In the interest of pure visceral response to a situation that makes all decent Americans feel sick with anger yet powerless, I wanted to gather a number of music videos that address our feelings about the situation.
You know, as powerless as we all feel about this, can you imagine how powerless these craven, paranoid, infantile and cowardly racist cops must feel to think it necessary to cover up their own wrongness with that much more wrongness? Pathetic, it is. Sorry guys, a gun will never be a penis, no matter how tightly you grip it at night.
Charley Patton
Tom Rushen Blues
1929
Frank Zappa & The Mothers of Invention
Trouble Every Day
1965
Kris Kristofferson
The Law is for Protection of the People
1970
Marvin Gaye
Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)
1971
Bob Marley & The Wailers
I Shot the Sheriff
1973
Fela Kuti & Afrika 70
Zombie
1976
The Clash
Police on My Back
1980
The Dicks
Hate the Police
1980
Dead Kennedys
Police Truck
1980
Peter Gabriel
Biko
1980
Rick James
Mr. Policeman
1981
Black Flag
Police Story
1981
NWA
Fuck Tha Police
1988
Public Enemy
Anti-Nigger Machine
1990
See also: most of the rest of PE's songs. It's pretty much there in their name.
Ice Cube (featuring Chuck D)
Endangered Species
1990
Main Source
Just a Friendly Game of Baseball
1991
Body Count
Cop Killer
1992
Wally Pleasant
I Hate Cops
1993
KRS-ONE
Sound of da Police
1993
2pac
Holler If You Hear Me
1993
Sublime
April 29, 1992
1996
dead prez
Police State
2000
J. Dilla
Fuck the Police
2001
Le Tigre
Bang! Bang!
2001
Bruce Springsteen
American Skin (41 Shots)
2001
Rob Hustle (Featuring Liv)
Call the Cops
2014
Now that I look back at these songs in a historical context, the silence of today's biggest rappers is even more damning, but not any particular surprise. After the explosion of hip-hop in the late 80s and early 90s, Big Music invested heavily in "Gangsta;" favoring rappers who put personal gain above the socially conscious issues affecting Black America. Yes, there IS still socially and politically aware hip-hop out there, but they've been pushed to the thinnest margins of alternative hip-hop while mainstream America continues to pretend that Jay-Z matters.
Note: Neither this blogazine nor its writer endorse violence against the police. I do, however, understand how people can get to feeling that way, given the current (police) state of "law enforcement" (accent on the "force") in America today. We're all pretty fucking fortunate that poor and minority urban Americans don't react to genuine abuses the way NRA fanatics react to the slightest imagined sleights.
Here's one for you, racist gun-nuts and shit-bag cops...
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