That was the easiest answer back then, and it mostly did the trick, but now, it would be a controversy of the highest order. On the one hand, it's just a song, man. If someone listens to it and acts on it, that only happened because that person is crazy. If you pull it, you're letting the "bad guys" win.
On the other hand, given the current relationship between police and the general public, a song like "Cop Killer" kind of is an incitement to violence and would, at least in some part, deserve to be viewed as such. Would Ice-T still agree to pull it with so many sides having so many strong opinions on the matter?
Listen, I know it sucks that he's a cop himself now ...
Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images Entertainment
Jesus.
... but I like to think that somewhere deep inside, there's still some of that vintage Ice-T that would, if he were bold enough in 2014 to release a song like "Cop Killer" in the first place, stick by that shit, for better or for worse. He's like 75 years old now anyway, what does he have to lose?
If you ask me, he shouldn't have pulled the song back when he did. One of the most interesting aspects of the song "Cop Killer" is that it was written well before the Rodney King beating even happened. People were that pissed at the LAPD even before the video ultimately led to a good portion of the city being burned to the ground. Is that a minor detail? Fuck no. Remember when gangster rap types defended the violence in their songs by claiming they were just reporting what they were experiencing on the streets? Well, "Cop Killer" was written 25 years ago. Does anyone still believe they were just saying that to cover their asses?
1108 Comments