“God Bless Amerika” is a song and music video released by Lil Wayne in July of 2013 that sheds light on the relationship between the impoverished black Americans and authority figures and government. Set in his hometown of New Orleans, the controversial video tackles the ongoing battle that black men face against police brutality and the judicial system that sentences them. The video shows real members of the community and highlights the poverty and struggle they face every day. Paired with Wayne’s strong lyrics like “My country tis of thee, / Sweet land of kill ‘em all and let ‘em die” the message comes across loud and clear – there is a problem in America and it is not an easy fix with police presence and violence. Wayne specifically tackles the issue with police by showing the extreme measures the police take in a situation that clearly doesn’t call for such drastic action.

In Lil Wayne’s “God Bless Amerika” there are several recurring visual motifs, a major one being an everchanging image of police. The presence of the police seems to evolve over time. The first time the police are seen is at 1:02 into the video, they are standing in front of the American flag and they are in full military uniform. The colors are bright, clearly during the day, with a strong contrast between the colors of the flag and the black of the police uniforms. The police are shown at the time that Lil Wayne says “military minded” showing that the military represents the government and what the government cares about. At this moment, we see the police in two different shots – the first is a long shot in which the viewer can see the entire bodies of the two officers. It shows the protective shields that say police, the face masks worn to protect the faces of the officers, the weapons that the officers hold, and the entirety of the uniforms. The second shot of the officers comes from down below, almost a bug’s eye view perspective and a medium shot that shows the officers from the waist up. This shot sets up the relationship Lil Wayne is trying to create between viewer and the police – police are above the viewer, they have more power, and they are stronger. The first shot clearly depicts the relationship as the viewer being submissive, which naturally brings the emotion of fear. Using this technique is clearly meant to relate the viewer to Lil Wayne and keep him or her from sympathizing with the police in the situation. Whenever the police are not on screen, the viewer is meant to relate with the people on screen. The viewer is meant to feel sympathy for the people – they are being depicted as the victims of the situation. The first background of the American flag shows what the police are meant to represent while the last background with the smoke and the disruption of lives shows what the police have evolved into representing. The police are supposed to protect and fight for the people, but now they’re fighting the people instead. Therefore, the police standing in front of the American flag could have been a choice made ironically – Lil Wayne knows what the police are supposed to represent so he put them in front of a symbol for it while depicting them as the opposite. The color scheme in the first shot is bright like daytime, the same way the police are meant to be a bright spot of protection. Similarly, to the difference in backgrounds, Lil Wayne could have made this decision ironically.

The way that the viewer sees the police is meant to be how Lil Wayne sees the police, they are meant to protect and serve the people but it feels as if they are attacking the people instead. In this sense, the image appeals to the viewer’s emotions of empathy towards Lil Wayne and fear towards the police. The emotion of fear is in direct contrast to the emotions that the viewer is meant to feel at any other time of the video – the police are the only people in the video that the viewer is not meant to relate with. However, the empathetic emotion that comes across is a feeling that the viewer gets steadily throughout the video – towards not only Lil Wayne, but the other people who appear in the video as well. 

There are several times after the first that the police are seen throughout the video. During these times, they look as though they are preparing to go to war – they are putting on their face masks, getting their shields and weapons up, and walking through smoke. The final time we see the police presence is at 4:40 minutes into the video, and it is a much different image than the first one. The police force has increased in size, going from only two officers in the beginning to at least five officers here. The shot used is a medium shot in which we can see the police officers from the knees up. This shot was used because it is all the viewer needs to see to get a good grasp on the situation. The viewer can see the shields, the face masks, and the rest of the officers’ gear. However, unlike the first image of the officers, they cannot be discerned as individual people – only as a military force. The colors are very dark and gloomy, clearly taken at night, and it is hard to distinguish the dark colors of the police uniforms from the dark colors of everything in the background at night. The background has cars in it which seems to indicate they are in the middle of a street. This shot depicts the disruption that the police force is bringing to this neighborhood and the strength they have. The final shot depicts the police as they are getting ready to fight which also brings the emotion of fear out naturally. This is the same emotion elicited from the first shot of police in the video, it is just brought out in a different way. The emotional similarity of the two shots, which is also present in each of the unmentioned instances that police are present on screen, is in direct contrast with the emotions the viewer experiences in every other scene of the video. The lack of this emotion from any instance with the police present is another similarity between them. The background in the final shot of the police is changed to a more realistic depiction in Lil Wayne’s eyes. The police are no longer being romanticized or meant to bring comfort in the eyes of the viewer. When the viewer sees them last, they are ready to attack for what seems to be no reason at all – leaving the impression that police are a threat to the people in this neighborhood rather than the ones meant to be helping. Finally, the change in the number of officers from beginning to end shows that the police force increases when they feel threatened versus when there is nothing going on. However, the military-like action is overboard considering they aren’t going to war, they’re dealing with a clearly impoverished community they are meant to protect. 

The point Lil Wayne is making with the police throughout this video is that the meaning of the police changes for everyone and they’re personal standings. Upper class white men do not have to fear the police because they share a mutual respect – lower class black men do not have this. The differences between the relationships are represented throughout the video via viewpoint, background settings, and color schemes. The saying “different like night and day,” can be applied in this video about what the police are meant to versus do represent to the lower class black citizens Lil Wayne is giving representation to. 
