Hands Up

Album: Heaven Can Wait (2014)
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Songfacts®:

  • Vince Staples is a Long Beach, California rapper who at the time was best known for his appearances on albums by Odd Future members and Stolen Youth, his collaborative mixtape with Mac Miller. "Hands Up" is from his 2014 EP, Hell Can Wait. The following year he released his acclaimed double album, Summertime '06.
  • Staples croons on the hook:

    Yeah, put your hands in the air
    Put your hands in the air
    Put your hands in the air
    Nigga freeze, put your hands in the air


    "Hands Up, Don't Shoot" became a catch phrase for the Ferguson protests following Michael Brown's slaying by a white police officer in the Missouri town. However, though this was released only a month after the shooting and subsequent riots engulfed Missouri, Staples denied the cut was about the Ferguson tragedy. He says it's more of a general response to incidents of abusive authority on American civilians.

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