663. N.W.A. - Straight Outta Compton (1989)

















Track Listing

1. Straight Outta Compton
2. Fuck Tha Police
3. Gangsta Gangsta
4. If It Ain't Ruff
5. Parental Discretion Iz Advised
6. 8 Ball
7. Something Like That
8. Express Yourself
9. Compton's N The House
10. I Ain't Tha 1
11. Dopeman
12. Quiet On Tha Set
13. Something 2 Dance 2

Review

Making a poor copy of Public Enemy and swearing loads in your tracks does not make you great. Write that 100 times on your blackboard NWA. So yes, this is derivative, of both Public Enemy and Beastie Boys, I don't know if I am the only one but I think the move from East to West Coast is the start of bad Rap.

Still there are some good things here, never was a track as openly angry as Fuck Tha Police, and it is a great track. But the birth of Gangsta Rap is really not something I approve of on the whole, yes there are some good albums but the focus shift from social inequality to "bitches and money" seems to be unhelpful to everyone.

And yes, I know NWA claim they were only reflecting reality, but doing it in the first person with no sense of consequence and a great sense of pride seems to be very much like glorifying of violence. Not that I think that "kids are gonna go out and kill people", I don't, but it seems adolescent and immature to me. I am to old for it.

Track Highlights

1. Fuck Tha Police
2. Express Yourself
3. Straight Outta COmpton
4. I Ain't Tha 1

Final Grade

7/10

Trivia

Of course the authorities went about it the wrong way:

From Wikipedia:

Because of the recurring violent and sexual lyrics and profanity, often specifically
directed at governmental organizations such as the LAPD, N.W.A always enjoyed a particular repudiation from U.S. Senators and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). This situation persisted over the years with the group's visible head, Eazy-E. One of the reasons for this was the highly controversial track from the album, "Fuck tha Police", which resulted in the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service sending a letter to Ruthless Records informing the label of their displeasure with the song's message, and N.W.A were banned from performing at several venues.

Family Friendly version: