The other day I wrote:

After encountering the Chicago-cops example I was going to retitle this post, “The psych department’s just another crew” in homage to the line, “The police department’s just another crew” from the rap, “Who Protects Us From You.” But, just to check, I googled that KRS-One rap and it turns out it does not contain that line! It’s funny because it’s not a memory thing—when the album came out and I heard that rap, I registered that line, which I guess KRS-One never said.

I sent this to my friend Kenny, who’d introduced me to KRS-One many years ago, and he said:

Re KRS-One, I think that line* is from somewhere on the By All Means Necessary album— T’cha T’cha?? in society we have illegal and legal/we need both to make things equal… or some other track? I haven’t listened to it in years and it is all running together, but it is KRS-One.

*the police department is LIKE a crew
It does whatever they want to do…

So I did some more searching and indeed KRS-One did say it, in “Illegal Business”:

The police department, Is like a crew, It does whatever, They want to do.

The idea is very close to that of Who Protects Us From You (“If I hit you I’ll be killed, But you hit me? I can sue”) and it has the same rhythm and rhyme, so I can see how I misplaced it my memory. I’m glad to know I didn’t completely fabricate it.

Also good to know that Kenny not only corroborated but remembered the line exactly.