Nas – “Cops Shot The Kid” (Official Video)

Ouch. Cops Shot The Kid, a new video from the album Nasir, released in July by Nas is visually terrifying and lyrically haunting. The story follows men and kids trying to do their thing and being harassed and, ultimately shot, by police. This song and the video, featuring Slick Rick, are not going to shock people who live this every day but it may bring some glimpse of what it’s like out there to others.

The words “Cops Shot The Kid” rotate through the entire song in a hypnotic mantra, while Nas talks about police brutality, the inequality that exists between white kids and black kids, and the “disadvantages of the brown”. The song pointedly asks “who do we call to report crime if 911 is doing the drive-by?” The song features a sample from Slick Rick’s Children’s Story.