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College Republicans Crib N.W.A. to Take a Shot at Hillary Clinton

College Republicans crib the name of one of N.W.A.'s most iconic albums in new advertisement targeting Hillary Clinton.

By David Francis

August 12, 2015, 1:14 PM

This Friday, Straight Outta Compton, a biopic on the rise of the groundbreaking rap group N.W.A., is set to hit theaters. On Tuesday, in what some might consider a tin-eared play on the movie’s name, the official Twitter account of College Republicans borrowed the title of one of the N.W.A.’s iconic albums to take a swipe at Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.

Straight outta touch @HillaryClinton #WeDeserveBetter pic.twitter.com/itgLTwO2sF

— College Republicans (@CRNC) August 11, 2015

Using words cribbed from a band that plays an important role in the evolution of hip hop, and that made their living rapping about injustices to the black community, is a curious choice. The GOP has long acknowledged it has trouble reaching out to African American voters. A 2013 after-action report on the prior year’s presidential election by Reince Priebus, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, found the GOP had to do better with black and Latino voters if they wanted to stay competitive in future national elections.

Some of the rap group’s members have also risen to the top tier of American society, and one has criticized Republicans in the past. Dr. Dre has made hundreds of millions of dollars post-N.W.A, thanks in large part to his popular Beats By Dre headphones. Ice Cube is a successful actor, who has said President Barack Obama “reminds me of the black kid at a white school that don’t nobody want to play with…. I think he’s done the best job a man in his position can do, given the circumstances.” Eazy-E, who died in 1995, is considered by some to be the “godfather of gangster rap.”

One of the group’s most iconic songs, “Fuck tha Police,” urges violence against cops in retaliation for police brutality and racial profiling. Their back catalogue is generally associated with songs about the mistreatment of the black community at the hands of white people.

This means the timing of the Clinton takedown is curious as well. It comes as protests to mark the one-year anniversary of the death of Michael Brown at the hands of a white police officer, Darren Wilson, continued on the streets of Ferguson, Missouri, Wednesday. A series of other incidents across the country, where actions by cops left black men dead, have also highlighted tensions between law enforcement and the African American community.

Still, it seems to be playing well with at least some of Twitter. As of noon Wednesday, it’s been retweeted 122 times, including at 11:30 a.m. from the official account of the Republican National Committee.

Photo credit: Jason Kempin/Getty Images