Fuck tha Police

{{Infobox song

| name = Fuck tha Police

| cover =

| alt =

| type =

| artist = N.W.A

| album = Straight Outta Compton

| released = January 25, 1989

| format =

| recorded = 1988

| studio =

| venue =

| genre = *Political hip hop

hardcore hip hop

| length = 5:43

| label = *Priority

Ruthless

| writer = *O'Shea Jackson

Lorenzo Patterson
Tracy Curry{{cite web|url=https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=es1fRFmmRIs&list=PLocnpGR4BAxhpOe__ddcu1tFYvGXC5oFS&index=3&t=22s |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/es1fRFmmRIs |archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live|title=The D.O.C. on Ice Cube Leaving NWA: Cube Was the Spirit|publisher=YouTube|date=2015-11-13|access-date=2019-11-23}}{{cbignore}}

| producer = *Dr. Dre

DJ Yella

| misc = {{External music video|header=Audio|1={{YouTube|ADdpLv3RDhA|"Fuck tha Police" by N.W.A.}}}}

{{Audio sample

|type = song

|file = N.W.A - Fuck Tha Police.ogg

|description = "A sample of Ice Cube{{'s}} verse on the song"

}}

"Fuck tha Police" is a protest song by American hip hop group N.W.A that appears on the 1989 album Straight Outta Compton as well as on the N.W.A's Greatest Hits compilation. The lyrics protest police brutality and racial profiling and the song was ranked number 425 on Rolling Stone{{'}}s 2004 list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.{{cite web |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/lists/the-500-greatest-songs-of-all-time-20110407/n-w-a-fuck-tha-police-20110526 |date=2004-12-09 |work=rollingstone.com |access-date=2016-12-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080622142703/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500songs/page/5 |archive-date=2008-06-22|title=The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time}} In 2021, Rolling Stone re-ranked the song at number 190 in an updated list, and in 2025, the publication ranked the song at number 10 on its list of "The 100 Best Protest Songs of All Time."{{cite web |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-songs-of-all-time-1224767/n-w-a-fuck-tha-police-5-1225148/ |date=2021-09-15 |work=rollingstone.com |access-date=2021-09-18|title=The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time}}{{cite news |title=The 100 Best Protest Songs of All Time |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/best-protest-songs-1235154848/ |publisher=Rolling Stone |date=27 January 2025 |access-date=29 January 2025}}

Since its release in 1989, the "Fuck the Police" slogan continues to influence popular culture in the form of T-shirts, artwork, political expression, and has transitioned into other genres as seen in the cover versions by Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, Dope, Rage Against the Machine, and Kottonmouth Kings.{{cite web|title=YouTube: Fuck tha Police (RATM cover)| date=October 11, 2006 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4S8Wc26XowM |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/4S8Wc26XowM |archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live|publisher=Rage Against the Machine|access-date=7 April 2012}}{{cbignore}}{{cite web|url=http://www.allmusic.com/song/fck-tha-police-mt0010077476|title=F*ck tha Police|work=AllMusic|access-date=23 November 2015}}

Composition

"Fuck tha Police" parodies court proceedings, inverting them by presenting Dr. Dre as a judge hearing a prosecution of the police department. Three members of the group, Ice Cube, MC Ren, and Eazy-E, take the stand to "testify" before the judge as prosecutors. Through the lyrics, the rappers criticize the local police force. Two interludes present re-enactments of stereotypical racial profiling and police brutality.

At the end, the jury finds the police department guilty of being a "redneck, white-bread, chicken-shit motherfucker."{{Cite web|url=https://genius.com/Nwa-fuck-tha-police-lyrics|title=N.W.A – Fuck tha Police|via=genius.com}} A police officer, who is revealed to be the defendant, contests that the arguments presented were all lies and starts to demand justice as Dr. Dre orders him out of the courtroom, prompting the police officer to yell obscenities as he is led out.

FBI letter

The song prompted the FBI to write to N.W.A's record company about the lyrics, expressing disapproval and arguing that the song misrepresented police.{{cite journal |doi=10.1007/s12103-019-09495-3 |url=https://deflem.blogspot.com/2020/03/music-censorship-labeling.html |date=2020 |title=Popular Culture and Social Control: The Moral Panic on Music Labeling |last1=Deflem |first1=Mathieu |journal=American Journal of Criminal Justice |volume=45 |pages=2–24 |s2cid=198196942 }}{{cite web|last=Erlewine|first=Stephen Thomas|title=AllMusic: NWA Biography|website=AllMusic |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/nwa-p77/biography|access-date=7 April 2012}}{{cite news|last1=Harrington|first1=Richard|title=The FBI as music critic|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1989/10/04/the-fbi-as-music-critic/3f9abdb7-bed1-45b2-83ca-7a6e7da59fa9/|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=5 August 2015}}

In his autobiography Ruthless, the band's manager Jerry Heller wrote that the letter was actually a rogue action by a "single pissed-off bureaucrat with a bully pulpit" named Milt Ahlerich, who was falsely purporting to represent the FBI as a whole and that the action "earned him a transfer to the Bureau's backwater Hartford office".Jerry Heller, Gil Reavill, 2006. Ruthless: A Memoir. pp. 141-143. Simon Spotlight Entertainment. {{ISBN|1-4169-1792-6}} Heller also wrote that he removed all sensitive documents from the office of Ruthless Records in case of an FBI raid.

In the letter, Ahlerich went on to reference "78 law enforcement officers" who were "feloniously slain in the line of duty during 1988" and that recordings such as those produced by N.W.A "were both discouraging and degrading to these brave, dedicated officers". Ahlerich did not mention any N.W.A song by name in the letter, but later confirmed he was referring to "Fuck tha Police".{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-10-05-ca-1046-story.html|title=Compton Rappers Versus the Letter of the Law: FBI Claims Song by N.W.A. Advocates Violence on Police|last=HOCHMAN|first=STEVE|date=1989-10-05|work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=2017-12-11|language=en-US|issn=0458-3035}}

Censorship

File:Fuck the police very much! (6265498914).jpg, 2011]]

In 1989, Australian youth radio station Triple J had been playing "Fuck tha Police" (the only radio station in the world to do so){{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au:80/triplej/30years/stories/s1286179.htm |title=Censorship and NWA's Fuck the Police: 30 years of triple j |work=Triple J |date=2005 |access-date=December 16, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161216181215/http://www.abc.net.au:80/triplej/30years/stories/s1286179.htm |archive-date=December 16, 2016 |url-status=dead}} for up to six months, before being banned by Australian Broadcasting Corporation management following a campaign by a Liberal senator from South Australia.{{cite web |url=http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/30years/audio/news_theme_1991.mp3 |title=30 Years of Triple J – Censorship and NWA's Fuck the Police |work=Triple J |date=21 January 2005 |access-date=25 September 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060222100020/http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/30years/audio/news_theme_1991.mp3 |archive-date=February 22, 2006 |url-status=dead}} As a reaction, Triple J staff went on strike and put N.W.A's "Express Yourself" on continuous play from 9am until 4.30pm (AEST), totalling 82 plays.{{cite web |url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/express-yourself-the-day-triple-j-played-the-same-nwa-song-82-times-in-a-row-20150902-gjdk0d.html |title=Express yourself: The day Triple J played the same N.W.A. song 82 times in a row |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=September 2, 2015 |access-date=March 19, 2021 |author1=Chamberlin, Paul |author2=Casimir, Jon |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124020246/https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/express-yourself-the-day-triple-j-played-the-same-nwa-song-82-times-in-a-row-20150902-gjdk0d.html |archive-date=January 24, 2021 |url-status=live}} The song was preceded on each occasion by a speech explaining that due to industrial action, normal transmission had been interrupted. It was revealed in 2005 that the scratch sound from that track was sampled for the Triple J news theme.{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2cigUvFOsQ |title=Triple J News Theme's 30 years |publisher=Triple J |via=YouTube |date=28 April 2012 |access-date=23 November 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130322075239/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2cigUvFOsQ |archive-date=March 22, 2013 |url-status=live}}

On 10 April 2011, New Zealand musician Tiki Taane was arrested on charges of "disorderly behaviour likely to cause violence to start or continue" after performing the song at a gig in a club in Tauranga during an inspection of the club by the police.{{cite web |url=http://www.3news.co.nz/Tiki-Taane-arrested-after-chanting-F-the-police-at-gig/tabid/418/articleID/206422/Default.aspx |title=Tiki Taane arrested after chanting 'F*** the police' at gig |work=3 News |date=April 11, 2011 |access-date=March 19, 2021 |author=Satherley, Dan |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180302194350/http://www.3news.co.nz/Tiki-Taane-arrested-after-chanting-F-the-police-at-gig/tabid/418/articleID/206422/Default.aspx |archive-date=March 2, 2018 |url-status=dead}}{{cite web |url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10729352 |title=Tiki Taane case adjourned |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=1 June 2011 |access-date=19 March 2021

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200930125605/http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10729352 |archive-date=September 30, 2020 |url-status=live}} On 13 April, Tiki told Marcus Lush on Radio Live that the lyrics often feature in his performances and his arrest came as a complete surprise.{{cite web |url=https://www.magic.co.nz/Tiki-Taane---new-poster-boy-for-free-speech/tabid/506/articleID/19700/Default.aspx |title=Tiki Taane – new poster boy for freedom of speech |publisher=Magic.co.nz |date=April 13, 2011 |access-date=March 19, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201126235608/https://www.magic.co.nz/Tiki-Taane---new-poster-boy-for-free-speech/tabid/506/articleID/19700/Default.aspx |archive-date=November 26, 2020 |url-status=live}}

Notable references in popular culture

The song and the group were parodied in the 1994 hip-hop mockumentary film Fear of a Black Hat and its soundtrack album, as a single for the fictional gangsta-rap group N.W.H. (Niggaz With Hats) as "Fuck the Security Guards."{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/song/fuck-the-security-guards-mt0032107686|title=Fuck the Security Guards|work=AllMusic|access-date=24 December 2015}}
The song is referenced in Lil Wayne's hit 2008 single "Mrs. Officer", but in a much more literal sense.{{cite news |last1=White |first1=Andrew |title=Lil Wayne Performs "Mrs. Officer" at 'Top Cop' Kamala Harris' House and People Have Jokes |url=https://www.complex.com/music/a/andrewwhitefreelancer/internet-says-its-ironic-lil-wayne-performed-mrs-officer |work=Complex |date=September 10, 2023}}
It is prominently featured in the 2015 biopic of N.W.A, also called Straight Outta Compton.{{cite magazine|url=http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/the-juice/6663762/ice-cube-police-brutality-nwa-straight-outta-compton-interview|title=Ice Cube|magazine=Billboard|access-date=23 November 2015}}
The song was satirically referenced in South Park{{'}}s season 19 episode "Naughty Ninjas", when the townspeople are protesting the police.{{cite news|url=http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/11/11/south-park-tackles-police-brutality-presents-a-world-without-racist-trigger-happy-cops.html|title='South Park' Endorses 'Ferguson Effect,' Presents a World Without 'Racist, Trigger-Happy' Cops|work=The Daily Beast|date=November 12, 2015|access-date=23 November 2015|last1=Wilstein|first1=Matt}}
The song appears in Jordan Peele's 2019 film Us, when a virtual assistant mishears a character asking to call the police, instead playing the song.{{cite news |last1=Share |first1=Zack |title=Jordan Peele Wrote Beach Boys Into 'Us' Script, but 'F*ck tha Police' Took Some Time |url=https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/us-music-beach-boys-fuck-tha-police-scene-jordan-peele-1202053379/ |access-date=December 10, 2023 |work=IndieWire |date=March 25, 2019}}

Charts

class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="text-align:center" \|+Chart performance of "Fuck tha Police" ! Chart (2015) ! Peak position
scope="row"\| Australia (ARIA){{cite web\|url=http://www.ariacharts.com.au/chart/singles \|title=ARIA Australian Top 50 Singles \|publisher=Australian Recording Industry Association \|date=September 14, 2015 \|access-date=September 12, 2015 \|url-status=dead \|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140317123606/http://www.ariacharts.com.au/chart/singles \|archive-date=March 17, 2014 }} \| 49
{{singlechart\|UK\|97\|date=2015-09-11\|rowheader=true\|access-date=September 12, 2015}}
{{singlechart\|Billboardrandbhiphop\|25\|artist=N.W.A\|song=Straight Outta Compton\|artistid=276933\|access-date=August 25, 2015\|rowheader=true}}

class="wikitable plainrowheaders sortable" style="text-align:center"

|+Chart performance of "Fuck tha Police"

! Chart (2015)

! Peak
position

scope="row"| Australia (ARIA){{cite web|url=http://www.ariacharts.com.au/chart/singles |title=ARIA Australian Top 50 Singles |publisher=Australian Recording Industry Association |date=September 14, 2015 |access-date=September 12, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140317123606/http://www.ariacharts.com.au/chart/singles |archive-date=March 17, 2014 }}

| 49

{{singlechart|UK|97|date=2015-09-11|rowheader=true|access-date=September 12, 2015}}

{{singlechart|Billboardrandbhiphop|25|artist=N.W.A|song=Straight Outta Compton|artistid=276933|access-date=August 25, 2015|rowheader=true}}

Certifications

{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for "Fuck tha Police"}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Canada|artist=NWA|title=F**k tha Police|award=Gold|type=single|relyear=1988|certyear=2016|certmonth=02|digital=true|access-date=April 28, 2023}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Denmark|artist=N.W.A|title=Fuck tha Police|award=Gold|type=single|relyear=1988|certyear=2024|access-date=January 13, 2025|id=14829}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|artist=NWA|title=Fuck the Police|award=Platinum|type=single|relyear=1988|certyear=2021|source=radioscope|access-date=January 18, 2025}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|artist=Nwa|title=F**K Tha Police|award=Gold|type=single|relyear=2004|certyear=2022|access-date=November 11, 2022|id=14994-3158-1}}