On No Tellin', Drake raps: "Yeah, police comin' 'round lookin' for some help on a case they gotta solve, we never help 'em." The line is repeated as a chorus multiple times.
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But rap lyrics are only a partial reflection of what the rapper actually represents, said Rinaldo Walcott, an associate professor and chair of the department of Sociology and Equity Studies at University of Toronto.
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Walcott points out that if lyrics in songs were treated as absolute truth, police would arrest all sorts of musicians who sing about crime. "But no one has arrested Hank Williams Jr.," said Walcott, referencing a country music star who has a song about killing a man.
Walcott said it was more likely young black men — a community historically over-policed in Toronto — would be wary about dealing with police. "What you have are people that already quite heavily policed refusing to participate in something that will bring more policing," he said.
He pointed out that police rarely come forward when a member of the force is accused of a crime, which he said could be part of the problem in the Muzik shootings.
"The 'No snitching' culture runs both ways," he said. "We don't get the good cops telling us what the bad cops are doing."
