#70 N.W.A, 'Straight Outta Compton' (1988)
Previously #144
“You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge.” And so begins one of the most influential Hip Hop records of all time. N.W.A., aka Niggaz Wit Attitudes, was led by Eazy-E, but features the iconic producers, Dr. Dre, DJ Yella and Arabian Prince, and lyricists Ice Cube and MC Ren. Self-styled as “the world’s most dangerous group,” ‘Straight Outta Compton’ not only depicts the violence, brutality and racism experienced by those living in the L.A. suburb of Compton, but it threatened to incite it. N.W.A. took the bourgeoning subgenre of Gangsta Rap and made it their own. The production is groundbreaking and the flow of the music is astounding. In a retrospective review, Rolling Stone said that it’s a "bombastic, cacophonous car ride through Los Angeles' burnt-out and ignored hoods," and I couldn’t have said it better myself. Incidentally, upon its release, ‘Straight Outta Compton’ was the first rap album ever to receive a 5-star review from Rolling Stone.
Smashing through the gates with the title track, it’s a take-no-prisoners affair, before being smashed in the face with one of the great modern-day protest songs ever, ‘Fuck tha Police.’ The song protests police brutality and racial profiling, and unfortunately it’s still relevant to say, especially in the US. My favourite story about this song is upon its release, triple j had been playing it regularly (swearing is allowed on the station). A senator protested the song, which led to the ABC banning the station from playing it. In protest, the station went on strike and played third single from the record, ‘Express Yourself,’ on repeat for 24 hours. But the biggest middle finger from triple j in all this was that they sampled the scratching from the song and used it in their news jingle effectively playing a part of ‘Fuck The Police’ on air multiple times a day. Highlights of the record include the aforementioned ‘FTP’ and ‘Express Yourself,’ as well as ‘8 Ball,’ ‘Parental Discretion Iz Advised,’ ‘Gangsta Gangsta’ and ‘If It Ain’t Ruff.’ It was the first platinum-certified Gangsta Rap record, and would eventually go on to sell 3x Platinum, helped along by the biopic in 2015. It was the first Rap record to be inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame and it has also been included in the National Recording Registry by the Library Of Congress.
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