Policing the beats

Lambros Fatsis (aka Boulevard Soundsystem) is a lover of Black music(s) who lectures on the history of police racism and the criminalisation of Afro-diasporic music culture at City St. George’s University of London

‘What a journey this is! This book has empowered me by informing me about an important history that I'm connected to, from my experience of having my lyrics used against me to the work that I do with young people.’Roachee, Roll Deep‘Placing sounds, songs and beats in the midst of the structures of empire, Lambros Fatsis reads Black music and music-making as radical resources – modes of learning and knowing that hold in them rhythmic, sonic and rumbling resistance practices. Policing the beats is an essential text for music lovers and music makers.’Katherine McKittrick, author of Dear Science and Other Stories‘This is a riveting, bracingly militant account of the racist British policing of Black Atlantic musical culture. Extended sections consider the suppression of African drumming and dancing, calypso and reggae sound systems, rap and drill. The writing is deep, wide-ranging and richly erudite but accessible and unstuffy. Very warmly recommended.’Honest Jon’s Records

• IntroductionPart I: Is it even music? Policing Black music as ‘out of tune’ under British colonial rule1 Cop-italism and slavery: excavating the colonial origins of British policing2 Crude noise of a ‘vile race’: the danger of Black music(s)3 Policing ‘dangerous noise’ one beat at a time4 ‘Salvation ’tis a joyful sound’: a concluding codaPart II: Does it belong here? Policing Black music as ‘out of place’ in postwar Britain5 ‘If you brown, they say you can’t stick around’: policing and cr-immigration in postwar Britain6 (Don’t) welcome to Britain7 Racism runs riot8 ‘It gets me ’fraid when Babylon raid”’Part III: Isn’t it criminal? Black music as ‘out of order’ in contemporary Britain9 To Be Black is a crime10 Looking for ‘crime’ in grime11 Blaming drill for making people kill12 But isn’t rap violent and misogynistic?Part IV: Sounds radical: Black critique(s) of white reason13 Who feels it, knows it: Black radical thought in sound14 Who knows it, feels it: learning about criminal injustice from the policing of Black music(s)15 Listen to this book: an annotated playlistPostscript: of skinfolk and kinfolk: a rap on ‘whiteness’Index