I wonder if that has anything to do with a ridiculous style of music called ‘Drill’; wherein the performers rhyme about crimes they have actually committed, especially murder.
O_O
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Could be, but you’d still need to prove that in a court of law, that it was something they did, rather than something they created as art.
And of course, as soon as white suburban kids started catching on to hip-hop, especially the gangsta variant, it became a target. It’s my theory that that’s why people went after Body Count, because it was in part a project seeking to have a conversation with white metal/HC fans…
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It was copagandists/media that went after Body Count because of one song, Cop Killer. They didn’t come after Rage Against the Machine a few years later for their political content, likely because it wasn’t so explicit. Guess they didn’t catch on to lyrics like “some who join forces are the same that burn crosses”?
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It was, but I do think that part of that was the crowd that was listening to his music. People that I knew that otherwise turned their nose up at hip hop (ie the rural metal heads I knew) loved it. I think that cross-racial appeal drove it too.
My theory about Rage and why they didn’t get the same treatment is that a lot of their stuff was explicitly political from a leftist perspective, and the CW was over, so it was now “safe” to listen to that kind of stuff. I mean, look at all the right wing politicians who are gen xers who are whinging about how “political” Tom Morello has gotten and that although they loved listening to Rage as teens/young adults, they won’t now… It’s clear they just heard loud, angry music that let them mosh, and didn’t really hear what they were saying.
Plus, Ice-T was an already established artist with some name recognition (compared to the members of Rage).
Oh, and I think that such forms of direct pressure on record companies like the Bush campaign put on Warners really was becoming more controversial. This was also around the time of the 2 Live Crew stuff, and they won in court… so that kind of direct action that became popular during the infamous reign of the PMRC was seeing some backlash, I think - from the public and the courts.
My .02$ on the matter!
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Time will tell if these efforts lead to any significant change in legislation, enforcement, the media, and/or the money currently enabling domestic terrorists and hate groups:
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Just to expand on your known artist bit… Ice-T was also a rap artist primarily, and thus more identifiably “black” and his music discussed the west coast gang situation and police violence (and the reasons behind it). The racists and dogwhistlers were already well aware of his presence and what he had to say about them and the US, if he had done his Body Count stuff earlier it would have probably flown under the radar.
Glad he didn’t though, it’s great music on so many levels.
Your $0.02 is always worth getting. 
Thank you for fleshing out this corner of early '90’s intersectional music genres and politics. I recall a lot if it, but you’ve intensely studied it.
[I still think Tipper Gore has a little corner of hell carved out for herself - you just *know* her own parents got their undies all twisted up over Elvis and/or the Beatles.]
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Cornel West:
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I’m not a fan of his bible thumping traits; but other than that, West is often on point…
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While I do commend my hometown for looking at reparations, that scar is going to take an extremely long time to fade.
But I anticipate that there’s going to be pushback. I remember hearing stories about a few decades after this happened the klan hauled several large crosses up onto the highest point in town (Point Peter) and lit them up. Plus the local alties are allied with the militant moonies who live on the other side of the delaware river, so it’s possible they’ll try to stir up shit when the reparations thing starts to take serious shape.
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Still, cops are just part of the problem:
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Please, for your own safety, don’t watch the video.
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