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Hip Hop CDs
Straight Outta Compton (Priority, 1988)
/
Ghetto
Music: The Blueprint Of Hip Hop (Jive, 1989) /
Get Rich Or Die Tryin’
– Soundtrack (2005)
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* * * *
50 Cent CDs
Get Rich Or Die Tryin'
/
The Massacre /
Guess Who's Back /
Power of the Dollar
* * * * * Books on Rap &
Hip Hop
Todd Boyd,
The
New H.N.I.C.: The Death of Civil Rights and the Reign of Hip Hop
(2003) /
Sharif Responds to Todd
Boyd /
Is Hip
Hop Really Dead?
Brian Cross,
It's Not About a Salary... Rap, Race and Resistance in Los
Angeles: Rap, Race, and Resistance in Los Angeles (1993)
Tricia Rose,
Black Noise: Rap Music and Black Culture in Contemporary America
(1994)
Russell A. Porter, Spectacular
Vernaculars: Hip-Hop and the Politics of Postmodernism
(1995)
Bakari Kitwana,
The Hip Hop Generation: Young Blacks and the
Crisis in African American Culture
(2003)
Imani
Perry,
Prophets of the Hood: Politics and Poetics in Hip Hop (2004)
*
* * * *
Police Brutality and Rappers Over the years, police and rappers
have had a contentious relationship, to say the least.
Even before N.W.A. launched their FBI-baiting fireball
at the law enforcement community, rappers weren’t
feeling cops, although they may have been a bit shy
about getting on wax to say so. I grew up in a
neighborhood where the cops showing up usually meant
someone you knew was about to have bigger problems than
they already had.
As such, I can’t honestly say it
ever occurred to me to think of cops as ‘Officer
Friendlies’ or ‘Protect & Servers.’ Rappers on the other
hand, were my heroes. So, predictably, when it came to
the whole ‘rappers v. cops’ thing, I sided with rappers.
The thing is, the older I get, the more I realize that
the cops whose job it is to patrol economically
disadvantaged neighborhoods (to euphemize) are in a
difficult, thankless and often untenable position. Not
unlike the residents of said neighborhoods, come to
think of it. There’s an irony for you.
One of the reasons people like ‘cop hating’ songs so
much is because—let’s be honest—it’s fun to hate cops. I
can’t speak for people who might have a legitimate
reason to feel antagonistic towards police officers, so
I won’t try. But just speaking for myself, I like
anti-cop songs because they make me feel like I’m
subversive and anti-establishment. This, as I cruise the
freeway in my late-model Volkswagen Passat on my way to
and from my cushy union job in sunny San Diego.
As I said, I was born and raised in a pretty fucked up
neighborhood but I can honestly say I’ve never had what
Mos Def might call ‘a bad experience’ with a cop. Which
isn’t to say I’ve never been pulled over. I’ve been
pulled over plenty. It’s not even to say I’ve never been
pulled over illegitimately. That’s happened too. But
rather than ‘a bad experience,’ I think I’d term my
run-ins with law enforcement as ‘aggravating and
borderline transgressive experiences.’ (Which rolls
right off the tongue. Somebody’s going to name a song
after that phrase.)
The worst was once back in New
Orleans. I was driving my piece-of-junk Ford EXP
Hatchback (remember those?) down a dark industrial road,
on the way back home from my girlfriend’s house. To make
a long story short, I ended up behind the car with my
hands behind my head, fingers locked as per unambiguous
instruction, facing a canal while Mr. Cop called for
back up. Things didn’t seem to be going well for me at
all until he asked me for identification. All I had was
my school ID—I had forgotten my driver’s license at
home. I know. Bad move, right?
Actually, not. The cop took one
look at the ID, which read “Benjamin Franklin” (an elite
high school for ‘smart’ kids…and not coincidentally, the
whitest public high school in New Orleans), and my
situation changed immediately. “Ben Franklin,” he said.
“You’re one of the good ones, huh?” I said, “Yes, sir,”
which was the right thing to say, instead of, “Fuck you,
bitch-ass cop,” which is what I was thinking. He handed
me my stuff back and told me to drive safely. That was
it. Oh, did I mention that the cop was black?
Another time, right here in San Diego, I was cruising
down University Avenue at about two in the afternoon. I
was off of work and had no particular place to go. I
know I wasn’t speeding and I didn’t run any lights.
Suddenly, there it was—blue lights, siren, the whole
thing. Mr. Cop walked up to my window and said, “Do you
know why I pulled you over?” I said, “No.” He said,
“License, registration and proof of insurance, please.”
I gave him everything, then sat and waited while he ran
my plates and checked my license.
A few minutes later he walked back
up to my car, handed me all my shit and said, “Have a
nice day.” Then he headed back to his cruiser. I
couldn’t believe it. I almost wanted something to be
wrong. “Hey!” I yelled at him. “What did you stop me
for?” He just called back, “Try to be more careful,” and
kept walking. “More careful of what?” I said. “What did
I do?” He just got back in his black-and-white and off
he went. Nice. That cop, by the way, was Mexican. Or,
less precisely, Latino. I didn’t ask him for his country
of origin.
There’s a line in “Fuck Tha Police” (N.W.A.’s) where Ice
Cube says, “Don’t let it be a black and a white one /
‘Cause they’ll slam you down to the street top / Black
police showing out for the white cop.” It’s a great line
but it leaves a lot unsaid. The little ‘showing out’
problem to which Cube refers isn’t specific to cops. I’d
bet most black people in the workplace are both victims
and perpetrators of that injustice on a fairly
consistent basis. The difference is, most of us don’t
carry a gun or arrest people.
I can remember more than one
occasion in my capacity as ‘Record Sales Manager’ at
Tower Records where I found myself ‘showing out’ (i.e.,
doing some bullshit at the expense of another black
employee in order to look like ‘one of the good ones’ in
front of my white boss and co-workers). Every time I did
it, it disgusted me to my core and made me feel like
shit for days after…if not longer. But, as the saying
goes, we do what we must. Or at least, we do what we do.
Quite often, after a long, hard day of being one of the
good ones, I’d go home and drop the needle on something
like “Bo! Bo! Bo!” or “Fuck Tha Police” and while
listening to those songs never made me feel better, they
did make me feel aggressive, hostile and capable of
extreme violence against authority figures, which is
almost as good. That’s one of the reasons I drive a
truck now. I intentionally stopped working at jobs where
‘comportment’ is important.
For a black male in corporate
America—or retail America or service-sector America or
maybe I should just say America, period—I’ve found that
‘behaving appropriately in the workplace’ is a synonym
for ‘be an ass-kissing sellout’ and I just plain got
tired of it. And while I now realize that the day-to-day
reality of police work is considerably more difficult,
ambiguous and stressful than I ever could’ve imagined
when I was younger, I still haven’t got tired of hearing
rappers yell “fuck the police” and I don’t think I ever
will.
The tracks:
Boogie Down Productions - “Bo! Bo! Bo!” from
Ghetto
Music: The Blueprint Of Hip Hop (Jive, 1989)
This is one of a pair of K.R.S.’
anti-cop songs from the third Boogie Down Productions
album, Ghetto Music. (The other is “Who Protects Us From
You?” but that one is both coherent and rational. Not
our theme.) I like “Bo! Bo! Bo!” because the somewhat
bouncy, reggae-inflected beat conflicts so dramatically
with the extreme nature of the revenge-fantasy lyrics.
Favorite line: “On the ground was a bottle of Snapple /
I broke the bottle in his fucking Adam’s apple.” Nobody
merged ‘violent sociopath’ with ‘erudite intellectual’
like K.R.S.-One.
I’ve never been a big fan of Dead Prez. For
self-proclaimed disciples of Public Enemy, both their
beats and rhyme cadences are frequently dull and
uninspired. That said, I like this one because the
bassline is hypnotic and the lyrics are hilariously,
illogically, capitalistically violent. “I’m caught up,
caught up in a mix of shit / And I ain’t tryin to hear
shit, ‘dun / My crew got cash to get / Blast you with
the pistol if I have to / In my mind it’s all about cash
in a fistful.” It’s all about cash? I thought these
dudes were supposed to be revolutionaries?
I guess the legal department at the late Jay Dee’s label
was trying to avoid the drama—“Fuck The Police” begins
with a disclaimer (“By no means do we encourage or
condone violence against law officials”) but the moment
that hyperactive beat drops, you know you’re about to
hear something aggressive. I used to get upset when
hip-hop-haters would say rap music ‘sounds violent,’ but
honestly, this record does have that homicidal vibe
going even before the MCs start rapping. “Y’all need to
get shot for nothing / ‘Cause we don’t hold back, we
just let go!”
Young Buck “Don’t Need
No Help” from
Get Rich Or Die Tryin’
– Soundtrack (2005)
Young Buck is comical. Back in ’88, Ice Cube and Ren
came up with reasons—or at least justifications—for
wanting to shoot cops. (I have to say, I never thought
I’d have the opportunity to refer to N.W.A. as
‘reasonable.’) Meanwhile, in the way of reasons, Buck
has this to say: “So if they try to lock me up for
smoking my weed / The whole force of police is what they
gon’ need.” Let me see if I understand your position,
Mr. Buck. Rather than simply restrict your marijuana
consumption to the privacy of your own home, you’d
rather take on the entire New York City Police
Department? Makes perfect sense. I do like the low-tech
siren effects though. Those are good.
N.W.A. – “Fuck Tha
Police” from
Straight Outta Compton (Priority, 1988)
The classic. It’s almost twenty years later and I’m
still having trouble believing that an FBI official
actually took time out of his busy schedule of hunting
for dangerous criminals in order to compose and mail
a letter about a fricking record.* Me and my friends
used to listen to this and “Gangsta Gangsta” and “Boyz N
The Hood” ad infinitum. Those of us who were already
criminally-inclined continued to be so. Those of us who
weren’t already involved in criminal behavior continued
to not be involved. It’s like my man Frank Zappa once
said. There are more love songs than any other kind; if
records could make people do anything, we’d all love
each other.
—Mtume ya Salaam
Source:
Breath of Life
* * * * *
STOP POLICE BRUTALITY
Three things.
1. In the early Seventies, when Ernest “Dutch” Morial
was elected the first black mayor of New Orleans, the
infamous NOPD (New Orleans Police Department) went on a
killing rampage. We were at the forefront in organizing
to stop police brutality. Our efforts culminated in our
taking of the mayor’s office. We were there for three or
four days. It was a big issue at the time.
2. New Orleans post-Katrina is under heavy, heavy
manners, i.e. the major black neighborhoods are
militarized zones. We have NOPD, Louisiana State
Troopers, and armed National Guard troops patrolling the
streets. At Douglas High School, where I work, there was
a fight a week or so ago. That evening, the authorities
mounted a massive show of force. Military Humvees parked
on the median in front of the school. At least fifteen
armed security guards standing outside, along with NOPD
and a contingent of armed National Guard.
New Orleans is in the grips of a massive rise in
murders. Yesterday (Friday, 15 December 2006) two bodies
were found in the street: a 17-year-old and a
20-year-old. Need I add they were black?
3. I’m surprised you didn’t include Ice T’s “Cop
Killer.” That may not be one of your favorites but it
certainly was a major anti-police song.
It’s a bad time right now. The military industrial
complex that President Eisenhower warned about is in
full effect. Full effect. Maybe we should have included
the reggae song, “Police & Thieves” or Max Romeo’s “War
In A Babylon”?
—Kalamu ya Salaam
P.S. Back in November when I first moved back to the
city, one night I was coming from a meeting in a
sparsely lit area in the hood. As I turned onto a major
street, a cop car came up behind me. A couple of blocks
later, he flashed his lights. I pulled over. Same old
shit. Driving while black coming from a black
neighborhood. There is an anger that black men feel when
we are accosted by the police for no reason other than
“the same-old reason.” Back in the Sixties, there was a
book by two black psychologists called “Black Rage.” I
bet they could sell a ton of those books today. And then
again, probably not…. We be too mad to read about it.
Fuck the cops. Fuck the pushers. Fuck the thieves. Fuck
the corporations. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
Source:
Breath of Life
* *
* * *
Victims of Police Activity
Abner Louima
Abner Louima, NY -- Aug. 1997: The
Haitian immigrant won an $8.75 million lawsuit after his
arrest outside a Brooklyn nightclub. While in custody,
police officers sodomized the then 30-year-old with a
plunger inside the station's bathroom. One officer,
Justin Volpe, is still in prison.
Amadou Diallo
Amadou Diallo, NY -- Feb. 1999:
Shot to death in the vestibule of his Bronx apartment
building by undercover officers while the 23-year-old
reached for his wallet. The officers fired 41 shots,
hitting Diallo 19 times. They were acquitted of all
charges.
Danny Reyes
Danny Reyes, NJ -- April 1998:
Reyes was of four young New York men pulled over by New
Jersey state troopers on their way to basketball camp in
North Carolina. According to Reyes, he mistakenly put
the car into reverse while talking to the officer. The
cops opened fire shooting all four of the men, including
Reyes, six times. Although all charges against the
officers were thrown out, the case set off a federal
investigation into racial profiling on the nation's
highway.
Kathryn Johnston
Kathryn Johnson, Atlanta -- Nov.
2006: The 93-year-old grandmother was shot to death in
her own home after plain-clothed officers obtained a
'no-knock' warrant and stormed inside her one-story
brick home.
Rodney King
Rodney King, LA -- March 1991: A
global symbol of police brutality. Officers were caught
on tape repeatedly beating King, then 26, with batons;
they were later acquitted of charges igniting one of the
worst riots in US history.
Sean Bell
Sean Bell, NY-- Nov. 2006: While
leaving his bachelor party at a Queens strip club,
undercover officers fired more than 50 bullets into
Bell's car, killing the 23-year-old and seriously
injuring two friends, Joseph Guzman and Trent Benefield.
Stanley Miller
Stanley Miller, Los Angeles -- June
2004: After stealing a car and leading the police on a
high pursuit chase, Miller, a 39-year-old Los Angeles
man was beaten by an officer using a metal flashlight.
He was hit 11 times after being grounded by a group of
officers. He settled with the L.A. City Council for
$450,000.
Terrance Shurn
Terrance Shurn, Benton Harbor,
Michigan -- June 2003. Shurn, 28, died when he crashed
his motorcycle into a building while fleeing police
officers. His death sparked riots during which cars and
buildings in Benton Harbor were burned. Shurn was
reportedly carrying an ounce of marijuana.
Timothy Stansbury
Timothy Stansbury, NY -- January
2004: Stansbury was a 19 year old who worked at
McDonald's. He was shot and killed on a Brooklyn rooftop
while making his way across several buildings to borrow
CDs from a friend who lived a few doors down. He was
shot in the chest by police officer Richard S. Neri Jr.,
who later said it was an accident.
Source: AOL BLACK VOICES * *
* * *
Straight Outta Compton (Priority, 1988)
/
Ghetto
Music: The Blueprint Of Hip Hop (Jive, 1989) /
Get Rich Or Die Tryin’
– Soundtrack (2005)
posted 17 December 2006 * *
* * *
updated 3 November 2007 |
