File this under "we're a little late to the party," but it seems the Santa Fe Police Department released a kicky little rap video last week called "5-0 On It" featuring students from Ramirez Thomas Elementary School. Sorry we're just getting to it now—that's on us for not scanning the internet for police-propelled rap. Anyway, get a load of this thing:
In the video, which is set to the beat from LUNIZ' 1995 classic "I Got 5 On It," officer Joshua McDermott—whom The Santa Fe New Mexican pointed out in May is known to some as Officer Smiley—cruises along the Plaza streets on a Segway rapping about how the SFPD are "here to protect and serve citizens selflessly," and that "5-0's on it." Apparently "it" in this instance is, like, crime and stuff.
McDermott also cracks wise about his baldness and conveyance. He dances with kids and community members in some scenes, while in others, officers hang out with citizens having a great time and give them hugs and just are friends, then chase down and arrest a suspect. Then go back to dancing.
"It's a light-hearted thing to let people see we're real people behind the badge," department spokesman Lt. Sean Strahon tells SFR. "We have fun." Strahon also says the video didn't cost anything to make.
Now, setting aside the weed-centric origins of the song's sampled beat, we've still gotta ask—are we not supposed to make fun of this thing? Even a cursory glance at Facebook turned up comments like, "This makes me jealous of deaf people."
At best, the song and video represent a purposefully goofy bit of absurdity. At worst, however, it almost feels like an unhip group desperately asking you if you think they're cool or not. We don't, really—but then again, we're not looking for "cool" cops. And anyway, given the state of police violence in the country, it feels a tad tone-deaf for a police department to co-opt rap music, or like the sort of thing the blue-lives-matter set might point to and say, "See? They're just like you and me!"
Either way, "5-0 On It" probably won't be winning any awards and we hope the school kids had fun and everything, but for some of us, all it will accomplish will be getting us talking about Cop Rock again and showing the video to our friends while saying things like, "Jesus Christ, do you believe this?"
