By the Time I Get to Arizona (1991)

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By the Time I Get to Arizona is a song by American hip hop group Public Enemy from their 1991 album Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black. The song was written by frontman Chuck D in protest of the state of Arizona, where governor Evan Mecham had canceled Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the people voted against its reintroduction.[1]

It was released as a B-side to the single "Shut 'Em Down" in January 1992, but had its own music video. The video was controversial for its depiction of black paramilitaries assassinating Arizona politicians in revenge for King, who was non-violent. Some black activists and King's widow Coretta Scott King condemned the themes of the video. Chuck D and Public Enemy's spokesman Harry Allen defended the video as a fictional revenge for King's assassination.[2]

Key Lyrics

Twenty-thousand niggy-niggy brothers in the corner

Of the cell block, but they come from California

Population is none in the desert and sun

With a gun cracker runnin' things under his thumb

Starin' hard at the postcards, isn't it odd and unique

Seein' people smile wild in the heat?

A hundred-twenty degree, 'cause I want to be free

What's a smilin' face when the whole state's racist?

Background

Reception

Reference

  1. By the Time I Get to Arizona. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 1, 2021.
  2. "Public Enemy's Lasting Tribute To Martin Luther King, Jr". 4 April 2018. The Source. Retrieved February 1, 2021.