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]

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.