-
10 Songs About Hip Hop & Police Brutality
1) “Constables” by O.C
2) “Crooked Officer” by Geto Boys
3) “The Enemy” by Big L feat. Fat Joe
4) “Friendly Game of Baseball” by Main Source
5) “Who Got the Camera?” by Ice Cube
6) “Illegal Search” by LL Cool J"
7) “Sound of Da Police” by KRS-One
8) “Invasion” by Jeru the Damaja
9) “Claimin’ I’m a Criminal” by Brand Nubian
10) “F*** Tha Police” by N.W.A -
1966 Terry Stops or Stop & Frisk
In 1991, rap artist 2Pac released a song that aimed specifically at the problems addressed by Alexander in her critique of the Terry stop. Similar to Alexander’s claims that the lockdown of young Black men begins with an unconstitutional biased policing, 2Pac makes the same claim. The song, which is a single from his debut album "2Pacalypse Now", is titled Trapped and addresses police brutality against young Black men. -
-
The Mercedes Ladies
The Mercedes Ladies did shows with the biggest names at the time such as Afrika Bambaataa, Red Alert, Kool Herc, Busy B, Kevy Kev, The Cold Crush Brothers, The Furious Five, and more. They were quite an amazing group and they paved the way for what was to come in hip-hop culture. One of the best things about them is that they were just seen as equals to everyone they shared the stage with. They weren’t sexualized. They just got up and did their thing and were respected and treated as peers. -
Video: "The War On Drugs is an Epic Fail"
-
1982 Hip Hop & War on Drugs
"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" WAR on Drugs The War Begins... In October 1982, President Regan announced his administration's plan on the War on Drugs. At the time he declared this new war , less than 2 percent of the American public viewed drugs as the most important issue facing the nation (Roberts, 1992). -
1982 War on Drugs Video
"The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" WAR on Drugs The War Begins... In October 1982, President Regan announced his administration's plan on the War on Drugs. At the time he declared this new war , less than 2 percent of the American public viewed drugs as the most important issue facing the nation (Roberts, 1992). https://youtu.be/jtZaWLOSiWA -
1984 Peace Treaties
In 1980, a gang peace conference at California State University Northridge drew 1,500 Latino gang members, and ended with a treaty that lasted a year and a half. In 1984, a treaty in Hawthorne brought together a number of Sureho sets. But both these peaces were doomed by the quickly changing conditions on the streets. The crack trade was spreading. Giving up one’s ‘hood was no longer an option. -
1986 Peace Treaties
After the Long Beach Arena riots in 1986, KDAY sponsored an anti-gang radio show with Run DMC and Barry White, a former member of the pre-riot Watts gang, the Businessmen, that received over 1,500 calls. The station decided to hold a ‘’Day of Peace’’ concert and rally in November. These events supported the efforts of the Community Youth Gang Services (CYGS) to organize a holiday truce from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day. -
1988 Hip Hop and Law Enforcement
In 1988, rap group the N.W.A from Compton, California released their second album, “Straight Outta Compton”. Without any radio play or media coverage, the album still managed to become an underground hit, and the notorious rap group successfully introduced socially conscious gangsta rap into the mainstream. -
1988 Fuck The Police
The letter was written by the Assistant Director of the FBI Office of Public Affairs, who at the time was Milt Alerich.
Steve Hochman. “Compton Rappers Versus the Letter of the Law: FBI Claims Song by N.W.A Advocates Violence on Police” Los Angles Times (1989). -
1988 Fuck The Police
“Fuck Tha Police” was the first song in history to question pop music censorship and first amendment rights. The controversial lyrics against the police resulted in the Federal Bureau of Investigation sending a letter to Priority Records, the group’s distributor of “Straight Outta Compton” and other albums. -
1996 Hip Hop, The Law, and The Comoddified Gangsta
The passage of the Telecommunications Act of 1996 has led to the development of huge corporate media conglomerations in radio, who in turn control the radio airwaves and its content. The Act has helped to make it virtually impossible for alternative voices in rap (either by the gangsta rappers themselves through their alternative “positive” tracks or by other “positive” rap artists) to be heard on the radio. -
1998 Peace Treaties
CYGS was successful in lining up dozens of gangs, including a number of eastside Latina gangs and the mostly Black Bounty Hunters (Blood) set of Watts’s Nickerson Gardens projects, to sign temporary truces. By 1988, black churches, civil rights and nonprofit organizations mounted competing to forge a broader, permanent truce. -
Nailah's Introduction to Hip Hop
In my household my mom was a christian, but my dad was not. Although, I remember when I would drive somewhere with my dad he would play hip hop music on the radio. We also had a stereo system with a glass case and two large speakers where both of my parents would keep their music. The album I remember being played was Dr. Dre's "2001" album that my dad would play. This was my first introduction to hip hop [https://youtu.be/jmIlsy09UAo](http://www.timetoast.com -
Forget About Dre
This is the song I specifically remember being played in my house. https://youtu.be/QFcv5Ma8u8k -
2010 Hip Hop and The New Jim Crow
Songs like Black Steel in an Hour of Chaos (1989),Who Got the Camera (1992),Crooked Officer (1993),Police State (2000),99 Problems (2004),Testify (2005),Snitch (2006),Hip Hop Police (2007),Trapped (1991), and Illegal Search (1991). Given even this short listing of Hip Hop songs, it is hard to refuse any claims that rap artists have not been a part of the critical discussion about the drug war, unconstitutional policing, and mass incarceration long before and in same manner -
2010 The New Jim Crow
I suggest that we merge the two worlds of rap music and academia into a solid critical mass. But, first we have to allow rap music the intellectual space to be brave, critical, and brutally honest, and to say the things that legal scholars, sometimes for various reasons, cannot. -
2010 Hip Hop & The New Jim Crow
To spread the message about mass incarceration through hip hop artists used microphones, sampled beats, music studios, and the radio airwaves to tell their own narratives about race and policing. While the range of these songs exists across the wide swath of Hip Hop rap music sub-genres, a quick glance at their titles speak volumes to the popularity of NWA’s claims, long after the song was released. -
Sources Part 1
Mark Cooper. “N.W.A: Our Raps Are Documentary. We Don’t Take Sides”. The Guardian (2013). Accessed April 10, 2015. Mark Cooper. “N.W.A: Our Raps Are Documentary. We Don’t Take Sides”. The Guardian (2013). Accessed April 10, 2015. Steve Hochman. “Compton Rappers Versus the Letter of the Law: FBI Claims Song by N.W.A Advocates Violence on Police” Los Angles Times (1989). -
Sources Part 2
Akilah N. Folami, Hip Hop, the Law, and the Commodi ed Gangsta 143 (2016) Chang, Jeff. "No, We Can't All Just Get Along: Hip Hop, Gang Unity, and The LA Rebellion." Oak Root Press (n.d.): n. pag. Web. Tibbs, D. F. (2015). HIP HOP AND THE NEW JIM CROW: RAP MUSIC'S INSIGHT ON MASS INCARCERATION. University Of Maryland Law Journal Of Race, Religion, Gender & Class, 15(2), 209-228.
