Streams of N.W.A’s ‘Fuck Tha Police’ grow by 272 per cent amid protests
N.W.A’s song ‘Fuck Tha Police’ has seen nearly a quadruple increase in streams during the last week, as Black Lives Matter protests regarding the death of George Floyd continue.
The rap group’s 1988 anti-police brutality anthem has seen a 272 per cent increase in on-demand streams from last Wednesday (May 27) to Monday (June 1) [via Alpha Data].
Alpha Data, which provides data for the Rolling Stone charts, revealed that the song from the LA group’s debut album ‘Straight Outta Compton’ picked up particularly on Sunday (May 31) and Monday (June 1) with 765,000 on-demand audio streams over the two days.
Additionally, Childish Gambino‘s 2018 song ‘This Is America’, YG’s 2016 song ‘FDT’ and Kendrick Lamar’s 2015 song ‘Alright’ have all seen a resurgence in streams over the last week [via Rolling Stone].
‘This Is America’, which has been a viral soundtrack on TikTok for the past month after users began using it in TikToks about racial inequality with regards to the killing of black jogger Ahmaud Arbery [via Rolling Stone], has seen a 149 per cent jump in streams over the same time period as ‘Fuck Tha Police’. Lamar’s ‘Alright’ has seen a 71 per cent jump in streams.
Data for the other protest tracks are as follows: Public Enemy’s ‘Fight the Power’ (+89 per cent), D’Angelo and the Vanguard’s ‘The Charade’ (+122 per cent), Killer Mike’s ‘Don’t Die’ (+542 per cent) and Beyoncé’s ‘Freedom’ (+70 per cent).
Older songs including James Brown’s ‘Say It Loud — I’m Black and I’m Proud’ have also spiked (+455 per cent) as well as Nina Simone’s ‘I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free’ (+34 per cent).
Dozens of musicians have spoken out in recent days about racism. Jaz-Z, Killer Mike, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Dre Dre and numerous others have called for justice for Floyd, 46, a black man who died in police custody Minneapolis on May 25.
Elsewhere, people in the UK were encouraged to undertake a peaceful protest from their doorsteps earlier tonight (June 3) in support of Floyd and Black Lives Matter. Stand Up to Racism (SUTR) led a “take the knee” protest to show support for the anti-racist protests that began in the US last week.
Star Wars actor John Boyega addressed a huge crowd gathered for a Black Lives Matter protest held in London’s Hyde Park earlier today.
