"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"
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"