Busdriver has decided to give up the rap life and we assume, give up the city transportation life as well. He’s eyeing a new occupation as a cop. With a “can’t beat’em, join’em” attitude, Busdriver released “COP”, which could be viewed as a response to the Ferguson, MO crisis, but honestly, this song could have been released on the heels of any shooting or beating of an unarmed black man since Rodney King. Is that even going back far enough?
Though it won’t be on his upcoming Perfect Hair record, “COP” cuts to the heart of the problem: we are powerless and cops are part of a network of all-powerful, able to torment freely on the streets or through covert entrapments. Over a bluesy beat courtesy of Bun/Fumitake Tamura, Busdriver raps out the perks of the position with “torment freely, in Simi Valley / Then seize an Audi and beam proudly / turn a routine traffic stop into someone’s season finale.” Even when Busdriver drifts into topics of intel for NSA, it does not feel as though he’s embellishing the occupation criteria. And that’s where the anguish sets in.
Busdriver’s Perfect Hair is out September 9 on Big Dada.
