N.W.A.’s ‘F*ck the Police’ first appeared on the group’s debut studio album, 1988’s ‘Straight Outta Compton,’ as a mean to protest police brutality.
Over 30 years later, the song still serves as an anthem for protestors and detesters of racial injustice perpetuated at the hands of law enforcement.
As demonstrations and riots continue across the nation in the wake of the death of George Floyd, the tune’s been streamed at a rate nearly 4x higher than it was before.
Details inside:
“…‘Fuck tha Police’ saw a 272% percent increase in on-demand audio streams from May 27th through June 1st compared to the five days before Floyd’s death, according to Alpha Data, the data analytics provider that power the Rolling Stone charts.
The song picked up particularly on Sunday and Monday, with 765,000 on-demand audio streams over those two days, which is nearly five times the streams the song was seeing on a Sunday and Monday before the protests.”
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‘Police’ isn’t the only socially conscious tunes seeing increases in spins.
Childish Gambino‘s “This Is America” witnessed a 149% jump in streams while Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” increased 71%, Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power” increased 89%, Beyoncé’s “Freedom” increased 70%, and James Brown’s “Say It Loud — I’m Black and I’m Proud” spiked 455% over the same time period.