The longest government shutdown in US history is nearing the end of its first month, and everyone is going a little crazy. Not least of whom are the TSA agents who aren’t getting paid but are still expected to show up to work. If you think going through TSA is frustrating, try being a TSA agent working in an understaffed environment, not knowing when you’ll be getting your next paycheck. Understandably, they’re doing whatever they can to forget their woes and make the workday more bearable. For many, that means blasting rap music.
Photo: Carolina K. Smith MD/Shutterstock
Fed Up With the Shutdown, TSA Agents Are Blasting Explicit Rap Music in Airports
In recent weeks, passengers at JFK airport have reported hearing explicit, uncensored rap songs over the loudspeakers while in security lines. Among the songs heard include Travis Scott and Drake’s “Sicko Mode,” Kanye West’s “Lift Yourself,” and tracks from the Beastie Boys and Ludacris. While some passengers might enjoy the music, it certainly seems out of place in the serious environment of a TSA security line.
Many passengers have reacted to the reports, and to hearing the music themselves, via Twitter. For the most part, they unanimously agree that it’s a pretty weird phenomenon, even comparing it to something out of the Twilight Zone.
JFK is playing sicko mode we’re living in a simulation
— cesar millan (the dog whisperer) (@postmetaboi) January 7, 2019
TSA has officially stopped giving a fuck. SICKO MODE (dirty version) is playing on the speakers at JFK lmfaooo
— lsdipalma (@LSDiPalma) January 9, 2019
I was in JFK at 6:30am the other day and they were playing that poopty scoop Kanye song and I felt like I was in the twilight zone
— Tracee Ellis Ross Jr (@virghoe_) January 9, 2019
If the shutdown continues, it will be interesting to see how the TSA’s music selection evolves and what other methods they may use to express their frustration. In the meantime, here’s what you may be hearing the next time you’re waiting in line for that conveyer belt. 
H/T: COS