"It all happened and the guy tried to choke her, nigga didn't care, she ain't nothing but a smoker, that's the way goes, that's the name of the game, young brother gettin over by slanging caine"
One of the most controversial albums of time is N.W.A.'s Straight Outta Compton. It's one of the albums that contripbuted to the creation of the parental advisory label, and it probably could have done that single handedly. It's full of over the top violence, disrespect for authority and a complete lack of respect for women that went beyond even what was heard regularly at that time. Straight Outta Compton was blamed for glorifying gang violence and black on black crime, but it's just not that simple.
The album was released in 1988 but it's actually somewhat ahead of it's time. The album features the standard beats of that time but it differentiated itself in a variety of ways. Dr. Dre added several samples from rock groups and soul singers that wasn't something that was common at the time. For his part DJ Yella's scratching was meticulous and planned. It wasn't scratching to be scratching for the most part he played it safe.
The album opens with Dr. Dre stating "you are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge." Ice Cube later described the idea of street knowledge in an interview. He stated that Public Enemy was giving you political knowledge while NWA was giving you street knowledge. Political knowledge was Public Enemy telling people what politicians thought about them while street knowledge was NWA telling politicians what the streets thought about them. It's an interesting concept and explains
"Fuck Da Police," isn't a track about just going out and shooting police. For some reason if you mention police in a song, police and politicians automatically assume you're encouraging violence against police. The track is actually NWA putting the LAPD on trial and features some nice commentary on the police departments predatory behavior, especially towards black youth. Ice Cube states "a young nigga got it bad cause I'm brown and not the other color, so police think, they have the authority to kill a minority." It's a true statement, we repeatedly see police just pull up to the scene and start shooting at minorities with no questions asked. A lot of people wrote NWA off as liars and antagonizers but 4 years later the Rodney King video surfaced and people realized the police weren't so perfect. Cube also states "fucking with me cause I'm a teenager," because police do target young black men and that's a fact that's been backed by multiple studies. Cube also states "But don't let it be a black and a white one, cause they'll slam ya down to the street top, black police showing out for the white cop." This isn't a new phenomenon, and it's sadly frequent. Often black officers are put in situations where they need to prove their loyalty to their white coworkers over black people. This forces them to up the violence and the white officer to up it so he isn't out done and they view it as okay because the black guy did it first.
MC Ren follows Ice Cube by telling a story about how the police pulled him over only to beat and mace him. Ren wished he had a gun with him to defend himself, but he didn't. He states if it was a fair fight he could have beat the cop, instead he was beaten with a nightstick. Eazy E doesn't glorify gang life. He's pointing out that police are liars. "shining the light in my face, and for what, maybe it's because I kick so much butt, I kick ass -- or maybe cause I blast, on a stupid-ass nigga when I'm playing with the trigger of an Uzi or an AK, cause the police always got some stupid shit to say, hey put out my picture with silence, cause my identity by itself causes violence." In other words, Eazy didn't do these crimes but he might as well have because police lie. His identity that causes violence isn't that of a famous rapper, it's the identity of a black man. Eazy fits the description of a black man, the standard police description 4'8-7'6 between 100 and 400lbs light to dark complexion. The police simply harass him based on this description even when he hasn't done anything at all. The song ends with the police officer yelling he wants justice and the court ignoring him, a role reversal.
"Gangsta Gangsta," is a track from the first person perspective, but it's a fictional story. Ice Cube starts his verse with "Here's a little something bout a nigga like me, never shoulda been let out the penitentiary" a little research shows that Ice Cube has never been to penitentiary, he studied architecture in college. The song is not about Cube in his gang. To someone outside the black community it may look like he's glorifying the gang life but he isn't. The song is satire, pointing out how gangsters glorify their lifestyle but when you hear it, it's not glamorous at all. If that's not enough Cube breaks character and asks "do I look like a mutha fuckin role model?" He follows up sarcastically stating "to a kid lookin' up ta me, life ain't nothin but bitches and money." If that's not enough of a hint that the song is satire MC Yell scratches in a sample of "Sonnet To My Idol," by Lady Reed stating "hopin you sophisticated motherfuckers hear what I have to say." Again, this is more of a hint because the poem is about how gangsters as in gang members aren't anything to look up to. It's a poem about how a real man stands on his own two feet.
Another track that is almost satirical is "Parental Discretion iz Advised." This track features every member of the group that raps including the legendary D.O.C. who wasn't a formal member of NWA but was a ghost writer. The track acknowledges that politicians want to censor their music so they have some fun. Everyone just spits the most vulgar rhymes they can with no context for the sake of being vulgar. I stated earlier how NWA viewed street knowledge as telling politicians what the street thought of them. This track was just a big middle finger. There's no reason for this song other than offending people on purpose. The track "Something Like That," continues to taunt people with MC Ren and Dr. Dre harmonizing the opening verse which states:
"Back by demand, now it's big as fuck, because you as the public, you should know what's up 'Compton's in the House' was more than gold, it was a hit cause it was based on some crazy shit, so our final conclusion has been permitted, punks made us a target and knew that we'd hit it, but that was a part of showbizz"It's all showbizz people. They based the song on the crazy things around them and amplified it to sell more records. Only for punks, the politicians, to target them an help them grow bigger in the process. Politicians only helped to grow the thing they hated so why would they change anything? Chamillionare once stated "rap is wrestling," in the sense that it's a performance art that mimics real life and more often than not, it's highly exaggerated. That's why Jay Z stated "believe half of what you see, none of what you hear, even if it's spat by me and with that said, I will kill niggas dead." It's comical in the sense that people were going crazy about this album and misinterpreting it, while NWA laughed. They're telling you openly that despite the fact that they're taking on real issues it's highly exaggerated. DJ Yella and Dr. Dre were in World Class Wrecking Cru, and I doubt the crew was kicking in doors in shiny suits. People who simply do not understand the black community were afraid of this album because they didn't understand and here NWA is laughing at them.
"Express Yourself," is NWA responding to the critics. When it comes to the abundance of cursing in their music Dre states "Some musicians curse at home, but scared to use profanity when up on the microphone." In another piece of NWA irony, this is the only song on the album that doesn't have any curse words. It became a number one hit and was still controversial. He also takes aim at other rappers who were claiming that NWA was sullying what rap music was "others say rhymes that fail to be original, or they kill where the hip-hop starts, forget about the ghetto and rap for the pop charts." In other words Dre thinks they all sound the same. He also criticizes them for ignoring the issues in the ghetto where hip hop was born as a way for minorities to have their voices heard. He continues by pointing out more hypocrisy "some say no to drugs and take a stand, but after the show they go looking for the dopeman." It sounds like he's talking about rappers at that point but it's actually about politicians. That's followed by "or they ban my group from the radio, hear N.W.A and say 'Hell no!'" it's obvious he's talking politicians who are no stranger to taking a stand on drugs and being caught with drugs. Even if NWA doesn't make any money it's okay because according to Dre "it ain't all about wealth as long as you make a note to 'express yourself'."
Is Straight Outta Compton violent, yes. Is it misogynistic, you bet. Does it glorify black on black violence and gang life? Not at all. It's an album of expression. This is where NWA is from and this is what happens. Politicians looking in were supposed to understand why the ghetto doesn't trust them, but that didn't happen. Instead of wondering how they could stop police from beating and killing everyone, they wanted to ban the album for too much cursing. The violence and misogyny shouldn't take away from the fact this is an important album. It's a brutal first hand account of what goes on in not only Compton but black areas all over the country. Instead it's discounted because it may be politically incorrect. It's an expression of what we go through that shouldn't be marginalized because it offends you. NWA realized that sometimes you have to offend people to get your point across.
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You can hear Darrell on the CP Time and Powerbomb Jutsu podcasts. He also plays classic arcade games on The Cabinet
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