Spinner

20 Protest Songs That Matter: No. 11

'F--- tha Police'
--N.W.A. (1988)

Rebelling Against: Racial profiling!

In this searing indictment of the Los Angeles police department, Ice Cube, MC Ren and Eazy-E put the cops on trial, with Dr. Dre serving as judge and jury. The racial tensions on the streets that N.W.A. had exposed to the world on this track came to a brutal head when L.A. erupted into riots after 1992's Rodney King verdict.

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STERE0failure

And just look at Ice Cube now.

February 03 2008 at 8:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
yuckfoo

Who ever picked these 20 Protest songs are smoking too much crack! If you want to hear good protest songs, you look into 60's and 70's music.

January 12 2008 at 12:13 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
wayne

here goes people there is still racism right now..people just conceal it better..deep in your hearts there still is,,mr white man will you ever let a black man marry your daughter??plus wat can we listen to old 80's rock band they all were coke up anyway..
plus lets face it rap will never go away like most of you guys want it to

December 12 2007 at 6:10 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Will Thomas

Scott thanks for mentioning Amadou Diallo's name in reply to my post from July...I hold this song very dear to me as my son was a victim of police brutality in Denver. I am a white man but to me the color of someone's skin should not make any difference to how they are treated. Only if they commit a crime, then they should be prosecuted. For war songs lets not forget Devils & Dust either. We need to take our country back folks...Ron Paul is the only candidate who follows the Constitution of the United States.

December 12 2007 at 5:46 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
JEAN

If one would only but take notice, they will find that all of these so called "entertainers" are nothing but trash!

December 12 2007 at 5:09 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Kelly

Ok, I agree with the black standpoint. I'm white. But I disagree with the hatred for white people that "sold the slaves", that was YEARS AGO! Me, nor my family have employed a black slave. Anyway, the whole police thing is very horrible. I liked comment #11 and 12. They say everything I want to say. The only thing I don't like about this song is the end, about redneck whitebread chickenshit. I ain't no hillbilly hoss. Sorry had to do that! :) Another thing, why do black people talk about themselves as "n*****s" but when a white person does, they are called racist? We are all racist.

December 12 2007 at 4:15 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Scott

Springsteen's "41 Shots" was inspired by the shooting of Amadou Diallo by NYC's Street Crimes Unit. I realize that Will's statement that it involves the shooting of an 'unnamed black man' refers to his being unnnamed in the song, but we do know his name. And need to say it over and over again.

December 01 2007 at 4:47 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Stevie

okay. whoever says rap music isn't musi is most inaccurate. Most good rappers make their beats, and write their own music, You have never had to deal with racial profiling (malicouscoma) like the African Americans. I mean really. Who's to say that country music isn't wrong, i mean i specially remember the Toby Keith song about Uncle Sam, Alan AJckson's song about God and how helet horrible things happen to the world, AC/DC talking about doing dirty deeds cheap, there really is no difference. I would like youto make a rap and try to make it out there. And as for the slap in the face to the police, if they would stop being so damn racist we would not have this problem, just because A black person MIGHT kill someone doesn't mean that they all do, HELL I see like four white men onthe news about killing their moms, most African American rapers talk about how much their mothers have influenced them.

November 25 2007 at 1:13 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Mr 101

Really racial profiling? No got to disagree with ya Spinner Staff. Its about the history of racism in the LAPD and the frustration of the minorities that had their civil liberties trampled on repeatedly.

October 17 2007 at 1:27 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Gizmo30

I am a Black male. I have no criminal record. I am a professional musician. I am STOPPED an a weekly basis by the so-called 'Law Enforcers' who ask me if my guitars are mine, or if they're stolen. I was pulled over and told to speak to a suspect 'because she could only recognize the Black man who robbed her by the tone of his voice,' which, by the way, wasn't mine. Back in Boston, 1991, a White man killed his pregnant wife, and 'blamed' the murder on a Black man. The cops rounded up HUNDREDS of young Black men in the predominatly Black Roxbury area, my cousins were among them. So to number 9, who probably has NO IDEA what it's like to be accused of a crime based on skin color alone, F*ck You. To those 'Law Enforcers' who willingly desecrate ANY race's rights SIMPLY BECAUSE of their race, F*CK YOU, TOO.

October 14 2007 at 12:07 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply