on their head. He mocks the way that prosecuting attorneys use witnesses to prove their side of the story, while still respecting it, taking it on as his own way in allowing the MC's to state their cases in order to prove how the police department is focused on young black minorities, assuming that they all are drug dealers and are looking to rob or murder.

Impact

The song "Fuck tha Police", containing N.W.A's trademark inflammatory lyrics, stood out in particular from many of the songs on Straight Outta Compton. It highlights many of the tensions between black urban youth and the police. The song was prophetic in its reading the widespread resentment towards the police that later boiled over in the 1992 Los Angeles riots following the Rodney King incident. The song also alleged that blacks in the police were worse than the whites, with lyrics such as:

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

Especially controversial were the areas of the song that appear to condone violence towards police authorities; lines such as "I'm a sniper with a hell of a scope/Taking out a cop or two, they can't cope/with me" and "A sucka in a uniform waitin' to get shot/by me, or anotha nigga" directly reference the murder of police officers.

Theme

Through their song "Fuck Tha Police," NWA addressed negative stereotypes that outsiders often have about those living in urban communities. NWA inverted the stereotype of blacks as criminals, thus addressing why "gangsta rap" was created. In the urban areas, where most blacks live, the majority of thefts are committed by whites.(Staples) In interracial crimes of violence, whites attack and assault blacks more often than blacks attack and assault whites.(Wolfgang) The stereotype of all blacks being criminals now seems to be completely foolish. This is the mindset that NWA had when they took on the stereotype as the theme to their song. They took on the criminal persona to tell the police simply this: "If you think we're criminals; we might as well be criminals." However, they use this in a form of mockery, rather than actually becoming criminals. Their harsh words and grotesque lyrics are the criminal persona. NWA was just the median through which they were presented.

Censorship

In 1989, Australian radio station Triple J had been playing "Fuck tha Police" for up to six months, before gaining the attention of Australian Broadcasting Corporation management who subsequently banned it. As a reaction the staff went on strike and put N.W.A's "Express Yourself" on continuous play for 24 hours, playing it roughly 360 times in a row.

On 10th April 2011, New Zealand dub musician Tiki Taane was arrested on charges of "disorderly behaviour likely to cause violence to start or continue" after performing the song at a gig in a club in Tauranga during an inspection of the club by the police. On 13 April Tiki told Marcus Lush on Radio Live that the lyrics often feature in his performances and his arrest came as a complete surprise.

References by other artists and in Popular Culture

In 1996, during massive opposition street protests in Belgrade, Serbia, "Fuck the Police", along with Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" was continually played for 2 days on a Belgrade radio station B92.

Kanye West alludes to the song in his single All Falls Down, "I say 'fuck the police', that's how I treat 'em". "Cop Killer", a song by Ice-T's metal band Body Count, also contains the lyrics "fuck the police", as does "Still No Surrender" by Bone Thugs N Harmony.

Chris Rock specifically refers to the song in his skit from The Chris Rock Show How to not get your ass Kicked by the Police: "If you're listening to loud rap music ...turn that shit off! Blastin' "Fuck tha Police" while you're getting pulled over by the police is just ign'ant."

In 2007, English comedian Adam Buxton performed a 'cleaned up' version of the song, entitled 'Help the Police', as part of the BBC3 sketch show Rush Hour.

In 2008, Lil Wayne's hit single "Mrs. Officer" specifically referenced "Fuck tha Police," but in a much more literal sense (i.e., having sex with the police).

Alternative hip-hop duo MellowHype's album BlackenedWhite features a song called '"F666 the Police".

Australian hip-hop artist Drapht references "Fuck tha Police" in the song "Sing It (The Life of Riley)" from the album The Life of Riley.

Cover versions

This song has proven popular enough to be covered by such acts as Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, and their version was later added to the 20th anniversary edition of Straight Outta Compton [1]. It has also gained popularity with rock bands, including Dope. [2]

In 2009, Suburban Noize Records released a cover of the song by rappers Judge D, Saint Dog, and Daddy X on the mixtape Blast from the Past.