Brutal Influence Of Rap Music In The 1990's

Many rap songs in the 1990’s were influenced by the brutal attack on a man named Rodney King and the riots that followed the verdict of not guilty of the police officers that were the attackers. In one article they said, “Rap acquired considerable power as a voice of resistance.” (Bohlman) People listened to this music to resist. The rappers made this music so people would understand what was happening in “their” world. One song by Digital Underground f/ Biz Markie called The Odd Couple, for instance, mentioned King in the song by saying, “But look what they did to that man Rodney King, they beat him, and stomped him, like a bunch of grapes/When I seen him, he looked like the Planet of the Apes.” In that lyric they mentioned the fact that King
The mention of Rodney in this song came along with another name of a woman who was shot down for being black. 2pac also mentioned that there were “many more”, that was in reference to all of the African Americans who were killed by cops and no one even knew about it. After the verdict for the police officers came out many people were upset. Ice Cube wrote another song mentioning the police officers in his song, Down for Whatever he rapped, “Don't take a nigga for granted/Cause whether it's a verdict, or the L.A. four/You just don't know/That this rapping-ass nigga will change with the weather/And be down for whatever.” You can tell that Ice Cube will do whatever it takes to make a change. He wants the change so bad and a verdict cannot change that. Rodney King’s attack became a verb in the song You Don’t Want Drama by 8ball and MJG by them rapping, “In the middle of a fire, scorch and burn him, let’s overheat him/Really mistreat him, let's Rodney King him and over-beat him.” They were using King’s attack to get their point across about how brutal the attack was. This is another instance where people knew what the rapper meant by using King’s