Bank Robber Man

Album: Lenny (2001)
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Songfacts®:

  • This song is based on a true story. Kravitz was arrested in Miami, where he was recording the album, because he fit the description of a man who robbed a bank. He recalled the incident in a 2018 interview with Rolling Stone: "I was out jogging and the Bank of America nearby was robbed. They said it was a black guy in a T-shirt, and I was a black guy in a T-shirt jogging. I got stopped by about four or five police cars at gunpoint to my face, to my body, up against the car. It was basically racial profiling. I didn't get let go until the witness, this old woman who was at the bank who saw the bank robber, came and said it wasn't me. I was quite nervous because she was old and had just looked and saw brown skin and a T-shirt. But it was an interesting situation. It wasn't the first time I've had guns pointed at my head by the police. That happened three or four times in my life as a teenager in Los Angeles for just riding around in a car in Beverly Hills. So I went right into the studio and recorded this. I was f--king pissed off. That's why it's an aggressive song." >>>
    Suggestion credit:
    Ashlei - Akron, OH

Comments: 1

  • Mike from Lake Hopatcong, NjLenny was on his way to the gym with his personal trainer. The Bank of America (B of A) in the area was robbed and Lenny fit the description. He was detained and cuffed on a street in Miami by several officers who did not believe who he was. Lenny did not have any ID on him at the time. Lenny was not actually taken downtown. He was released after the Miami police brought the bank teller to the scene and said he was not the bank robber. Meanwhile, the real bank robber man got away with $1500 and was never arrested.
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