N.W.A - Police brutality and profiling

N.W.A remain as perhaps the most influential group of artists towards the hip-hop genre. Their bass-driven and offbeat songs along with their hyperbolic lyrical flair meant they stood massively against the American music industry. The lyrics reflected their perspectives of life in Compton, and were culminated from the brutality, racial profiling and general discriminatory offences from police officers. 

One of their most notorious hits, "F*** tha Police" - released in 1988, was a protest song which criticised the American police department for the aforementioned offences across the country in poverty-stricken areas such as Compton. With police brutality somewhat lesser yet still very much occurrent today, N.W.A's legacy is partly centred around this song and has since become a slogan within popular culture and merchandise. Various artists have also quoted the line "F*** tha police", therefore reflecting N.W.A's long lasting legacy. 



The film Straight Outta Compton (2015) furthers this legacy and details the groups assimilation struggles in America. This film evokes the groups experience with the police and how there was a common trend of mutual hatred which was rife throughout Compton. One particular scene shows police officers ordering the group to get on the ground with their hands behind their back for the reasoning of quite literally nothing. This was a clear example of racial profiling and the fact that they were black immediately made the police officers suspicious and created a representation of prejudice towards African Americans. Furthermore, towards the middle of the film, Eazy-E quotes at a press conference that "our art is a reflection of our reality". Whilst this quote was not officially noted from Eazy-E, it's undoubtedly true hence why most of their songs are the reflection of gang violence, misogyny, along with the glorification of crime and drugs. As well as the treatment of black people at an authoritative level. 

The initiation of the 'War on Drugs' only added to the long history the USA has on racist policing (or profiling) which stemmed from the 'Jim Crow' laws, and even further back when slavery was still omnipresent. Policy officer in ethnic profiling for the Open Society Justice Initiative, Rebekah Delsol,  states that the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) established a 'drug courier profile' in the mid-1980s which trained officers to look for 'indicators'; race being fundamental of the indicators. The mass incarceration that occurred in the 1980s only added to the anger and lyrical expression that N.W.A put forward.  

Since their rise to fame and fortune, other hip-hop artists have also spoken out against life in high crime areas. Kendrick Lamar, for instance, has an entire album based on his Compton roots. He also has a song called 'Compton', where he relates back to N.W.A:

"Now we can all celebrate 
 We can all harvest the rap artists of NWA".

This is in reference to how Kendrick (and other artists) were able to utilise the expertise and knowledge of NWA so that he could create and develop his own style and become successful in what would be known as the West Coast scene in hip-hop.