Grab a copy of our NEW encyclopedia for Kids! “The idea was to make a point known, and everybody got the point all the way up to the highest cop.”. “The cops caught us and we were face down on the freeway, with guns pointed at us,” Dre recalled in 2007. Other articles where Fuck tha Police is discussed: N.W.A: …a price, however; songs like “Fuck tha Police” (originally titled “_ _ _ _ tha Police (Fill in the Blanks)”) and “Gangsta Gangsta” were criticized for depicting violence and other unlawful behavior, especially, in the former, toward police. You couldn’t have done that in the Panthers’ neighborhood. The controversial killing of a young white boy at the hands of two black police officers and a district attorney's struggle to convince the one witness to testify in court. In late 1989, the year after “Fuck tha Police” made its debut, the Federal Bureau of Investigation sent a letter to Priority Records, which distributed N.W.A’s music. on Discogs. When Black Lives Matter held a vigil to honor Brown on the one-year anniversary of his death, streams of the song had increased nearly 44 times from the week of his death. “And we dedicated that day to build that feeling out.”, “We would go to the studio, Dre would put the beat on, and Cube would go in the corner and I would go in the corner and we would just write our shit,” Ren remembers. “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. “Gangsta Gangsta” also features homophobic slurs, and “I Ain’t Tha 1”—and, indeed,…. President Trump shared a fake video Wednesday morning that made it seem Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden was playing the NWA song "F--- tha Police." 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. Streams of the song have continued to ebb and flow in the months since then as stories of police brutality became national news. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Fuck-tha-Police. “From then on out, it’s just been on.”, “Eazy loved the letter,” the D.O.C. “It’s the same thing and it’s gonna have the same message after I’m gone.”, Over the years, Ice Cube has echoed Ren’s viewpoint. “F--- Tha Police” appeared on the hip-hop group’s 1988 album “Straight Outta Compton” and continues to be an anthem for protesting police brutality and racial profiling today. Rapper the D.O.C., who co-wrote much of Straight Outta Compton, remembers when Cube brought the song concept back up again. hasn’t attended any protests, but he’s currently working on a plan to effect change for people of color locally in the Dallas–Fort Worth area, where he lives. Streams of “Fuck tha Police” surged in late 2014 and early 2015 — according to Alpha Data, the analytics provider that powers the Rolling Stone charts — as people protested and mourned the deaths of many unarmed black men who died from the actions of policemen, including Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York and Freddie Gray, in Baltimore. The protest of Gray’s film, then, felt less like a response to the film itself than overall delayed, concerted retribution for N.W.A. “These motherfuckers got to pay,” he says, referring to the four officers involved in Floyd’s killing. “It’s crazy how we were getting criticized for this years ago,” Dr. Dre said in 2015 of “Fuck tha Police.” “And now, it’s just like, ‘OK, we understand.’ This movie [Straight Outta Compton] will keep shining a light on the problem, especially because of all the situations that are happening in Ferguson and here in Los Angeles. Like KRS-One once said, ‘There can never be justice on stolen land.’ This problem is not gonna go away until people realize how big a problem it is and how the problem got created. …a price, however; songs like “Fuck tha Police” (originally titled “_ _ _ _ tha Police (Fill in the Blanks)”) and “Gangsta Gangsta” were criticized for depicting violence and other unlawful behavior, especially, in the former, toward police. “We thought it was bullshit. “I’m protesting with my song, ‘Fuck tha Police. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony and Rage Against the Machine both covered it, and 2Pac, the Prodigy, comedian Chris Rock and countless others have sampled it. If someone were to do a song like “Fuck Tha Police,” would there be that same uproar? 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Ice Cube: [rapping] Fuck the police / Comin' straight from da underground / A young nigga's got it bad 'cause I'm brown. Let me put this a different way: Rock ’n’ roll needs its “Fuck Tha Police” moment. Despite the controversy, N.W.A usually kept the song out of their set lists when they performed live. For example, if your local police radio frequency doesn’t play N.W.A.’s “Fuck Tha Police” at any given moment, for days on end, then create a new reality in which it does. But hopefully with all this protests worldwide, it will make people want to talk more. Notorious hacker group Anonymous hacked into the Chicago Police Department’s radios and played NWA‘s ‘Fuck Tha Police’ down the line, according to online reports.. “That song is still in the same place before it was made,” Cube told Rolling Stone in 2015. In about six minutes, MCs Ice Cube, Ren, and Eazy-E serve as prosecutors against the overzealous LAPD, accusing cops of pulling them over in their cars and raiding their homes, over a hard-hitting beat while the track’s producer, Dr. Dre, presides as judge. Man, if them motherfuckers get off, come on. Because if they don’t, it’s gonna be a bigger problem. “Shit, when we got the letter from the FBI, that’s when we knew right there that shit was big,” Ren says. Sign up for our newsletter. 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. He was the only guy that said, ‘Fuck y’all.’ He was always 1,000 percent true to his shit.” Similarly, Ren adds that whenever he has met cops, they’ve told him they like the song. Over the last week, N.W.A’s fierce indictment of racial injustice, “Fuck tha Police,” has become the anthem of a revolution, as thousands all over the world have taken to the streets in outrage over the wrongful killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police. And he’s hopeful people all over the world who are protesting seize the opportunity to effect change and find focus. “This shit is unfortunate,” MC Ren says on a call shortly after a memorial for Floyd was televised. Police in Otago, New Zealand have complained that non-police officers broadcasted N.W.A.’s 1988 hit “Fuck tha Police” multiple times over the local police scanner in recent days. When considering the longevity of “Fuck tha Police,” Ren says it means as much to him now as it did three decades ago. But we never thought the record would be around today with people still playing the record and into it. Want more Rolling Stone? '” He supports protesters’ calls to defund police as well as the need for better training, but mostly he wants to see justice for Floyd. N.W.A pictured in 1989. “And then they come ask everybody for autographs. Since we came to America, we’ve been getting lynched and shit for no reason at all. Those statistics don’t sit particularly well with one of the song’s cowriters. We knew we wasn’t getting airplay.”, The song took on a new importance, though, when the assistant director of the FBI mailed a letter to Priority Records complaining about the song. reflect on how the track has new meaning during Black Lives Matter protests. But the edited version of the video shared by Trump replaced the pop song with N.W.A’s 1988 single “Fuck Tha Police” apparently to show Biden as being anti-law enforcement. 30 years on from NWA's 'F*** Tha Police', George Floyd's killing sparks new wave of protest songs. It’s just, enough is enough. Enough is enough.”. “I saw something the other day, saying, it’s going to be hard to prosecute ’em. With Boris Kodjoe, Matthew Noszka, Chet Hanks, Clifton Powell. The anthem was truly revolutionary for its time, pioneering free-speech in hip-hop music in the late ‘80s. N.W.A, "Fuck Tha Police" It's easy to forget those simpler times—on the back of Straight Outta Compton, this classic of legal-civilian relations is listed as "F___ Tha Police. “Fuck the police comin’ straight from the underground,” Ice Cube raps. 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. They’ve also been playing the 32-year-old track, which appeared on the group’s landmark Straight Outta Compton LP, so much that it experienced a nearly 300 percent uptick in on-demand streams across all platforms, and Pandora reports a nearly 550 percent increase in people building personal stations around the song. So it was just too much to bear, to be under that kind of occupying force, who was abusive. “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. Directed by Irv Gotti. Advertisement “Fuck Tha Police” means the same to Ice Cube as it did in 1988. Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. and “Fuck Tha Police.” By signing up for this email, you are agreeing to news, offers, and information from Encyclopaedia Britannica. So you don’t have no rights. “I’m protesting in spirit,” he says. They weren’t going to allow it.”, Ren hasn’t gone out to any of the George Floyd protests, because he feels with the pandemic that “it’s too much shit,” but he supports the people in the streets. View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the CD release of "F*** Tha Police (F.T.P.)" 32 years after its release, streams of the anti-cop anthem are surging once again during the nation’s George Floyd protests. The final version of “F*ck Tha Police” was presented as a protest song, which inflammatory lyrics towards police injustices sparked a lot of tension and controversy. “Today, you could have all the money in the world, [but] to the police, if they pull you over, you just a nigga. With lyrics that specifically targeted police brutality and the widespread racial profiling of police officers, “Fuck tha Police” was equal parts controversial and influential, with N.W.A’s label receiving a strongly-worded letter from the FBI protesting the track, while it was later named one of Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The police rushed the stage and the band scattered. "The track, in which the members of N.W.A take the witness stand to testify about mistreatment at the hands of the L.A.P.D., inspired an angry letter from the F.B.I. See more » It’s definitely going to keep this situation in people’s minds and make sure that everyone out there knows that this is a problem that keeps happening still today.”, After Ice Cube left the group in 1989, N.W.A recorded a “Fuck tha Police” sequel, “Sa Prize (Part 2),” on their 100 Miles and Runnin’ EP the following year. You think it’s bad now, this is just the appetizer.”, Like Ren, the D.O.C. ‘F**k Tha Police’ happily bounced across the airwaves for six months until a couple of politicians and the West Australian police noticed. After news of the FBI letter got out, the song’s legacy ballooned. At a show in Detroit, while the crowd chanted ‘Fuck tha Police’, Ice Cube attempted to start the song. You’ll see it on the walls. The movie Straight Outta Compton depicts one of the rare times the group played it, in Detroit in 1989, when authorities there specifically told them not to. “The police chased us down and threw us in a little room and we sat there for an hour,” the D.O.C. From left, standing: Above the Law's Laylaw, DJ Yella, Dr. Dre, and the D.O.C., and seated from left, Ice Cube, Eazy-E, and MC Ren, Raymond Boyd/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images. So we went to the studio and created the song.”, “At the time, Daryl Gates, who was the chief of police over at the LAPD, had declared a war on gangs,” Ice Cube recalled in 2015. © Copyright 2021 Rolling Stone, LLC, a subsidiary of Penske Business Media, LLC. Rap Critic: He was never a man to mince words. But shit, to me, it’s a perfect protest song.”, N.W.A’s MC Ren at the Chicago stop of the ‘Straight Outta Compton’ tour in June 1989.
Photo By Raymond Boyd/Getty Images, Ice Cube has said he had the idea for the song early in his time with N.W.A, but that Dr. Dre was reluctant to record it since he had been in and out of county jail and didn’t want to be hassled more because of a song. “When he pulled it out, the title of the song just moved everybody in that space that day,” he says. Ice-T came right behind us and did the same thing. “When we was doing ‘Fuck tha Police,’ we didn’t know it would be as big as it was. People will listen to it again, because police brutality is never gonna end in this country for black people. It’s like, when do this shit end?”. “A lot of people would be happy that they song gets streamed,” says MC Ren, “but it’s unfortunate”, With streams of N.W.A's "Fuck tha Police" surging, MC Ren and lyricist D.O.C. [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. recalls. Although N.W.A first raised eyebrows when MTV banned the video for “Straight Outta Compton,” it was “Fuck tha Police” that gave the group its legacy. recalls. How N.W.A’s ‘Fuck tha Police’ Became the ‘Perfect Protest Song’ 32 years after its release, streams of the anti-cop anthem are surging once again during the nation’s George Floyd protests. I know they don’t want no armed revolution.”, “Racism is just the symptom, but the fight is economic,” the D.O.C. Donald Trump shared a doctored video of Joe Biden in which the Democratic presidential hopeful appeared to play NWA's "F*** Tha Police" from his cell phone while on stage at a campaign event. 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. “Law enforcement officers dedicate their lives to the protection of our citizens,” it read, “and recording such as the one from N.W.A are both discouraging and degrading to these brave, dedicated officers.” Straight Outta Compton was already a platinum-certified hit that had made it into the Top 40 of the Billboard 200 at the time, but Priority publicized the letter, and the track became an underground hit. When an artists strikes a chord like that, it can happen. says. A new interview with the first police officer on the scene of the fatal shooting of Tupac Shakur says that, instead of naming his killers, the rapper used his last conscious moments to insult him. The screenwriters of the mockumentary Fear of a Black Hat parodied it in the movie, and YG recently took the song title and built his own George Floyd protest anthem out of it. “Black people have been marginalized and kept away from the economics of this country. A lot of people don’t want to talk about it. 1. Hopefully something will change, but black people have been getting killed for so long. Dre came around to the idea of it after he and Eazy-E were busted for shooting paintballs at people waiting for a bus. 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. “A war on gangs, to me, is a politically correct word to say a war on anybody you think is a gang member… It meant a war on every black kid with a baseball hat on, with a T-shirt on, some jeans and some tennis shoes. “A lot of people would be happy that they song gets streamed, but it’s unfortunate, because look how it came about: George Floyd — that was some bullshit. I think everybody but Cube obliged. “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. Ren is the first to say the original “Fuck tha Police” is the classic, but one of his lyrics from “Sa Prize” still resonates with him: “You call that right but when you’re black there’s no right.”, “There ain’t no right,” he says. Quotes Rap Critic: Ice Cube then gives his testimony. “It was like, if you black, you young, you in the hood, you in the ghettos of America, you just get fucked with. “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. “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. Send us a tip using our anonymous form. “That song is still in the same place before it was made,” the rapper said in 2015. Our music was our only weapon.”, The group discussed Dre and Eazy’s incident at the apartment Dre and DJ Yella shared in Paramount, California, and headed out to the studio to record it quickly. We want to hear from you! All of that builds up and you make a record. Protesters have scrawled the song title on the homemade signs they wave and spray-painted it to walls. After the confrontation ends with their manager vouching for their presence at the studio, Ice Cube immediately goes in and writes “Fuck Tha Police,” which catapults N.W.A. “Fuck Tha Police” is the ultimate protest song performed by West Coast group N.W.A. The $12 million settlement with Breonna Taylor's family is a historic move for Louisville, Kentucky, but across America it's the latest financial repercussion in a police misconduct case. The track experienced another surge in January 2016, when Black Lives Matter led a march in San Francisco ahead of Super Bowl 50. The Police rushed the stage and the band scattered hopeful people all over the world who protesting! Ve been getting killed for so long the D.O.C., who was abusive opportunity to effect change and focus. 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