Rodney King Riots Research Paper

892 Words4 Pages
Firstly, the city of Los Angeles is known for numerous things including their gangs and violence but what happened 1992 really put Los Angeles on the map. On April 3, 1991 police stopped a car who was apparently going over the speed limit. This car was driven by Rodney King. He was 34 years old at that time. Police called Rodney King out of the car and when he proceeded to do so, the police officers beat him. The police officers involved said that King got out in a way showing he was going to attack them so they beat him in self-defense. On April 29, 1992 the police involved were freed on the brutality charges. Just 3 hours after protesters were already letting them know their decision was wrong. From April 29 into early May, Los Angeles went…show more content…
Over 3 days, 53 people died, 400 injured, 17,000 arrested, and between 3.8 million to 1 billion dollars in damages. These riots did not only happen in L.A. but happened across the country in cities such as San Francisco, Seattle, Atlanta, and Pittsburgh (African American Registry-Rodney King Riots). N.W.A. was a rap group who was widely popular during this time because of their songs. These songs somewhat fueled the violence with songs such as “F*ck Tha Police”. This group sparked the upcoming era of rap. Secondly, today we have seem many recent cases of racism especially with the police, which is racial discrimination. Well it is not only happening right now because Rodney King and Los Angeles is basically the Ferguson of today. Ferguson is very similar to L.A. in the 1990’s because after police shot and killed an unarmed black man, riots erupted all across the United States but especially in Ferguson. The riots and beating of Rodney King symbolized racial tensions in the United States (Reuters Thompson “1991 LA Police Beating Victim Rodney King”). Just like everything in this day and age, it was recorded. The video of the beating sparked a debate…show more content…
changed rap forever. N.W.A. stands for N***s With Attitude and was a gang of five members who made their name in the early 1990’s. The members are Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, DJ Yella and MC Ren who came from Compton California. They released their songs in the late 80’s but became very popular during the early 90’s during the riots because of the beating of Rodney King. The public felt that they could relate to their songs because they rapped about what was happening to them. Before N.W.A., rappers rapped about whatever and just did it and not for a purpose. In the early 90’s N.W.A. introduced a new form of rap where it was a first to rap for something. They rapped about the gangs and drugs around them and in their neighborhood. Many people called this new form of rap, “Gangsta Rap”. Rap went from being an easy going and fun thing to do to being cut throat and speaking about what is really happening. John Singleton, director of “Boyz n the Hood”, said “Even before the riots…voices in L.A. hip-hop were foretelling what was to come.” Their lyrics were the truth about L.A., a two-tier city with inequities (20 Songs against Police Brutality). Because of N.W.A. being so popular in Los Angeles, rap went from being centered in New York to other areas such as L.A., Detroit etc. (The Ever-Changing Rap Music Business). That is how N.W.A. made a name for themselves, put L.A. on the map for being a center for rap, and changed rap
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