Mrs. Officer: Hip Hop 1
Last week Friday, while I was walking around my neighborhood, taking care of errands, and as always, listening to my ipod, I decided to listen to a rap song called Mrs. Officer by Lil Wayne. I had not listened to the song in a long while and given that it was one of my favorite songs my sophomore year in college, I knew the song would, and I wanted the song to, revive some fond memories of being at the school cafeteria and at parties with my friends.
So I am jamming and singing along and I hear myself say, "Rodney King baby, said beat it like a cop". I literally stop in my tracks and decide to listen to the song again to make sure that I am not saying the wrong words as I am notorious for butchering lyrics. On second and third listens of the song, it is clear that Lil Wayne does says, "Rodney King, yeah, I beat it like a cop. Beat it like a cop. Rodney King baby, said beat it like a cop". My immediate feeling is one of disorientation in light of the news that Rodney King died at, what was at the time, just five days ago. I feel as though I have said something irreverent by repeating those lyrics. This sentiment has lingered on these last few days and in reflection, I have decided to write this post.
I first learned of Rodney King and the LA Riots in 1992 via discussions of the Sean Bell shooting in New York in 2006. I was in the 10th grade, I believe, when the Sean Bell incident occurred and it was a topic of conversation at school, on the news - thus at home, and in an indirect but deeply personal way, among my friends who were now becoming Black and Latino men in the fullest sense of their identities in America and were experiencing incidents such being stopped-and-frisked and other Black male targeted crimes (specifically, "being jumped" or robbed) in the South Bronx. During the immediate time following Sean Bell's shooting, I became (even more) consumed with learning about police brutality, the criminalization of Black men, and the notion/(un)realization of justice: from slavery to pre-emanicipation and the policing of black bodies on plantations in America, to the civil rights era and the clash between the American police and the Black community (or more accurately, the terrorizing of Black people by the American police), Amadou Diallo,now Rahmarley Graham, and countless other known and unknown cases of police brutality. This was in fact, when I became interested in pursuing a career in criminal law. Knowing what I know of police brutality, I consequently, felt gullible for naively repeating, for years, Wayne's lyrics, specifically, the line referencingRodney King, without ever processing the reference.
So what is Lil Wayne saying in the reference anyway? Perhaps, in a song about soliciting a female cop for sex (or vise versa), saying "Rodney King, beat it like a cop" is creating a parallel between the aggressive manner in which he will have or has had sexual intercourse with this female cop to the brutal beating of Rodney Kingby police officers. But reflecting further, perhaps Lil Wayne's reference to Rodney King may have a different interpretation than that which I surmised. I just do not understand why he would make such a reference in this specific song anyway. Maybe a reference to Rodney King in his song Misunderstood would be more appropriate. I do not know and Lil Wayne does Lil Wayne; it would be too limiting and untruthful to say that he does not create conscious music. My main issue is primarily with myself; I had not noticed for so long that this reference was made in the song and that I had naively sang or shouted the reference countless times before.
This may be, in fact, an introduction into my complicated love affair with hip-hop; specifically, an affinity for an art form which simultaneously speaks to struggles I can identify with, understand, or am implicated with vis-a-vis my race, color, sex, or America and condones a lot of what I see is wrong with ourselves and society, whether is it homophobia, misogyny, colorism, rape, violence, self-medication or whatever our vice may be as individuals or as a society. I am generally of the thought that rappers, like all artists, use their craft as a medium to explain or share with the world their interpretation of life and their experiences. I take lyrics seriously - as in, I process music and lyrics much the same way I process everything else - mostly through synthesis and analysis. I listen to music - "the ratchet" and the "conscious alike" intensely, as I do with most things I enjoy. I know that I will come to this topic again, and again, and again - Hip Hop 2, 3, 4... with different realizations, emotions, conclusions, and understandings. For now, my resolution is that I can not stand to listen to Mrs. Officer again for a long while. I can not see myself enjoying it in much the same light or energy ever again.
To end, a note to Rodney King: R.I.P. Mr. King. My deepest condolences to your family and loved ones. Your story and experience galvanized a people and a nation on an issue which had/has too long plagued our psyche, physique and serenity and it will not be forgotten. In your words, "can we all get along?" My heart has been especially heavy for the people facing violence and hunger in the South-side of Chicago, Syria, and Somalia these last several months. Can we all get along, please? I pray that these stories do not go unnoticed or unheard.
So I am jamming and singing along and I hear myself say, "Rodney King baby, said beat it like a cop". I literally stop in my tracks and decide to listen to the song again to make sure that I am not saying the wrong words as I am notorious for butchering lyrics. On second and third listens of the song, it is clear that Lil Wayne does says, "Rodney King, yeah, I beat it like a cop. Beat it like a cop. Rodney King baby, said beat it like a cop". My immediate feeling is one of disorientation in light of the news that Rodney King died at, what was at the time, just five days ago. I feel as though I have said something irreverent by repeating those lyrics. This sentiment has lingered on these last few days and in reflection, I have decided to write this post.
I first learned of Rodney King and the LA Riots in 1992 via discussions of the Sean Bell shooting in New York in 2006. I was in the 10th grade, I believe, when the Sean Bell incident occurred and it was a topic of conversation at school, on the news - thus at home, and in an indirect but deeply personal way, among my friends who were now becoming Black and Latino men in the fullest sense of their identities in America and were experiencing incidents such being stopped-and-frisked and other Black male targeted crimes (specifically, "being jumped" or robbed) in the South Bronx. During the immediate time following Sean Bell's shooting, I became (even more) consumed with learning about police brutality, the criminalization of Black men, and the notion/(un)realization of justice: from slavery to pre-emanicipation and the policing of black bodies on plantations in America, to the civil rights era and the clash between the American police and the Black community (or more accurately, the terrorizing of Black people by the American police), Amadou Diallo,now Rahmarley Graham, and countless other known and unknown cases of police brutality. This was in fact, when I became interested in pursuing a career in criminal law. Knowing what I know of police brutality, I consequently, felt gullible for naively repeating, for years, Wayne's lyrics, specifically, the line referencingRodney King, without ever processing the reference.
So what is Lil Wayne saying in the reference anyway? Perhaps, in a song about soliciting a female cop for sex (or vise versa), saying "Rodney King, beat it like a cop" is creating a parallel between the aggressive manner in which he will have or has had sexual intercourse with this female cop to the brutal beating of Rodney Kingby police officers. But reflecting further, perhaps Lil Wayne's reference to Rodney King may have a different interpretation than that which I surmised. I just do not understand why he would make such a reference in this specific song anyway. Maybe a reference to Rodney King in his song Misunderstood would be more appropriate. I do not know and Lil Wayne does Lil Wayne; it would be too limiting and untruthful to say that he does not create conscious music. My main issue is primarily with myself; I had not noticed for so long that this reference was made in the song and that I had naively sang or shouted the reference countless times before.
This may be, in fact, an introduction into my complicated love affair with hip-hop; specifically, an affinity for an art form which simultaneously speaks to struggles I can identify with, understand, or am implicated with vis-a-vis my race, color, sex, or America and condones a lot of what I see is wrong with ourselves and society, whether is it homophobia, misogyny, colorism, rape, violence, self-medication or whatever our vice may be as individuals or as a society. I am generally of the thought that rappers, like all artists, use their craft as a medium to explain or share with the world their interpretation of life and their experiences. I take lyrics seriously - as in, I process music and lyrics much the same way I process everything else - mostly through synthesis and analysis. I listen to music - "the ratchet" and the "conscious alike" intensely, as I do with most things I enjoy. I know that I will come to this topic again, and again, and again - Hip Hop 2, 3, 4... with different realizations, emotions, conclusions, and understandings. For now, my resolution is that I can not stand to listen to Mrs. Officer again for a long while. I can not see myself enjoying it in much the same light or energy ever again.
To end, a note to Rodney King: R.I.P. Mr. King. My deepest condolences to your family and loved ones. Your story and experience galvanized a people and a nation on an issue which had/has too long plagued our psyche, physique and serenity and it will not be forgotten. In your words, "can we all get along?" My heart has been especially heavy for the people facing violence and hunger in the South-side of Chicago, Syria, and Somalia these last several months. Can we all get along, please? I pray that these stories do not go unnoticed or unheard.
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