FBI assistant director sends NWA's label a letter objecting to 'Fuck tha Police'

Why it matters

August 1, 1989. The FBI's assistant director of public affairs, a man named Milt Ahlerich, wrote a formal letter to Priority Records, NWA's distributor, complaining that the song "Fuck tha Police" encouraged "violence against and disrespect for the law enforcement officer." The letter is, as far as anyone has documented, the first time the FBI has ever sent a complaint about a piece of popular music to a record label. The letter was a gift. Priority leaked it to the press inside two weeks. The press coverage drove a second wave of sales of Straight Outta Compton, which had already been doing fine and now did better. NWA used the letter as marketing for the entire next leg of their tour. Cube and Ren and Eazy started bringing it up in interviews. The song became a touchstone in a way that, you can argue, it might not have become quite so quickly without the federal government making sure everyone knew the federal government was paying attention. If you have ever wondered whether trying to suppress a rap song works, the FBI ran the experiment in 1989. The answer is: no, the rap song wins.