Straight Outta Compton [PA] [Remastered] - N.W.A.

...do this review for: 1988's Straight Outta Compton, by west-coast hip-hop pioneers N.W.A..

Before I say anything else, let me say this: If it were not for N.W.A., west coast hip-hop music would virtually be nothing. N.W.A. is what put not only "gangsta" rap, but arguably the entire west coast on the map. The pioneering group consisting of Ice Cube, the late Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, MC Ren, and DJ Yella have all branched off since ...
...with Straight Outta Compton. Like it or not, N.W.A. (an acronym for "Niggas With Attitudes") have pioneered hardcore hip-hop, perhaps not single handedly, but definitely had a say in it. Years before gangsta rap was brought into the mainstream, and before the dreaded east-coast, west-coast rivalry, Straight Outta Compton dropped, and opened up many eyes in music. The album, as well as the group N.W.A. as a whole, represented the image of ... more

Well it is that time of year again. February. Black History Month.

I'm sure everybody can appreciate what Black People have done for the world throughout the years, changing the way we life our life and making Earth a whole lot nicer. Musically, I consider African-American people to be the perfectionists. Hip-Hop Music (which is what I specialize in) originally came from African American people and culture. Besides that, African-Americans originated funk, jazz, blues, and brought new dimensions to R&B, Rock, Soul, and yes, even Country. For every single CD case that we open, we must thank African-Americans for making it all possible. With that said, I have chosen a landmark album to do this review for: 1988's Straight Outta Compton, by west-coast hip-hop pioneers N.W.A..

Before I say anything else, let me say this: If it were not for N.W.A., west coast hip-hop music would virtually be nothing. N.W.A. is what put not only "gangsta" rap, but arguably the entire west coast on the map. The pioneering group consisting of Ice Cube, the late Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, MC Ren, and DJ Yella have all branched off since then, redefining new sounds. However, it all started in 1988, with Straight Outta Compton. Like it or not, N.W.A. (an acronym for "Niggas With Attitudes") have pioneered hardcore hip-hop, perhaps not single handedly, but definitely had a say in it. Years before gangsta rap was brought into the mainstream, and before the dreaded east-coast, west-coast rivalry, Straight Outta Compton dropped, and opened up many eyes in music. The album, as well as the group N.W.A. as a whole, represented the image of young angry black men lashing out their anger on wax against all of those who oppressed them in life. Whether it be politicians, racists, or even police officers, N.W.A. makes sure to not leave ANYBODY out of the picture. N.W.A. have striking similarities to Public Enemy, only a LOT angrier and a lot louder, but still equally powerful.

Tracklist & Rating

1. Straight Outta Compton (5 Stars)
2. Fuck the Police (5 Stars)
3. Gangsta, Gangsta (5 Stars)
4. If It Ain’t Ruff (5 Stars)
5. Parental Discretion is Advised f/ D.O.C. (5 Stars)
6. 8Ball Remix (4 Stars)
7. Something Like That (5 Stars)
8. Express Yourself (5 Stars)
9. Compton’s N The House (5 Stars)
10. I Ain’t Tha 1. (5 Stars)
11. Dopeman (Remix) (5 Stars)
12. Quiet On The Set (4 Stars)
13. Something 2 Dance 2 (2 Stars)

N.W.A. decide not to waste a single moment of space and make their presence felt as quickly as possible on "Straight Outta Compton", the first song on the album. The song begins with an eerie prelude of what is to come not only on the song, but on the entire album when he whispers the words: "You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge". From the onset, N.W.A. shows you that they aren't here to play around and make parties jump at all (at least, not until the last track). Immediately, the pounding bass, trumpets, slamming drums, and background noises which I just can't place will proceed to pulsate the speakers. During each break, we get a nice scratch showcase, a simple chorus, and a slight change in the beat. It's interesting to hear some of Dr. Dre's earlier beats (whom produces this entire album, by the way), years before he redefined G-Funk on his solo debut album. Any angry young black man can relate to MC Ren, Ice Cube, and Eazy-E on this song, as they showcase powerful lyrics, each with an angry and aggressive, yet somewhat preachy, voice as they attack the microphone with savage and violent lyricism. Okay, so perhaps N.W.A. aren't gifted, groundbreaking lyricists like Rakim and Big Daddy Kane were in the east, but few could match their anger and energy when they spat on a track. As for the actual subject matter? Oh. How could I forget? Cube, Ren, and Eazy spit about the actual essense of living life in the streets of Compton, California. N.W.A. paint a picture of the streets where druglords and gangs dominate everyday life, people die constantly, teen pregnancies dominate young black female's lives, and the minorities are constantly oppressed by racist, white police officers. Hey, it's not planned controversy... its just the facts.

"Straight outta Compton, crazy motherf*cker named Ice Cube, From the gang called N*ggaz With Attitudes, When I'm called off, I got a sawed off, Squeeze the trigger, and bodies are hauled off, You too, boy, if ya f*ck with me, The police are gonna hafta come and get me, Off yo a**, that's how I'm goin out, For the punk motherf*ckers that's showin out, N*ggaz start to mumble, they wanna rumble, Mix em and cook em in a pot like gumbo"

The mayhem that was set off on the opening track like lighting a stick of dynamite continues on the rather fun, yet powerful street classic "Fuck the Police". The opening track, as well as a few others on the album, describe the dangers and violence existing on the mean streets of Compton, where it seems like there is mercy for nobody. However, this particular song focuses on a topic only slightly scraped previously: Police Officers. MC Ren, Eazy-E, and Ice Cube basically lash out against the Police Department with unbelievably powerful lyrics. The anger coveyed by N.W.A. towards these "pigs" who constantly hastle minorities really makes you feel for these guys. The racial tensions that this very song displays is jaw-dropping in its own right, and at the time, was practically a mirror image of life in LA. The interludes within the song express that, as we find the police arresting the minority N.W.A. members for no good reason. For those of you who don't know, this song is one of the most controversial songs to come out in the 80s, painting the image that police officers are evil, which resulted in the F.B.I. itself sending Eazy a letter about the lyrics. Are their lyrics justifiable? Well, that is all a matter of opinion. Then again, if you honestly grew up with these surroundings, I wouldn't doubt the fact that you too would be just as angry and ticked off at the unfairness that life has thrown at you. On a personal note, I sort of love to play this song in my car stereo as loud as possible and bob my head whenever a police car rolls by. Yeah, I'm a jerk, but you already knew that, correct?

"Without a gun and a badge, what do ya got?, A sucker in a uniform waitin to get shot by me, or another n*gga, And with a gat it don't matter if he's smaller or bigger"

Just with the first two songs, you can easily see just how influential and groundbreaking Straight Outta Compton truly is. A lot of truly great albums have stemmed off of the formula founded here: harsh street language, tons of profanity, violent lyricism, angry political rampages, misogony, and lots and lots of gunplay. Sadly, a lot of really BAD albums also stemmed from this (50 Cent's work IMMEDIATELY comes to mind). Perhaps one of the more influential songs of the album which helped to further mold the creation of "gangsta" rap would have to be "Gangsta, Gangsta". I mean, give me a break, as if the title doesn't give it away already. Dr. Dre laces a much more old-school (then again, back then it WAS old-school) beat with funkish guitar plucks, a drum / snare mix, with some hand claps, and some light bass for N.W.A. to rap over. In the latter part of the song, the synthesizers kick in, and you can see the seeds being planted for what Dr. Dre would transform into G-funk in the early 90s. Lyrically, N.W.A. continues to be powerful and convey powerful messages about the dangers of street life, yet also showing the appealing side of it. However, as expected, the appealingness of street life comes with many, many, many consequences, in which most people are not willing to sacrifice.

After the MC Ren solo joint "If It Ain’t Ruff", we find Dr. Dre being handed a microphone for the first time on "Parental Discretion Iz Advised", which features a very young D.O.C.. On this song, we find a bass-heavy track, backed by guitars and pianos for N.W.A. to spit over. Of course, the main event is N.W.A. continuing on their lashing out against the racism that is covering their lives like a dark blanket, touching on both politics, as well as their own self-esteem, spitting some unique, west-coast braggadiocio. In fact, believe it or not, these guys manage to actually spit some battle lyrics, which is mainly something that east-coast emcees relied on, specially in this time period. Everybody does a pretty good job, and continue to establish the west coast as being pretty good song-writers and lyricists.

One of things that must be established right away is the fact that Ice Cube's wrote almost all of the songs on the LP. Ice Cube is a damn good writer, and you can just smell his influence all over the tracks on this classic. With that in mind, the third single, "Express Yourself" soon comes to the speakers. True, the song is pretty much a Dr. Dre-solo joint, with Cube and Ren throwing in a few vocals, but mainly having Dre dominate the song. Surprisingly, this song is very clean. Profanity is completely void on this song, yet it's still pretty aggresive, yet sort of laid-back at the same time. Dr. Dre basically spits about "expressing yourself" through several ways, including hip-hop, and yes... violence (of course, N.W.A. will never change). Cube's well-written lyrics and Dre's on-point flow and delivery of the lines is nice. As for the beat, well, fans of funk music should have a lot to love here. Dre laces together a nice assortment of banging drum clanks, funkish synthesizers, some weird airy flutes, and some light bass. On the hook, we get a nice throw-in of trumpets and a unique scratch sample put together by DJ Yella. Nice beat, with dope lyrics. On a side note, as my buddy Astromurf said on his review, "I don’t smoke weed or cess, ‘cuz its known to give a brotha brain damage" is the MOST hypocritical line that Dr. Dre has spat in HIS career, hands down. In case you don't believe me, check out the titles of Dre's solo albums and you'll find a bizarre connection.

"Compton’s N The House" finds N.W.A. paying a tribute to their home town. Basically, N.W.A. try their very best to honestly put N.W.A. on the map. This song proceeds to find pretty much every member of N.W.A. (except Yella of course) spitting about the city, and also taking some time to diss the impostors who consider themselves members of the city. The subject matter was used in the east way before N.W.A., but of course, like i said, in the EAST. This is the first true pro-west-coast anthem that I believe was popular. The song has a VERY Run-DMC vibe to it, with a minimalistic beat (drum loop and bass only, with scratches), and some well-placed, simple lyrics with a simple flow. Sort of reminds me a bit of "South Bronx" by Boogie Down Productions.

Ice Cube, being arguably the most integral part of the group, is given his own solo joint on "I Ain't tha 1". This right here is a nice preview to Cube's soon-to-come solo career, which would prop up sooner than expected. Production-wise, the song is organized beautifully, featuring a slow-tempo piano loop, with some keyboard and cobra effects, light drums and virtually no bass. The pianos provide the bass, i guess. Cube decides to take his scope away from the White House and police officers and aim it towards gold-digging females who only want men for their money and dig into his pockets until he is left with nothing. Cube's ability to write good songs with some doses of humor, as well as his amazing microphone charisma, make this song even MORE enjoyable.

N.W.A. explain how drugs affect society, specifically Compton, on "Dopeman (Remix)". The subject matter, as I said a second ago, reflects around how a drug dealer can pretty much take over an entire neighborhood. They explain how he single handedly can become wealthy due to the money he makes off addicts and fiends, as well as educating people as to the effects of drugs on people. The song goes against the use of drugs (again, very hypocritical compared to these artists' future work), but also manages not to be preachy and soft, keeping it's edge while still showing a positive message. This is the kind of music that hip-hop nowadays lacks, as every single artist out there praises their "weed smoke" and how much they do it ALL THE TIME (Afroman, 50 Cent, and Snoop come to mind), even though some keep it funny (Eminem, Redman, Method Man). Another dope track.

Sadly, this album does indeed have one fault. Very few albums are perfect, but this album comes close, until you hear the last song. Basically, "Something 2 Dance 2" is whack. We get an up-tempo, technoish beat, finding N.W.A. commercializing themselves and making an early "club anthem", and I have no clue why. It's hard to believe that such a powerful group with great, thought-provoking messages can deliver such an uneducated, idiotic song like this one. Typically, I would stop the album before I even get to this part, cause it ends here anyways.

Unfortunately, after Straight Outta Compton, there wasn't much left for N.W.A. as a whole, as it seemed like their time together was meant to be shortlived. Ice Cube went on to become a west coast legend, leaving the group in 1989 due to disputes with Eazy-E over pay, and went on to craft a handful of awesome, at times classic, albums in the early 1990s. After that, Cube has become a successful movie actor, starring in hit movies such as Friday and Barbershop. Dr. Dre became a legendary producer after this album, but due to disagreements with Eazy (again), he left the group in early 1991 and co-founded Death Row Records with Suge Knight. He dropped a seminal debut album (The Chronic), and went on to introduce the world to newer, younger west-coast stars such as Snoop Dogg, Tha Dogg Pound, Lady of Rage, and RBX. After having problems with Suge, he left and started his own label Aftermath, and signed Eminem, who already has one of the greatest careers in hip-hop. He is currently working on his third album, which is said to be his last. Eazy E went on to have a slept-on solo career, yet also discovered Bone Thugs N Harmony in the early 90s, as well as got diagnosed with HIV. He sadly died of AIDS in 1995, years before he and his other members could reconcile. MC Ren practically disappeared off the map, occassionally popping up. DJ Yella now has moved on to direct adult films (thanks Astromurf).

However, despite their future accomplishments, it is this reviewer's personal opinion that Straight Outta Compton is their most influential album. Single handedly popping the west-coast side of hip-hop on the map in an era where the east coast dominated rap music. Besides just that, it sparked off a new age of self expression and politics in rap music which had already been set by Public Enemy. N.W.A. gave us some of the most aggressive and dangerous music to ever be heard by the naked ear. N.W.A. helped many blacks discover themselves and turn a lot more aggressive with their music, which fuels emotions. In this reviewer's opinion, N.W.A. IS Black History...

5 Stars
 

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