1992 Los Angeles riots in popular culture

This article lists examples of the ongoing influence on popular culture of the 1992 Los Angeles riots. For other uses, see Los Angeles in popular culture.

Music

• Body Count released, a month before the riots, the notorious song "Cop Killer", which was regarded by some as a precursor to the rioting.
• Ice Cube's song "We Had to Tear This Motherfucka Up" was written as a statement on the verdict and expressed sentiments similar to those of the rioters. Most of his 1992 release, The Predator, was inspired by the riots and Rodney King, with constant allusions to the incident throughout. Ice Cube's song "Black Korea" on his 1991 album Death Certificate is a racist characterisation of South Korean store owners. The song reflected the tensions between Korean Americans and African Americans following the Latasha Harlins shooting. A year later, during the riots, Koreans and Korean-owned stores were a major target of rioters. On Death Certificate, the Rodney King beating is mentioned, notably in a skit where a cop threatens a black man that he's going to "do you like Rodney King, Martin Luther King, and all the other goddamn Kings from Africa!"
• Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers rush-released a single entitled "Peace in L.A."
• In 1992, Branford Marsalis released the album I Heard You Twice the First Time, which featured a song called "Simi Valley Blues", a reference to the city in which the trial of the four police officers was conducted. Although the beating took place in Los Angeles, the trial was held in the more-conservative Simi Valley, California, a decision that is thought to have resulted in the acquittal of the officers.
• Sublime's song entitled "April 29, 1992 (Miami)" is based on accounts of the riots.
• Dr. Dre's song "The Day tha Niggaz Took Over" references the riots. Snoop Dogg and RBX also feature on the song, portraying their emotions as the riots started.
• The title song on Porno for Pyros' self-titled debut album was inspired by the riots.
• The music video for the song "Keep Ya Head Up" by 2pac says in the beginning that it is dedicated to Latasha Harlins
• 2pac song "Hellrazor" also is dedicated to Latasha Harlins -- "Little girl like LaTasha, had to die, She never got to see the bullet, just heard the shot, Her little body couldn't take it, it shook and dropped, And when I saw it on the news I see busta girl killin 'Tasha.
• Downset song "Anger" from their self-titled debut album was inspired by the riots. The cover of the album also featured an image of South Central Los Angeles burning.
• Billy Idol's 1993 song, "Shock to the System", from the Cyberpunk album, was directly inspired by the riots, including such lyrics as "You could be king/or I could be king".
• Bad Religion's songs "Recipe for Hate" and "Don't Pray on Me" (both off the album Recipe for Hate) were influenced by the riots
• Tori Amos's clip for the song "1000 Oceans" recreated scenes from the L.A. riots. The film-clip was shot in L.A. and featured local actors who had lived through the riots.
• Rancid's song "I Wanna Riot" is based on the events.
• The Californian African American all-female group En Vogue released their anti-prejudice song "Free Your Mind" the year after the riots. It was a Billboard Hot 100 Top 10 hit for them.
• The Machine Head album Burn My Eyes (1994) contains the song "Real Eyes, Realize, Real Lies", which features sampled commentary from news reports and interviews surrounding the riots.
• The Offspring's song "L.A.P.D." off the album Ignition is about the Rodney King incident.
• Slayer and Ice-T collaborated on the song "Disorder", which appeared on the Judgment Night movie soundtrack. The song was a medley of three songs by the UK punk rock band The Exploited. The song "UK '82" (which dealt with police brutality) was renamed "LA '92".
• Aerosmith's song "Livin' on the Edge" from their 1993 album Get a Grip was inspired by the riots.
• Black Label Society's music video for the song "Fire it Up" off their 2005 release Mafia used extensive riot footage, much of which was from the '92 L.A. incidents.
• The Boo Radleys' 1993 album Giant Steps contains a song entitled "Rodney King (Song for Lenny Bruce)"
• One Minute Silence's song "Stuck Between a Rock and a White Face" from their album Available in All Colors features the happenings of April 29
• Fear Factory's 1995 album Demanufacture was rehearsed and conceived in a particularly dangerous South Central neighborhood, right in the aftermath of the riots. In the remastered digipak edition of the album, it is explained that the tension and violence of riots were an inspiration to the album in general, from the aggressive music to the lyrical themes of corruption and revolt. Dino explains, "The owner had to write 'black-owned' on the front of the place, so people wouldn't destroy it. It wasn't exactly the best of areas to rehearse, but it definitely created a vibe."
• Los Angeles dance act LA Riots named themselves after the events in 1992.
• Garth Brooks had written his song, "We Shall Be Free," while watching coverage of the riots, on TV.
• A lyric in a rap song by MF Doom states "...then I hit 'em straight to the head like Reggie Denny"
• The Game mentions the riots on the song "Never can say Goodbye", off the album LAX, rapping, "They thought my group influenced the L.A Riots", from the perspective of Eazy-E.
• A lyric in the Lamb of God song "Forgotten (Lost Angels)" says "'92 should've burnt this fucker down". The song itself is about the city of Los Angeles.
• The lyric from M.I.A.'S "XR2" from the album Kala asks "Where were you in '92?"
• Lyrics of a rap song by Crooked I named "Gangstas Holiday" include the line "Remember Rodney King and the day that the police beat him."
• Lil Wayne's song "Mrs. Officer" included the line, "I beat it like a cop, Rodney King, baby yeah, I beat it like it cop."
• Ben Harper "Like a King" off the 1993 album Welcome to the Cruel World based on the treatment of Rodney King.
• The Black Eyed Peas's song "Say Goodbye" is based on the riots
• San Diego based band The Rugburns song "Rioting" was inspired by the riots.
• Firehose (band)'s song "4. 29. 92" from the album Mr. Machinery Operator contains sounds samples recorded on a specific day of the riots.
• Redman's skit "News Break" had an excerpt from the news that a reporter informing the numbers of deaths and injures and talking about what is going on in the riot from the 1992 album Whut? Thee Album.
• Rage Against the Machine's "Vietnow" from their Evil Empire album had an excerpt "The transmissions wippin' our backs. Yeah, comin' down like bats from Stacy Koon" in reference to the LAPD beating of Rodney King.
• German heavy metal band Accept wrote the song Objection Overruled in 1992, inspired by King's beating and the L.A. riots . The song criticizes the jury's decision to release the defendants (excerpts from the lyrics: "Members of the jury your conclusion has been drawn: Defendants should be sentenced but you just let'em go. The city is a timebomb, the judge has lit the fuse. Vigilante breakout. Gotta tighten up the noose").

Film

• The 1991 film Grand Canyon, which reflected on the divide between people of different race and class in L.A., was widely seen as a prefiguration of the riots, particularly in a scene with a white driver who was nearly carjacked by young black thugs, then rescued by a black tow-truck driver.
• Spike Lee's 1992 film Malcolm X opens with a scene of the Rodney King beating, juxtaposed with a burning American flag that burns down and forms the letter X.
• The 1992 documentary film Post No Bills follows a political poster that was made of LAPD Chief Daryl Gates on an NRA shooting target and glued up on the streets of Los Angeles after the Rodney King beating. This poster was also featured in the film Menace II Society as well as Robert Altman's The Player. Post No Bills also includes an interview with Chief Gates about the poster and documents some of the events surrounding the resignation of Chief Gates from his position as Chief of Police.
• The 1992 Walter Hill film Trespass, starring Ice T, Ice Cube and Bill Paxton, was a siege drama and unconnected to the LA riots, nevertheless had to have its original title of Looters changed, to avoid sensitivity and controversy - especially since Ice T and Ice Cube were residents of the area affected by the riots and based much of their raps on their locality.
• The 1994 film Floundering explores the alienation and disaffection the main character sees in his neighborhood of post-riot Venice Beach.
• The 1994 film Reality Bites depicts a television show under the name of Wedgie, The World of Hip Couture in which hostess Cheryl Goode talks about the "phattest gangsta trend." She stands at the intersection of Florence and Normandie, which was ground zero for the riots.
• The 1994 film Fear of a Black Hat, a send-up comedy of gangsta-rap hip-hop, makes frequent satirical references to the 1992 riots, such as the members of the fictional rap band NWH gloating over an NWH shelf divider they find in the debris of a music store burned down in the rioting.
• The 1994 film Airheads features a scene in which the hostage takers parody the famous "Attica!" scene from the 1972 film Dog Day Afternoon by repeatedly shouting "Rodney King!" at the police officers, to the delight of onlookers. None of the activity in the film, however, was racially motivated.
• Sa-I-Gu is a short 1993 documentary about Korean women affected by the rioting in Los Angeles in 1992.
• The 1997 film Riot is a look at the riots and their effect on the lives of four families: one Chinese, one Hispanic, one White, and one Black.
• The 1997 film Univers'l is set at a multi-ethnic mini-mall in South Central the day the Rodney King verdicts were delivered and the city erupted in riots.
• In the 1998 film BASEketball, the Los Angeles team is named after the riots.
• The 1998 film American History X has characters argue over the circumstances of Rodney King's arrest.
• The 2003 film Dark Blue is set during the riots, and reenacts several portions of it, as well as showing the two famous videos.
• The 2003 film National Security Steve Zahn's character tries to arrest Martin Lawrence's character but a bumblebee comes and flies at Lawrence and Zahn tries to beat it with a baton but looks like police brutality. A man tapes the incident and LA fearing another Rodney King incident forces Zahn to resign and the jury who is all black gives him a 6-month prison sentence.
• The 2005 film Rize was a documentary of life in Watts LA. It featured footage of the Watts Riot in it and also talked about much of the rioting. It also discussed the deaths of many gang members and African American citizens.
• The 2006 film Bastards of the Party briefly touched on the Los Angeles Riots.
• The 2006 film The L.A. Riot Spectacular narrated by Snoop Dogg and also starring Emilio Estevez, Charles S. Dutton and George Hamilton. This film takes a satirical look at the riots.
• Writer/Producer John Ridley and director Spike Lee are attached to a proposed Imagine Entertainment film based on the L.A. Riots.
• In the 1993 film, Falling Down, Michael Douglas's character enters a Korean convenience store in a predominantly African American neighborhood in Los Angeles. Foster gets into a violent argument with the Korean store clerk, played by Michael Paul Chan, accusing the clerk of overcharging customers and for a lack of cultural assimilation. Coincidentally, the L.A. Riots broke out while Falling Down was being produced.
• The 2007 film Freedom Writers starred Hilary Swank as a school teacher in a Long Beach high school two years after the riots. The film opens with scenes of the riots, and is set two years after, in 1994.
• In the documentary Bowling for Columbine Michael Moore visits the intersection of Florence and Normandie along with a UCLA professor to show that the inner city is far less violent than the average suburbanite thinks. Previously, in his book Downsize This!: Random Threats from an Unarmed American, Moore had jokingly proposed that the people of South Central should carry out a "commemorative riot" for the fifth anniversary of the original riots.

Television

• The NBC drama L.A. Law seventh-season opener was set on the day of the riots.
• In the 1992-1993 season premiere of the NBC sitcom A Different World, Dwayne and Whitley's Los Angeles honeymoon coincides with the riots. Rapper/activist Sister Souljah, Roseanne and Tom Arnold are among the guest stars.
• The fourth-season opener of the ABC sitcom Doogie Howser, MD was fully devoted to the 1992 riots in Los Angeles.
• The third-season opener of the Fox comedy series In Living Color focused on the L.A. riots, and subsequent third-season episodes featured skits focusing on the L.A. riots (example: "The L.A. Riots Anniversary Special" promo).
• The The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air episode "Will Gets Committed" saw Will Smith and the Banks family contributing to the post-riot clean-up, and pondering its implications.
• The third season episode of The Closer, starring Kyra Sedgwick, dealt with the discovery of a man who was killed during the riots.
• In a MADtv skit, when Bunifa Latifah Halifah Sharifa Jackson asked how his friend got his nice camera, he said, "the L.A. Riots".
• The riots were mentioned in a summer 1992 episode of Beverly Hills, 90210, when it is revealed that Brandon Walsh's African-American boss at the Beverly Hills Beach Club had his store looted that previous spring.
• The riots were mentioned in the tenth episode of the first season of Melrose Place when Rhonda takes Billy to South Central and shows him some of the places that were destroyed during the riots.
• Liz Lemon makes a reference about the last time she visited Los Angeles in 1992. The scene cuts away to many blacks rocking her car and shouting, "Rodney King!", on the NBC sitcom 30 Rock.
• An episode from the second season of MTV's The Real World, which was filming in Los Angeles in 1992, shows some of the house-mates out for a day of playing basketball. A portion of the police perimeter forms near them, and officers in riot gear advise the house-mates to evacuate the area as the riots begin.
• In the episode "Brian Does Hollywood" of Family Guy in which the family travels to Los Angeles to see their friend Brian, Peter and Lois are driving on the highway when they are pulled over by police officers. Peter then asks them if they will beat him up while Lois films on a camcorder. The footage she takes resembles that of Rodney King's.
• In The PJs episode Smokey and the Squatter, it is revealed that Thurgood's television set was previously stolen during the riots.
• The HBO sitcom The Larry Sanders Show, which is set in L.A. around the time of the riots, makes frequent reference to the riots in the early seasons.
• In The Boondocks Season 1 episode "Granddad's Fight", Riley compares Granddad's loss of a parking lot altercation to the Rodney King beating: "Hey Granddad, Rodney King just called. He said: 'Damn, and I thought I got MY ass whupped!' Ha ha ha!"
• In Drawn Together, Foxy references the riots but uses a different date, citing the riots as being an acceptable way to voice an opinion in response to another character's characterization of their circumstances.
• In the series Static Shock, there is an episode that seems to be loosely based on the riots.
• In the Animaniacs song, A Quake, A Quake a reference is made to the riots in a line listing various disasters Los Angeles had previously experienced.
• In the Everybody Hates Chris episode, "Everybody Hates Fat Mike", as the kids mess up their house on their father's request, the narrator (Chris Rock) states, "Black people didn't go this crazy again until the L.A. riots."
• In the King of the Hill episode "Traffic Jam," Bobby performs on Amateur Night at a predominately African-American comedy club. Failing to understand the sensitive & esoteric nature of ethnic humor, he enrages the crowd by joking that "times are tough for the white man" and that during the L.A. Riots, he "actually went out and bought a TV!"
• In George Lopez, George mentions that Benny stole TVs during the riots

Theater

• Stage actress Anna Deavere Smith created a play, Twilight: Los Angeles 1992, based on interviews with people about the riots.
• The spoken-word album Everything by Henry Rollins is a chapter out of his book Eye Scream, which contains accounts of Rollins's life in LA during the riots as well as his opinions of the cops and the reaction of the residents.
• The posthumous Bill Hicks album Arizona Bay includes a sequence of stand-up routines about the L.A. Riots, Reginald Denny and the Rodney King trial. This routine is also featured on his UK albums: Salvation and Live at The Oxford Playhouse.
• In the David Lindsay Abaire play Fuddy Meers the character Richard says "We don't need anyone pulling a Rodney King, here." after the police officer Heidi pulls a gun on him.

Literature

• Chang-Rae Lee's novel Native Speaker makes reference to an incident in which a Saranda Harlans is shot in the back by a Korean shopkeeper. The shopkeeper is let off with a minimal fine. This is a reference to the incident in Los Angeles' Koreatown where Latasha Harlins was shot to death by a Korean-American shopkeeper, which is argued to have sparked the riots.
• The Len Deighton novel Violent Ward (1993) is a detective mystery in the Raymond Chandler vein set against the background of the 1992 riots.
• Paul Beatty's novel The White Boy Shuffle features the main characters involvement in the riots, including an argument on the way to loot a computer store over the "merits of an IBM-compatible versus an Apple."
• Marvel's comic series Runaways makes several references to the riots. Early in the series, Mrs. Hayes tells Nico "every time you see something you don't understand, you call it evil and start throwing chairs through a Starbucks window". Later, when fighting off advancing policemen, Chase shouts "This is for Rodney King, y'all!" Finally, when she hears a report on something attacking Starbucks buildings, Nico comments "I didn't know that protesters were back in town".
• In Michael Connelly's novel Echo Park, the detective Harry Bosch is trying to solve a cold case of a serial killer whose killings began during the 1992 riots. The book refers to a pawn shop that was set on fire during the riots, killing the owner of the pawn shop. Another Michael Connelly novel, The Concrete Blonde takes place in the aftermath of the Riots, with a body being discovered buried under a storage locker that had been burnt down during the Riots.
• The climax of Sylvia Brownrigg's novel The Metaphysical Touch involves the two main characters, previously only connected by email correspondence, making their way to Los Angeles just as the riots begin. The violence of the riots ends up severely impacting both of their lives.

Video games

• The end missions in the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas revolve around the acquittal of two extremely corrupt police officers in 1992. The acquittal causes riots in the city (Los Santos, heavily based on Los Angeles).
• Midway produced Blitz: The League II features a Los Angeles football team called "The Los Angeles Riot".
• From December 5, 2009 through March 28, 2010 a series of Street Fighter IV tournaments entitled "L.A. Riots" were held. Only players from Los Angeles were eligible to compete.