On August 9th, 1988, the famous gangster rap group Niggaz Wit Attitude, also known as N.W.A.

took over America with the release of their Straight Outta Compton album. The rap group consisted of

five members (Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, MC Ren, Eazy-E, DJ Yella) who came together to redefine the meaning

of hip hop and pioneer the gangster rap genre that is still present today. The groups purpose in the

album was to show what it is like to be African American in the United States specifically in the streets of

Compton, California. One song in particular that shows what it was like to be a black man in the ‘80s is

the song “Fuck Tha Police.” This song was the anthem that African Americans used to protest the racial

injustice against them by police. This song is so powerful to its audience because of the use of rhetoric

through the lyrics of all five members and the support it received from people across the United States.

When the Civil Rights Movement was concluding in the 1960s, many Americans believed that

racism was ending with it. Little did they know what was happening behind the scenes with treatment of

black minorities from police. At the time, cellphones and cameras were not around so people were not

updated on news and were not able to actually see what was really happening. Many young men were

accustomed to police brutality because of racial profiling and because of the idea that every black man

on the streets was either in a gang, dealing drugs, or robbing innocent people. This is proved in the song

by the lyrics of Ice Cube which state “Searchin’ my car, lookin’ for the product/ Thinkin’ every nigga is

sellin’ narcotics” (Ice Cube & MC Ren, 1988) as well as MC Ren lyrics “Because the niggas on the street is

a majority/ a gang is with whoever I’m steppin” (Ice Cube & MC Ren, 1988). N.W.A. was no different to

this lifestyle. The reason the song was written was because of the experience the group had with police

harassment when they were all slammed to the ground and had guns pointed to their heads for only

walking on the sidewalk in front of their recording studio. The group’s main audience was anyone who

had experienced similar treatment or anyone who believed that this treatment was unfair.

The song by N.W.A. has been proved credible by how many times the album had sold and the

influence they had on the fight against police brutality. When the album released, people in L.A., as well
as the whole country, began to see what was really happening in the world around them. In 2015, the

Straight Outta Compton album had gone triple platinum meaning that the album had sold more than

three million copies. One of the reasons that the song was so successful was because of the groups lyrics

and the setting they create for the listener. When the song first begins, the audience instantly knows

where they are. The song states “Right about now, N.W.A. court is in full effect/ Judge Dre presiding/ In

the case of N.W.A. versus the police department/ Prosecuting attorneys are MC Ren, Ice Cube, and Eazy-

motherfucking-E.” (Ice Cube& MC Ren, 1988) This is supposed to resemble a court room but rather than

the police putting a criminal on trial, N.W.A. reverses it by putting the police department on trial. During

this time, many police officers were put on trial for use of excessive force and police brutality but were

rarely found guilty in court. The song is meant to mock the judicial system and show that juries would

take the side of witnesses over facts resulting in less guilty charges against officers and more against

black males. The lyrics used at the beginning of the song emphasize ethos because it shows the groups

knowledge of what was happening in court rooms and how faulty they were during this time period.

The song also does a great job of bringing out the listener’s emotions. As soon as the song

begins, you get the feel of protest by how the groups lyrics are written. The lyrics do not have any

hidden meanings behind them that force the listener to think to hard. Because of this, it allowed the

audience to just hear what was being said allowing them to clearly know the songs purpose. Ice Cube

states “Fuck tha police coming straight from the underground/ young nigga got it bad cause I’m brown/

and not the other color so police think/ they have the authority to kill a minority.” (Ice Cube & MC Ren,

1988) This is meant to strike anger in its audience towards police, sparking the protest of the song. The

anger created is meant to serve as the motivation for change. Another emotion that gets brought up is

surprise. Ice Cube has the first verse in the song, meaning that he has the most important one. Since its

first thing the audience hears, it will stick with them more. It has to bring the audience in and another

way of doing this is with surprise. One example of this in the song is when Ice Cube states “Black police
showing out for the white cop” (Ice Cube & MC Ren,1988) surprising the audience because it isn’t only

white officers that are showing hate towards them, it is both whites and blacks. If an officer was black,

they felt that they had to impress other officers or else they wouldn’t be taken seriously. This can cause

the audience to of the song to step back and realize that what N.W.A. is saying might be true and this

might drive the audience to go make a change. This creates the pathos related to the song because of

the emotion given from the music, making you feel the anger that the group felt when they were

harassed.

While the lyrics are the main part of the song, people tend to forget about the music video

created in the 80’s. N.W.A did a good job of killing two birds with one stone in their protest. The lyrics

are meant to express what was happening and to point out the flaws of the court system while the

music video shows actual footage of brutality towards African Americans. This is meant to show the

audience that what the group is singing about is not just rare occurrences but an everyday lifestyle. It Is

happening every day to many people, and the audience does not realize it. The music video creates

logos for the song in it being real life, actual footage of brutality. One famous instance, that proved

N.W.A.’s music video was real footage was in 1992 when four police officers were filmed beating an

African American man named Rodney King. When people realized that the video of King and the videos

in N.W.A.’s music video all resembled each other, the groups popularity increased greatly. The four

officers were put on trial but were found not guilty of assault, causing the streets of L.A. to erupt with

riots. The purpose of the music video was to give evidence of what was happening in real life proving

the logos of the song.

One week before the release of the album, 88 LAPD officers had raided into two apartments on

the corner of 39th and Dalton Avenue in Los Angeles in complete search for drugs and to deliver a

screaming message to gangs. The officers involved destroyed furniture, raided food storages and beat

residence all in hopes of decreasing gangs and gang violence. This had caught the attention of many
people across America and even the Red Cross who gave over 4 million dollars to those in need. The

release of the album, coming a week later, had given African Americans an anthem to stand behind in

the hopes of change. The timing of the release was perfect for the group’s popularity and influence

because people were still in shock of what happened to the residence of the apartment and it showed

that there are people in the world that care and will fight for what is right. Because the timing was so

close to prior events, the song was new and clear it audience as to why it was written. This showed the

rhetorical device kairos because of the timing of the release.

Although the group no longer is together, their spirit and their legacy still live today in recent

events and the many protests. Police brutality has been in the headlines for many years but the only

difference is now, officers are required to wear body cameras and people have smartphones to record

everything allowing civilians to see what is happening and how they can prevent it from happing to

themselves. In 2015, Straight Outta Compton, the movie, was released expressing the life of the five

members of N.W.A. and how they rose to fame. The movies purpose was to show the struggles the

group went through with police and society and how they “channeled their frustrations into something

constructive, not destructive and still inspire audiences” (Miller, 2015). The timing o the movie also

shows people the correct way to make a stand through their voice and not through violence and

destruction.

All in all, N.W.A was able to be successful with their song “Fuck Tha Police” by the use of ethos,

pathos, logos, and kairos. Each rhetorical device brought in a complete protest that can show evidence

as well as an opinion on the topic of police brutality. Although there are some forms of police brutality

still present, N.W.A. was able to bring awareness on the subject to spark change in society. Everyone can

create change, it just depends on how you approach it.

 The song also does a great job of bringing out the listener’s emotions. As soon as the song

begins, you get the feel of protest by how the groups lyrics are written. The lyrics do not have any

hidden meanings behind them that force the listener to think too hard but still be able to give a vivid

form of imagery. Because of this, it allowed the audience to just hear what was being said allowing them

to clearly know the songs purpose and place. Ice Cube states “Fuck tha police coming straight from the

underground/ young nigga got it bad cause I’m brown/ and not the other color so police think/ they

have the authority to kill a minority” (Ice Cube & MC Ren, 1988). This is meant to strike anger in its

audience towards police, sparking the protest of the song. The anger created is meant to serve as the

motivation for change. Another emotion that gets brought up is surprise. Ice Cube has the first verse in

the song, meaning that he has the most important one because it’s the first thing the audience here’s

meaning it will stick with them more. It has to bring the audience in and another way of doing this is

with surprise. One risky thing about N.W.A.’s use of surprise is that it can push their audience away

because of the straight forward, in your face lyrics. N.W.A. brings their audience back with the rhythm

and rhymes they use in the beat. The beat alternates from fast and slow and by doing this, it allows the

audience to get surprised or shocked at the fast-paced verses but can recover and reflect when the beat

slows down. Also, the group is not biased towards a certain race during the song. The audience may

believe that they are bashing on white cops but they also state “Black police showing out for the white

cop” (Ice Cube & MC Ren, 1988) showing that its both races to blame. This brings in both the white and
black population because they don’t have to hear their own race being thrown down. This is a good

form of pathos because the song is able to bring out many emotions through their audience.