Straight Outta Compton is the debut studio album by American gangsta rap group N.W.A, which, led by Eazy-E, formed in Los Angeles County's City of Compton in early 1987.[3][4] Released by his label, Ruthless Records, on August 8, 1988,[1] the album was produced by N.W.A members Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, and Arabian Prince, with lyrics written by N.W.A members Ice Cube and MC Ren[5] along with Ruthless rapper and unofficial member The D.O.C.[3] Not merely depicting Compton's street violence, the lyrics repeatedly threaten to lead it by attacking peers and even police. The track "Fuck tha Police" drew an FBI agent's warning letter, which aided N.W.A's notoriety, with N.W.A calling itself "the world's most dangerous group."[3][6][7]
In July 1989, despite its scarce radio play beyond the Los Angeles area,[4]Straight Outta Compton received gangsta rap's first platinum certification, one million copies sold by then.[3] That year, the album peaked at number 9 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and at number 37 on the Billboard 200.[8] Receiving media spotlight, N.W.A's example triggered the rap genre's movement toward hardcore, gangsta rap.[9]
Remastered, the album's September 2000 reissue gained four bonus tracks. Nearing the album's 20th anniversary, another extended version of it arrived in December 2007.[10] In 2015, after an album reissue on red cassettes,[11] theater release of the biographical film Straight Outta Compton reinvigorated sales of the album, which by year's end was certified 3x Multi-Platinum.[3] In 2016, it became the first rap album inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[12] The next year, the Library of Congress enshrined Straight Outta Compton in the National Recording Registry, who have deemed it to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[13]
Background
For most of the 1980s, New York City, the birthplace of hip-hop,[14] remained the rap genre's dominant scene.[15]Los Angeles County was secondary.[16] Until 1988, the Los Angeles hip-hop scene, retaining more of hip-hop's dance and party origin, prioritized DJs and DJ crews as the central players in hip-hop;[17] the prevailing style at the time was electro rap and "funk hop",[18] similar to the New York-based 1982 hit "Planet Rock".[15] By contrast, East Coast hip-hop had moved to prioritizing the lyricist (or "MC") after the success of Run-DMC's self-titled 1984 album.[16]
In 1986, Eric Wright, a Kelly Park Compton Crip, formed Ruthless Records, an independent record label based in Compton.[16] Through drug dealing, Wright had become acquainted with Dr. Dre and Arabian Prince, a pair of locally successful record producers and recording artists who were struggling to receive royalties.[20] Wright recruited the South Central Los Angeles-based rapper Ice Cube, then a member of rap group C.I.A., as a ghostwriter, and instructed him to collaborate with Dr. Dre and write a song for the label. The resulting track was "Boyz-n-the-Hood".[21] This song was originally intended to be performed by a New York-based group who were signed to Ruthless Records; however, after that group rejected the song, Wright adopted the stage name Eazy-E and performed the rapping himself.[18][21] Released under the name N.W.A, "Boyz-n-the-Hood" became a local hit, despite criticism that it sounded similar to Schoolly D's "P.S.K." single, and that its tempo was too slow to dance to.[15]
Expanding upon Ice-T's model, N.W.A imparted to gangsta rap a signature style that featured "exaggerated descriptions of street life, militant resistance to authority, and outright sexist violence".[22] N.W.A further strove to secure radio play by supplying radio edits of their music to local stations such as KDAY.[4] Despite these efforts, N.W.A's national debut, Straight Outta Compton, saw virtually no radio play; even so, the album was hugely successful, selling one million copies and becoming the first gangsta rap album to be certified platinum.[16][23] As rap fans, even from afar, sought more from Compton and South Central,[24] local rappers, like MC Eiht of Compton's Most Wanted, met the call.[25] The Los Angeles rap scene rapidly moved from party rap to hardcore rap.[16]
On the global stage, N.W.A towered as gangsta rap's icons. The group's profane, unrelentingly violent lyrics led to backlash from law enforcement and other groups: an FBI agent sent the record label a warning letter, MTV banned the "Straight Outta Compton" video, some venues banned N.W.A performance, and some police officers refused to work security at N.W.A shows elsewhere.[3][23][26] The controversy served to further bolster N.W.A's anti-establishment image, and so the rappers would highlight it themselves in later tracks.[3][27]
The album was recorded and produced in Audio Achievements Studio in Torrance, California for $12,000. Dr. Dre, in a 1993 interview, recalls, "I threw that thing together in six weeks so we could have something to sell out of the trunk.[3]
In an incident recalled in Jerry Heller's book and later portrayed in the film Straight Outta Compton, police approached the group while they were standing outside the studio in the fall of 1987 and demanded them to get on their knees and show ID without explanation. Outraged by the experience, Cube began writing the lyrics that would become "Fuck tha Police."[29] Initially, still spending weekends in jail over traffic violations, Dre was reluctant to do "Fuck tha Police", a reluctance that dissolved once that sentence concluded.[3]
N.W.A's Ice Cube and MC Ren along with Ruthless Records rapper The D.O.C. wrote the lyrics, including those rapped by Eazy-E and by Dr. Dre.[3] On the other hand, DJ Yella never raps, and Arabian Prince does only minor vocals on "Something 2 Dance 2". Otherwise, each group member stands out through a solo rap, too.
MC Ren has two solo tracks, "If It Ain't Ruff" and "Quiet on tha Set". Dr. Dre dominates "Express Yourself". Ice Cube's is "I Ain't tha 1". Eazy-E's is a remix of "8 Ball", a track which originally appeared on N.W.A's 1987 debut compilation album N.W.A. and the Posse. The one guest is The D.O.C., who raps the opening verse of "Parental Discretion Iz Advised".
Whereas Ren wrote his own lyrics, and The D.O.C. wrote many of Eazy's lyrics, Cube wrote his lyrics, and both Dre's and Eazy's as well.[24] Still, even Eazy and Dre, alike Cube and Ren, each brings a distinct delivery and character, making N.W.A altogether stand out from imitators.[24]
Content
Reflecting in 2002, Rolling Stone writer Jon Caramanica calls the album a "bombastic, cacophonous car ride through Los Angeles' burnt-out and ignored hoods".[31] In a contemporary review, rather, Mark Holmberg, in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, calls it "a preacher-provoking, mother-maddening, reality-stinks" album that "wallows in gangs, doping, drive-by shootings, brutal sexism, cop slamming and racism".[32]Newsweek wrote, "Hinting at gang roots, and selling themselves on those hints, they project a gangster mystique that pays no attention to where criminality begins and marketing lets off."[33] Even when depicting severe and unprovoked violence, the rappers cite their own stage names as its very perpetrators. By their sheer force, the album's opening three tracks—"Straight Outta Compton", "Fuck tha Police", and "Gangsta Gangsta"—signature songs setting N.W.A's platform, says AllMusic album reviewer Steve Huey, "threaten to dwarf everything that follows".[24]
First, the title track, smearing and menacing civilians and police, men and women, while women receive gruff sexual advances, too, even threatens to "smother your mother". Then, after a skit of the police put on criminal trial, "Fuck tha Police", alleging chronic harassment and brutality by officers, singularly threatens lethal retaliation. "Gangsta Gangsta" depicts group outings to carouse with women while slurring unwilling women and assaulting men, whether confrontational troublemakers, innocent bystanders, or a driver who, fleeing the failed carjacking, gets shot at. "8 Ball" is dedicated to the 40 oz bottles of malt liquor, Olde English 800.[34] "Express Yourself", written by Cube and rapped by Dre, incidentally scorns weed smoking—already proclaimed by Cube in "Gangsta Gangsta" as his own, chronic practice—which allegedly causes brain damage, a threat to the song's optimistic agenda, liberal individuality. "I Ain't tha 1" scorns spending money on women. "Dopeman" depicts the crack epidemic's aftermath. Closing the album, "Something 2 Dance 2" is upbeat.[3]
The term "gangsta rap", soon to arise in journalism, had not been coined yet.[3] According to Ice Cube, the rappers themselves called it "reality rap".[3] Indicting N.W.A as its leading example, journalist David Mills, in 1990, acknowledges, "The hard-core street rappers defend their violent lyrics as a reflection of 'reality'. But for all the gunshots they mix into their music, rappers rarely try to dramatize that reality" empathetically. "It's easier for them to imagine themselves pulling the trigger."[35] Still, the year before, Bud Norman, reviewing in the Wichita Eagle-Beacon, assesses that on Straight Outta Compton, "they don't make it sound like much fun".[36] In Norman's view, "They describe it with the same nonjudgmental resignation that a Kansan might use about a tornado."[36] Steve Huey, writing for AllMusic, considered that "Straight Outta Compton's insistent claims of reality ring a little hollow today, since it hardly ever depicts consequences. But despite all the romanticized invincibility, the force and detail of Ice Cube's writing makes the exaggerations resonate."[24]
N.W.A's Greatest Hits, released in July 1996, featured six tracks from Straight Outta Compton: "Gangsta Gangsta", "If It Ain't Ruff", "I Ain't tha 1", "Express Yourself", an extended mix of "Straight Outta Compton", and "Fuck tha Police", which is absent from Straight Outta Compton's censored version.[37]
Release
In the United Kingdom, the album was released by 4th & B'way Records after a period that Roy Wilkinson of Sounds described as "months" of selling well as an import release.[38]
Music journalist Greg Kot, reviewing Straight Outta Compton for the Chicago Tribune, finds N.W.A's sound "fuller and funkier" than that of East Coast hip-hop, and their lyrics just as "unforgiving" as those of East Coast group Public Enemy.[39]Los Angeles Times critic Dennis Hunt anticipates that listeners may be offended by the album's lack of "moralizing", "even more so than the searing street language", and advises, "To appreciate this remarkable, disturbing album you have to approach it for what it is—a no-holds-barred, audio-documentary of ghetto life."[40] On the other hand, Cary Darling, in California's Orange County Register, while thinking that the lyrics make Ice-T "look like a Cub Scout", ultimately deems Straight Outta Compton "curiously uninvolving", as it "lacks the insight and passion that put the best work by the likes of Boogie Down Productions, Ice-T and Public Enemy so far ahead of the field".[44]Robert Christgau of The Village Voice perceives N.W.A's persona as calculated: "Right, it's not about salary—it's about royalties, about brandishing scarewords like 'street' and 'crazy' and 'fuck' and 'reality' until suckers black and white cough up the cash."[43]
In the UK, Sounds reviewer Roy Wilkinson declared Straight Outta Compton "rap's answer to Slayer's Reign in Blood—a record the majors were scared to touch", continuing, "This is rock made genuinely wild again. Beware, the pop jive of the current 'Express Yourself' single will in no way prepare you for the Magnum beat that fires here."[38] Other British publications were less enthusiastic. Paolo Hewitt of NME takes issue with the lyrics' "macho repetition and tunnel vision",[41] while in the Hi-Fi News & Record Review, Peter Clark, going further, calls the lyrics "unrelenting in their unpleasantness".[45] Offering the lowest possible rating, Clark adds, "The cumulative effect is like listening to an endless fight next door. The music on this record is without a hint of dynamics or melody."[45] Charlie Dick, writing for Q, contends, "In the wake of Public Enemy and KRS-One, it is amazing that something this lightweight could cause such a stir. The all-mouth-and-trousers content is backed up by likable drum machine twittering, minimal instrumentation and duffish production."[42] Still, he predicts, "This regressive nonsense will be passed off as social commentary by thrill-seekers all across the free world."[42]
By 1991, while criticizing group members for allegedly carrying misogynist lyrics into real life, Newsweek incidentally comments that Straight Outta Compton, nonetheless, "introduced some of the most grotesquely exciting music ever made".[33] Writing in retrospect, Steve Huey, in AllMusic, deems the album mainly just "raising hell" while posturing, but finds that "it still sounds refreshingly uncalculated because of its irreverent, gonzo sense of humor, still unfortunately rare in hardcore rap".[24] In the 2004 Rolling Stone Album Guide, Roni Sarig states that although Straight Outta Compton was viewed as a "perversion" of the "more politically sophisticated" style of hip-hop exemplified by Public Enemy, the album displays "a more righteous fury than the hundreds of copycats it spawned".[50]
Rankings
In 1994, British magazine Hip Hop Connection, placing the album third among rap's best albums, adds, "Straight Outta Compton sounded so exciting, insignificant details such as realism and integrity could be overlooked."[54] Hip-hop magazine The Source included Straight Outta Compton in its 1998 "100 Best Albums" list.[55] Television network VH1, in 2003, placed it 62nd.[56]Spin magazine, sorting the "100 Greatest Albums, 1985–2005", identified it 10th.[57]
The first rap album ever to gain five stars from Rolling Stone at initial review, it placed 70th among the magazine's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in its 2020 revised list.[58]Time, in 2006, named it one of the 100 greatest albums of all time.[59]Vibe appraised it as one of the 100 Essential Albums of the 20th Century.[60] In 2012, Slant Magazine listed it 18th among the "Best Albums of the 1980s".[28] In any case, in November 2016, Straight Outta Compton became the first rap album inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.[12] In 2017, Straight Outta Compton was selected for preservation in the United States National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress, who deemed it to be "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".[61]
Commercial performance
N.W.A's best selling album, Straight Outta Compton, released in August 1988, attained gold certification, half a million copies sold, on April 13, 1989.[62] Meanwhile, the album peaked at number 9 on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and on April 15, 1989, at number 37 on the Billboard 200, which ranks the week's most popular albums.[8][63] On July 18, 1989, the album was certified platinum, one million copies sold.[62]
By contrast, N.W.A. and the Posse, out since November 1987, reached gold certification in September 1994.[64] The group's 100 Miles and Runnin' EP, which took two years to produce and was released in August 1990, went platinum in September 1992.[65] That year, on March 27, Straight Outta Compton was certified double-platinum, two million copies sold.[62]
By Priority Records' estimation, about 80% of Straight Outta Compton's sales occurred in suburban areas predominantly white.[66][67] N.W.A's next and final full-length album, Efil4zaggin or Niggaz4Life, released in late May 1991, went platinum just over two months later, in August 1991, yet in 2020 remains platinum,[68] whereas on November 11, 2015, Straight Outta Compton was certified triple-platinum, three million copies sold.[62]
Approaching the August 2015 release of the film Straight Outta Compton, the album reentered the Billboard 200 at number 173.[69] The next week, it rose to number 97, another week later reached number 30[69]—beyond its 1989 peak position of #37—and on September 5 peaked at number 6.[70] Meanwhile, the album's title track, entering the popular songs chart, the Billboard Hot 100, becoming N.W.A's first song in the Top 40,[71] spent two weeks at number 38.[72]
Media presence
In 2004, the DigitaArts list 25 Best Albums Covers included Straight Outta Compton.[73] By the album's release, Arabian Prince, on the cover, had left N.W.A. Lacking him, an iconic group photo taken by Ithaka Darin Pappas on November 11, 1988, at Pappa's studio apartment in Los Angeles' Miracle Mile district, has been repeatedly republished in media,[74] including The Source's May 1989 cover, captioning, "California Rap Hits Nationwide!" Pappas calls it the "Miracle Mile Shot",[75] the DVD cover of the 2015 documentary Kings Of Compton,[76][77] in France's Musée d'art contemporain de Marseille from 2017 to 2018,[78][79] and a backdrop at N.W.A's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 2016 in Brooklyn, New York.[80]
Sinéad O'Connor, then herself controversial, appraised in 1990 that "It's definitely the best rap record I've ever heard".[81] But, feeling that he had rushed its production, N.W.A's own Dr. Dre, in a 1993 interview, remarked, "To this day, I can't stand that album. I threw that thing together in six weeks so we could have something to sell out of the trunk.” Additionally, he said, “Back then, I thought the choruses were supposed to just be me scratching.”[3] In 2006, parodic music artist "Weird Al" Yankovic released a new album, Straight Outta Lynwood. Punk rock band NOFX released the 2009 song "Straight Outta Massachusetts". In the 2014 film 22 Jump Street, the character Mrs. Dickson, whose husband is played by Ice Cube, says she's "straight outta Compton".[82] In 2015, the biopicStraight Outta Compton was a hit film.[83]
Track listing
All the songs are produced by Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, and Arabian Prince
1 2 3 David Diallo, ch. 10 "From electro-rap to G-funk: A social history of rap music in Los Angeles and Compton, California", in Mickey Hess, ed., Hip Hop in America: A Regional Guide, Volume 1: East Coast and West Coast (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press, 2010), pp 234–238.
↑ Incidentally, this 1988 album is N.W.A's last album with contributions by Arabian Prince, already gone by its August release, and by Ice Cube, gone by 1990. Both, however, are on N.W.A's 1987 compilation album, N.W.A. and the Posse—sometimes recognized as N.W.A's first album—whereas at the Posse album's release, MC Ren may not have yet joined N.W.A's roster. That is despite MC Ren's appearance, among several others, in the Posse album's cover photo [Martin Cizmar, "Whatever happened to N.W.A's posse?", LA Weekly, 6 May 2010]. In any case, by N.W.A's next significant release, a 1990 EP, 100 Miles and Runnin', the group is four—Eazy, Dre, Yella, and Ren—also on the next and final album, 1991's Efil4zaggin or Niggaz4Life.
↑ Wayne Marshall, "Kool Herc," in Mickey Hess, ed., Icons of Hip Hop: An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture, Volume 1 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2007), pp 6–7.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 David Diallo, ch. 10 "From electro-rap to G-funk: A social history of rap music in Los Angeles and Compton, California", in Mickey Hess, ed., Hip Hop in America: A Regional Guide, Volume 1: East Coast and West Coast (Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood Press, 2010), with pp 228–231 on Ice-T, p 233 and following on World Class Wreckin' Cru', pp 234–238 on N.W.A, and otherwise backstory on their precursor, contemporary, and evolving rap scene in the Los Angeles area.
1 2 David Diallo, "Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg", in Mickey Hess, ed., Icons of Hip Hop: An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood Press, 2007), pp 319–321.
↑ In the song, Schoolly D raps, "Park Side Killers is making that green / One by one, I'm knocking 'em out" Tom Moon, "The first great gangsta rap record: Straight Outta Compton: N.W.A", 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die: A Listener's Life List (New York: Workman Publishing, 2008), p 557.
1 2 Stephen Thomas Erlewine, "N.W.A: Biography", AllMusic.com, Netaktion LLC, visited 26 Apr 2020.
↑ Robin D. G. Kelley, "Kickin' reality, kickin' ballistics: Gangsta rap and postindustrial Los Angeles", in William Eric Perkins, ed., Droppin' Science: Critical Essays on Rap Music and Hip Hop Culture (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996), p 128.
1 2 Stephen Thomas Erlewine, "N.W.A: Biography", AllMusic.com, Netaktion LLC, visited 25 Apr 2020.
↑ Jason Birchmeier, "Compton's Most Wanted", in Chris Woodstra, John Bush & Stephen Thomas Erlewine, eds., All Music Guide: Required Listening, Volum 2: Old School Rap and Hip-Hop (New York, NY: Backbeat Books, 2008), p 15.
↑ In N.W.A's 1990 single "100 Miles and Runnin'", the title track of the group's only nationally distributed EP whose music video shows the rappers running from police, Dre raps that "now the FBI is all over my dick!" [MetroLyrics, "N.W.A—100 Miles And Running lyrics", CBS Interactive Inc., 2020]. And in the title track of his 1990 or debut solo album, AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted, Ice Cube raps, "With a pay-off, cop gotta lay off / FBI on my dick, stay off" [MetroLyrics, "Ice Cube—Amerikkka's Most Wanted lyrics", CBS Interactive Inc., 2020].
↑ Westhoff, Ben (2016). Original Gangstas: The Untold Story of Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, Ice Cube, Tupac Shakur, and the Birth of West Coast Rap. Hachette Books. p.79. ISBN978-0-3163-8389-9.
↑ George Ciccariello-Maher, "The 808", in Mickey Hess, ed., Icons of Hip Hop: An Encyclopedia of the Movement, Music, and Culture, Volume 1 (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2007), p 75.
↑ David Mills, "Rap's hostile fringe: From N.W.A. and others, 'reality'-based violence", Washington Post, 2 September 1990, G1, quoted by Soren Baker, The History of Rap and Hip-Hop (Farmingham Mills, Michigan: Lucent Books, 2012), p 58, and also cited by Loren Kajikawa, Sounding Race in Rap Songs (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 2015), p 169.
↑ Mao, Chairman (October 2002). "Mad as F#@%". Blender. Vol.1, no.10. New York. p.142. Archived from the original on April 19, 2010. Retrieved August 19, 2015.
↑ Gold & Platinum search, "N.W.A. and the Posse", Recording Industry Association of America website, visited 7 May 2020.
↑ Gold & Platinum search, "100 Miles and Runnin' ", Recording Industry Association of America website, visited 7 May 2020.
↑ Scott Warfield, "N.W.A.", in Melissa Ursula Dawn Goldsmith & Anthony J. Fonseca, eds., Hip Hop Around the World: An Encyclopedia (Santa Barbara, CA: Greenwood, 2018), p 535.
↑ Terry McDermott, "NWA: Straight Outta Compton", Los Angeles Times, 14 Apr 2002, archived by "Davey D", FNV Newsletter website.
↑ Gold & Platinum search, "Efil4zaggin", Recording Industry Association of America website, visited 7 May 2020.
N.W.A was an American hip hop group formed in Compton, California. Among the earliest and most significant figures of the gangsta rap subgenre, the group is widely considered one of the greatest and most influential acts in hip hop music.
Lorenzo Jerald Patterson, known professionally as MC Ren, is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer from Compton, California. He is the founder and owner of the independent record label Villain Entertainment.
O'Shea Jackson Sr., known as Ice Cube, is an American rapper, songwriter, actor, and film producer. His lyrics on N.W.A's 1988 album Straight Outta Compton contributed to gangsta rap's widespread popularity, and his political rap solo albums AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted (1990), Death Certificate (1991), and The Predator (1992) were all critically and commercially successful. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of N.W.A in 2016.
Eric Lynn Wright, known professionally by the stage name Eazy-E, was an American rapper who propelled West Coast rap and gangsta rap by leading the group N.W.A and its label, Ruthless Records. He is often referred to as the "Godfather of Gangsta Rap".
Antoine Carraby, known professionally as DJ Yella, is an American DJ, record producer, and film director from Compton, California.
100 Miles and Runnin' is the only EP from the American gangsta rap group N.W.A. Released on August 14, 1990, this EP of five tracks reflects an evolution of N.W.A's sound and centers on the single "100 Miles and Runnin'". Two tracks, "100 Miles" and "Real Niggaz", incidentally incited N.W.A's feud with Ice Cube, who had left to start a solo rap career. The porno rap track "Just Don't Bite It" also drew notice. Pushing lyrical boundaries in its day, the EP went gold in November 1990 and platinum in September 1992.
N.W.A. and the Posse is a compilation album, re-releasing N.W.A and associated groups' underground rap songs from the Los Angeles area's rap scene on November 6, 1987. It is regarded as American rap group N.W.A's first but neglected album; N.W.A's authorized debut studio album, rather, is Straight Outta Compton, released in August 1988. Whereas the Straight album was certified platinum, one million copies sold in July 1989, the Posse album was certified gold, half as many copies sold, in April 1994.
Tracy Lynn Curry, better known by his stage name the D.O.C., is an American rapper, songwriter, and record producer from Dallas, Texas. Along with his solo career, he was a member of the Southern hip hop group Fila Fresh Crew, and later co-wrote for and collaborated with the gangsta rap group N.W.A and Eazy-E. He has also worked with record producer Dr. Dre, co-writing his solo debut album, while Dre produced Curry's debut studio album, No One Can Do It Better (1989), which was released by Eazy-E's Ruthless Records in a joint venture with Atlantic Records. With Dr. Dre and record executives Suge Knight and Dick Griffey, Curry co-founded Death Row Records in 1991, which has signed artists including Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg.
Eazy-Duz-It is the debut studio album by American rapper Eazy-E. It was released on November 22, 1988, by Ruthless Records and Priority Records. The album charted on two different charts and went 2× Platinum in the United States despite very little promotion by radio and television. Three singles were released from the album, each charting in the US. The remastered version contains tracks from the extended play (EP), 5150: Home 4 tha Sick (1992). The 25th anniversary (2013) contains two bonus tracks which are 12" remixes of "We Want Eazy" and "Still Talkin.'"
Niggaz4Life is the second and final studio album by gangsta rap group N.W.A, released on May 28, 1991. It was their final album, as the group disbanded later the same year after the departure of Dr. Dre and songwriter and unofficial member of the group The D.O.C. who both left to form Death Row Records; the album features only four members of the original line-up, as Arabian Prince and Ice Cube had already left the group in 1988 and 1989 respectively. Niggaz4Life debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200, but in its second week peaked at number 1.
Gerald Elliot Heller was an American music manager and businessman. He was best known for his management of West Coast rap and gangsta rap pioneers N.W.A and Eazy-E. He rose to prominence in the 1960s and 1970s representing Journey, Marvin Gaye, Van Morrison, War, Eric Burdon, Crosby Stills & Nash, Ike & Tina Turner, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Otis Redding, the Who, REO Speedwagon, Black Sabbath, Humble Pie, Styx, the Grass Roots, and the Standells, among many others.
Ruthless Records was an American Independent record label founded by Eric "Eazy-E" Wright and Jerry Heller in Compton, California in 1987. All of the Ruthless trademarks have been owned by Comptown Records, Inc. since 1987. Several artists and groups on the label such as N.W.A, Eazy-E, MC Ren, The D.O.C., Michel'le, and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony have released RIAA certified albums.
"Boyz-n-the-Hood" is the debut single by Eazy-E, then leader of a new rap group, N.W.A. Released in March 1987, the single was a local hit, reissued, by year's end on the unauthorized compilation album N.W.A. and the Posse.
"Straight Outta Compton" is a song by American hip hop group N.W.A. It was released on July 10, 1988 as the lead single from their debut album of the same name. It also appears on N.W.A's Greatest Hits with an extended mix and The Best of N.W.A: The Strength of Street Knowledge. The song samples "You'll Like It Too" by Funkadelic, "West Coast Poplock" by Ronnie Hudson and the Street People, "Get Me Back on Time, Engine No. 9" by Wilson Pickett, and most famously, "Amen, Brother" by The Winstons. It was voted number 19 on About.com's Top 100 Rap Songs, and is ranked number 6 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of Hip Hop.
"Alwayz Into Somethin'" is a song by American hip hop group N.W.A, performed by Dr. Dre and MC Ren featuring Admiral D. It is the lead single from their second and final studio album, Niggaz4Life. The song also appeared on the N.W.A's Greatest Hits album and The Best of N.W.A: The Strength of Street Knowledge.
The discography of American hip hop group N.W.A, consists of two studio albums, six compilation albums, one extended play (EP), eight singles, one video album and five music videos. N.W.A was formed in Compton, California in 1986 by Eazy-E, Dr. Dre, DJ Yella, Arabian Prince and Ice Cube, with The D.O.C. and MC Ren joining later. The group's first release was the compilation album N.W.A. and the Posse in 1987, which also featured songs by The Fila Fresh Crew, Rappinstine and Ron-De-Vu. Their debut album Straight Outta Compton followed the next year, which initially reached number 37 on the US Billboard 200; it has since reached number four, and has sold over 1.5 million copies in the US alone. "Straight Outta Compton", "Gangsta Gangsta" and "Express Yourself" were released as singles from the album, all of which registered on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
Straight Outta Compton: N.W.A 10th Anniversary Tribute is a tribute album to the American Compton-based hip hop group N.W.A, released through Priority Records in 1998 on the tenth anniversary of the group's debut studio album Straight Outta Compton. It is composed of twelve of the thirteen songs in the order identical to the original, covered by N.W.A. members' affiliates, such as Ice Cube's Westside Connection groupmates WC and Mack 10 along with Hoo-Bangin' Records labelmates Allfrumtha I, Boo Kapone, MC Eiht and The Comrads, Eazy-E's protégés Gangsta Dresta and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, and Dr. Dre's long time partner Snoop Dogg with Snoop's allies C-Murder and Silkk the Shocker, and Aftermath Ent. signee King Tee, as well as several other fellow rappers, including Ant Banks, Jayo Felony, J Dubb, Mr. Mike, Big Pun, Cuban Link and Fat Joe. Production was mostly handled by Ant Banks, as well as Craig B. of Beats by the Pound, Krayzie Bone, Dr. Dre and DJ Yella, with Andrew M. Shack and Marvin Watkins served as executive producers. The album peaked at number 142 on the Billboard 200 and 31 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart in the United States. Music video was shot for the title track.
Straight Outta Compton is a 2015 American epic biographical drama film that depicts the rise and fall of the hip hop group N.W.A under the management of Jerry Heller. It was directed by F. Gary Gray from a screenplay written by Jonathan Herman and Andrea Berloff based on a story written by Berloff and executive producers S. Leigh Savidge and Alan Wenkus. Co-produced by Gray, former members Ice Cube and Dr. Dre, Eazy-E's widow Tomica Woods-Wright, Matt Alvarez and Scott Bernstein, with MC Ren and DJ Yella serving as creative consultants, the film stars O'Shea Jackson Jr. as his father Ice Cube, alongside Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, Neil Brown Jr. and Aldis Hodge as Dr. Dre, Eazy-E, MC Ren and DJ Yella, respectively, and Paul Giamatti as Heller. Rounding out the rest of the ensemble cast include Marlon Yates Jr, R. Marcos Taylor, LaKeith Stanfield, Alexandra Shipp and Keith Powers.
The Miracle Mile Shot is an experimental short subject, non-dialogue documentary film based entirely on a single photograph of the influential Gangsta rap group N.W.A. created on November 11, 1988, in the Miracle Mile area of Los Angeles, California, by photographer/artist Ithaka Darin Pappas. The photograph itself, also entitled The Miracle Mile Shot, was captured during a photo session that took place at the photographer's home studio apartment at 6516 1/2 Orange Street, Los Angeles. The short film, screened for the first time at the LAGFF on June 19, 2019, visually tells the story of the most important uses of the photograph in chronological order.
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