MLK Day

In honor of Martin Luther King Day, I thought that for the first post in a few years I would remind the world of one of the best hip-hop songs ever made: "By the time I get to Arizona," by Public Enemy.

If you're young, you probably don't know this, but PE was one of the best. They proved you could have party songs with a message. They sounded better really loud. They made it possible for white people to like afro-centric music. Listening to PE gave me the street cred that I desperately wanted. Fear of a Black Planet was my favorite tape for years until Strictly 4 My N----- came out. They were amazing.

"By the time I get to Arizona" is about the racist policy of Arizona Governor Evan Mecham to remove MLK day as a paid holiday for state workers. I am sure that anyone reading this is utterly shocked that Arizona had a racist state law, but it's true. (Oh wait, didn't John McCain and the gang pass a racist immigration law in the past few years?) Anyway, in response to local Black community leaders, Mecham said "You folks don't need another holiday. What you folks need are jobs."

Well, PE didn't appreciate those remarks. They weren't there of course, but upon found out, they were pissed. (This is a good time to mention that this was before Flavor Flav was a crackhead, or at least before anyone knew that Flavor Flav was a crackhead. Actually, looking back on it now, I don't know how we were so blind.). In response to Mecham, PE made arguably the greatest example of freedom of speech in "By the time I get to Arizona."

The song doesn't plead. It doesn't complain. It just talks about going to Arizona and assassinating Mecham. Seriously, that's what the song is about. It may seem distasteful now, with the Loughner/Giffords shooting, but this was long before then. (Come to think of it, what the fuck is going on in Arizona?)

Some of the best lines: "Neither party is mine, not that jackass or the elephant," "What's a smiling face, when the whole states racist?" and my favorite "I ain't drinking no 40, thinking time with a 9, until we get some land, call me the trigger man."

Seriously, are you getting this? He is flat out saying that he is going to assassinate the Governor of Arizona. Now, I don't advocate violence, but it's a pretty badass thing to say, not to mention extremely bold. Can you imagine if this happened today? (It actually did happen recently, when Toki Wright remade the song about the aforementioned immigration policy) Can you imagine a modern, popular rapper giving this much of a shit about anything? Well, I guess Kanye did say "Bush hates black people." And, see how much trouble he got in for that. Now, just imagine if he said "Bush hates black people and I'm coming to DC..."

Just for fun, here is Toki Wright's version. Apparently, they (white people, I'm sure) removed the video, but here is the best I could find.