Straight Outta Compton

 I was born in 2006, 18 years after N.W.A.’s Straight Outta Compton hit the airwaves. Many of my friends know more rappers named Lil’ __ than artists from the 20th century. Yet, the self proclaimed World’s Most Dangerous Group starring Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, MC Ren, and Eazy-E  lives on in Generation Z. For example, in Orinda, California, the mostly-white, suburban town where I live, a classmate of mine dressed up as Eazy-E for Halloween, and every year at the elementary school talent show, some kids do a hip-hop routine with “Straight Outta (upper middle class suburban town)” shirts and baseball caps. I’ve never been to Compton. My friends have never experienced police brutality. Yet, N. W. A. has been ingrained in America like Star Wars or the New York Yankees as a timeless group.

Once I was mature enough to understand the messages and references in Straight Outta Compton, one thing stood out. N. W. A. was unapologetically themselves. I’ve heard plenty of people speak out for what they care about. However, with a record label breathing breathing down a group’s neck, it’s easy to shut your beliefs out for that fat paycheck and platinum record. From the minute I clicked shuffle on that album, I knew something was special. These guys wouldn’t sell out their personal views. They were going to use their musical platform to advance them. 

A lot of the credit for the group’s 21st century remembrance should go to the 2015 biopic on the group, Straight Outta Compton. Yet, they and their tour de force album live on in rap history not because of a movie studio, but because of the emotion, energy, and perspective on the songs of a bunch of rappers from LA. What strikes me most about this album is this group’s truthfulness through music. For the better or worse, every ounce of emotion and opinion that N. W. A. felt was expressed in Straight Outta Compton. 

Instantly, the album began with a bang with Straight Outta Compton, providing instant energy from the first second. The titular track followed their hip-hop ancestor, the Sugarhill Gang’s hit Rapper’s Delight, by letting us get to know the crew we were going to spend 13 songs with. The opening to the song showcases Dr. Dre saying “You’re about to witness the strength of street knowledge,” a line which is only rivaled by Mission: Impossible—  Fallout for greatest opening. This sentence doesn’t just serve as an opening for the first verse or even the whole song, but for the entire album, as each song allows the N.W.A. members to share their feelings or recount an adventure they had as black men on the streets of Compton. 

They then segue into the introductory period, where Ice Cube falsely introduces himself as a Compton native (he lived in South Los Angeles for his pre-N. W. A. life), MC Ren crowns himself the villain of the group, and Eazy-E raps about his wealth and ability to disappear. The three make more violent or sexual references than Pulp Fiction.

Aside from the catchy beat and palpable energy, the most intriguing thing about Straight Outta Compton is the way the dynamic of the group is put on full display. As the moderator in this track, Dr. Dre was obviously one of the main guys, tying everyone together, and doing the lion’s share of the sound mixing behind the scenes. It was also clear that Ice Cube was doing a lot of the work, as he led off the song with the first verse. He did a lot, writing a lot of the brilliant lyrics that blasted N. W. A. to the top of the charts. It was a perfect partnership on both sides of the microphone, with Ice Cube the MC and Dr. Dre the DJ. In front of it, Ice Cube could bask in the limelight of being the star, while Dr. Dre could take a backseat while still contributing a lot. Behind the mic, their collaboration worked just as well, as Cube could write lyrics and Dre was able to make beats. 

Next, they seamlessly transition into F*ck Tha Police. A perfect blend of the fun, trademark N. W. A. beat and a very real racial movement, the song did a brilliant job of spreading awareness about police brutality with a catchy rhythm. Now, stories like George Floyd’s may be common knowledge, but at the time, it was rare to expose that frustration about police treatment of African Americans. Music was the perfect medium to use, one of the only places you could get the word out about what Black people were experiencing in their daily lives.

This emotional track shared Straight Outta Compton’s formula, in which “Judge Dre” presided over the court, and transitioned into Ice Cube, MC Ren, and Eazy-E’s monologues. Ice Cube kicked it off, quickly dropping a truth bomb, rapping that the police “have the authority to kill a minority.” That has to go on the Mount Rushmore of most insightful rhymes in a rap song. While no other line could rival that, Ice Cube, Ren, and Eazy-E’s tales of police abuse were powerful. One of the craziest experiences they had was the police’s refusal to protect them at their concerts, leaving them at the mercy of the spectators.

F*ck Tha Police may have been one of the edgiest on the album when it came out in 1988. However, it has aged better than LeBron James, charging into 2020 with a message more ahead of its time than Reggie Miller or Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. When I first listened to N. W. A, I assumed F*ck Tha Police was released after the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles. It just made sense given the meanings of the lyrics and their SoCal roots. Yet, Straight Outta Compton was released three years prior to Southern California’s uproar following the assault on King. 

Barring futuristic predictions a la The Simpsons, N. W. A. created a protest anthem by rapping about their real-life experiences. This is why people like N. W. A. and Colin Kaepernick impress me. It’s easy to ride a wave of popularity on a timely issue, but they took a risk on something that was going to stir up controversy, not for a guaranteed cash cow, but because it was an important issue to them, and because they knew they were doing the right thing. In fact, they got a letter from the FBI. Needless to say, they weren’t big fans of the track. That’s how cultural classics mean something. The risks N. W. A. are why this song was such an anthem in the police protests of 1991, 2014, and 2020. 

While the stories told by N. W. A. were very real, the motivation was a lot pettier. Ice Cube was frustrated that Dr. Dre had to go to jail for a minor charge on the weekends, so they couldn’t party. In his frustration, he penned the song, and that’s how a classic hip-hop track was born from a misdemeanor.

Soon, N. W. A. moves to another song inspired by their experiences as African-Americans in Compton, called Gangsta Gangsta. Using an innovative format, the second single on Straight Outta Compton again coupled an intense concept with a beat that won’t get out of my head until Shaq hits a three. Ice Cube did most of the rapping, besides Eazy-E finishing it off with the final verse, but what made the song fun was the interjections from the other N. W. A. members, changing the pace from their quick comments and quips. They did a great job describing Compton’s gangster/drug scene with a combination of third-party observations and their captivating personal stories. 

The theme of this song was partially focused on their rough childhoods in Compton (or South LA), where they each had a different path to joining N. W. A. Eazy-E is where it all started. After dropping out of high school, he raked in good money selling drugs, but shifted to hip-hop after the murder of his cousin. Soon thereafter, he and his music manager started Ruthless Records. Dr. Dre had a similarly difficult upbringing, bouncing around the LA area due to school gang violence. After graduating, Dre worked some DJ jobs at clubs and radio stations, but his career would change when he met Ice Cube. Ice Cube had more financial stability than the others, but his origin story came when his half-sister was killed. He then met Dr. Dre, and then they collaborated with Eazy-E at Ruthless Records to form N. W. A. Soon after, Ice Cube left to go to architecture school. A year later in 1988, diploma in hand, he returned to rejoin the crew. When he came back, there was a fresh face. MC Ren, a former gang member and childhood friend of Eazy-E signed on. The four were the core rappers behind Straight Outta Compton, produced the album in a rapid 6 weeks, and the rest is history.

That’s part of the allure of N. W. A. They lived a very real life in Compton with very difficult experiences which can motivate them and give incredible anecdotes about their harsh upbringings. Nowadays, many rappers are living extravagantly and giving NBA coaches back scratches (here I am, at 14 years old giving an old man better in the olden days rant) with very little to worry about. Very few of them can rap with conviction about issues that truly mean life and death to them. 

While F*ck Tha Police is a timeless song, Gangsta Gangsta is a period piece, defining late 80s LA, as they reference the spread in usage of marijuana and the fights that could ensue at any moment. This is why Gangsta Gangsta is such a special song today. It defined an era, summing up the climate of SoCal at the time in a few minutes of rap. F*ck Tha Police resonates because it always will be relatable until we eliminate police brutality, but Gangsta Gangsta is memorable because it describes 1988 in a way that can’t be done justice in 2020. Anything produced today that’s set in the 80s will have a tinted, nostalgic view, but N. W. A. could be realistic about the world during that time.

If Straight Outta Compton was the NBA Finals, Parental Discretion Iz Advised would be the All-Star game. The opening track had more energy and a better beat, but the fifth number on the album gave each N. W. A. member the chance to do a little something, and each delivered. The D. O. C. (the lone guest on the album) passed the mic to Dr. Dre, who gave MC Ren a verse, and then Ice Cube took over, and Eazy-E rapped the final verse. They ended with a screaming, high-pitched “Shut the f*ck up” which would be the template for 50% of all memes if released today. 

Straight Outta Compton was a perfect name of an album for an upstart, underdog band. However, many would say that Parental Discretion Iz Advised sums them up better. Ironically, the song that advised parental discretion had more clean lyrics than many. I mean, that’s not saying much. It’s like saying that Star Wars: Episode I was the best of the prequels. Surprisingly, it didn’t rank on the top 10 most profane rap albums, but later N. W. A. record Efil4Zaggin ranked in at #2 in most profanity per song, including a whopping 14.67 N-bombs per song. The biopic, Straight Outta Compton had an impressive swear counter as well, racking up 392 f-bombs on the way to a 17+ rating on Common Sense Media. I couldn’t find a cursing number for Straight Outta Compton, but life is short, so I doubt there’s anyone who decided to spend it documenting how much a late 80s rap group swore in an album. Plus, in the interest of keeping this article not rated X, I won’t go into the violence or sex references, which were more common than a faked death on Days Of Our Lives. 

A few songs later, we slid into one of the more innovative songs on Straight Outta Compton. Titled Express Yourself, the third and final single was so special because it was so different from everything else on the album. While Ice Cube still penned the lyrics, it was Dr. Dre who rapped every verse. He didn’t swear once. The chorus wasn’t as quick and intense as usual, but a simple one saying “Express Yourself” with an optimistic beat filled with samples and scratching reminding me more of reggae or pop than Gangsta Rap. 

The origins behind the song are even more fascinating. Remember their lack of profanity in the song? Well, it wasn’t as if Ice Cube and Dr. Dre sat down and decided it would be more fun to perform a song without swearing. They were making a statement. Their issue? Radio censorship and free expression. Many rappers #1 priority was getting on the radio to rake in the cash and sustain their popularity, so they wouldn’t swear or make political statements. N. W. A. had no qualms with mentioning things the stations wouldn’t like, and they were punished as a result. So, they created Express Yourself to imitate the pop style that ate up the airwaves, while taking shots at other artists who would swear at home and do drugs offstage. While promotion of drugs isn’t exactly worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize or Roberto Clemente Award, a protest to help give more freedom to artists to let them make their music about whatever they want or whatever they’re most passionate about is commendable.

One way that N. W. A. promoted their brand at the time and expressed themselves was through sports. Now, LA seems like the Dodgers and Lakers’ city, but in the 80s, after the Raiders went south in California, they were beloved by people from Los Angeles (Los Angelinos? Los Angelians? Someone help me learn what you call somebody from LA). While the Showtime Lakers were in full swing at the time, Magic Johnson’s teams were more the team of the rich and celebrities like Jack Nicholson and Rob Lowe. On the street, the Raiders were the team to like. Ice Cube had been a fan of the team since their Oakland days, and their early successes in LA only grew the fandom. The Raiders were a perfect pairing for N. W. A. From their sleek silver and black color scheme with a pirate theme to a scrappy mentality in both the players and the fan base, it was a love match. One day, when asked to wear black for a music video, Ice Cube wore a Raider cap, and the bond only grew from there, until the two were virtually synonymous, with the pirate logo practically serving as the N. W. A. logo. I would say the rappers were the most famous fans of the team, but it was almost like they were members of the organization. The Raiders/N. W. A. partnership is explored in the ESPN 30 for 30 “Straight Outta LA,” which was directed by Ice Cube. The Chicago White Sox were also occasionally repped by N. W. A. members following the South Siders’ rebrand. However, instead of having a close relationship, Ice Cube said they chose the hat not because of fandom to the team itself but because he liked the colors and old English theme.

The tenth song on Straight Outta Compton, I Ain’t Tha 1, had one of the best rhythms in music. Ice Cube raps the whole thing, playing off a few women as they play off each other. The females ask Cube for money, and he responds in rap, but with a slower beat, with Dr. Dre mixing in a sweet keyboard rhythm along with a beautiful sample that added some soul to the song. Ice Cube’s monologue and rhythm was almost reminiscent of Lin-Manuel Miranda and his slow rap monologues in In The Heights and Hamilton. While N. W. A. became one of the biggest groups in America because of their classic rap songs like Straight Outta Compton, a pop direction like Express Yourself and I Ain’t Tha 1’s soul beat provided breaths of fresh air, and different styles throughout the album.

Throughout their album, N. W. A. promoted a lot of great things, like justice for black people and freedom for artists. However, they also had a lot of negative messages. Misogyny, homophobia, and anti-Semitism were all present throughout Straight Outta Compton. A lot of the sexism takes place in I Ain’t Tha 1, where Ice Cube paints all women as gold diggers who just approach him for his money. He also says he “spells girl with with a B.” Oh yeah, and Dr. Dre repeatedly assaulted women. On the homophobia front, LGBTQ slurs are repeatedly used, by Ice Cube in Gangsta Gangsta and Eazy-E in his solo album. As for anti-Semitism, although Eazy-E was close friends with Jewish manager Jerry Heller, Ice Cube later repeatedly insulted Heller, disgustedly calling him a Jew. Recently, Cube has also come under fire for posting another string of anti-Semitic messages on social media. Clearly, while N. W. A. did advance some civil rights and equality for African-Americans, they did just as much damage to other oppressed groups in the process. 

Straight Outta Compton was completed with Something 2 Dance 2. The 13th and final track on the album, Something 2 Dance 2 begins with Arabian Prince, Dr. Dre, and Eazy-E rapping about what ingredients their song needs, electing to add sounds like drums and bells. It ends with a funky “This is something to dance to” chorus which made me think I had accidentally clicked on a Prince album. N. W. A. does a great job here of using their trademark rap style, while mixing in the tunes of the time as well.

For a lot of the second millenium, Asia and the Western world coexisted while not really interacting. The same goes for hip-hop and other musical genres. In the 1980s, both the new wave/electro pop and rap were popular, but they rarely crossed paths. This song was like Marco Polo going to China, crossing the two genres and mixing Gangsta Rap with the pop music of the time. While not the best track on the album, Something 2 Dance 2 extended N. W. A. to a broader fan base, possibly drawing in fans who weren’t into rap before. 

Following Straight Outta Compton, a few N. W. A. members went their separate ways. Ice Cube went solo after a financial dispute, dropping diss tracks on his former colleagues. He went on to go into filmmaking and found the BIG3, a basketball league with former NBA players like Chauncey Billups and Stephen Jackson. The rest of the gang stayed together for another album before Dr. Dre and MC Ren left on bad terms with Eazy-E, considering him greedy after he and Jerry Heller made the lion’s share of business decisions. While his bad history with women did catch up to him, Dre will go down as one of the greatest music producers of all time, grooming famous rappers like Snoop Dogg and Eminem. MC Ren harbored resentment towards Eazy-E for years before they reconciled and buried the hatchet by recording a duet. He’s continued a smaller solo career, but obviously hasn’t come close to N. W. A.’s levels of success. Just like it began, the tale ends with Eazy-E. The door might have been open for a full reunion for the World’s Most Dangerous Group, but with Eazy-E’s death in 1995, it wouldn’t be the same without the entire Fab Four of hip-hop together. 

From my humble 21st century perspective, Straight Outta Compton is an incredible, timeless album, a kind which may never come again. The energy is unparalleled by anyone besides Dr. Dre’s protégé Eminem. Today’s rappers like Drake and Travis Scott are enjoyable to listen to, but there’s nothing like hearing Ice Cube dynamically spit out lyric after lyric, whether you’re going up for a layup, taking lasagna out of the oven, or writing a 3,000 word essay on Straight Outta Compton. The other component of N. W. A.’s timelessness is their outspokenness. Whether they were making sexist comments or supporting BLM, the World’s Most Dangerous Group would do anything to voice their beliefs. Hip-hop artists today might not say offensive things, but the modern rappers won’t put much in the line for a cause. Childish Gambino’s song This is America caught such a wave of popularity because he was speaking out about an important issue, something not often seen in the new millennium. However, that’s the exception not the rule. Most won’t promote a key cause unless everybody is doing it, as we’ve seen in 2020, where everybody is jumping on the BLM cause. N. W. A. ‘s entire appeal was the exact opposite. Whether it was their beat or their music, the songs’ origins weren’t peer pressure, but from their unique style and perspective. 

The glory days of N. W. A. may not have been long, but they were incredible. That group of rappers’ accomplishments and music are irreplaceable. The biggest lesson that anyone in 2020 can take from a late 80s hip-hop group is to be true to their beliefs. N. W. A. didn’t take over the US by conforming to radio stations and publishers. They won over the rap world by being true to themselves to a fault. Many may consider N. W. A. a cautionary tale, but nothing could be further from the truth (except for Ice Cube being from Compton). They are a success story, a group that went for it, unapologetically themselves, and achieved the highest echelons of fame as a result.