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Oskar Barnak ∞ Oscar Grant Lyrics
(We got the right to bear arms)
Shoot the cops, shoot the cops. . . .
Take your cameras out your pockets people
Shoot the cops, shoot the cops
If they wanna shoot at us, got a right to shoot em up
They shoot us in the back, then they say its from the front
You're warned even if you aren't armed
They will find an excuse to do you harm if they think you're out of line
In every city's urban jurisdiction you will find
Some people making livings out of creeping from behind
And even if behaving most the time man they know that if an officer's to blame they need to let it go
With a family at home, a mortgage to support
In times when its hella hard as fuck to find a job
If you wanna keep yours you better not inform
Don't wanna be the side on the wrong side of the law
But guess what the people got a weapon of their own
The lens and a shutter built into a mobile phone
Evidence admisable in court even more more documented cases of what thing going on
Shoot the cops, shoot the cops,
Take your cameras out your pockets people
Shoot the cops, shoot the cops
Take your cameras out your pockets people
I hear them saying that this shit don't ever happen in Seattle
And if it does its just a couple bad apples
But if you're keeping count you will see the shit is not the apple it the tree
Its rotten underneath
Open say can you see no way that its true they don't wanna see another south central '92
or Seattle '99
even if it happens what they're saying on the news
Bad people mad justifying the abused
And youth especially the ones with darker features being targeted to boot
And true some people can't handle the truth
Now keep that feeling in mind when you pull the camera out and ask a pig to smile at you
I'm ain’t talking one I'm talking 3 or 4 or 5
What you so afraid of if you ain't committing crime
We are merely doing what a citizen should do
I would act right if I were you the world is watching you
Shoot the cops, shoot the cops. . . .
Take your cameras out your pockets people
Shoot the cops, shoot the cops
Take your cameras out your pockets people
Shoot the cops, shoot the cops. . . .
Take your cameras out your pockets people
Shoot the cops, shoot the cops
They shoot us in the back, then they say its from the front
You're warned even if you aren't armed
They will find an excuse to do you harm if they think you're out of line
In every city's urban jurisdiction you will find
Some people making livings out of creeping from behind
And even if behaving most the time man they know that if an officer's to blame they need to let it go
With a family at home, a mortgage to support
In times when its hella hard as fuck to find a job
If you wanna keep yours you better not inform
Don't wanna be the side on the wrong side of the law
But guess what the people got a weapon of their own
The lens and a shutter built into a mobile phone
Evidence admisable in court even more more documented cases of what thing going on
Take your cameras out your pockets people
Shoot the cops, shoot the cops
Take your cameras out your pockets people
And if it does its just a couple bad apples
But if you're keeping count you will see the shit is not the apple it the tree
Its rotten underneath
Open say can you see no way that its true they don't wanna see another south central '92
or Seattle '99
even if it happens what they're saying on the news
Bad people mad justifying the abused
And youth especially the ones with darker features being targeted to boot
And true some people can't handle the truth
Now keep that feeling in mind when you pull the camera out and ask a pig to smile at you
I'm ain’t talking one I'm talking 3 or 4 or 5
What you so afraid of if you ain't committing crime
We are merely doing what a citizen should do
I would act right if I were you the world is watching you
Take your cameras out your pockets people
Shoot the cops, shoot the cops
Take your cameras out your pockets people
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
All you need to know about the song is the origins of the title: Oskar Barnak invented the 33mm camera (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oskar_Barnack) Oscar Grant was a kid killed under suspicious circumstances by BART police (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Grant)
"Shoot the cops" means shoot pictures of cops, not "shoot" them with a gun. Decrease violence, don't instigate it. Its about police brutality but also gang-on-gang violence and what a tricky line it is to toe between seeking justice for the dead and putting yourself in the cross-hairs. Both sides have similar motives, doing work to save your family. And here's how they put the metaphor: "the shit is not the apple it the tree/Its rotten underneath"