Bad Boys by Inner Circle is a reggae song that we all might be familiar with, thanks to the popularity of the television series COPS.

Inner Circle is one of the most well known Jamaican reggae bands in the world.

The original intention behind the song wasn't supposed to be a song about law enforcement.

In fact, according to the writer of the song, Ian Lewis, it's not a police song, though most people are wildly familiar with the chorus, he urges them to listen to the rest of the words.

"It's a song about life," Lewis has insisted, it is about respecting family, a song about youth acting out.

In fact, the line "Whatcha gonna do when they come for you," was originally written as whatcha gonna do when life comes for you." Since then, obviously the lyrics have changed.

"The song was written about a teenage young man that I met a long time ago in Jamaica, and he was changing from this nice, young schoolboy into what he thought to be a man.... When I would visit him and just talk to him, he would get mad for nothing... I saw the rebelliousness coming. Looking at him, the song just came to me. You want to be a bad boy? You don’t want to listen anybody, you want to have your own rules, but then the melody stuck on me — “Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when life comes for you?” - I. Lewis

When Lewis first saw how it had been used on the show, he admits that he wasn't too impressed.

He believed it might have been used in the wrong context, he eventually came around. It was thanks to the popularity of the COPS series that brought the song so much attention, as well as the group. The COPS show premiered back in 1989, with the creator of the show allegedly discovering the song when he was searching for a good theme song to use.

Bad Boys is known as the #1 most played reggae song in the world.

To date, COPS has earned over $400 million, and Bad Boys has sold over 7 million copies. It's alleged that the creator J. Langley had bought the song back then for $2,500, Langley has said that it's gone on to make the group a 'ton of money, but for Lewis it wasn't about the money, he tries to separate the two.

Lewis has admitted that Stevie Wonder gave him some advice years ago, urging him never to play for money, not as the sole motivating factor, he encouraged Lewis not to think about the money, but instead to try and work to be the best and play because of the love that you have in your heart. For Lewis, it's about more and reggae music has always been an effective tool and outlet for people to share their stories.

The best part about it? That it peacefully transcends boundaries.

“Reggae was always an inclusive music: black, white, green, pink it didn’t matter. Reggae music and Rastafari is about one love.” - I. Lewis

"What people don’t understand, we have all these racial divides in the world, but the essence of music is that it is a cultural message. Sometimes that transcends all racial and political boundaries... That is why reggae music is universal and can appeal to everybody," - I. Lewis

According to Lewis, reggae's greatest ambassador is Bob Marley and I would have to agree.

Surprisingly, despite the broad popularity of Bad Boys and the fact that it went to the top of the carts in numerous countries, that isn't their most popular song. That title of Inner Circle's most popular song still rests with Sweat.

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