Can hip hop genre be considered as musical literature or just noisy music? an analysis of the song: Sound of Da Police by KRS-One / Amir Syafiq Hisham

• Main Author: Hisham, Amir Syafiq
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2022
• Subjects: History and criticism
• Online Access: https://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/75167/1/75167.pdf; https://ir.uitm.edu.my/id/eprint/75167/

Lawrence "Kris" Parker, better known by his stage name KRS-One, was born in New York on August 20, 1965. He is an American rapper, poet, and sporadic producer. He became wellknown as a member of the hip hop crew Boogie Down Productions, which he co-founded in the middle of the 1980s with DJ Scott La Rock. The biggest songs of KRS-One are "Sound of da Police", "Love's Gonna Get'cha (Material Love)" and "My Philosophy". Early on, Boogie Down Productions won many accolades and earned favorable reviews. When fellow musician Scott La Rock was murdered and killed soon after the group's debut album, Criminal Minded, KRS-One carried on with the band, essentially as a solo endeavor. In 1993, he started issuing music under his own name. He established the Stop the Violence Movement after Scott's killing, demonstrating his political engagement. "Sound of da Police" is a song by American rapper KRS-One. It was the second and last single to be released from KRS-debut One's solo studio album Return of the Boom Bap. It was recorded at D&D Studios in New York City with production handled by Showbiz. It reached its peak on the US Billboard Hot 100 at position 89. Systematic racism and police brutality are both condemned in the song. KRS-One whoops twice at the start of the song to simulate a police siren (the "sound of the police"), and he does this repeatedly throughout the song. Grand Funk Railroad's interpretation of "Inside-Looking Out," the last track on their album Grand Funk, served as the inspiration for the powerful bass sample loop and a portion of the guitar solo. Sly and the Family Stone's "Sing a Simple Song" is used in part of the drum beat. Since the song tackle some very serious issues about the world we living in, so the word used in the lyrics are very strong and somehow vulgar in a few listeners opinion. This is what we will dive into throughout this research.