"Sound of da Police" is a song by American rapper

KRS-One Lawrence "Kris" Parker (born August 20, 1965), better known by his stage names KRS-One (; an abbreviation of "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone") and Teacha, is an American rapper from the Bronx. He rose to prominence as part of the ...

. Recorded at D&D Studios in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

with production by Showbiz, it was released in December 1993 as the second and final

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from KRS-One's debut solo studio album '' Return of the Boom Bap''. It peaked at number 89 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100.

Content

The song criticizes

police brutality Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or Public order policing, a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, b ...

and

systemic racism Institutional racism, also known as systemic racism, is a form of institutional discrimination based on race or ethnic group and can include policies and practices that exist throughout a whole society or organization that result in and suppor ...

. It begins with KRS-One whooping twice to evoke a police siren (the "sound of the police"); this recurs several times throughout the song. The heavy bass sample loop, and part of a guitar solo were taken from

Grand Funk Railroad Grand Funk Railroad (often shortened to Grand Funk) is an American rock band formed in Flint, Michigan, in 1969 by Mark Farner (vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica), Don Brewer (drums, vocals) and Mel Schacher (bass). The band achieved pea ...

's cover of "

Inside-Looking Out "Inside-Looking Out", often written "Inside Looking Out", is a 1966 single by the Animals, and their first for Decca Records. It was a moderate hit, reaching number 12 on the UK Singles Chart, number 23 in Canada, and number 34 in the United St ...

", the final track of their LP ''

Grand Funk Grand Funk Railroad (often shortened to Grand Funk) is an American rock band formed in Flint, Michigan, in 1969 by Mark Farner (vocals, guitar, keyboards, harmonica), Don Brewer (drums, vocals) and Mel Schacher (bass). The band achieved peak p ...

''. Part of the drum track is taken from "

Sing a Simple Song "Sing a Simple Song" is a 1968 song by the soul/funk band Sly and the Family Stone, the B-side to their #1 hit "Everyday People". The song is sung in turn by Sly Stone, Freddie Stone, Rose Stone, and Larry Graham, with shouted spoken word section ...

" by

Sly and the Family Stone Sly and the Family Stone was an American band formed in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1966 and active until 1983. Their work, which blended elements of funk, soul music, soul, psychedelic rock, gospel music, gospel, and R&B, becam ...

. The music video was directed by Michael Lucero.

Charts

Certifications

In popular culture

The song was featured in the American films '' Cop Out'', '' Tag'', ''

Black and Blue ''Black and Blue'' is the thirteenth studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 23 April 1976, by Rolling Stones Records. This album was the first record after former guitarist Mick Taylor quit in December 1974. ...

'', and the British film ''

Attack the Block ''Attack the Block'' is a 2011 British Science fiction film, science fiction comedy horror film written and directed by Joe Cornish and starring John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker, and Nick Frost. Its storyline centres on a teenage street gang who ha ...

''. It was featured as an in-game radio selection in the 2015 video game ''

Battlefield Hardline ''Battlefield Hardline'' is a 2015 first-person shooter game developed by Visceral Games and published by Electronic Arts. It was released in March 2015 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. The game is chronologic ...

'' (by

Electronic Arts Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...

), and was used for the

end credits Closing credits, aka end credits or end titles, are a list of the cast and crew of a particular motion picture, television show, or video game. While opening credits appear at the beginning of a work, closing credits appear close to or at the ve ...

of the 2016 movie ''

Ride Along 2 ''Ride Along 2'' is a 2016 American buddy cop action comedy film directed by Tim Story and written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi. It is the sequel to the 2014 film '' Ride Along''. The film stars Ice Cube, Kevin Hart, Ken Jeong, Benjamin Br ...

'' and in the 2016 published ''

The Angry Birds Movie ''The Angry Birds Movie'' is a 2016 animated comedy film based on Rovio Entertainment's ''Angry Birds'' franchise, produced by Columbia Pictures and Rovio Animation, and distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing. The film was directed by Clay Kay ...

'' soundtrack. It has appeared in the TV show ''

Brooklyn Nine-Nine ''Brooklyn Nine-Nine'' is an American police procedural sitcom television series that aired on Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox, and later on NBC, from September 17, 2013, to September 16, 2021, for eight seasons and 153 episodes. Created by Dan G ...

''. The '''Whoop whoop, sound of da police hook has been referenced by

ska punk Ska punk (also spelled ska-punk) is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music. Ska punk tends to feature brass instruments, especially Horn (instrument), horns such as trumpets, trombones and woodwind instruments like saxophones ...

band

Sonic Boom Six Sonic Boom Six (often shortened to SB6) are an English five-piece band from Manchester, United Kingdom. Their eclectic sound combines different elements of several genres and has been described by ''Kerrang!'' as "taking ska, pop, grime, du ...

on their track "Piggy in the Middle", by

Body Count A body count is the total number of people killed in a particular event. In combat, a body count is often based on the number of confirmed kills, but occasionally only an estimate. Often used in reference to military combat, the term can also r ...

on their song "Black Hoodie" and in metal band

Skindred Skindred is a Welsh band that fuses heavy metal with other genres, most notably reggae. Formed in Newport in 1998, they are well known for their energetic and involving live performances and have won several awards including "Best Live Band" a ...

on the title track of their 2002 debut album ''

Babylon Babylon ( ) was an ancient city located on the lower Euphrates river in southern Mesopotamia, within modern-day Hillah, Iraq, about south of modern-day Baghdad. Babylon functioned as the main cultural and political centre of the Akkadian-s ...

''. The song plays over the final scenes and closing credits of season 3, episode 2 of ''

Sex Education Sex education, also known as sexual education, sexuality education or sex ed, is the instruction of issues relating to human sexuality, including human sexual anatomy, Human sexual activity, sexual activity, sexual reproduction, safe sex, birth ...

''. It is the theme music for the long-running stand-up show on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

, ''Alfie Moore - It's a Fair Cop. The song is well known in France, where the chorus is commonly misinterpreted as "''assassins de la police''" (literally "police killer"). A remix of the song by

DJ Cut Killer Anouar Hajoui (, Latn, ar, Anūr Ḥājawī; born 6 May 1971), better known as DJ Cut Killer or simply Cut Killer, is a Moroccan-born French DJ and record producer with a versatile repertoire of hip hop music. He enjoys international fame and ...

was featured in the soundtrack of the film ''

La Haine (, ; released in the United States as ''Hate'') is a 1995 French social thriller film written, co-edited, and directed by Mathieu Kassovitz. Starring Vincent Cassel, Hubert Koundé and Saïd Taghmaoui, the film chronicles a day and night in ...

''. The hip hop duo

Suprême NTM Suprême NTM (), or simply NTM, is a French hip hop band formed in 1989 in Saint-Denis, Île-de-France. The band comprises rappers JoeyStarr and Kool Shen. Their 6 albums were released by Sony Music. The group takes its name from the French ...

later sampled the chorus on their album ''Live''. On February 3, 2012, hacker group

Anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...

defaced the

Boston Police Department The Boston Police Department (BPD) is the primary law enforcement agency of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1854, the BPD is the oldest municipal police department in the United States. It is also the 20th largest law enforce ...

's web page, replacing it with an embedded version of KRS-One's "Sound of da Police" music video and a message criticizing the department's treatment of the

Occupy Boston Occupy Boston was a collective of protesters that settled on September 30, 2011 in Boston, Massachusetts, on Dewey Square in the Financial District opposite the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. It is related to the Occupy Wall Street movement tha ...

movement.

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1993 songs 1993 singles KRS-One songs Political rap songs Jive Records singles Songs written by KRS-One Songs about police officers Songs about police brutality Songs written by Eric Burdon Articles containing video clips Songs about racism and xenophobia Music videos directed by Michael Lucero