"Killing in the Name" combines elements of punk and hip hop[4] and stylistically has been described as alternative metal,[5] rap metal,[6] rap rock,[7] hard rock,[8] and nu metal.[9] The journalist Peter Buckley described it as "a howling, expletive-driven tirade against the ills of American society".[10] The song builds in intensity, as de la Rocha chants the line "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me", building in a crescendo the next four times and angrily screaming the line the final eight times, culminating with the scream "Motherfucker!"[11] The song contains the word "fuck" 16 times.[12]The lyrics were inspired by the police brutality suffered by Rodney King and the subsequent 1992 Los Angeles riots.[13][14][15] The refrain "some of those that work forces are the same that burn crosses" draws what the band views as a link between the Los Angeles Police Department and the Ku Klux Klan.[16] According to BBC News, "Killing in the Name" rails against "the military–industrial complex, justifying killing for the benefit of, as the song puts it, the chosen whites".[17]
Killing in the name of
Some of those that work forces
Are the same that burn crosses
Some of those that work forces
Are the same that burn crosses
Some of those that work forces
Are the same that burn crosses
Some of those that work forces
Are the same that burn crosses
Uh!
Killing in the name of
Killing in the name of
Now you do what they told ya
Now you do what they told ya
Now you do what they told ya
Now you do what they told ya
And now you do what they told ya
And now you do what they told ya
And now you do what they told ya
And now you do what they told ya
And now you do what they told ya
'Cause now you do what they told ya
But now you do what they told ya
Well, now you do what they told ya
Those who died are justified
For wearing the badge, they're the chosen whites
You justify those that died
By wearing the badge, they're the chosen whites
Those who died are justified
For wearing the badge, they're the chosen whites
You justify those who died
By wearing the badge, they're the chosen whites
Some of those that work forces
Are the same that burn crosses
Some of those that work forces
Are the same that burn crosses
Some of those that work forces
Are the same that burn crosses
Some of those that work forces
Are the same that burn crosses
Uh!
Killing in the name of
Killing in the name of
Now you do what they told ya
Now you do what they told ya
Now you do what they told ya
Now you do what they told ya
And now you do what they told ya (now you're under control)
And now you do what they told ya (now you're under control)
And now you do what they told ya (now you're under control)
And now you do what they told ya (now you're under control)
And now you do what they told ya (now you're under control)
And now you do what they told ya (now you're under control)
And now you do what they told ya (now you're under control)
But now you do what they told ya!
Those who died are justified
For wearing the badge, they're the chosen whites
You justify those that died
By wearing the badge, they're the chosen whites
Those who died are justified
For wearing the badge, they're the chosen whites
You justify those that died
By wearing the badge, they're the chosen whites, come on
Uh!
Yeah
Come on
Uh!
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!
Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me!
Motherfucker!
Uh, uh, uh