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Riff: Nas – “Cops Shot the Kid”

Jun 21, 2018

How in the hell the parents gon’ bury their own kids/Not the other way around?/Reminds me of Emmett Till/Let’s remind ’em why Kap kneels

from Cops Shot the Kid lyrics by Nas

No mistaking the thesis: cops are hunting black people and not even the kids are safe. Nas scales back and delivers a straightforward rap. Not much has changed since Emmett Till and it’s why Colin Kaepernick has taken it upon himself to bring awareness to the masses. Kanye kicks a solid verse, but in the end it’s the samples of Slick Rick and Richard Pryor that provide the necessary backup.

 

Riff by Jeff Min

Jeff Min is a Chicago-based writer at SONGLYRICS. His work has appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times, Hi-Fructose, Wax Poetics, SLAM, and HOOP.

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