A Brief History of Rappers Ripping Fox News
Kendrick Lamar sampled and referenced Fox News repeatedly on his new album, Damn, which dropped late Thursday night and has drawn critical acclaim.
On the first track, “Blood,” Lamar samples audio of two Fox reporters saying they don’t like the lyrics to his 2015 anthem “Alright.”
On the second, “DNA,” he samples Fox anchor Geraldo Rivera saying, in response to “Alright,” “Hip-hop has done more damage to young African-Americans than racism in recent years.”
And on the third, Kendrick addresses Rivera and the journalist’s employer directly: “Fox News wanna use my name for percentage…Somebody tell Geraldo this nigga got some ambition.” (Rivera responded Friday, saying he has no beef with Kendrick and loves his music but disagrees with his message.)
Kendrick also mentions Fox on “XXX,” rapping, “It’s nasty when you set us up then roll the dice then bet us up/You overnight the big rifles then tell Fox to be scared of us.”
Politics (namely the election of Donald Trump), modern American race relations, and the most polarizing news network out there are central themes on Damn. But Kendrick is hardly the first rapper to challenge the ultra-conservative network. Rap and Fox News have been at odds for years.
Below is a rundown of rap lyrics dissing Fox—with explanations for those lyrics that require interpretation.
“We just aiming back ’cause the cops shot you/Buck buck, bang bang/Yelling, ‘F*** Fox News!” – “Everybody’s Something,” Chance The Rapper
Chance was unhappy with how Fox News covered violence in Chicago, and perhaps how it focused on black-on-black crime instead of the foundational issues.
“Hi Mr. O’Reilly! Hope all is well/Kiss the plaintiff and the wifey.” – “Number One Spot,” Ludacris
Luda called out the well-known Fox anchor, Bill O’Reilly, and referenced O’Reilly’s sexual harassment case after O’Reilly criticized the Atlanta rapper’s lyrics. The O’Reilly-Ludacris duel is an odd beef that’s still making headlines today.
“He said, ‘Kylie, wuss good?’ I said, ‘Miley, wuss good?’ I said, ‘Could you pay my bills, like O’Reilly? Wuss good?’” – “Down in the DM” (Remix), Nicki Minaj
On the remix to Yo Gotti’s banger, Nicki says if a guy wants to get with her, he needs to be able to pay her bills—like O’Reilly had to cover bills, $13 million to be exact, following the settlement of multipe sexual harassment lawsuits.
“It’s sly Fox, cyclops/We locked in an idiot box/The video slots broadcasting Waco Davidian plots/They own YouTube, MySpace/When this ignorant shit going to stop? They monopolizing news, your views/And the channel you choose/Propaganda, visual cancer.” – “Sly Fox,” Nas
An entire song from the Illmatic rapper was dedicated to ripping Fox News and its “propaganda.”
“Cops killin’ niggas, niggas killin’ brothas, niggas hate each other/Don’t know, where the fuck they came from/We the ones that paid dues, I don’t watch Fox News” – “ULT,” Denzel Curry
“Random disclaimer: Hey, don’t do anything that I say in this song, okay? It’s fuckin’ fiction. If anything happens, don’t fuckin’ blame me, white America, fuck Bill O’Reilly.” – “Radicals,” Tyler, The Creator
“Extra extra on the news stands/Black woman voted head of Ku Klux Klan/Malcolm Little dies as an old man/Martin Luther King read the eulogy for him/Followed by Bill O’Reilly who read from the Qu’ran/ President Bush sends condolences from Iran/Where Fox News reports live/That Ahmadinejad wins the Mandela Peace Prize.” — “All Black Everything,” Lupe Fiasco
Lupe is one of the most politically outspoken hip-hop artists out there. This song is riddled with Lupe’s account of opposites (things that would probably never happen), including Fox reporting live on the former President of Iran winning the Nobel/Mandela Peace Prize.
“You lookin at the black Warren Buffett, so all critics can duck sic/I don’t care if you C. Delores Tuck-it/Or you Bill O’Reilly, you only rilin’ me up.” – “Threat,” Jay Z
Hov was fed up with O’Reilly’s frequent opposition to hip-hop. Jay also wrote “Open Letter” in response to the flack he received from Fox News and other conservative outlets after his trip to Cuba in 2013.
