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Vice Guide to Right Now

Here Are Some More Tracks for the Hero Hacking NZ Police Radio

This week an anonymous wannabe DJ busted onto the official frequency playing the world's most obvious track.
N.W.A

In the depths of New Zealand's South Island some low-key Kiwi hero has been bringing our cops a new playlist: N.W.A's 'Fuck the Police'.

Last Friday night Inspector Kelvin Lloyd tried to call an armed offenders’ squad to a report of a gun-wielding man in Oamaru when N.W.A. played over their radios and slowed down police response, “putting people in danger”.

Inspector Lloyd told the Otago Daily Times he thinks whoever’s doing it doesn’t have access to a police radio because there weren’t any missing and the chargers are hard to get, so they must have accessed the frequency through other means.

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The DJ mixed their set up by also playing Rage Against The Machine’s version of the song.

In case it’s not completely clear, 'Fuck Tha Police' is a decidedly anti-police 1980’s rap track with lyrics like “Fuck the police! Comin' straight from the underground” from Ice Cube and “I'm a sniper with a hell of a scope, taking out a cop or two, they can't cope with me” from MC Ren.

There’s a diverse and rich history of artists using music to let the police know what they think of them and their relationship with the public.

'Fuck Tha' Police is an obvious choice for any aspiring police radio DJs, however—while we would never endorse hacking police radios due to any potential risk to the public—we thought the frequency would benefit from a little more variety.

Chamillionaire - Ridin' ft. Krayzie Bone

Hakeem Seriki, AKA Chamillionaire, made his bold anti-police statement in 2005 when he spoke out about his “Music so loud, I'm swangin” and police “Hopin’ that they gonna catch me ridin' dirty. Tryin’ to catch me ridin' dirty. Tryin’ to catch me ridin' dirty. Tryin’ to catch me ridin' dirty. Tryin’ to catch me ridin' dirty.”

Radiohead - Karma Police

While it’s not explicit whether or not Thom Yorke is in support of or against the police karma department, he calls out for them to arrest a man who sounds “like a detuned radio”, making it a perfect pick for a police radio hit.

The Strokes - NYC Cops

The chorus of this song is about cops’ lack of intelligence, but I think that Dunedin police might enjoy this one because they can have a laugh about how much smarter they are than police in big fancy cities like New York.

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The Clash - Know Your Rights

A punk rock classic that would double as a cheat sheet for cops!

Kendrick Lamar - Blood

On a more serious note, Kendrick Lamar’s album DAMN was a powerful statement on racism and police brutality. In 'Blood', Kendrick sampled a Fox News anchor Geraldo Rivera’s response to his BET performance, “Lamar stated his views on police brutality with that line in the song, quote, ‘and we hate the popo, wanna kill us in the street fo' sho’”.

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